Treacherous Seduction (The Rockford Security Series Book 3)

by Jones, Lee Anne

  Shane wasn’t having it, apparently. Instead he spat on the floor near Chase’s feet as the officers tugged him past, his tone harsh with betrayal. “Judas. You’re nothing but a fucking Judas and a lousy ass excuse for a brother.”

  Guilt and nausea roiled in Chase’s stomach. He sucked in a breath to keep from puking. This was how it had to be, no matter how difficult. He knew that. Too bad the knowing didn’t make the doing any easier. He forced his tense shoulders to relax and glanced at Detective Troy Atkins, who stood beside him. “Can I have a minute alone with him?”

  “Sorry,” Troy said. “That’s not really allowed.”

  “C’mon, man. He’s my flesh and blood. Please? I promise I won’t say anything I’m not supposed to. You can listen in, if you want, to make sure. I just…” He glanced at the door through which they’d led Shane, heard his brother’s hateful words echo inside his head like exploding grenades. “I need to make sure he knows how serious this is. Why I did what I did. Maybe I could convince him to cooperate.”

  Troy shook his head then looked at his watch. “Like I said, this isn’t protocol. And I will be watching through the two-way mirror into that interrogation room. One wrong word and it’s my ass on the line, not just yours. Got it?”

  “Got it.” Chase followed the detective down the now familiar hallway and to the door to the same interrogation room. His chest squeezed tight with adrenaline.

  “Five minutes.” Troy walked to another door a few feet away. “Make them good.”

  Chase nodded, the metal handle of the door ice cold against his palm. He could do this. He would do this. Shane needed to know, needed to understand, needed to save himself as much as possible. He walked in to find Shane sitting in the seat Detective Marlowe had usual occupied during Chase questioning.

  His brother looked up at him, his gaze as hard as his expression. “You did this. You turned on me. Your own fucking brother.”

  “Shit, Shane. You killed a man!” Chase ran a hand through his hair, agitated. “I don’t give a damn why you did it—if Katherine Bryant had you wrapped around her finger with sex or drugs or money or whatever. You murdered someone, Shane.” He punched the cement wall with his fist, craving the pain. “Then you set me up for it. After everything I did. After I gave you a second chance.”

  “Second chance?” Shane gave a derisive snort. “What the fuck does that even mean? A second chance for what? For the same old shitty life that I had before you went to prison? The same shitty life I’ve got now. Some fucking second chance. Thanks, bro. Thanks a lot.”

  “I served five years for you.”

  “I never asked you to do that.”

  “No, you didn’t. I did it because we’re family. Family does for each other.” He thought of the Rockfords, of how different their charmed life was compared to this shitstorm of a situation. “Of course, you never asked me to take the wrap for you this time either, just went ahead and planned it that way.” His eyes stung with angry tears. He blinked hard and steeled his resolve. “But I won’t take the blame this time. I won’t throw my life away again, especially not for someone who—”

  “Someone who what?” Shane slammed his hands down on the tabletop, the metal from his handcuffs clanging loud in the small room. “Did you ever consider maybe I am the way I am because of you? Ever think of that, Mr. Martyr? Ever think that maybe if you’d been a better brother—”

  “Better brother?” Chase didn’t even attempt to keep his voice down now. “Jesus Christ, Shane. How the hell could I sacrifice any more for you than I already have, huh? I did the absolute best I could, Shane. But it’s time you took responsibility for your actions, Shane.”

  “Fuck you, Chase!”

  He stalked to the far corner of the room and took several deep breaths to calm the rage tearing through him. Arguing about things they couldn’t change wouldn’t help anyone right now. What would help Shane was getting him to turn on Katherine. He glanced back at his brother over his shoulder. Shane sat hunched at the table now, looking sullen and scared and every single one of his twenty-nine years. “Take the plea bargain they’ll offer you. It’ll reduce your sentence. Don’t hold any loyalty for Katherine Bryant. That viperous bitch will sell you out in a second.”

  There. He’d said what he’d come to say. Whether Shane took it to heart or not was his choice. Chase started toward the door, but a voice behind him halted his steps.

