Cat was nostalgic for the days when she and Jon had worked together. How happy her brother had been when they’d got a client. Or when Jon had received a cheque from a client. Jon had always taken her for dinner at Cucina Amore when they’d had some money to splurge. She couldn’t believe he was gone.
“Cat…”
Gabriel startled her. He leaned against the door frame as she cleaned Jon’s desk. It had been six weeks since they’d returned from South Africa. Her broken leg and wrist had mended and she was out of the casts. She’d lived in Gabriel’s apartment until she’d healed completely. Today, they were visiting Jon’s grave and the office. Cat was overwhelmed by the memory of her brother, but it was time to move on and let go of the past.
Cat took a seat behind Jon’s desk. “I’m going to carry on running this agency. In Jon’s memory.”
Gabriel didn’t look surprised. “I knew you were going to say that.”
Gabriel had proposed to her two weeks ago, and she had accepted. They planned to have a small, private wedding in Bermuda. Her fiancé had probably thought she was going to sit still and be a nice housewife, but Cat couldn’t do that. She enjoyed sleuthing so much, even when it got her stuffed into the trunk of a car or boxed into a wooden crate and flown to Africa. Besides, this was Jon’s legacy.
“Do you object?” Cat asked.
“Naturally, I do. The thought of your running around the city, stalking bad guys, gives me migraines. But what can I do? Each time I tell you to do something, you do the exact opposite.”
She couldn’t help grinning.
“Here’s my proposal. We’ll run the agency together.”
“You want to work as a PI?”
“I think it would be a fun job.”
“What about your companies? Don’t you have to run them?”
“I don’t see why I can’t have both. Besides, I have Alex and Ren to keep an eye on things. That leaves me plenty of time to spend with you.”
“You’re so sweet.”
“We’ll hire a secretary to tend the office while we’re working together.”
“Why do I have a feeling Danielson and Wyatt are still going to be involved in this?”
Gabriel smiled. “You have a knack for being hauled into enclosed spaces. I’ll have to watch over you for a while.”
Cat harrumphed.
Someone knocked on the door.
Cat raised her eyebrow, wondering who it might be. Gabriel opened the door. A woman in her thirties, dressed in a two-piece suit and wearing sunglasses, asked if she could see Jon Kovac. Gabriel invited her in.
“Please have a seat. This is Catherine Kovac, Jon’s sister. And I’m Gabriel Larousse, Cat’s fiancé.”
“Nice to meet you, Miss Kovac.” The woman watched Gabriel with interest. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
Gabriel slickly brushed her suspicion off. “I doubt it. People often mistake me for a celebrity look-alike.”
“Ah, I see.”
They sat.
“My name is Sarah Rowe. My friend Jessica recommended you. She used Jon’s service for her divorce proceedings. I’d like to engage your services to get proof that my husband is cheating on me. I know he’s keeping a mistress in the Bronx. Paid for her apartment and car. That bastard.”
Gabriel traded gazes with Cat.
“You’d like to file for a divorce from your husband?” Cat asked.
“Yes.”
“I think we can help you,” Gabriel said quickly. “It’s within our limits.”
Cat wanted to roll her eyes. She sat in silence as Gabriel expertly took notes and extracted information from Mrs Rowe. He was just like Jon. Déjà vu. When Gabriel had taken the info he needed, he showed Mrs Rowe to the door.
He turned to Cat. “Well? What do you think? It’s our first case.”
“You really want to do this?”
“Of course.”
Cat lunged at him. Gabriel welcomed her in a tight hug. They kissed.
“I appreciate what you are doing for me.”
“I’m just glad you’re mine.” Gabriel kissed her some more. “Now, who’s up to catching a naughty husband in flagrante delicto?”
“Me, me, me!”
Coming Soon from Total-E-Bound Publishing:
Chain of Lust
Lizzie Lynn Lee
Released 21st May 2012
Excerpt
Chapter One
Please not the diploma, oh, please not the diploma…
Madeline Cartwright froze in her seat as she surreptitiously watched the framed diploma on the wall behind her interviewer, Doctor O’Bannon, become unhinged from the hook. It hovered three foot above him. And the culprits—a pair of poltergeists—leered at her, apparently ready to drop it on Dr O’Bannon’s head.
Maddie clawed the edge of her seat, feeling cold all over.
The poltergeists, volatile spirits that love wreaking havoc, swarmed around the office like renegade bullets. She was the only one who could see them. And Dr O’Bannon, a dermatologist who was looking for a new receptionist, remained oblivious. He’d been oblivious when the poltergeists moved a framed picture of him and his family from his desk and defaced it by scribbling moustaches on each person with a Sharpie pen. And he was still oblivious when the poltergeists dropped paperclips and an eraser into his coffee mug. Maddie sincerely hoped Dr O’Bannon wouldn’t notice any of that until the interview had finished and she was long gone from the office.
