Chapter 14

Ihave to get my act together, or I know my husband is going to put his foot down. In the last two days I've cried more than I ever have in my life. Each time I think about the things I have read, my heart breaks all over again, and it's almost too much.

I have taken a step back for now, not because I plan on giving up but because I need to be stronger the next time I tackle this monster. There's no doubt that I'm getting involved, but I know if I don't stop dwelling and sulking, Mark is going to forbid me in a way that I wouldn't dare disobey.

He keeps looking at me as if he could see right through me. I hope not because all he would see is my anger and confusion and, worse of all, helplessness. I've come to understand a whole lot more about what he and his father had been dealing with over the years, and I don't know if to thank him for shielding the kids and me from it or be upset that he's been shouldering something this heavy on his own all this time.

By the end of that first week, thanks to his love and attention and his not pressing me for answers, I felt steadier on my feet. I hadn't spent those days just sulking and feeling sorry for myself but had used my more poignant moments to think of a plan.

There had to be something we were missing that was right under our noses. It was tickling the edges of my mind, but I just couldn't bring it into clarity. I decided to wait until the next day to bring it up with Cierra, but I was in for another surprise when I called her that day.

I'd taken to going to the park in a secluded area, for now, to get away from any kind of surveillance, something that I knew wasn't great long term but was all I had for now. But this time, when I called, she put someone else on the phone, which at first didn't make any sense to me. It sounded like a child.

I soon got over caring when that person asked a question that I couldn't place in my own head for days. "You trust the person who recommended Jack, but what about the person who recommended Jack to them? It doesn't matter how long ago they knew them; this is the string you need to tug on for now. Give Cierra the names of those people when you get them."

That was it, that's all she said before passing the phone back to Cierra. Leaving me stunned. "Was that a child?"

"You can say that. She's a prodigy. Her idea makes sense, but since we don't have that information, it's up to you to get it since you're there and you know all the players."

It seemed so obvious when she said it. "I don't imagine that the men haven't thought of this already."

"It doesn't matter if they have. Sometimes, all it takes is a new set of eyes."

I sat on it for a while, trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject, and it wasn't long before the idea came to me. No one knows that we suspect him of anything, so there was no harm in asking in an off-handed way, which shouldn't be too hard since he's been working with my husband's company for a couple of years now.

I called up Melissa and asked her out to lunch the next day and spent the next few hours rehearsing what I was going to say to her so as not to give myself away. I was very calm once I had a plan in mind.

Ever since I learned of their real game, I've switched gears. Now, I'm no longer interested in their plans for my husband and our company; I want to know who's pulling their strings from behind the scenes, as well as how many others are involved.

It"s not as easy as it seems. I can't just go in guns blazing as I fantasize so many times a day. It's delicate and involves the safety of those who were harmed by this manipulative evil before. There are so many layers to peel back, all needing a delicate hand. That's one of the main reasons for my hesitance.

I don't want to start something I can't finish or would make even worse for the victims. I now understand why my husband didn't want me to get involved. Not that I doubted his sincerity or that I thought he was looking down on me because of my gender or anything like that; he's never been the type for all his old-fashioned ways.

But I think it must take a special kind of person to deal with these matters on a daily basis. The toll it must take on their psyche, dealing so closely with the horrors of this crime. I feel immense guilt for the privileges I've enjoyed all my life.

I thought my childhood was rough because my father was a serial cheat, and my mother was a broken shell of a woman who wore her diamonds and minks to hide the stench of her dead marriage. But I can't imagine the horror these kids must feel and their families who are left behind wondering about their fate.

It wasn't something I could take lightly, and my anger and hate for those two weren't going to be of any help in the scheme of things. So now that I had bided my time, I felt ready, and the pep talk I gave myself all throughout the night and the next day before meeting my friend Melissa for lunch helped calm me down and put me in the right headspace.

* * *

I chosea familiar place for our lunch meeting. A cute little bistro that we'd gone to plenty of times over the years. As I sat and waited I tried not to let my mind run away with me. I didn't want to give myself away, so I practiced my facial expressions, at least in my mind, until I saw her coming toward me.

"Hey, you look great. New hair?" She looked me over before taking her seat across from me."

"No, nothing's changed that I know of." I ran my fingers through my hair that hadn't been changed in at least two years.

"Well, something's different, you're positively glowing."

"Oh really, well, thanks for the compliment, I guess."

"What are you drinking? I'm famished."

"Order something; I'm having white wine." I pointed to my half-empty glass which I had been nursing while I waited.

I needed to have a clear head, but I knew how much she liked to drink her calories, which was one of the reasons I chose this place. They have a red that she always raves about, and I knew that after a few glasses, she'd be even more open to talking. It wouldn't be the first time she'd overshared, and that was just the result I was hoping for.

The bartender had been warned to make mine spritzers heavy on the seltzer and my second arrived at the same time as the bottle of red I had ordered to be brought upon her arrival. "You know me so well." She took a nice big gulp of the first glass, and I paced myself.

Our orders were taken: salad for me, a club sandwich for her, and an order of their special seasoned fries to share. That was the usual order unless we were joined by someone else. The conversation flowed just as easily as usual, and there was no sense that she was onto me in any way.

