All Chapters of Torin-Shattered: Way Down We Go (Part 1): Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

I'd dealt with Casey quite a few times over the years and she always had a way of making me feel like I was the most dangerous man in the room, even when she had a whole squadron of cops at her back. When she finally pushed through the locked door leading from the offices and into the lobby, her eyes scanned me like a hawk eyeing its prey."What do you want?" she asked, not bothering to hide her disapproval."I got some information you'll be interested in," I told her, holding up the USB for her to see.Her gaze flickered to the thumb drive, then back to me. "What kind of information?" she asked, her voice suspicious.I hid a grin, knowing she didn't trust me. "The kind that will take down the whole Cartel operation," I replied, holding the thumb drive out to her. "Everything my uncle had on all his enemies, his partners, his dirty dealings."Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't reach for it. "What's the catch?""There isn't one," I replied. "Just take them down."Casey's eyes searched mi

~MARLOWE~I wasn’t sure how the hell it had come to this. Witness Protection! Oh my God! Never in my life had I thought I’d ever be in this position. But dammit, that's exactly where I had found myself! I’d done everything I could to adjust. It just hadn't happened. The first few days had been awful. I'd run to the window every time I'd heard a vehicle, a motorcycle, even freaking voices!They’d told me that I had to cut all ties, leave everything behind, even my name. I'd assumed the name Rachel Peters, a young widow who had moved to a small town to start over. I'd felt like I was in a fictional crime novel, except it was real---all too real.Now though, just as I was beginning to get comfortable being Rachel Peters, Casey shows up in my living room, her voice grim, she immediately starts tossing out orders. "We have a problem and we're going to need to move you."Panic set in. Well fuck me! I couldn't help thinking."What's happened?" I asked, immediately setting about gathering my t

Over the next few days, we were like two animals trapped in a cage, fighting our instincts and our fears. We talked little, our communication mostly in the form of touch, of love-making that was both fierce and desperate.But as the weeks went by, our anxiety lessened, becoming more a shadow in the background of our lives, than the monster it had been.Though bound to the house, under the circumstances of the cartel actively seeking us, I tried to make the best of it. Torin getting nerves had become commonplace, but under it all, I knew the cause and tried to maintain.However, though the fear receded greatly, for me, it had never completely left. I couldn't speak for Torin, as he had always kept everything close to his sleeve, and in our time together in the safe house, that hadn't changed.After awakening one morning and nursing a cup of coffee, my phone rang, and picking it up I saw it was Casey."It's over," she told me. "You can return to your old lives."I sat for a moment stunn

As I came out of my thoughts, I gave a shake of my head, heaved a sigh, and glanced at my dash clock. I couldn’t put the moment off any longer, and reaching out, I placed the pickup in gear and began moving forward between the trees that flanked either side of the drive.When the colonial/academy finally came into view, the moisture already coating my eyes increased, Grandma had loved this place. With that thought, I once again wiped at the tears sliding down my cheeks, then pulled in among the vehicles already parked about the grounds. With a release of breath from the anxiety gnawing at my stomach, I opened the door of my pickup and stretched my legs toward the ground. Afterward, gaining my feet, and with nervous fingers, I straightened the plain, black dress I’d chosen to wear. After checking to make sure my hair was still pinned in the twist I’d placed it in, I stepped forward.All too soon, I stood on the huge porch, my chest heaving, and my vision darkening around the edges, ale

The inside of the huge barn glowed beneath what seemed like a thousand flashlights hanging suspended from the high wooden beams of the rafters. A light breeze swept in through the open doors, setting the small beams of light swaying and dancing above the heads of those attending the party. As Keeley and I danced to the rhythm of music blasting out of the large speakers strategically placed about the inside of the barn, I glanced up and caught Rook watching me. My heart skipped a beat before it began to thump madly within my chest, as I’d never seen him look at me in that manner before. I’d seen him look at other women with that same look in his eyes, but he had never aimed it toward me.A flush of warmth swept through me as he continued observing the provocative, uninhibited sway of my hips, his eyes practically smoldering. The look made me feel he was finally seeing me as something other than where I’d been regulated over the past years; his foster sister.Hope, looming in my chest,