But if those nasty spirits decided to drop the diploma on Dr O’Bannon’s head…
Maddie shifted her gaze to her interviewer, schooling her best poker face. Dr O’Bannon had noticed she’d been nervous earlier. The good doctor had joked he wouldn’t bite her and Maddie had forced herself to make a polite girlish giggle. She liked Dr O’Bannon. The middle-aged man with receding hairline and cheery disposition seemed like a good boss to work for.
And besides, she really needed this job.
She was tired of scraping here and there just to get by, and facing eviction every month because she couldn’t hold down a steady job. Maddie wasn’t lazy or anything. She was just a magnet for spirits, ghosts, and all things unseen, to the point that she had trouble functioning in real life. Ghosts loved pestering her to help them with their worldly unfinished business, and other kind of spirits—wraiths, spectres, and their whole gangs—loved messing around with her. Maybe because they didn’t encounter many humans that could see them, or maybe she was catnip for the spirits, but her gift had become a curse.
Dr O’Bannon cleared his throat as he finished reading her résumé. “You worked as a front desk clerk at your last job?”
Maddie stiffened in her seat. “Actually,” she decided to be honest, “I was working as a cashier in 7-Eleven after the hotel job. I didn’t put the cashier on my résumé because I didn’t think it was relative to the position I’m applying for.”
“I see.” Dr O’Bannon went back to scrutinizing her résumé. “You only worked for three months at the Red Inn.”
“Yes, sir.” Maddie swallowed hard. “The hotel management wanted me to work the graveyard shift and I couldn’t. I’m the primary caretaker of my mother.” The truth was, she was afraid of working nights. The spirits particularly loved to prowl after sunset. She preferred to be at home, in her own apartment, where she could put some wards against them. Sometimes, the wards worked. Many times, they were useless. Either way, she felt much better fending them in her own turf.
“And how long did you work in 7-Eleven?” he asked.
Maddie shifted uncomfortably, wondering whether she should lie or not. She’d lasted only one day in the 7-Eleven. A customer ran away from the store after claiming she was handing him a snake. It wasn’t a snake. It was his change. She didn’t know why, or what kind of spirit had the power of illusions, but to the eyes of that customer, he thought Maddie had handed him a three-foot long hissing cobra.
But that wasn’t all.
With his demented screaming
, other customers were also running from the store thinking the place was being robbed. Within minutes, the store was surrounded by police officers and she had gone through some embarrassing interrogations, and before lunch time, she was out of her job.
Of course, when she argued to the owner he should check the security camera that she hadn’t played any hanky-panky like the customer had claimed, the owner wouldn’t hear her reasons and ousted her anyway. It was so unfair.
Maddie halted her breath, decided to skitter along the truth. “Only a day, sir. The place was robbed, and I was too startled to go back the next day.”
Dr O’Bannon let out a sympathetic sound. “That was unfortunate.”
Maddie nodded hopefully. “That’s why I prefer an office job. It’s more…secure.”
Dr O’Bannon nodded along, looking eager. “I can understand your concerns. I assure you my clients are respectable members of the society. In fact, we have a few celebrities, as well.”
A flicker of hope lit up. Does this mean he’ll hire me? Maddie straightened her posture and hoped the good doctor would hire her before those poltergeists ruined it all.
Unlikely though.
The poltergeists that had been following her since she got off the train in Dan Ryan started to chant an annoying sing-song audible only to her. “Maddie, Maddie, Maddie…”
She knew the drill. Poltergeists loved to chant whenever they were about to create havoc. This wasn’t the first time she had encountered nasty ones like them. Maddie forced herself out of her trance and took the initiative. “Sir, is it possible if we conclude this meeting at a later time? Suddenly, I’m feeling unwell and—”
Crash!
God no. For a long moment, she couldn’t breathe. The diploma slammed into O’Bannon’s cranial in full force. The glass cracked. The frame balanced on top of the doctor’s head before it tumbled and hit the carpeted floor. Dr O’Bannon, who was shocked and puzzled, could only mumble unintelligently, wondering what had just happened.
The frame wasn’t big enough to knock someone unconscious. Maddie had prepared herself with an excuse that somehow the diploma had gotten loose from the wall and fallen on his head. But at that moment, all hell broke loose.
