Atone (Recovered Innocence #2)(49)

All of the air locks in my lungs. I want to see and yet I don’t. This is it. The beginning of the end with Vera.

“Beau?”

“Don’t send them. We’ll look at them when we get to the office. Don’t mention that you already told me about them.”

She doesn’t say anything for a minute. Then, “Tell me the sex hasn’t f*cked you in the head.”

“It’s f*cked me in the head and pretty much everywhere else.”

“Goddamn it.”

“If it’s any consolation, I’m about to get my teeth kicked in.”

“It’s not. That’s actually worse. Why are you telling me this shit?”

“You f*cking asked.”

“Forget I asked. Just get to the office as soon as you can.”

“Fine. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I jab at the end button and barely resist chucking my phone at the wall. Instead, I set it down and head for the bathroom to try to talk Vera into round two.





Chapter 24


Vera


Something’s up. Beau’s been acting weird since he climbed in the shower with me, got down on his knees, and went to town on me as if it was the last time he was ever going to get to eat me out. Then he bent me over and relentlessly pounded into me, making me come so hard that if he hadn’t been holding me I would’ve fallen on my face in the tub. He keeps touching me and glancing at me. I haven’t been out of his sight once since the shower. I want to ask what happened, but I have a feeling I’m about to find out, whether I want to or not.

We get out of the car at the agency and he’s immediately at my side with his arm around me, holding me tight against him like he’s my bodyguard and we’re under a sniper attack. I come to a stop a couple feet from the door. I have to know what I’m walking into here.

“What?” Beau asks.

“Before we go in, I need to know what I’m up against.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What happened between the time I left you in bed and when you joined me in the shower?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“The f*ck you don’t. What happened?”

He glances at the office door, then back at me, and sighs. “Cora called.”

“And?”

“Javier showed up at that shopping center with Marie. Or at least we assume that’s who she was with. We need you to confirm. Nolan took photos.”

All of the air leaves my body on a soft Oh.

I haven’t seen his face since the day I escaped. Since the day he beat me so badly I could hardly walk. I can still hear the crack of leather across my flesh and the way it bit and tore at me. And his laugh— “Vera?” Beau jostles me out of my memories. “Hey. You’re okay.”

I shake my head, looking around. Suddenly he’s everywhere. I can feel him. He’ll come at me out of nowhere with his sadistic smile and horrible laugh.

“I have to go.”

I start for my car. I’ve got to run, get out of here before he finds me. He’ll make me pay for outsmarting him and escaping. He’ll want to make me suffer, make me suck him off like that last time before he beat me. Maybe he’ll let his guys have a go at me first. He did that when Cinnamon tried to escape. They rotated her between them for three days before she was put back into service. I don’t know what all they did to her, but she was never right after that.

Beau grips me by the arm and pulls me back against him. “What about Marie? You came here to find her. He’s got her. You can’t just leave and let him have her.”

His words freeze me and I stop trying to struggle to get out of his hold. I can’t bear for Javier to turn her into what he turned me into. I don’t ever want to see her eyes go blank. She deserves a normal life. It’s my fault he knew about her in the first place. If I hadn’t told him about her, she wouldn’t be about to be sold to the highest bidder. She has no idea her innocence is about to be stolen. She has no idea her life is no longer hers. She has no idea that the man she thinks she loves is a monster.

“Let’s go inside,” Beau pleads. “See what Cora has to say. We’re close. Closer than we’ve ever been to getting her back. Come on.”

I let him tow me into the office. Savannah does a double take at the sight of us together, her brows disappearing into her bangs. Cora’s at her desk when we walk in, talking to a man I’ve never seen before. I pause in the doorway.

“It’s okay. That’s Nolan. He’s one of the investigators. He’s the one who staked out the shopping center and got photos of Marie last night. Come on.” Beau nudges me forward.

“Nolan Perry.” Nolan offers his hand to me. He’s about Beau’s age, with brown hair and brown eyes. He looks nice, but then I’ve met a lot of men who looked harmless and turned out to be anything but. I don’t take his hand and he drops it, looking a little nervous.

Cora gives Beau a look I don’t understand.

He shrugs at her. “She asked.”

“So I’m guessing you’re all filled in,” Cora says to me. “We uploaded the photos to my computer. Come have a look.” She clicks the mouse, then she and Nolan back away from the computer.