Chapter Twenty-Two
Saturday, January 2, 2021
The following morning, wearing clothes she hadborrowed from Baz’s father’s guesthouse, JJ walked the halls of the hospital.
She’d convinced Baz to drive her here in order to check on Dante and his family, but they both knew she had really wanted to have a chat with the man responsible for the epic disruption in her life. According to the update from Trey, the Greenwoods had met him at the hospital last night and were utilizing the governor’s security to keep the press at bay.
While JJ would’ve preferred to move on, to let Dante and his family reconnect and find him the help he needed, she found she couldn’t let it go. Not until she understood why he’d used her to carry out this stupid plot of his.
“You want me to go in with you?” Baz offered when they came to a stop outside of Dante’s door.
JJ glanced up at him, shook her head. “I’d prefer to do this alone.”
He nodded, his blue eyes reflecting his concern for her. “If you need me, I’ll be right out here.”
Taking a deep breath, JJ stepped up to the door, rapped her knuckles on the metal trim. It drew the attention of Katrina and Corinne, both women hovering over Dante as though he’d been through a horrific ordeal when, in reality, the stupid ass had masterminded the whole thing.
Katrina was the first to come over, greeting JJ with a firm hug. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
JJ couldn’t find words, so she nodded and smiled, hoping that was enough assurance that she really was. As far as her physical condition was concerned, she was all right. Mentally and emotionally … well, only time would tell.
Corinne hugged her next, then traded a look with JJ before suggesting she and her mother go get coffee, leaving JJ alone with Dante.
As she walked into the room, she took stock of the man in the bed.
Dante was reclining, head and injured hand propped on pillows. He looked a little worse for wear, his skin pale, his hair a mess, but he looked like he would make a full recovery.
“How’s the finger?”
He lifted a fully bandaged hand. “Gone.”
“Does it hurt?”
He lifted his other hand, which held a button that she assumed gave him pain meds when he needed them. “They’ve got me set.”
Clearly the family was in the denial phase of his addiction. Otherwise JJ doubted they would have him hooked to a morphine pump.
She ignored the urge to chastise him, opting for, “Your mom and sister are happy you’re back.”
“I’m just gladyou’reall right,” Dante said dramatically. “I didn’t know what was goin’ on or who—”
JJ cut him off with a hissed, “Cut the shit, Dante. We know you were behind it all.”
His eyebrows slammed down. “What’re you talkin’ about? I was kidnapped.”
She took a deep breath but didn’t move closer, fearful she would strangle him if she did. “My house was monitored by cameras,” she informed him. “Those recordings are managed in the cloud, so the explosion didn’t destroy them.”
And that was only a partial lie. She did have cameras that recorded to the cloud, but she also had hidden cameras that only she knew about, ones that she recorded straight to a cloud server even the best of hackers couldn’t access.
At least Dante had the decency to keep his mouth shut.
“We saw you open the door and let Marcus in.” In fact, JJ had watched in horror as Dante had let that bastard in her house, had seen him stroll across the room and grab one of her metal statues off the shelf by the kitchen before disappearing. As for the camera that was set up in there, JJ didn’t know why it had failed, but she wasn’t sure she really wanted to see that man bash her over the head anyway.
“He made me.”
“He didn’t,” she countered. “This was your plan, Dante. I just need to know why? Why’d you feel the need to extort money from your parents?”
Dante took a few deep breaths, and she saw the moment he accepted he’d been caught. His face fell, his defensiveness shifting into a whine. “Because I owe too many people. I had no choice. They were gonna kill me if I didn’t pay them back.”