I almost didn't want to question her because a part of me was afraid of what I would find, but just the memory of the things I had read was enough to propel me forward. "Oh, I meant to thank you again."

"Thank me for what?"

"For recommending Jack to work as Mark's assistant. He's worked out very well." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Don't mention it. I'm actually really glad he worked out because I had my doubts in the beginning."

"What do you mean?" She leaned in closer across the table as if she had a secret to tell.

"I didn't say anything in the beginning because I felt kind of bad, but you know how my sister-in-law is and the kind of company she keeps."

"What does she have to do with anything?"

"Don't you remember? She was the one who introduced me to Jack?"

"No, I didn't remember that. I don't think I ever knew." She took another sip of wine and nodded her head.

"Yes, she met him in one of those overpriced rehab places that my mother-in-law sends her off to every six months or so to get her shit together."

"Really?"

"Yes! You know the one. She's been going there for years, since high school, I think. Anyway, he used to work for some hotshot whose company went under and checked himself into rehab to get clean for a minor drinking problem that stemmed from the stress of the pandemic and losing his job in this horrendous market. I mean, who can blame him?"

I'm almost certain that she never told us that because I don't think Mark would've hired him with that kind of background. Not to work so closely with him, at any rate. "I didn't think you and Trudy were that close that you were doing her favors."

"Don asked me to help because she kept pressuring us, and then his mother got involved, and you know how that goes. Anyway, when I found out that Mark was looking for an assistant, I thought, why not? And see, it's turning out great."

I kept a half smile on my face while inside I was raging. If I remember correctly, she had sold Jack as an old friend of theirs, someone they knew from before. For that reason, we hadn't vetted them the way we would have. And now I feel immense guilt because I was the one who had done her the favor, as it were.

I half listened to her life story again, not really caring this time, as I felt a bit disappointed that she had lied to me and brought this into our lives. It's one thing for Mark and the others to work rescuing and saving lives but something else completely to have one of those animals right underfoot.

I got through the rest of lunch and then hurried home to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I had my own ideas beginning to form, but I knew there was no way I could do this alone, and besides, I'm new to this; Cierra and her friends seemed way more advanced for women who swore their husbands went out of their way to keep them in the dark.

Speaking of which, Mark hadn't mentioned anything in days, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

* * *

MARK

* * *

"Did you get all that?"

"We did, yes. She just left; the other team will pick her up and follow her home. Do you know this rehab place or do we need to go looking?"

"I can have the name for you in a few. I'll get back to you. And Hank, thanks."

"Don't mention it. This was too close for me to pass it off to someone else. Blair should be here by tonight at the latest since he's the one she called."

"Yeah, but I think she might be a bit peeved at him for snitching her out."

"She'll get over it."

"How does she look? Is she overly upset?"

"No, she looks reserved."

"Okay, thanks for doing this. I'd do it myself, but she'd catch on, and I'd rather she not go into hiding and do her own thing to keep me in the dark." We hung up after a few more instructions and I breathed easy again.

It"s been hell trying to keep up with her since she had the phone from Cierra, which, when texting I had no idea what was being said. There was no way to encrypt the phone; the setup was too good, and I couldn't get in no way no how, but I still had my usual tabs on her.

Since the women had told her about being tagged, she's been extra careful, but she doesn't know where the tracker is on her or that there's more than one, so she hasn't been quite able to keep me in the dark.

I never had to monitor her shit this much before, but now I can barely put down the listening device because I'm afraid that something might go wrong and I wouldn't be there to protect her. It was Lyon's idea to send a team here to keep an eye on her while I kept an eye on Jack and Jessica.

I've been thwarting her advances all this time and knew that soon they would have to come up with another angle, which I wasn't sure what that would be. Their idea of seduction and blackmail wasn't panning out, and I don't imagine that whoever they were working for was going to waste much more time here on me.

I do get the idea, though, that they wanted me badly enough to have wasted two whole years on this one job; I just don't see why. It wasn't that they knew about Dad and the organization because we'd looked at that from all angles, and there were no red flags in that area. That had been my biggest fear when I realized that they weren't who they claimed to be and went digging.

I don't think Jack knows the first thing about my abilities, or he wouldn't have gotten that close. Because I make it a point not to peek into other people's minds without an invitation, it had taken me some time to catch on, and it was his strange dealings that had alerted me to the fact that something was off, and I took a little look and hated myself for not doing it sooner.

Morally, it's something I'd had to learn from a very young age, and I was a pro at shutting down my abilities when needed. But beyond my abilities, they had never mentioned their boss in all this time, and I never caught a thought from Jack when we were working together.

That tells me that whoever is behind them is very powerful and exerts tremendous control over the people who work for them. That, or Jack, is so good at what he does that he doesn't leave an opening.

If he contacts this person, I have no way of knowing because the phone he uses has a tracer on it, and nothing can be found. The only other thing would be his personal computer and hers, which they tend to wipe clean after every use.

I know all these things and have collected all of this information over the last year or so, but they're good because they do almost the same things we do when we're trying to cover our tracks. But now we had something else to work with, thanks to my wife. Maybe this would be the smoking gun we've been looking for all along.