Bound by the Red Thread

by Rose Nickol

  He’d fooled them at first, because they didn’t think he could have been the one doing everything by himself. It seemed that he was almost as smart as Paul, and if he had the right support, would be able to compete with Brody and Monty when he was older.

  He’d had a crush on her, and when she’d taken Paul to meet everyone the day they delivered the leftovers, it had triggered him, but being as immature as he was, he hadn’t known how to react to his feelings.

  He hadn’t been dangerous, just a kid with a crush. She’d been at the safe house for about two weeks before Monty and Darrall had figured it out. Monty had been able to piece together enough videos from the area to figure out the young man was taking the bus, and then grabbed the camera feeds from the transportation company and pieced everything together.

  He’d stolen a wallet and used that ID and credit card to rent the car, but had been too scared to try it again. That was when Monty had started suspecting it was someone she knew locally rather than someone Huang had hired.

  When they’d confronted Steven, he’d confessed to everything. Nicole had declined to press charges and had spoken to the district attorney and asked her to be lenient with the young man if possible.

  Steve’s family had been appalled when they’d found out what he had been doing, and from the sounds of the lectures his mother and father had started before they left the police station, Nicole was pretty sure he’d have second thoughts before trying anything like that again. His mother had also promised Nicole to try and find him some counseling with the help of a social worker who also volunteered at the shelter.

  She and Paul were currently sitting on a private plane that was owned by Morgan Clark Elder, the wife of Jason Elder. Jason was one of the founders of the security firm and Morgan had been one of the first clients of Forrest Security. Jason had fallen in love with her after she hired them to find her best friend, a woman who had been kidnapped by human traffickers and would have been lost, if not for her friend pushing to find her.

  “Are you nervous?” Paul asked, taking her hand and threading his fingers through hers.

  “A little. I can’t believe it’s finally happening. Do you think he’s going to be excited to see me?”

  “You know he will be. He practically came through the phone when he heard we were coming to pick him up.”

  “I can’t believe Jin gave in so quickly after his father passed away.”

  “It’s going to be hard on Cliff. He’s going to need all the support you can give him. We’re going to need to find him a good therapist to help him work through all this.”

  Nicole nodded. Huang Peng had passed away from a heart attack almost a month ago. A few days after everything was settled, Nicole had gotten a call from Jin telling her to come and get her son, or he’d place the boy on a plane alone and she could meet him at the airport.

  Darrall had stepped in and made arrangements to use Morgan’s plane to transport Paul and Nicole to China to retrieve the boy. They would spend the night and come back the next day, giving the pilot time to rest and be ready for the flight home.

  Apparently, Jin had another family in China. A woman who he’d been seeing before he’d met and gotten Nicole pregnant. The two children the woman had conceived had both been females and Huang had insisted Jin marry Nicole when he found out she was carrying what could possibly be his grandson.

  Not wanting to disappoint his father, Jin had given in to this pressure and lived a miserable life with Nicole until his father had fallen ill and demanded to be able to spend what days he had left with his only grandson. Jin had been unable to deny the man. Now that his father was gone, Jin no longer wanted the added responsibility of his son. He and his former lover were content to live in her home with their children and had no room for a young boy.

  When Huang passed away, everything had been left to his first son, a brother Jin had never known he had. Jin’s brother Jian had been raised by his mother and Jin had never met him.

  Jian was the total opposite of his father. Neither Jin nor his brother Jian had any interest in continuing things the way their father had run them and were more than willing to let the authorities take over and no longer be involved in Haung’s business.

  The plane landed and Nicole rushed her way through the terminal to the lounge where her son was waiting.

  “Mommy!” Cliff ran up to his mom and wrapped his arms around her. “Mommy! I’ve missed you so much!”

  Nicole wrapped her arms around him, falling to her knees crying with joy.

  “I’ve missed you too, baby. I’ve missed you so much,” she sobbed.

  They stayed like that for several long minutes, holding each other and crying.

  Finally, Paul walked over and helped Nicole to stand. “Let’s go over here where we can sit.”

  He guided them to a large chair where they could all sit together. He sat first pulling Nicole and Clifton in with him.

  They sat together for several minutes, Nicole and Cliff both crying. As their emotions settled, Paul felt both of them begin to relax.

