“And you staged this obstacle course to trick me into thinking I was on my way to freedom,” Jemma said, deciding to play along … for now. “Well done, Nomar. I dare say you’ve gotten smarter in your old age.”
“And you’ve gotten incredibly more beautiful.” Nomar rose from the bed and approached her slowly, stopping within several feet from her. “I’ve dreamed of this moment, but I’ll admit I’m not prepared for how I feel.” His features softened as he gazed at her.
“Neither am I,” Jemma said as she hid the hatred roiling within. When she’d seen Nomar at the club in La Placita, it was a shock. Fear had clouded her actions and muddled her judgment.
This time, vengeance produced a cold, calculating calm. This man would never break her. He’d never get the best of her. The only man she wanted to share her best with was Rocco. No one else.
He reached for her, then dropped his hand. “I loved you once.You were the perfect woman, caring for my son and supporting me as I fought to make a place for myself in my father’s organization. With you by my side, I chipped away at him and earned his respect. I was going to give you the world for that … the same world you shattered and destroyed.”
Jemma held his gaze. “I suppose you plan to shatter and destroy me in return.”
“That was the plan.” Nomar raised an eyebrow, a sad smile curving his lips. “Now I’m not so sure.”
“Why?” Jemma rested her hands on her hips. Her mind churned with ways to weaponize Nomar’s feelings for her. “Because part of you never stopped loving me?”
Nomar visibly cringed. “What if I haven’t? What would that mean to you?”
Jemma laughed in his face. “I never loved you. I could never love you, Nomar. Don’t be a fool.”
The sting against her cheek registered before she realized he’d slapped her. Her neck ached from the swift and decisive movement as tears sprang to her eyes. She glared at him.
“You aren’t afraid of me but you should be,” Nomar said. “You are so predictable, Jemma. You hope to anger me so that I dismiss you quickly. You don’t want to suffer or be tortured for weeks, months, years. You want to be freed by death.”
Jemma was quiet.
She wasn’t the predictable one.
Nomar was. He didn’t realize that she was manipulating him to her will, buying more time for Rocco and the Proteus team to rescue her.
“But I will never kill you. You belong to me!” Nomar screamed in her face. “I don’t want your fucking love. I never needed it. Back then, I thought you were a gold digger, targeting me for a life beyond your wildest dreams. That suited me fine because I didn’twant another woman to love me unconditionally and with such passion like my wife did.”
“Your wife, Maria. She came home and saw a rival gang kidnapping you.” Jemma remembered the whispered discussions of the staff about Nomar’s dead wife. “She knew they were going to use you for leverage against your father and likely kill you after they got what they wanted.”
Nomar paled as she spoke.
“She had a gun and opened fire on them, knowing that would turn their attention away from you. As they shot her full of bullets, you got away,” Jemma said. Maria’s reckless sacrifice that ended her life when her son was barely a year old. Nomar had plunged into a deep depression, lashing out with more mayhem than he’d been known for before. The cartel had benefitted from his angst, striking fear in their enemies and eliminating their rivals due to his ruthless thirst to punish the world for his wife’s death.
“I killed every last one of them and their wives, too,” Nomar said. “But it didn’t change the fact that my son grew up without his mother because she couldn’t bear to see me die. She traded her life for mine even though it was the last thing I ever wanted. I’ve carried that guilt for every year of his life. I won’t be in that situation again. Ever.” Nomar turned his back on her and walked toward the opposite side of the room. He was quiet before speaking again. “I want to love but I don’t deserve to be loved. Not after Maria. That’s why I want you.”
“You want me because I don’t love you? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I could care the fuck less if one of my enemies wipes you off the face of the earth because I know you don’t give two shits about me,” Nomar said. “I would feel no guilt or remorse for your loss. Makes perfect sense to me.”
“And you think I’ll play along with being your what … lover?” Jemma shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
“You will choose to be my lover,” Nomar said with a sinister smile. “You will once again enjoy making love to me night after night like we did decades ago.”
Jemma narrowed her eyes, wondering what Nomar had planned. He must’ve thought this through over the years, plotting and planning what he’d do if he ever caught her. “How do you plan to make that happen?”
“By giving you a choice between two options,” Nomar said. “Let’s start, shall we?”
Jemma glared at him.
“You can shower and sleep in this beautiful room tonight, alone of course, then meet me for breakfast tomorrow at nine,” Nomar said. “That’s option one.”
“And option two?”
“Option two is to be stripped naked, beaten and given your first taste of fentanyl while you spend the night on the floor of the storage closet you were in before,” Nomar explained.
