“Watch me, Momma,” Matthias shouts as he cannon-balls into the pool, splashing me and my mom in the process.
“Well done, baby,” I laugh, clapping my hands.
“That was so good,” my mom adds as I grab a towel and dry off my face while Matthias and my twin brothers play.
I got back to LA yesterday and I didn’t want to stay at Jax’s house on my own so Matthias and I are staying with my parents until he’s back. I know that Jax prefers it that way too, and my son loves spending time at this house, where all but one of his favorite people in the world currently are.
He cried last night after he spoke to Jax on the phone and my heart broke for him. I told him that Harvey was sick and Jax had to stay and help look after him for a few days, but it’s hard for a kid to understand, I suppose. All he knows is that he misses his daddy and wants him to come home. I played it down to Jax though when I spoke to him later. I know he has enough to worry about trying to find out who hurt Harvey and wondering whether he’s going to pull through.
I got straight back to work to try and take my mind off things and I could see how grateful my father was for a little help. He’s been so distracted today though. I think he misses Jax almost as much as Matthias and I do.
“Dad!” Matthias shrieks and I turn around to see Jax walking out of the house with my father and my heart almost bursts at the sight of him.
“Hey, buddy,” he shouts as our son scrambles out of the pool and runs to him. Jax scoops him into his arms, not caring that he gets soaking wet in the process.
“I missed you,” Matthias giggles.
“Missed you too, little guy. Have you been good?”
“Sure have,” Matthias beams with pride.
I walk over to them both with a huge smile on my face. “What are you doing back so soon?” I ask as I reach them.
He glances at my father and something about the look they share makes my heart sink. He’s not back here for something good. “Is it Harvey?” I whisper.
“Why don’t you go play with Hugo and the twins?” Jax says, kissing Matthias on the forehead before placing him back on his feet. “And then we can all have some dinner?”
“Can we have ice-cream?” he asks with a grin.
“Sure.”
“Okay,” Matthias says with a shrug before running back to the pool.
“What is it?” I ask as my mom walks up behind me.
“We should go to your father’s office,” he replies.
“Here you go, sweetheart,” my mom says as she hands me my sundress.
Taking it from her, I pull it over my head as my stomach flutters with anxiety. “What’s going on? Why are you back? Is something wrong?” I fire questions at all three of them but none of them answer.
“Come on, angel,” Jax says, wrapping an arm around my waist. “We’ll explain everything.”
I walk with him to my father’s office, fighting the urge to throw up the entire time.
Once we’re inside the room, Jax guides me to a chair and then he sits beside me while my mom and father sit opposite.
“Why do I feel like you all know something that I don’t?” I whisper.
“Your dad got something this morning. He asked me to come home so we could deal with it, baby. I only got here a half hour ago.”
“You’ve been here for a half hour and you didn’t come see me?” I whisper. “What were you doing?”
“Talking to your dad,” he says and then he looks at my father who nods his head, as though giving him permission to do something. “About these.” Jax hands me a brown envelope.
I take it from him with trembling hands. “What is it? Is somebody sick?” I look between the three of them.
“No, nothing like that,” Jax says as he brushes my hair back from my face. “Just take a look and then we’ll figure out how to fix it.”
“Okay,” I swallow hard as I pull the contents out.
The image that I’m confronted with makes me want to curl into a ball and die. My cheeks burn with shame as tears sting my eyes. It’s Jax and me with Toni. Somebody took pictures of us. Why would somebody do that?
“Have you all seen these?” I ask, my voice not even a whisper.
“Yes,” my father replies.
I swallow down the sob that is lodged in my throat. “You both saw these this morning and you never said anything until now?” I look to my parents.
“I wanted to speak to Jax first,” my father replies.
“Why? Why did you need to speak to Jax? Why didn’t you come straight to me?” I ask, finding my voice now as feelings of anger slip in between the cracks of the shame and guilt.
“I wanted to know if we could deal with them without you being involved,” he replies matter of factly, while my mom sits silently by his side.
“You weren’t going to tell me?”
Jax reaches for my hand and squeezes it, but it doesn’t offer me the comfort that it usually does. I have never felt so humiliated in my life and the fact that they were all going to deal with this without even telling me makes me feel like a silly little girl. “How could you even think about not telling me about this?”
“Your dad was trying to protect you, angel,” Jax says, and I turn my anger on him.
“Don’t defend him. I do not need protecting from the truth. How many times do I have to prove myself to you all before you stop treating me like a child?”
“You will always be my child,” my father snaps. “How do you think I felt seeing those pictures?”
“How do you think I feel knowing that you’ve seen them? You and mom? That was a private moment that nobody should have ever seen,” I snap.
“Clearly not all that private,” he snaps back. “Because it’s not just you two on there, is it?”
