Garnet (Gems of Wolfe Island)

I can’t force her to remember. Hell, mere hours ago she didn’t want to remember anything.

But that’s what happens when one memory surfaces. You have questions, and you need to know more. The curiosity of human beings overrides almost every other emotion.

Aspen wasn’t curious before because she had no memories. But now? Now she has memories, and now she has questions.

And now she wants revenge.

“Aspen?”

“Yeah?”

“My hunch is that a team member did this to you.”

“I know, but I just can’t imagine any of my teammates would do such a thing. And even if they did have it out for me, how would they have known to get in touch with the degenerates who took me?”

She raises a good question, and I don’t have an answer.

“We’ll need to find out,” I say, “if any of your teammates came into money after you were taken. Now, if whoever took you was smart, she hid her money well. But I can find out.”

“How much did Derek Wolfe pay for the women?” she asks.

“Mere pennies to him,” I say. “But to someone who needed money? Enough to make a difference. Usually around twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars.”

“But we made decent money, Buck.”

“That doesn’t always matter,” I tell her. “Someone may have needed an infusion of cash for an unforeseen reason.”

She shakes her head. “My God. These people were absolutely evil.”

“They were. And trust me, evil takes many forms. I’ve seen the worst of it.”

Her gaze softens. “I’m so sorry. For everything you’ve been through.”

I sit down next to her. “Please. Please stop saying you’re sorry. It is what it is. What you went through, what I went through. Neither of us needs to apologize to anyone.”

She lays her head on my shoulder. “You’re right. Old habit I guess.”

“Baby, that’s a habit you need to break. You don’t owe me or anyone an apology. You’re not responsible for what happened to you, and you are certainly not responsible for what happened to me. There are a whole hell of a lot of people out there who owe us both an apology. Not that we’ll ever get it.”

“The Wolfes have apologized to me.”

“I’m sure they have. They feel terrible about all of this. They feel responsible, like they should have known what was going on.”

“Maybe they should have.”

“You’re right. Maybe they should have. But their old man kept it hidden very well. It wasn’t a part of Wolfe Enterprises. Not at all.”

“I don’t blame them,” she says. “Or I haven’t. But now…”

“Now you need to blame someone because you’re starting to remember. But the Wolfe siblings didn’t do this to you.”

“Then I want to find out who did.”

“We can try. It will take time.”

“I want to know now, Buck. I want to know who’s responsible for this, and I want to make them pay.”

“The people who are truly responsible for what happened you—Derek Wolfe and Father Jim Wilkins—are both dead.”

“What about the men who hunted me? Who gave me the scars? Who took so much from me?”

“I can get names for you, Aspen, but none of that will matter.”

“You’re right. They don’t matter. Most of them are probably locked up by now anyway. And if they’re not, I don’t ever want to see them again. That’s not who I’m after.”

“You want to know which of your teammates betrayed you.”

“Yes, I do.”

“And then what?”

“They will pay. They will simply pay.”

Her voice is icy. Cold and icy.

It slithers up my spine, making my skin freeze.

I know then.

I know that I’m all in. As if I’m on a new SEAL assignment, to ferret out something and neutralize it.

That’s how I’ll attack this.

I’ll find out who did this to Aspen.

Then I will neutralize them.

24

ASPEN

How do I get my memories back? I need to get back to Manhattan, back to Macy. She’ll be thrilled that I finally want to get to the bottom of this.

Except she wants me to do it so I can heal, not get revenge on the person who wronged me.

I know in my heart that it wasn’t Gloria.

I could be wrong, and if it turns out that I am, no one will be more surprised than I will be. But in the marrow of my bones, I know it wasn’t her.

Taylor? Maybe.

Any of the others? Maybe.

But not Gloria.

I need to find Gloria, though. Maybe she’ll remember who was sitting next to me on the plane. Are she and Taylor still together? Are they still playing for the team?

So much I don’t know.

So much I didn’t even want to know until now.

I jerk as a knock on the door interrupts my thoughts. I stand quickly, go to the door.

My skin chills as I reached for the doorknob, twist it, draw in a deep breath, and then open it.

I jump backwards in sheer instinct.

The suited hotel employee widens his eyes. “Room service?” he says hesitantly.