I didn't have to debase myself after all. Just a quick check at the hospital showed that no one I knew had been admitted, which meant Jace was safe. Too bad the bitch didn't get caught in the blaze. Still, this was perfect.At the rate this idiot is going she'd get rid of herself with no help from me. Knowing Jace's parents and how protective they are of him, there's no way they're going to let him stay with someone like her, someone who's always being attacked.All I have to do is figure out a way to use this to my advantage. It would help if I knew who else was after her, maybe we could work together.And I'd have to find a way to approach Jace's mom to put that little nibble in her ear. That last thought was depressing since I'd never been able to get her to warm up to me.Come to think of it, his parents were probably the only people in our little close knit town that didn't seem to believe my act. I guess I'll just have to work harder. I'm sure if I put my mind to it I can
"What should we do?" Both Alex and Shane looked to me for an answer, as if they weren't the ones who'd known him the longest. I understood their reasoning though, this involved my sister too, not just Jace. As much as I'd like to go find Stanley in whatever hole he was hiding in and beat the living shit out of him, I could do no less than I'd asked of Jace. I have to keep a cool head."Are you sure about this Alex? You saw him with explosives?""Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what I saw. Sorry dude, I don't know what I was thinking. I shoulda said something sooner. Damn, your house is fucked.""I don't give a fu...I don't care about my house. My mother was in there, and so was my little sister not to mention fucking Red."What the fuck reason could Stanley have for doing something like this to my family? Or anyone for that matter? It seems like since we moved here some shit has been going wrong on a daily basis.If he really was responsible Jace won't get the chance to go af
"Damn, how're we gonna get outta here without anyone seeing us?" Shane moved off of the balcony rail he'd been leaning against. I pointed to the steps that led down to the garden."We go down this way and I idle the car down the driveway." That reminded me of the girls and what they'd been up to before we stopped them.Had that only been a few short hours ago? It felt like I'd aged ten years since then. I'd expected to spend the night with my girl after ragging Jace for letting Sian run circles around him.Instead I have knots in my gut because my girl and my sister had almost been blown to shit in that room. Alex looked back into the darkened room as if expecting to find someone there."So we're not telling Jace?""Not telling Jace what?" Shit, I thought he was on the other side of the house in his rooms. He came out of the dark room like a damn shadow.I could feel raw energy coming off him in waves and knew it was the anger that he was still trying to keep contained.
I approached slowly, quietly, so that I didn't wake her as I walked over to the bed and looked down at her in the moonlight.She was in the middle of the mattress with the sheet twisted around her. I'd put my shirt on her when we first got to the room and for some strange reason the sight of her in it made me feel...hot.I took my time appreciating her curves that were outlined by the sheet that had drawn taut around her middle and thighs. Now that she wasn't awake to hide herself from me I could look my fill without embarrassing her. She's so beautiful. I don't know why she doesn't see it. How can she not see what I see when I look at her? How can she not know how her beauty shines inside and out?Maybe it's this town filled with superficial women whose idea of beauty has become warped over time, that teaches girls that they have to fit into a certain mold to be accepted.It pisses me off that someone as brave and smart as she is, with the heart that she has, thinks that sh
Liars, every last one of 'em! Yep! I'll play their game for now, but I hope they know there're eyes and ears all over this place. If it comes to it, I'll just hit replay on this sector and this room and read their fucking lips if I have to. I didn't let my thoughts show on my face as I contemplated doing just that.Alex and Shane should know by now that they can't hide shit from me, I know them too well. I kinda get why they were keeping secrets this time though, they probably think they're protecting me."How're the girls doing?" I asked once Jared returned. Sian was finally asleep. I'd had a hell of a time getting her to go to sleep after slamming her. She was worried about everybody else and wanted to go check on them. Since she's my only concern right now I nixed that shit.I was afraid if I let her go wandering around with her nosy ass she might learn the truth about what really happened tonight. Right now she's still under the impression that this whole thing was an a
The fact that I don't care about her and show it is probably the reason why she can't let go. I never imagined that things would go this far though.But I should've known how she would react and been prepared. If I had, none of this would've happened. And Sian wouldn't be a fucking target.When Sian and I got engaged I wasn't thinking about anything else but making her mine. I'd missed a step there as well.Our engagement wasn't as small a deal as I made it out to be. She doesn't know it yet because I've been waiting until school was over to make the official announcement.But when she became my fiancée, it put her in a completely different league. I haven't prepared her, was giving her more time to enjoy what little freedom she has left before opening that door. In one move I'd made her an heiress to a fortune that was in the top one percent.I'd planned to tell her once school was out. I'd wanted to ease her into it slowly until she learned to accept what it truly meant to