“Alejandro!” my mom hisses.
“Enough!” Jax snarls at my father as he laces his fingers through mine.
“We need to tell Toni too,” I say to him as another rush of shame almost overwhelms me.
“We will,” he nods.
“Well, tread carefully. I’d rather her brothers never found about this.”
“Her brothers?” I blink at him.
“Dante and Lorenzo Moretti? You grew up in Chicago, mija, surely you’ve heard of the Morettis?”
I look between Jax and my father. “Wait? Toni is a Moretti? Like a Chicago Moretti?”
“Yes. A genuine pure blood Moretti.”
“She’s their half-sister,” Jax adds. “She moved to LA with her mom when she was fourteen. She and Dante have always stayed in touch though. The oldest brother, Lorenzo isn’t her biggest fan.”
“I had no idea she was one of them,” I say, hanging my head. “I’m so sorry, Papi.”
I keep my head bent low, too ashamed to look any of them in the eye and pick at a stray cotton on my tank top with while Jax squeezes my other hand in his. Then he cups my chin with his other hand, turning my face until his eyes meet mine. “You have nothing at all to be embarrassed about, angel,” he assures me.
I offer him a faint smile.
“Jax is right, sweetheart,” my mom adds.
But my father can’t let it go yet, and his anger at Jax is obvious to anyone in the room. “I trusted you to take care of her,” he barks.
“He does, Papi,” I insist. “This isn’t his fault.”
My father rolls his eyes at me but at least it stops him glaring at me.
“Do you have any idea who sent them or what they want?” I ask.
“We don’t know who it was yet, but we’ll find them, angel,” Jax says.
“And as for what they want — money? Plain and simple greed,” my father adds.
“How much?”
“Five million dollars by noon tomorrow or they upload the videos to every free porn site there is and send the stills to anywhere that will print them.”
I cover my eyes as the thought of that makes me want to throw up.
“We won’t let that happen, angel,” Jax assures me.
“Can you find out where this has come from? Take down any videos if they do get posted?” I ask him.
“I can take anything down. Hell, we can even get a legal injunction to do that. Filming people having sex without their knowledge or consent is still against the law. I can find these fuckers too…”
“But?” my father asks.
“Once something is out there, it’s out there. I can’t guarantee we’ll remove every trace of it. There are screenshots and the dark web. I could spend the rest of my fucking life hunting this down once it’s released. We need to find the source, and I can’t do that by noon tomorrow.”
“You’re saying I should pay them five million dollars? Let some piece of shit use my beautiful daughter to blackmail me?” my father growls.
“I’m saying you should buy me some time. Pay the money. I can follow its trail.”
“Always follow the money,” I say. It’s something Jax says often and he winks at me.
My father narrows his eyes at him. “Rolling over isn’t like you.”
“Yeah? Well I’ve never had someone threaten to post pictures of my wife having sex before, amigo. I’m not on my fucking A game here. I still don’t know what happened in Dallas. This could all be linked for all we know,” he snaps, rubbing his hands through his hair in frustration. “Besides, I’m not rolling over. This is the easiest way to find them. I’ll get you your money back.”
“I don’t give a shit about the money, Jax, but if we look like we’re weak. If we give in at the slightest hint of pressure.”
I fidget in my seat. This is all my fault. “I’m so sorry, Papi,” I whisper.
“You did nothing wrong,” Jax reminds me, but my father doesn’t reassure me. A few words to ease my guilt, but he refuses to say them. Jax turns back to him. “This isn’t pressure. This is your fucking daughter, amigo.”
“You think I don’t know that? But this is about more than my daughter. More than you. This is about my family’s legacy. I will not be the weak link in the fucking chain.”
I sigh because he’s right. He can’t afford for our family to appear vulnerable. He is the head of the entire organization and sometimes he has to make difficult decisions. I don’t envy him that.
“You’re really going to risk that video being leaked?” Jax snarls at him. “Because if you do, you’re not the man I thought you were and I’ll find the goddamn money myself.”
I smile at my husband. He doesn’t have that sort of cash just lying around. None of us do. But Montoya Inc. does.
My father sighs heavily as he sits back in his chair. “Of course I won’t. Arrange to have the money transferred and make sure you can follow it.”
“I’ll get it sorted,” Jax says.
“When we find these sick fucks…” my father snarls.
“Yeah, I know,” Jax agrees and it seems like they are finally on the same page.
I look down at my lap. The guilt and humiliation feels like an elephant sitting on my chest. I cling to Jax’s hand as I struggle to breathe.
Jax leans close to me, his lips brush my ear. “It will be okay, baby,” he whispers. “Just breathe.”
