“In a cell awaiting transport to the States. He’s been in a Mexican prison for about six weeks now. A trial will be set soon. He’s been charged with the murders of your friends and your kidnapping, along with human and drug trafficking charges, and a slew of other shit. Ryker’s going for the death penalty, and he’ll get it.”
Jake didn’t tell her he and his team found Cetro hiding out in a small village near the Texas border. Even now, the thought of him being so close to Olivia made his skin crawl.
“W-who was the man? The one who hired Cetro to take me?”
“I’m sorry, baby. I can’t tell you his name. However, I can promise he will never be able to hurt you or anyone else, ever again.”
Olivia stood and walked past him toward her living room, her body full of nervous energy. She ran a shaking hand through her hair several times, totally unaware—or maybe just not caring—that she’d pulled the elastic band loose from her ponytail.
The black ring went unnoticed as it fell to the floor behind her. She rubbed both hands across her face before turning back around.
“This is all so unreal. I can’t believe there are people out there who’d actually do such despicable things to another human being.”
Then, as if she’d suddenly realized something awful, a look of horror swept over her face.
Both hands flew to her chest, almost as if she were actually trying to reach in and grab hold of her own heart.
“Oh, God, Jake. You know what this means, right? It reallywasmy fault. They were all killed because ofme.”
The guilt in her eyes as she referred to the other nurses and doctors Cetro’s men had gunned down right in front of her gutted him.
Tears began to fall freely down her face, but she didn’t seem to notice them. Jake sure as hell did.Screw processing time.
In an instant, he was out of his chair and pulling her into his arms. “No, baby,” he said fiercely as he held on tight. “This wasnotyour fault. The only ones to blame are Cetro and the other men we took down.”
Jake spoke the truth, but knew Olivia would continue to blame herself. Time and support would help her come to terms with it all, but for two months she’d been forced to deal with it all on her own. A fact that shredded him.
He was here now, and for him, there was only one option. Jake had to make her understand. She had to let him back into her life, because if she didn’t...if she spent one more second thinking she was alone in all of this, it would fucking destroy him.
With her head pressed against his chest, he said, “I know this is a lot to take in, Liv, and I’m so damned sorry for leaving you the way I did. But, after finding you alive in the jungle after I’d thought you’d been killed, knowing what you’d gone through...what they almost did to you...”
Damn it.Jake’s voice broke, and he had to clear his throat to keep from breaking down.
“I had to make sure those assholes were put away for good. I needed to know they wouldn’t be able to come after you ever again. The thought of that happening...”—He got choked up again, but pushed through it—“Sweetheart, that’s what drove me onto that plane two months ago. It was theonlything that could have taken me away from you that day. I had to know you were safe, and that those bastards could never hurt you again.”
Olivia continued to let him hold her like that, with the back of his shirt bunched in her hands for the second time in only a few minutes.
When she finally stopped shaking, she pulled back. Her eyes clear were and focused. Jake looked down into them and this time, he saw the one thing he’d prayed for...Acceptance.
“Thank you. For going after those men,” Olivia offered solemnly.
Relieved beyond words, Jake kissed her forehead, then her cheek. His lips barely touched her ear when he whispered, “You don’t ever have to thank me for that. Your safety is everything to me, Liv.”
He moved in for a long, slow kiss. When it was over, he pulled back only slightly. Then, with his eyes locked on hers, Jake relinquished even more of himself to her. “Youare everything to me.”
After brushing some hair from her eyes, he cupped the side of her face. “I need you to believe that, baby. You have to know the only reason I left the way I did was to make sure the bastards responsible for taking you away from me never got the chance to do it again. I couldn’t risk letting another team take over.Ihad to be the one to do it. Can you understand that?”
More moisture spilled from her forgiving eyes as she whispered the only answer he could bear to hear, “Yes.”
Jake exhaled loudly, feeling as though a two-ton boulder had been lifted from his shoulders. “Thank God.”
He hugged her tightly again. Knowing she not only forgave him for leaving the way he had, but that she actually understood the position he’d been in, made him want to cry like a baby.
His eyes stung, but he squeezed them shut to keep his tears from falling. After collecting himself, Jake put some space between them but kept his hands loosely resting on her hips.
“I promise I’ll never leave you like that again.”
There would be other jobs, of course, but he meant every word. No matter what he had to do, Jake would never leave without telling her goodbye again.
