Page 50 of What Doesn't Kill Us

“I see little point. You have a job to do. End of story.”

He’s quiet for a moment, but then says, “This is true. But that doesn’t mean I’m not nosy enough to inquire.”

I snort in response, continuing to wash without further comment. Then he says, rather nonchalantly, “Haven’t I seen you in the papers running around with that actress?”

I pause while soaping up my torso. I’m genuinely surprised he would’ve been reading anything talking about celebrity gossip. So, I ask, “Where’d you see that?”

Jayme doesn’t reply, so I quickly finish my shower, turning the taps off and opening the shower door. He’s no longer in the room, so I grab a towel and dry off a bit before securing it around my waist and exiting the bathroom.

He’s sitting in the chair in the room’s corner with a pensive expression. He raises his hand, pointing toward the bed where clothes are laid out for me. I walk over to the bed, dropping the towel and grabbing the clothes as Jayme asks, “You been working out, man?”

I glare at him over my shoulder. “Stop fucking eyeing me up.”

He laughs. “Oh, get over yourself. You know I like pussy.”

I shake my head, pulling the jeans on, relieved they’re only slightly too small. I’m not much taller than Jayme, but it’s obvious I’ve spent more time in the weight room recently. How I found the time for gains is not the point. “You jealous that there is now one hundred percent chance I could kick your ass?”

He rolls his eyes at me. “Eighty percent, tops.”

I give him a half-smile, then sit on the edge of the bed to put on clean socks. “Are you going to tell me what the fuck’s going on, Jayme? Is it a complete coincidence that I ended up on your ship? Or did you arrange it?”

“It’s a coincidence. But if I could have arranged it, I absolutely would have.”

“Why? You already stated the importance of your reputation.”

“Carolina Tennent.”

“You know Carolina?” I ask in surprise.

He nods, then leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs as he answers, “She’s my little sister. And she’s in big fucking trouble.”

I sigh, rubbing my hand over my face in agitation. Why can’t anything be fucking simple? Every time I turn around, there’s some additional complication in an already twisted fucking story. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“I didn’t know either until recently. Turns out my father had an affair, and she resulted from it. Unfortunately, his problems became her problems, and I can’t seem to get close enough to her to fix them.”

“And fixing her problems is a big priority for you? The man who gives fuck all about anyone or anything?”

He narrows his eyes at me, but nods. “Yes. She’s the only family I have left, and she never stood a chance growing up the way she did. I owe it to her to at least try to salvage her future.”

“Only family you have left? What happened to your father?”

“He became shark bait soon after I found out about Carolina,” he laughs humorlessly. “Everything came to a head, and he became an unneeded complication.”

I’m not surprised by this revelation, given Jayme isn’t known for his kindness and understanding—or his forgiving nature. And his father has been a useless fucking twat for decades, so it’s surprising it took as long as it did for Jayme to snap. “So, what’s the story with Carolina?”

“You tell me.”

I lift a shoulder tiredly, sighing as I say, “Apparently, she was planted to play the role of my girlfriend, hoping to snag me and or Toni. They did a good job with her background information and Agatha didn’t know she was playing us until she blew her cover to save us.”

“She saved you?”

“Yes. I mean, if it wasn’t for her interference, it’s likely Vincent would’ve sent a more competent team to bring me in. And she went back in to take the hit for us getting away, but I was too stupid to leave her behind after she stuck her neck out for me.”

“Who is she working for?”

I inhale deeply through my nose, taking my time exhaling as I think about my response. I don’t know how much Jayme knows about what’s been going on in my neck of the woods, and I’m uncertain how much he needs to know, given he has every intention of handing us over at the end of this journey. “I don’t know if it’s so much a case of working for someone as her doing the bidding of her husband, Vincent.”

“Her husband? The Russian?”

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