My father pushes his chair back and walks around the desk to me. Cupping my chin, he tilts my head. “Jax is right, mija, you did nothing wrong. Don’t you ever hang your head in shame again, you hear me? You are Lucia fucking Montoya!”
“Decker actually,” Jax reminds him and it makes me laugh a little. My father frowns at him but then he winks at me.
“He’s right,” my mom says as she walks up behind him. “You have nothing to be sorry for or ashamed about, sweetheart.” Then she places her hand on my father’s shoulder. “Let’s go get the boys out of the pool and leave Jax and Lucia alone for a few minutes,” she suggests and I offer her a smile of gratitude.
“She’ll always be a Montoya, amigo,” he says to Jax, only half joking, as he leans down and kisses my forehead.
Once my parents have left the room I feel like I can breathe again. Being here alone with Jax, I let out the tears I’ve been holding back for the past ten minutes. “Oh, my God, Jax,” I cry and he pulls me into his arms.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” he says as he smooths my hair. “I’ll fix this. I promise you.”
“I know, but what if you don’t fix it in time?”
“I will,” he insists. “Have I ever let you down?”
“No,” I sniff, wiping tears from my cheeks. “But no matter what you do, someone still saw us. My parents saw us, but even worse they saw what I did with Toni.”
“What we did with Toni,” he reminds me. “You’re not in this on your own, Luce.”
“I know, but it’s not you who’s half naked with someone’s head buried between your legs,” I snap, regretting my tone when I see the hurt on his face. He’s hurting just as much as I am.
“I know,” he says softly.
“Do you think Toni has anything to do with this?” I ask, searching his eyes for my answer.
“No,” he says firmly. “I told you, I trust her. I would never let her anywhere near you if I didn’t.”
“We’ll have to tell her too,” I say as a fresh wave of guilt washes over me. “What will she do? What if she kicks my ass?” I laugh, only half joking.
“Toni won’t care. Not about herself anyway. She’s not bothered by that kind of stuff. She even did a few adult films in her early twenties.”
“She did?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you watched any?”
“No,” he smiles at me.
“Still, I don’t look forward to the conversation.”
“I can speak to her if you’d prefer,” he offers.
“No, we both should.”
“We’ll talk to her tomorrow, okay? I’ll set up the payment in a few minutes and then we can have some dinner and try to forget about it all until the morning.”
“You think my parents will be able to forget it?” I cover my eyes with my hands. “And what if my father pays and that video still gets out? I mean the pictures are bad enough, but the video, of the three of us?” Heat creeps over my skin as I literally burn with shame, from my chest up to my cheeks.
“It won’t, Luce. I promise.”
“I can’t believe my mom and dad saw them, Jax. I mean the ones of you and I are bad enough, but to see another woman eating my…” I can’t bear to finish the sentence and instead I bury my head against his chest.
“I shouldn’t have let it happen like that. I didn’t think anyone would be able to see. I thought the ranch was safe. I’m so sorry, baby.”
“It’s not your fault,” I say, wrapping my arms around him. Just having him here makes me feel better. His solid presence is so reassuring. He wraps his arms tightly around me again. “God, I feel so bad.”
“None of this is on you, do you understand me? It’s on whichever sick piece of shit took those videos of us.”
“You have any idea who it might be?”
“No,” he kisses the top of my head. “But I will find them. I swear to you.”
He takes my hand and we stand up.
“I’m sorry we dragged you all the way here for this when you were dealing with everything in Dallas.”
“No,” he shakes his head. “You don’t get to be sorry about that, baby. You are always my priority. Always.”
“Did you find anything more about who attacked your father?”
“Not much. Nobody saw the guys who did it.”
“Any luck tracing the person with the crib?”
“No, I was chasing that up today when your dad called me.”
“I’m so..” I start to say but he frowns at me. “Anything I can do to help?” I ask instead.
“Yes.” He leans in and kisses me softly, sliding his tongue inside my mouth and lazily exploring. I lean further into him as his hands slide onto my ass and he pushes our groins together. The familiar tingling is already building in my core. How does this man make me a trembling wreck with just a kiss?
When he breaks our kiss, I gasp for breath. “So, what is it I can do?”
“You just did it, angel,” he says with a wink.
“Is it wrong that I wish we were in our own place so you could just take me to bed right now?” I whisper.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” he grins at me. “We can go home after dinner if you like?”
I chew on my lip. “I kind of promised my dad I’d stay here while you were away, and now with this going on…. I don’t want to upset him any more than I already have.”
He closes his eyes and take a deep breath before he replies. “That’s okay. It makes sense for you to be here. I’ll be going back to Dallas when this is taken care of. So, I’d rather you were here while I’m away anyway.”
“How long will you be gone for?” I whisper. I hate that he’s going to leave again, but I know that he has to.