  “You don’t have to go yet.”

  The quiet, plaintive fear in his brother’s tone helped Chase’s shattered heart to mend a tad. He turned. “Yeah, I do actually. Someone’s got to hire you a goddamned lawyer to help you through this mess, bro. And I’m stuck with the job, because for some fucking insane reason I still love you, man.”

  With that Chase exited, nearly barreling over Troy in the hallway. Thank God the detective didn’t say anything about his mushy departure, just stepped aside, a hint of respect mixed with admiration in his eyes.

  * * *

  Five days later, Shelby lingered over the grave of her father. Her head ached and her eyes felt puffy and scratchy from all the tears she’d cried during the funeral. If only Chase had been there to comfort her, to hold her, to tell her everything would be okay no matter what it felt like today.…

  She sniffled and glanced up to find Blake Rockford nearby, Henry perched on his right shoulder. She sighed and shook her head. “Please don’t tell me you want to give him back. We have a strict ‘No-Take-Backsies’ policy at Paws and Play.”

  “What?” Blake scrunched his nose. “No. Henry’s not going anywhere.” He turned his head to the side and cooed at the iguana. “Are you, boy?”

  Shelby smiled as the large lizard snaked his tongue out to flick Blake’s cheek. “You like him then, huh?”

  “Of course.” Blake turned back to her and grinned. “If I’d known it was going to be this much fun terrorizing my brother, Logan, I would’ve gotten a Henry years ago.”

  She nodded, squinting into the bright sunshine. “So, why are you here then?”

  “I knew your father pretty well, handling his security for the past few years. I liked him and wanted to pay my respects.”

  Emotion clogged her throat again and Shelby’s eyes welled anew. “I liked him too.”

  Blake stepped closer and, side by side, they stood in companionable silence in front of her dad’s grave, the slight breeze ruffling the trees and the crisp scent of fall in the air.

  Finally, Blake sighed. “He didn’t do it, you know. Confess, I mean. Chase turned his brother in instead.”

  “I know.” Shelby pulled a tissue from her tiny handbag and dabbed at her cheeks. The guy had texted her and called her pretty much non-stop since the day he’d left her apartment, not to mention the story of the police apprehending the real killers had been plastered all over the news. Still, she wasn’t ready to face him again. Not yet. Not after he’d taken her heart and ripped it to shreds. What if he decided he didn’t want her after all? She’d survived the pain once. She wasn’t sure she could bear it twice. If Dad had been alive, she would’ve asked him. Or Mom. But both of them were gone now. Gone and she was on her own.

  She pressed the tissue tight against her eyes to fight a fresh wave of tears.

  “Try not to be too hard on him, okay?” Blake leaned in closer. “He loves you. The decision he made that day was extremely tough. Poor guy thinks he doesn’t have a future.”

  Shelby frowned, staring at the toes of her black pumps. How could Chase not think he had a future? He was smart and funny and handsome and kind and…

  “I’m just…” She turned toward Blake only to find him gone.

  He loves you…

  She loved Chase too.

  Problem was, Shelby wasn’t sure her battered heart was strong enough to make amends to the man who could break her with one rejection.

  Twenty-One

  Chase sat on a bench in Bell Park and looked up into the overcast November sky. It had been almost two weeks since they
’d arrested Shane and his next hearing was scheduled for the beginning of December. He’d tried numerous times to get in touch with Shelby—text, phone calls, even stopped by Paws and Play once, but nothing.

  No response.

  He knew better than most that nothing in life was certain, but he’d always harbored a hopeful dream of him and Shelby back together again, happy and in love. He shrugged and lowered his head. Guess he could send that dream to the junk pile like the rest of the life he’d planned before fate and his brother’s crimes had changed all that. Again.

  The clammy fog chilled him despite the mid-sixties temps and he shoved his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket, brushing against the bag of homemade treats he’d brought for Snickerdoodle—just in case he happened to run into Shelby here or something. As he gazed around the park on this busy Saturday afternoon, however, there were only plenty of young families and older retirees and none of the angelic-faced woman he pictured every night before falling asleep.

