His Wet Nurse

Acquaintances (38)

Deep breaths

Jema cautioned herself, eyes shut tight and shoulders stiff as a rod as she managed her breathing. Once she was done, she snapped her eyes open and slouched back on the headrest in the passenger seats of Theodore's sleek black Cadillac Escalade. Her eyes followed his details as he strode around the car bonnet in what would seem like his most casuals wears—plain black pants with untucked shirt folded just above the elbow. He had a lousy posture as he pulled the door open and joined her in the car, his heavy scent filling up what was left of her sanity.

"Seatbelts," he cautioned before revving the engine to life. Jema scoffed at his ever authoritarian rule, he never got tired of it but she did snap her belts on as soon as the car veered out of the premises in high speed.

"Where are we headed?"
She watched as his free hand roamed the console until they landed on a brown envelope. "See if you recognize him," he muttered while focusing on the road ahead. It was past ten in the evening and Jema wondered why they were on the road instead of retiring to bed as she'd hoped. She stared at the brown paper on her lap which held nothing on the outside, her fingers dug in and came up with photos of a man, quite young and probably in his twenties. They were of different angles and ranges, one closer range showed the sides of his face with two long scars on his chin giving a look similar to a malicious Asian assassin.

Familiarity dawned on her and she found herself gasping as the imaging became clearer. "I know him," she cried, tilting the picture up for clearer view.

Theodore turned a corner and took a much lonelier path while carefully noting Jema's response. "Where do you know him from?"

"I... I can't remember, but he looks vaguely familiar. Maybe at the park or back home."

"Hartwood?" Theo interjected.

She shook her head in disagreement. "I think I'd remember if I saw him there. He's probably some world class terrorist, wait... is he?..." her voice broke, the horrifying doubt growing in her mind had her on chokehold as she waited for Theodore to confirm her fears. One long look at her pallid eyes he quickly understood where her mind had gone to.

"Oh, no not the killer of your husband, he's suspected of shooting at me—" when she peered unbelievably at him he retracted his previous comment. "—At you, I want to know if you've ever encountered him anywhere."

Jema sighed, not that she wasn't happy he'd gotten a lead at her attackers but for a tiny moment she'd leapt in anxiety at the thought of finally finding her husband's killer. Jacob at least needed such closure. She arranged them back into the brown envelope and returned them to where Theo had gotten them from.

"I wish I could but I don't," suddenly something clicked. "You said... you called him my husband," she whispered with bewildered expression.
Did he find out about that too? Or the Madame had ratted on her?
A gentle hand ran through the fabric of her top resting on her palpitating chest as she struggled to keep still.

He didn't say anything, he didn't even look her way as he drove steadily down the now-dusty path. Jema could swear she heard his angry thoughts in the deafening silence, what would he do to her as punishment for keeping such details from him? Ever since she entered the Brick mansion, she'd broken all the rules.
She'd followed the redlines instead of the green.
She'd turned from her job within a week's arrival and not to talk of talking back at the master of the house. If only talking back was her biggest rule-breaker she'd almost bedded the man beside her, ran like Cinderella when the bell clocked midnight and now she sat by his side with a fierce spark of electricity going off between them.

Suddenly she became anxious, unsure of what she was getting into with this intimidating man beside her. She hardly knew him or what he stood for. She could swear a week ago he was the replica of the devil. A cold heartless soul who took vengeance to another level, now here she was... a hypocrite, desperate to feel the devils touch on her once more.