It wasn’t a coincidence that it arrived when it did, or that the bell had been rung to signal its appearance. Someone knew I was at the hotel. Whether they knew I was there with Evie or not, I couldn’t be certain, but I wasn’t willing to risk it either way. Even if they didn’t, I was certain they soon would.
When Evie questioned me, I tried to act normal and pretend everything was fine. Still, I needed to impart the urgency to move on. While Evie was packing, I read through the accompanying article, trying to decipher any code in it. It was too coincidental that the paper that had arrived had that particular article.
I thought back to the night at the Hawthorne and the way my family were acting. Had they been expecting me to run? They’d certainly been interested in learning more about the woman at the bar and looking back, it had been almost too easy to leave.
Were they giving me R&R?
If that was the case, was the newspaper their way of telling me to come home. Scarily, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. They’d have had no immediate way of knowing Evie was still alive, and probably assumed that I’d hit it off with the puritan messenger girl. It wouldn’t have been long before they reviewed the security footage of the Hawthorne hotel though. I tried to think of how they might have known where I was, but the only thing I could come up with was that the cab driver must have turned informant—unless I was just being paranoid.
Regardless of whether the cabbie had divulged the information or not, I needed to get Evie as far away as possible. I couldn’t risk my family endangering her life. Neither could I risk the possibility of her hurting them.
When Evie went into the bathroom to put her hair up, I read the article for the third time, thinking how odd it was that a story about a Rain operation had made the paper at all, let alone the front page. It happened on occasion, but not that regularly and usually not without some reason.
It was then that I noticed one of the ads next to the story, an ad for a bridal shop, had some odd punctuation and word choices. With my heart in my throat, I scanned the ad carefully, reading every word after the punctuation and saw a message that was almost certainly intended for me.
“The meeting is over. You’ve had your fun. It’s time to bring your new bride home.”
It confirmed the cab driver had been our betrayer. Whether Dad had found out the license details of the man and threatened him or whether I’d stumbled onto a Rain sympathizer, I would never know.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter.
Dad had obviously thought my story to the driver was the truth. It meant that he didn’t know Evie was still alive, but he did know where I was. That was all I needed to know—enough to convince me to leave.
A little less than an hour later, Evie and I were on a bus. I didn’t look where it was going, because it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I had Evie back in my life and that she was safe. I wasn’t willing to give her up ever again.
I could only hope that the rest would work itself out before the end.
TO BE CONTINUED IN
AMONG THE DEBRIS
(SON OF RAIN #2)
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ALSO BY MICHELLE IRWIN
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Happily Evan After (Fall for You #1)
Available Now
Evan is a reluctant cupid.
Facing an unknown term of servitude to repay his debt to the world, it is his responsibility to guide couples together. Despite initial hesitancy, he has learned to handle every case with care and he now basks in the afterglow of new-found love and relishes in the energy it provides him. But his end goal is still the promise of paradise in return for his penance.
It's all going according to plan until he receives an assignment that is inconceivable to him. He has to find a mate for Becca, within whom lives the reincarnated soul of his one true love. Bound by his duty to find her a match, he must resist her charm and suppress his own desires. It is his job and he cannot fail, even if his own paradise now seems lost.
For a cupid, falling in love is against the rules.
Isn't it?
All Amity Allows (Fall for You #2)
Available Now
Amity is a disillusioned angel.
For countless millennia, she's helped her assignments find truth in their experiences and improve their lives. Once, she'd been tender and caring, but humanity's misuse of free will and her own missteps have left her jaded.
Now, all Amity allows is the truth. Get in, get out, and never let them know that she’s there. That’s the motto she's lived by for years. She considers her latest assignment nothing more than the next in a long line of jilted lovers that she’s had to help. When her presence exposes more than either of them was ready for, will they be able to find the truths hidden deep within the other? Or will the fallout leave them both in tatters?
The truth will set them free.
Won’t it?
Through the Fire (Daughter of Fire #1)
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Evie Meyers’ life is one spent on the run. Every minute of every day, her life is in danger if anyone should suspect the truth about her ancestry. Her father was willing to risk everything to keep the truth hidden, even from her, but the lies he fabricated were exposed when her high school crush, Clay Jacobs, inadvertently stumbled upon her secret. His discovery puts Evie at risk from a secret organization tasked with washing the world clean of nonhumans—and Clay is one of its deadliest soldiers. Forced into a war she doesn’t understand, all because of what she is, Evie is left with no choice but to flee with her father to escape persecution.
When Clay reappears in her life, battle scarred and mysterious, Evie is unprepared and terrified as he forces his way back into her heart. When the battle catches up with her, and a tragic accident tears apart the peace she discovered, she finds herself alone and without the protection of her father, or her lover. Now, she needs to keep her secrets hidden and learn to survive on her own in a world that wants her dead, all while searching for the missing piece of her heart.
Rise from Ash (Daughter of Fire #2)
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Into the Rain (Daughter of Fire #3)
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Igniting the Spark (Daughter of Fire #4)
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CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Experience Declan’s complete story. Includes all four novels, the RONE-nominated novella “Decide” and an exclusive bonus novella “Decode”.
INCLUDED BOOKS:
Decide
Decline
Deceive
Decipher
Declare
Decode
As high school sweethearts, Declan Reede and Alyssa Dawson didn’t always see eye-to-eye. Especially when it came to his dream of being a driver in the ProV8 series. When he’s offered the chance at the career of his dreams, Declan straps himself in for the ride regardless of the cost.
Older, but not wiser, Declan is on the path to becoming a racing legend. Only, regret haunts him around the track and threatens to send him off-course. When a chance encounter offers the opportunity to correct his mistakes, Declan must learn to manage the curves if he wants to claim the ultimate prize.
**Due to strong language and sexual content not intended for anyone under the age of 18**
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle Irwin has been many things in her life: a hobbit taking a precious item to a fiery mountain; a young child stepping through the back of a wardrobe into another land; the last human stranded not-quite-alone in space three million years in the future; a young girl willing to fight for the love of a vampire; and a time-travelling madman in a box. She achieved all of these feats and many more through her voracious reading habit. Eventually, so much reading had to have an effect and the cast of characters inside her mind took over and
spilled out onto the page.
Michelle lives in sunny Queensland in the land down under with her surprisingly patient husband and ever-intriguing daughter, carving out precious moments of writing and reading time around her accounts-based day job. A lover of love and overcoming the odds, she primarily writes paranormal and fantasy romance.
Comments, questions, and suggestions for improvements are always welcome. You can reach me at [email protected] or through my website www.michelle-irwin.com. Thanks in advance for your correspondence.
You can also connect with me online via
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Besieged by Rain (Son of Rain #1) Page 27