“Not long, angel. As soon as I figure out what the fuck has gone on there, I’ll be straight back here. Then I will take you home and we will spend all of our free time in bed if that’s what you want.”
“Sounds good.”
“Come on, let’s go face the world,” he says with a wink as he takes hold of my hand in his.
“Ugh,” I groan but I follow him through the house and we head to the kitchen, where the boys will surely be soon when they’re dry from the pool.
Realizing we’re alone for the time being, I wrap my arms around Jax’s neck and trail soft kisses over his jaw. “I really missed you,” I murmur against his skin.
“You’re going to make me hard in your parent’s kitchen if you don’t stop that and aren’t I in enough trouble already?” he laughs softly just as my mom walks into the room.
I step back from him as though he’s given me an electric shock.
“You can hug your husband, Lucia,” she says softly in my ear as she reaches me. Then she looks up at Jax. “Alex asked if you could see him in his office.”
“Sure.” he kisses me softly. “Be back soon.”
I watch his fine ass walk out of the door as my mom makes herself a tea. “You want one of these, sweetheart? They’re supposed to be soothing?” she laughs softly.
“Then I guess you’d better hit me up, Mom,” I say with a roll of my eyes. Although I think it will take more than tea to soothe me.
When she’s done, she brings them to the counter and sets them down before perching herself on a stool.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I whisper.
She looks at me, deadpan. “What for?”
“For the video. I feel like I’ve brought shame on the family.”
“The Montoya family?” she arches an eyebrow at me. “Sweetheart, nothing you could do would ever bring shame on this family. The Montoyas have had worse scandals than this, and they’re just the ones they didn’t cover up.”
“But Papa was talking about his legacy…”
“He doesn’t want to appear weak in front of his enemies. You know how stubborn he is. Giving into blackmailers is not in his nature.”
“Do you think he shouldn’t pay them?”
“I agree with Jax. He needs more time and he can use the money to trace whoever did this.”
“Is that the only reason?” I ask. “Don’t you care if those videos of me get out there?” I whisper.
She reaches out and places her hand over mine. “Of course I do, sweetheart, but your father paying that money isn’t the key to making that happen. Blackmailers don’t stop once they get they want. They keep asking for more. But I think he should pay it so that it gives him and Jax a chance to find them, and then they deal with it in their own unique way. That’s the way to ensure nobody ever sees those images.”
“What if they can’t though?”
She raises one eyebrow at me. “This is your father and Jax we’re talking about.”
She’s right. They are the best at what they do. If anyone can find out whoever took those videos, it’s those two.
“Anyway, what’s the worst that could happen, Lucia? So they do get out there? You were engaging in something private with your husband.”
“Mom!” I blush at the mere thought.
“Is there anything worse than having your father see them?”
“Grandpa Matteo?” I offer.
“He wouldn’t look at stuff like that. Your grandma would kill him.”
“Mathias?”
“By the time he’s old enough, they won’t even be a memory,” she says with a wink. “All I’m saying, sweetheart, is that you are not the only person in that video. You did nothing wrong, and only small minded people would judge you for it, and you don’t need those kinds of people in your life.”
“Hmm,” I murmur, still not quite convinced.
“Or you could just front your way out of it. With the right PR?” she rests her chin on her hand and grins wickedly at me.
I sometimes forget that before she married my father, my mom was part of a well-established political family. Her father is Foster Carmichael, a prominent politician, and between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five, my mom worked his campaign trail every spare second she had. She is an actual PR wizard.
When one of Montoya Inc’s restaurants was shut down last year because a couple of gangs decided to have a shoot out during bottomless brunch, she managed to spin it somehow, so it became the new edgiest place to be in LA – like people were genuinely scared they were missing out on not being there. My father dealt with the gangs in his own special way, and there has been no trouble since. It has never been so busy.
“And how would you spin this?” I ask her.
She sucks on her bottom lip as she appears deep in thought. “We could make you the poster child for gynecological health?” she suggests. “Toni is your gynecologist and she was making a house call?”
That makes me giggle. “Mom!” I protest.
“Okay, if you don’t fancy that, how about you were bitten by a snake and she was sucking out the poison?”
“No!” I laugh out loud now. “That’s even worse. I’d rather people thought the truth than that.”
“See, I told you it could be worse,” she says with a wink.
“So, you’re not embarrassed by me then?”
“Embarrassed? Me? Your father threatened to gouge out one of the other kid’s father’s eyes at a birthday party last week because he thought he was looking at my boobs. The guy was there with his husband. He said it in front of most of the other parents too, but I still walked into that house with my arm linked in his,” she says with a shrug. “It takes a lot to embarrass me, sweetheart, and I don’t think anything you could do would ever do that.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
