But she needed strength, and I was a good actress. So I held my head high and made my voice a balm. “I’m here.”
Her lip was too fat and bloodied to smile, but the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “It is you.” Her words were labored, her breath short. “Joe said you’d sent him. To save me. I —”
I glanced back at Joe as she broke into a coughing fit that tried to curl her torso in, but she couldn’t manage to lift her head, the exertion too much for her.
“Save your energy. We’re going to get you to a bed, Angel.” Reeve nodded at his men.
Angel. Was that what he called her or simply an endearment he was using now? Either way it felt private. Like I’d walked into the middle of another couple’s love scene.
“I need a few things from my office,” Jeb said to one of the security guards. “An IV kit, my bag. There are painkillers in the safe.”
He continued to issue orders, and I stood to get out of the way as Reeve gathered Amber in his arms. I turned to Brent, the ranch manager. “Shouldn’t we call a doctor?” I was sure Jeb was good at what he did, but he was a veterinarian.
Brent shook his head. “Jeb’s got all the training we need and we don’t want to raise any unwanted attention.”
I started to protest, but Amber called out, drawing my attention back to her.
Reeve was standing now, Amber in his arms, headed for the stairs, but he paused and spun so that she could see me easily.
“I’ll be right there, Amber,” I promised. “I’m just going to talk to Joe for one minute while they’re making you comfortable.”
She nodded, her lids closing as though they were too heavy to keep open.
I turned to the man who held her. Who moments ago was my man – now I wasn’t so sure. His expression was hard and unreadable. But when his gaze caught mine, the room tilted. His eyes held a dark brew of emotion, so murky and filled that I couldn’t determine what he was feeling, only that he was feeling. And that he wanted to share it with me. Even though it was obvious now just how much I hadn’t shared with him.
My chest tightened, and I looked away, breaking the intense connection. It was all too much. I pivoted toward Joe, aware of Reeve behind me as he held his position a second longer before taking Amber upstairs.
I forced my full attention on Joe. I’d seen him as I’d come into the room, before I’d noticed the battered girl in Reeve’s arms, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to study him. Now I scanned him for similar injuries, for any sign that her rescue had caused him harm. When I saw nothing, I asked, “Are you okay?”
“Besides being exhausted, yeah. I’m fine.”
I let out a shaky breath of relief. “I told you she was alive.”
Joe chuckled. “You did.”
In the beginning, I did, I’d insisted on it until he’d shown me the autopsy report of a Jane Doe that had matched Amber’s description, a woman who bore the same V tattoo that Amber had on her shoulder. I’d found the same report in an e-mail to Reeve when I’d been snooping on his computer, which had further ended any hope that she was still alive.
“How did this —?” I wasn’t sure how to ask the question. “How is she not dead?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I think we were deliberately thrown off.” His expression told me exactly who he’d thought had done the throwing – Reeve Sallis. Joe had never trusted him, and with good reason. Reeve’s reputation was shady at best. Five years before, his girlfriend, Missy, had mysteriously died while with him on his island in the Pacific. He’d been cleared from any blame in the crime, but my friend Chris Blakely, who had been close to Missy, had painted her relationship with Reeve as volatile. Chris was convinced that Reeve had killed her and had even gone so far as to hint as much on a recent talk show.
I wasn’t sure which side of the fence I sat on. Reeve had assured me he’d had nothing to do with her death, and while I didn’t know if I believed him, I’d decided the answer didn’t matter. Now that Amber had returned, I had less reason to doubt him.
Joe, it seemed, was still skeptical. After months of investigating, he’d only found more incriminating evidence. Evidence that tied Reeve to the Greek mafia and a sex slave ring that Joe had been certain Amber had wandered into.
I thought of her bruises and shuddered. Joe was probably right.
“What happened?” I asked him, not wanting to know but needing to all the same. “Where did you find her?”
“With Vilanakis.”
Michelis Vilanakis, the mob boss who I had pinned as a lowlife villain. It was the name I’d expected. Amber was last seen with him. Reeve was also connected to him – I’d seen pictures of the two at various events, as well as a few e-mails to Reeve from him.
“You just swooped in and rescued her from his house in Chicago? Or…” I left the question open-ended, not able to imagine what the scenario had been.
“I got lucky actually.” He shook his head, demonstrating his incredulity. “Really lucky. I’d been tailing Michelis for three days before I saw her. I didn’t even realize who she was at first. But while I was in my car watching, she ran out of his house, upset about something. He followed after her, Emily. He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back so hard I swore he was going to break her neck. Then he went off on her. Fucking pounded her face in while she struggled and cried. I don’t know how her screams didn’t draw a crowd.”