  Damn. He missed her like crazy.

  From the far corner of the park he spotted a flash of toffee-colored brown—the same shade as Snickerdoodle. Nah. He wrinkled his nose and scoffed. Couldn’t be. His luck wasn’t that great these days.

  Then, behind the large brown dog, ran a woman in a pink parka, her blond curls bouncing wildly as she played with her canine companion.

  Oh. My. God. It’s her. Shelby.

  My Shelby.

  Panic soon overtook his euphoria. Chase didn’t want her to think he was some pathetic stalker or something, sitting here every day in the park just hoping for a glimpse of her. He stood and hurried behind a nearby copse of trees just as Shelby and Snickerdoodle neared the bench he’d been sitting on.

  Okay. Okay. You can do this. Just be cool, man.

  Chase fisted his hand in his pocket and the plastic treat bag crinkled loud.

  Snickerdoodle’s ears perked in his direction and before he knew it, forty pounds of excited doggy tackled Chase back against the trunk of a tree. Between slobbery kisses, he managed to give the dog a good scratch behind his ears. “How you doing, boy? I’ve missed you, my man. Yes, I have. I’ve missed my Snickerdoodle boy.”

  Shelby peeked around the trees, her eyes wide. “Chase. What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, um…” He pushed the dog down and straightened his clothes as best he could. “I was, uh, just taking a walk.”

  “Here?” Her tone matched her incredulous expression. “Blake’s house isn’t anywhere near here. Snickerdoodle, no. Get over here, boy.”

  The dog trotted happily to her side, his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging. Chase would’ve switched places with that mutt in a heartbeat. He pulled the bag of treats from his pocket and handed them to her, avoiding her question. “Here, I got these for him.”

  “Oh.” She took them and after much whining from Snickerdoodle, fed him one. “Uh, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” They stared at each other in awkward silence. “So.”

  “So.” Shelby reached down to adjust the dog’s leash, bringing her into closer proximity to Chase. Her floral scent drifted to him and his gut clenched tight, along with other less convenient parts of his anatomy.

  He shuffled his feet. “I’ve been thinking about getting a pet of my own.”

  “Yeah?” She glanced up at him, her blue eyes just as bright and beautiful as he’d remembered. “What brought about this decision?”

  Tired of holding all his emotional cards so close to the chest, he revealed a little of what he was feeling. “Well, you mentioned once they’re a good cure for lonely people.”

  She straightened, her gaze narrowed. “And you’re lonely?”

  God, yes. “A little, yeah.”

  “I see.” She tugged Snickerdoodle a bit closer and gave him a second treat to keep him calm. “Stop by the shelter next week. I’ll see if we can find someone compatible for you.”

  I already found my soulmate. He coughed to cover the lump of want now clogging his throat. He loved Shelby, needed her more than his next breath, but he didn’t want to scare her away. Not now, when she was at least talking to him. “Yeah, okay. Sure. I can do that.”

  “Great.” She chewed on her lower lip and he stared at the small gesture, never wishing to be a set of teeth more in his life. “We, uh, we buried my dad last week.”

  “Oh, right. I read about it in the paper. So sorry I couldn’t be there.”

  “That’s all right. It was probably better you weren’t, considering everything that happened.” She inhaled sharply and looked away. “God, his death was such a waste. I always knew Katherine was a manipulative, money-hungry bitch, but I never thought she’d actually kill to get what she wanted.” She chuckled, an unpleasant sound. “Remember that appointment Katherine said my dad had with his attorney to change the will? Yeah. Found out that was actually to start divorce proceedings. He never would’ve cut me out of his will. Never. God, she’s such a liar.”

  “Huh.” Chase stepped a little closer to her warmth, encouraged to be back on familiar territory again. “At least that explains why she took such drastic action. With a divorce, she’d get nothing.”

  “Yep. Not a penny. She wasn't as smart as she thought she was, though.”

  "Oh really?"

