I pulled up my laptop and started digging.
Her real name was Lola Jamie Lucas. Lola. Not just Jamie. The name felt different in my head. Softer. More dangerous.
She had a five-million-dollar bounty on her head.
I leaned back, exhaling slowly. Five million. Virginia would definitely trade her for that money.
I kept digging. Found out who she was supposed to marry—a forty-year-old man. She was twenty-eight now, which meant she'd been missing for eight years. The math made my stomachturn. That was disgusting. But that was part of her world. A world where daughters were bargaining chips, not people.
No wonder she ran.
No wonder she was willing to kill to stay gone.
I sat there for a while, staring at the screen, until exhaustion finally started creeping in.
I got up and entered the bedroom. Jamie had the covers over her head and was lightly snoring. I kept walking.
The hot water hit my skin, battering it. I barely felt it. My mind was somewhere else.
On Jamie.
Picturing her naked. Her body. Her whispering in Spanish to me. Her skin slick.
I cursed, shaking the thought away. I wasn't doing this. I couldn't. Not to her. Not to Sophia's memory.
I finished my shower, pulling on a T-shirt and boxers before stepping back into the bedroom.
She was awake. Sitting up against the pillows. Watching me.
Her cheek was red from where I had hit her. It had been instinct. Something in me wanted to apologize.
"Did you tell her?" Her voice was quiet, but there was an edge to it.
"No," I answered, crossing the room.
She exhaled.
I didn't say anything else. Just walked to the couch and lay down.
I could feel her eyes on me in the dark. My heart was beating too fast for a man who was supposed to be sleeping.
Because I already knew—I was in too deep.
Chapter 9— Vinny
"You hear what I said, Vicente?"
She was doing that authoritative shit again, using my full name instead of Vinny.
Trying to son me.
But no.
I hadn't heard a damn thing she'd said.
I was thinking about what Bael told me.
Offer Jamie safety in exchange for closure.