Outside the sun was beginning to change the color of the sky and the birds were waking up in their nests. I ignored the pain in my hand as we headed for my truck. Alex jumped in the driver's seat and Track helped me get in the backseat, his face looking like a storm. "Hey how'd you get home so fast?""We'll talk when we get to your place." He slammed the door and jogged back to his car. Well shit, he's pissed. That's never good.The three in the truck with me kept throwing me looks like they expected me to go Hulk or some shit. "Don't ask me what happened because you know I don't know.""Yeah, we know, we were there." Shane turned to glare at me from the passenger seat. Then he shared a look with Jared which said, 'you see?' Like I didn't know they were hiding some shit."Okay what happened?""What happened? You went into the room, we were right behind you. Then you started breaking shit." There was still a hint of fear in his voice. "The wall, the mirrors, every damn t
Perfect, that's why I love Jace, he kinda thinks like me. "Did you go over there? You smell like smoke." She sniffed my shirt. "Yeah! I knew you were spending the night."My body shook with renewed horror. When I'd heard that explosion in the background and then that asshole had taken my phone...She's okay Track don't lose your shit in front of her and scare her. But I'd seen that house and knew the damage that could've been done had she and her friends been in that room."Where were you guys when it happened?" From the way she tensed up I knew I wasn't going to like what she was about to say. "Um, er...""Valerie!" I squeezed her shoulder."We were on our way to Mandy's house." The words came out in a rush and it took me a minute to figure out why the hell they would've been doing that. "Did you have fun before all this happened?" I decided to leave the Mandy thing alone for now until I had a chance to talk to Jace."Yes, these girls are nice, especially Sian. In fact
They looked around the room at each other until Logan nodded his head. I guess that was the go ahead because Mancini took point again."What we're about to share with you doesn't leave this room. We've come together along with some other friends that you didn't get to meet this time, to form a kind of group if you will.""Each of us serves a purpose in this group. It's also top secret, which you should understand." He looked at Track and I moved to stand in front of him. "It's okay Jace, he knows.""I'm not working for the government, no disrespect." I looked at the SEALs. The men in the room started to smile. I wasn't sure what the fuck they were, but it wasn't hard to tell that they were something. What with the compound that was more secure that the Pentagon."That's not who we are. What we propose, if we all agree is that you boys become part of our elite group. We'll fill you in on all the pertinent details a little later once you get on board. If not we can stop this lit
I just held her and let her get it out, knowing that she'd be right as rain in no time. "Come on baby, let's get you dried and dressed." I turned off the water and lifted her to take her out of the shower."Jace, do you ever regret marrying me?" I want to answer this shit for the one hundredth time. What is it with women? The guys were all complaining about the same thing, except for Alex who was always smiling these days, the fuck."Sian, just like I told you yesterday and the day before that, even if I live to be a hundred, I won't ever regret the best decision I ever made.""But we're so young." I rolled my eyes and dried her feet that she couldn't hardly see anymore. "Does that mean that you regret it because you're younger than I am?"That one always stumps her but she still asks the same damn question over and over. So I knew what was coming next. "But it's not the same for men.""That's not sexist or anything. I should start worrying as often as you ask me that. Maybe
Not scared like a punk, more like amazed at the shit these fucks can get up to. So when he so casually mentioned something that he should have no knowledge of, I got the sense there was much more left unsaid. I'm sure a man of his caliber wasn't just wasting his time on some kid that he didn't even know."I sense a catch.""No catch, I just think you're wasted on those fucknuts is all. Anytime you're ready give me a ring." He'd rang off after that but there was no mistaking the smile in his voice. I'm pretty sure he knew that I was going to look into him.And that was my reason for being hesitant about taking Jace with me. I'd got a glimpse of where those SEALs live and I have the feeling that shit would only give Jace ideas. He was already making noise about building a place like the one on the island where we all could live. The kid's a damn hippie at heart.***JACE***"Track wants us to go to Georgia to meet his sister. We're going this weekend if you're not too sick