  "Nope. She'd lied to the detectives telling them my father planned to change his will and leave everything to her so that it would look like I had motive. She even went as far as to send me a fake will. She was probably hoping the police would eventually search my place and find it, but I outsmarted her on that one."

  "So that's what you put into your dad's safe the night we broke into Katherine's condo."

  Yeah," Shelby's expression turned sheepish. "Sorry I never told you about that. I knew she'd been in the safe and wanted to put it in there just to show her I was on to her, but it turned out to my benefit. The cops eventually looked in the safe and found both the wills. They proved that one to be a fake with Katherine's fingerprints all over it and even matched the ink from the pen she forged my father's signature with to an expensive Chanel pen she had in her purse."

  “Good, I'm glad they have another piece of evidence against her. So, I take it she’s still locked up, awaiting her arraignment?”

  “Couldn’t make her bail. Too bad, not sad. Not at all.” A small smile formed on Shelby’s full lips for the first time since she’d found him hiding behind the trees. He’d do anything to see that smile every day, for the rest of his life. She bent to pet the top of Snickerdoodle’s head. “So, what’s going on with your brother?”

  “Shane?” He gestured toward the bench he’d sat on earlier and they both took a seat. “Well, he took the plea bargain the cops offered, and the attorney I hired got his sentence reduced. So with any luck, he won't be in prison long, given that Katherine was the real brains behind it all.”

  “That’s good.” She crossed her legs toward him and her knee brushed his. He did his best to ignore the electric tingle now zinging through his system from the brief contact and instead concentrated on what she was saying, or at least tried to. “So do you know what kind of pet you want?”

  “Huh? Oh, a dog. Yeah definitely a dog.” Her knee bumped his again, but this time she didn’t pull away, making him a bit braver. “Do you have one like Snickerdoodle?”

  She tilted her head to the side. “I have a fluffy white shit-zhu and a black Pomeranian. But I'd have to make sure you'd provide a suitable home first.”

  “Frou-frou dogs.” His gaze dropped to her lips before returning to her eyes. “I could come check them out. Then if I like one, you could check me out to see if I'm suitable. No obligation, of course.”

  Pretty pink color flooded her cheeks and she scooted closer. “What if I want an obligation?”

  “Excuse me?” Snickerdoodle nuzzled his head into Chase’s lap, distracting him. She couldn’t have meant what he wanted her to mean, could she? “I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?”

  “I said.” She
took his hand. “What if I want an obligation? From you.”

  Nope. No mistaking her touch, or that heated look in her eyes. His heart kickstarted then beat triple time. Don’t blow this, buddy. Don’t expect too much, too soon. Don’t… He severed the negative track looping in his head and for the first time in such a long time, let hope take the wheel.

  Chase laced his fingers with hers then brushed a soft kiss over her knuckles. “What kind of an obligation?”

  “Well, let’s see.” She snuggled into his side. “How about you adopt a dog from my shelter and something else.”

  “Something else?” The way she was nuzzling the side of his neck made him crazy with lust. He shook his head to clear the warm fuzzies clouding his brain. “What something?”

  “Me.”

  His breath hitched. “You?”

  “Mmm hmm.” She met his gaze, her lips hovering close to his. “If you still want me.”

  Fuck yes, I want you. So bad I ache.

  Her lips were on his and the kiss deepened quickly to a passionate reconnection, their tongues exploring, tasting. When they broke apart, his fingers were tangled in her curls and her face was flushed and he’d never seen a more beautiful sight in all his life. His words emerged rough with lust. “Does that answer your question?”

  “I believe it does, yes.” She smiled then kissed him again, sliding one leg across his lap to rub against his now straining erection. Shelby leaned back and raised a provocative brow. “So does that.”

  Chase laughed, the sound bursting from him with all the joy now filling his heart. “God, baby. I love you so much.”

  Shelby cupped his cheeks and rubbed noses with him. “I love you too. Just don’t ever leave me like that again, okay?”

  “Never.” He kissed her again, this one full of love and hope and possession. “That last time damned near killed me.”