  He noticed a man standing with a woman and two young girls watching from a distance.

  He looked at Nicole and nodded in that direction. She nodded her eyes following his. “Cliff, let’s go say goodbye to your dad.”

  She took a deep breath and stood, then took Cliff’s hand and determinedly walked over to where Jin was standing.

  “Nicole, this is YinMae.” He introduced her to the woman standing beside him. “And these are our daughters, Haun and Mei.” The girls both clung to their mother who looked Nicole up and down before taking her daughters and walking away.

  One of the girls appeared to be older than Cliff the other younger. It was obvious that Jin had been with the woman for several years, both before and after their marriage.

  “I want you to keep in contact with Cliff,” Nicole told Jin quietly. “He needs his father in his life. We can arrange visits, vacations, phone calls… whatever.”

  “I’m not sure that will work.” Jin turned and looked over his shoulder to where YinMae was standing with both of their daughters.

  “I hope we can try.” Nicole felt Paul’s presence behind her giving her the strength to continue.

  Jin knelt down and looked Cliff in the eyes. “Be a good boy for your mother. Always remember that I love you.” Then, he stood, and with a nod to Nicole and Paul, he walked away.

  They stood and watched as he met up with YinMae and the four of them walked away without a backward glance.

  Epilogue

  Six months later

  Nicole walked into Trident Security with her son and fiancé. She and Paul had gotten engaged as soon as her divorce became final. They were building a house in Colorado not far from the small condo Paul had been living in.

  They’d decided they wanted something new that would be theirs alone and had no memories of the past to deal with.

  Clifton was seeing a counselor three times a week to help him deal with all the changes he’d been through. Once a week Nicole joined him and Paul went every other week. They were learning to cope together.

  “Nicole, welcome back,” Colleen jumped up to greet them. She rushed to hug Nicole and shook Paul’s and Cliff’s hands.

  “Hi! Colleen. I heard a rumor that an old friend of mine might be here today?”

  Colleen nodded and went back to her desk, picking up her phone and talking softly into it.

  A few minutes later two men walked into the room. “Nikki!” the younger man called as he walked quickly up to them.

  “Nick?” Nicole asked walking up to the man.

  “How long has it been?” Nick asked, pulling Nicole into his arms.

  “Too long. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all the help your brothers were able to provide. Is Ian or Devon around? I’d like to thank them personally.”

  As she finished talking, she saw Ian and Devon walking up behind Nick.

  “Nikki, this is my husband, Jake Donovan.” Ni
ck grabbed the hand of the big man beside him and pulled him closer.

  “I hate to break this reunion up, but someone needs to get some work done. Reverend, Junior?” Ian turned to Nicole. “Nicole I’m so glad things worked out for you. Nick, set up what we talked about.” Then he left the room.

  Nick rolled his eyes at his brother and then smiled at Nicole. “Ignore Ian, he’s cranky as usual. We were wondering if you’d like to meet us for dinner tonight. Ian, Dev, and I would enjoy catching up and finding out how things are going with you. Paul and Cliff are welcome too. Jake will be there along with Ian and Dev’s wives.”

  Nicole raised her eyes in a question at Paul and with his nod, then back at Nick. “That sounds like fun.” They made plans to meet later that day at Donovan’s, Jake’s brother’s pub/restaurant to catch up on everything that had gone on both before and after they had retrieved Nicole’s son.

  Life was good and Nicole was happier than she had ever been.

  * * *

  The End

  The author and I hope you’ve enjoyed this addition to the Suspenseful Seduction World. Please consider leaving a review on your favorite book sites. Thank you!

  * * *

  Love, Samantha

  To keep up to date on everything going on in the Suspenseful Seduction World, please join the reader group on Facebook and sign up for the SSW newsletter:

  * * *

  SSW Reader Group

  SSW Newsletter

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to everyone who helped put this book together. JP Graphics and Damian Bloodstone for the awesome cover. Ann Atwood, my talented editor. All the beta readers. Rhonda who never stops offering encouragement and I can always count on for a “you got this.” Heidi who was there every step of the way to hold my hand, and all the readers who help us authors make our dream of telling stories possible. Thanks for reading my story, and I hope you’ll join along for the adventures to come.