The poltergeists swung in full force. Havoc ensued. The filing cabinets opened by themselves. Folders flew in the air. The chairs slid out of the room, of their own accord. The printer spewed paper from its tray. Everything on Dr O’Bannon’s desk became airborne.
It was pandemonium.
Sweet Jesus Christ.
Maddie leapt from her seat and shambled towards the door.
She had to get out of there before Dr O’Bannon, or anybody else in the office, got seriously hurt. Spirits or poltergeists rarely hurt her. They liked to play, tease, and so far none of their hauntings had managed to put her six feet under. Thank God for that. But it didn’t guarantee people around her wouldn’t get scratched. Dr O’Bannon was yelling in confusion when she skidded past the door. She hoped the poltergeists would follow her instead and abandon Dr O’Bannon.
Maddie ran into the elevator and slammed her palm on the ground button. O’Bannon’s office was located on the seventh floor in the Folsom building. It housed several law and financial firms in upper levels, retails and boutiques on the lower stories. The elevator’s door whispered shut. Maddie flattened her back against one wall, bracing herself so she wouldn’t fall. As she’d predicted, the poltergeists followed her into the elevator. Maddie only had two minutes of respite before her shoes were taken away from her feet forcefully. She lost her balance and fell.
“Fuck!”
Maddie groggily reached for the elevator buttons. She slammed on five and hoped she could get out before she was seriously in deep shit. Taking an elevator down was proving to be a bad idea. She should have taken the stairs instead. If the poltergeists decided to tamper with the elevator, people could seriously get hurt. If she took the stairs, the only person to watch out for was herself. One of the poltergeists tugged her purse. Maddie quickly snatched it back and barked, “Leave me alone!”
It meant nothing to the poltergeists. They knew she couldn’t do anything about it. She was as helpless as a squealing infant. The poltergeist yanked her purse back. Maddie pulled it with all her might. Her wallet was in there. She didn’t have much money in it, but if it was lost, she wouldn’t have train fare back to her apartment. The poltergeist gave in and blew a long raspberry to her. The others started to pull her hair and her clothes. Her heart plummeted. Poltergeists didn’t usually behave this way. They loved wreaking havoc around her. Not to her.
The elevator shuddered to a halt and the door opened. Maddie bounded from it like a junkie on PCP, looking for the nearest exit. Luckily, there were no people in the hallway at this time. Or she probably would have run over them. Dr O’Bannon had scheduled her for a late interview because he didn’t have the resources to make his appointment in regular business hours.
Maddie dashed to the left, following the emergency exit sign. She barely ran past half the corridor when the poltergeist tripped her. She stumbled like a fallen tower. They got the hem of her pants and started dragging her toward the elevator again.
“No!” She writhed, abandoning her attempt to be secretive. “Help!” And she really needed help. She thought she could handle them like she always had. But this time, she couldn’t. This gang of poltergeists wasn’t like any she’d encountered before. Maybe this time they would try to kill her. Maddie tried to grab on to something, anything. There was nothing to grab on and nobody around to help her. “Help me!”
Maddie squirmed, trying to shake them off. It was useless. They were too many and too devious. They gave a hard yank and she sort of flew to the end of the corridor. “Help!” She blindly grabbed above her head. This time, she caught something. A foot. Boots.
A man.
She heard somebody bellow, “Be gone!”
For a moment, she thought the shout was directed to her. Then, she found out the man was shouting at the poltergeists.
Wait a minute—he could see them?
The poltergeists scattered with scampering shrieks.
Maddie took a good look at her saviour. A pair of black boots filled her view. Then a pair of strong, long legs wrapped in black leather pants, followed by his long black leather coat. His body was mostly obscured by his trench coat, but he was built like a truck, solid and powerful. He was handsome. Devastatingly handsome. Unruly copper hair framed his features. He had strong jaws, an aquiline nose, lush eyebrows, and piercing eyes.
Maddie’s heart started to race again. His eyes were glowing red.
The man wasn’t human.
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About the Author
I write. I doodle. I play guitar. Not necessarily in that order. I’m an incurable chatterbox, heavy metal aficionado, bookworm and a night owl, since most of my stories are done in the wee hours of the morning because of my caffeine-induced insomnia. I’m a big South Park fan, and I’m fluent in Cartman speak and I’m working on mastering my Kennynese. Cookies and donuts are my main diet and I currently owe a fortune to the swear jar. I won’t bite, I promise.
Email: [email protected]
Lizzie loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.total-e-bound.com.
Also by Lizzie Lynn Lee
Orient Fevre
Gilded Cage
Corporate Plaything
Private Sessions
Werebeasties
Dragon Hunts
Spirit World: Maison Plaisir
Seeing Stars: To Bed a Goddess
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