I didn't feel shit when I put pressure on his neck. Everything was happening so fast. Sian was screaming, finally giving into the fear and Track was trying to talk me down."I told you not to touch her you fuck. Did you forget?" I tightened my arm around his neck, adding just the right amount of pressure and barely restrained myself from doing more "I'm going to break your fucking neck.""Jace no, let him go, he's not worth it." I ignored Track and twisted my arm quick, snapping Stanley's neck. "Call the cops.""Fuck Jace! What the fuck did I say?""Call the cops.""No, let me think let me clean this up. Shane, Alex bar the door make sure no one gets by..." I hadn't even heard the others rush in behind me. But turned to see them now with horror in their eyes. "He's not dead Track his neck's just broken. Call the cops." I dropped Stanley on the floor just as the men who were supposed to be watching the school came through the door."What took you guys so long?""He didn
For now, it was fine. For the next nine months I knew she was going to keep me on my toes. We had an appointment with the best Obstetrician of course, who'd been vetted to within an inch of her life before I agreed.I was trying to make it so that she only had to worry about school and giving birth, other than that I was there to pick up the slack. I had the fridge in our suite stocked with all the things she's been asking for lately and hoping for smooth sailing.I was getting used to waking up with her in the morning to hold her hair while she threw up. Then her horny ass would need a fix on the bathroom floor after a quick nap.Other than that, there was no sign that her tiny ass was even pregnant. Of course she's decided that she can get away with shit now, because I can't fix her ass, but I have other ways of keeping her ass in line.That Monday as soon as we'd reached the school yard the whispers started. It wasn't long before we heard the whole story of Mandy being dropp
Mom came down with a tray of something in her hands instead of letting one of the servants do it."Hey mom, how come you're doing this yourself?""I don't know. We didn't go to the shelter this year because we've invited everyone, so I guess I'm feeling a little bit guilty.""Didn't you donate all the food this year? I'm sure they don't mind us missing one year mom, we'll go for Xmas, and make everyone that's here today come with us.""Sounds good son. By the way, I'm going to let you off the hook for telling your dad before you told me.""Shit, mom...""It's okay, he explained. By the way her parents know so you two don't have to keep putting it off any longer.""How?""Veronica is a mother son. We both figured something was going on that day in the hospital.""Well, that's all good and well but Sian has decided she's never telling her dad. She doesn't want him to know she's having sex."Mom thought that shit was hilarious but the rest of my crew, except for Track,
With Mandy behind bars, all I needed was to find Stanley to tie her into the attack on Sian. I need that to put her away for the rest of her life.I'd been leaving clues and making anonymous phone calls to the cops for a while. Once I'd contacted the men she'd been extorting and told them the truth about her age, some of them were more than happy to come forward. The only ones that tried to hold out were the married ones. Some of them I let slide, like Cassie's dad. But the others I put the squeeze on.That's why I'd needed her phone and the stuff that she left behind when she got kicked out of her house. My team had already confiscated it all. That, along with the computer stick Liz had mailed me, were locked away in my safe. Everything except the phone which had been mailed to the cops. I was still protecting Carter, but I had to do it for Cassie's sake.The ones that did have sex with her when she was underage, their names had been handed over to the cops. There were going
I drove down the driveway slowly with the lights off. There was one light on in the house and I wasn't surprised that it was in Sian's room. I got out of the truck and looked around at the dark night.It would be so easy... But I couldn't do anything here, not where my girl's family slept. Instead I walked around back. How did she get in anyway? And how do I get in without alerting her to the fact that I was here. I wasn't left wondering long.The alarm hadn't been set because of the workers going back and forth, which was an oversight. No one expects to be robbed in this neighborhood, but still. I knew it wasn't on since the night I'd come back here for her medicine, but hadn't thought much of it. Missed that one.I walked up the stairs, being as quiet as I could and stepped into Sian's bedroom door. Mandy was sitting on the bed, the new bed that replaced the one that had been burned in the explosion."What are you doing here?" It was obvious what she was doing. The door to Si
I'd been so excited I'd forgotten to score some drugs. I hadn't seen a male anywhere in that stupid place anyway, that might've been willing to help me, so it was most likely a bust. I sat in the car and formulated my next move in my head. How can I get close enough to do what I have to do? There was no way to get onto the Saunders' property without being noticed.Unless...No they've had the same domestic staff for a while, they probably know each one on sight. How can I get there? I don't have anything suitable, anything that would disguise me until I got close enough. Close enough to destroy her, that bitch.I drove around for a while still no closer to a solution. Thanksgiving was in two days. Another thought hit me. It was something I'd learned about Jace and his family even before we dated. When he still used to act like I didn't exist. When I used to read anything I could get my hands on about the ultra-wealthy family. Yes, that would be perfect. I'd forgotten all abou