  About the Author

  Follow Rose at the links below:

  * * *

  Website: Rosenickolromance.com

  Facebook Group: Rose Nickol's Petals of Rose

  Other Books By Rose

  Club de Fluers:

  Jenna

  Sadie

  Theresa

  Rachel

  Tina’ Twins

  Tasha

  Melissa

  * * *

  All the President’s Men:

  Derek’s Darling Damsel

  Tyler’s Tasty Treat

  Dillion’s Dainty Delight

  * * *

  Ransom Ranch:

  Dakota Pride

  Avery’s Last Ride: A Ransom Ranch Story: Dakota Pride 2

  * * *

  Men in Blue:

  Gavin’s Bliss

  Cara’s Truth

  * * *

  Ashcroft Security:

  Saving Lena

  * * *

  Kodiak Matings:

  Bearly Mated

  * * *

  Heroes of the Heart:

  Rescuing Their Love

  Rescuing Their Heart

  Rescuing Trent

  * * *

  Blackhawk Creek:

  Jakey’s Promise

  * * *

  Snow Angel

  * * *

  Satan’s Bears:

  Saving Jasmine

  Finding His Mate

  * * *

  Twisting Hearts:

  Rebecca’s Fate

  Stacee’s Recovery

  * * *

  Flaming Hearts:

  Loving Heidi

  Four Flames for Angela

  * * *

  Mountain Shifters:

  Freeing her Lion

  * * *

  The Men Across the Street

  This book includes one or more characters from Samantha A. Cole’s Trident Security series and Doms of The Covenant series. Check them out and some of her other books listed below.

  The Trident Security Series

  Leather & Lace: Book 1

  His Angel: Book 2

  Waiting For Him: Book 3

  Not Negotiable: A Novella Book 3.5

  Topping The Alpha: Book 4

  Watching From the Shadows: Book 5

  Whiskey Tribute: A Novella Book 5.5

  Tickle His Fancy: Book 6

  No Way in Hell: A Steel Corp/Trident Security Crossover: Books 1 & 2

  Absolving His Sins: Book 7

  Option Number Three: A Novella Book 7.5

  Salvaging His Soul: Book 8

  Trident Security Field Manual

  Torn In Half

  * * *

  The Trident Security Omega Team Series

  Mountain of Evil: TS Omega Team Prequel

  A Dead Man’s Pulse: TS Omega Team Book 1

  Forty Days & One Knight: Book 2

  * * *

  The Doms of The Covenant Series

  Double Down & Dirty Book 1

  Entertaining Distraction: Book 2

  * * *

  The Deimos Series

  Handling Haven: Special Forces: Operation Alpha:

  Deimos Book 1

  Cheating the Devil: Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Deimos Book 2

  * * *

  The Blackhawk Security Series

  Tuff Enough: Book 1

  * * *

  Hazard Falls Series

  Don’t Fight It: Book 1

  Don’t Shoot the Messenger: Book 2

  * * *

  The Malone Brothers Series

  Take the Money and Run: Book 1

  The Devil's Spare Change: Book 2

  USA Today Bestselling Author and Award-Winning Author Samantha A. Cole is a retired police officer and paramedic. She's lived her entire life in the suburbs of New York City and is looking forward to becoming a snow-bird between New York and Florida someday. Her two fur-babies, Jinx and Bella, keep her company and remind their mom to take a break from writing every once in a while to go for a walk, which is the best way to deal with a stubborn case of writer’s block.

  An avid reader since childhood, Samantha was often found with a book in hand and sometimes one in each. After being gifted with a stack of romance novels from her grandmother, her love affair with the genre began in her teens. Many years later, she discovered her love for writing stories was just as strong. Using her life experiences and training, she strives to find the perfect mix of suspense and romance for her readers to enjoy.

  Her standalone novel, The Friar, won the silver medal in the 2017 Readers' Favorite Awards in the Contemporary Romance genre.

  While the original planned stories for the Trident Security series have been completed, they have brought many opportunities for Samantha to spread her wings and bring her readers more characters and stories to love.

  Sexy Six-Pack’s Sirens Group on Facebook

  Website

  Subscribe to Samantha’s Newsletter