Page 68 of Crowe
What was true was that last night I’d stood at a podium and said my name and told the truth about what happened to me. Then a man who believed he owned me had dared to walk up to the table and smile at me like he knew something I didn’t. So yeah, I was safe here with Jackson, but for how long? Knowing that made it hard for my nervous system to accept the inventory I’d just run through.
I sighed, got up, and went to the kitchen where I’d expected to find Jackson, but it was empty.
I looked out the window at the early morning light and the empty sidewalks of Vesper down below. I normally found that peaceful, but today there was no peace to be found. I stood at the counter, pressed both hands flat against the cold surface,and breathed the way my therapist had taught me. A four count in, hold for four, then empty for four. It was supposed to tell my nervous system I was safe, but my body wasn’t standing down.
The front door opened then, and Jackson came in holding a cup of coffee. He saw me standing there like that, and he didn’t speak. He crossed to the electric kettle, poured hot water into a mug, and set it beside me. Then he leaned against the counter next to me and waited.
We stood like that for a while.
“He said he was patient,” I said finally.
“I know.”
“He said it to my face. In front of you. In front of everyone, even though he knew the guys were there.” I stared out the window. “He’s not afraid of any of it.”
“He should be,” Jackson said. “Chance has everything he said on record. The wife—”
“I know.” I took a step back and reached for the tin of tea bags I kept on the counter. More to have something to do than anything. I selected this morning’s tea, and then dropped my bag down in the hot water before looking up at him. “I know all of that. Logically, I know it.” I paused. “But right now it doesn’t feel like enough.”
He didn’t try to fix it. He just stood beside me, drank his coffee, and let it be what it was, and that was what I needed most from him. I didn’t know how he knew that, but somehow, he did.
A knock at the door saved me from the spiral I felt starting at the edges of my thoughts.
Jackson set his coffee down. “I’ll get it.”
Julius came in first, with Mika behind him, carrying two stacked containers full of baked goods.
“We heard about last night,” Julius said, by way of greeting.
“Good morning to you, too,” I said with a wry chuckle.
“Good morning.” He rolled his eyes. “We heard about last night.” He pulled me into a hug and then sat down on the couch. “Now, tell us everything.”
“You probably know everything. You have Gator.”
“Gator tells me the tactical version. I want your version.”
Mika set everything on the counter and started unpacking them as if the food was the most important thing at that moment. Jackson was right, food was Mika’s love language, so to him, it probably was.
I sat down on the couch and told them about the evening. About how weird it was to be back in Houston. I told them about seeing Dr. Reyes and what she said. About the speech and what it felt like to stand at the podium and tell my truth.
Neither of them said anything until I told them about the wife and the way I’d known immediately.
“So do you think she was trafficked?” Mika asked.
“I don’t know. He’s a really powerful man, so I’m sure it wasn’t hard for him to find a wife without buying one.”
“Actually, I was just downstairs talking to Kat,” Jackson said. “She did a little research on the wife, and it doesn’t look like he bought her, at least not in that way, but it was an arranged marriage. A combining of two families thing.”
“So she probably had no say in it?” I took the tea bag out of my mug and took a long drink, hoping the hot liquid would warm my insides.
“That’s barbaric. Do these people know it’s 2026?” Julius asked, and then a brief flash of disgust crossed his face before he shrugged. “Of course my mother probably would’ve done it if she could’ve gotten away with it.”
“Poor thing, she probably feels trapped.” Mika set a plate covered in fresh scones and homemade jam down on the table in front of us and took a seat on the couch.
“She probably won’t use the card I gave her, but at least now she knows there’s someone she can call.”
Next, I told them about Corvane coming to our table. What he’d said and about the cold smile on his face when he said it.
