by Teresa Wolf
DANGEROUS RESURGENCE
THE DEVIL WEARS A SUIT Book #6
Teresa Wolf
Contents
ABOUT THE BOOK
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Let’s Connect!
Author Note + Thank you
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination.
Copyright © (2020) Teresa Wolf
ABOUT THE BOOK
Here’s What Happens When You Get Away with Murder but Your Savior is Even Stranger than You Can Imagine…
A new beginning. Love at first sight. And unexpected revelations…
Having escaped the Lark mansion, Hope is saved by a mysterious and handsome stranger. He takes her to a hospital and even cancels his trip to stay with her.
While in hospital, Hope is questioned about the events at the Lark mansion. She uses her charm and wit to convince the detective her version of events is the right one, and the police give up on their investigation. For now, at least…
Hope notices that her mysterious savior is quite handsome and kind. She immediately develops a crush on him and is satisfied that he’s also taken aback by her beauty.
Everything seems to be going great until he introduces an unexpected factor into their relationship…
How will Hope handle this surprise? Will her instincts awaken? Is Scott safe?
There’s no telling… But maybe Hope finally met her match! Despite all her carefully laid out plans, Scott manages to outwit, charm, and surprise her.
Maybe the surprises aren’t that bad after all… After the initial shock, Hope realizes this new situation could be fun… If only she could suppress her possessiveness!
Will Hope embrace her new love with all the surprises it brings? Or will she get back to her old ways?
There’s only one way to find out!
This book is Hope’s resurgence, but also a strange reckoning… You won’t be able to stop reading until the end!
Basic instincts, passionate love, surprises at every corner, strange desires… This book has everything a truly steamy mystery needs to have!
1
Hope’s eyes sprung open. A bright white light was shining into them; piercingly, hurting her. She squinted, fighting the pain while trying to focus. She stared at the white ceiling as her senses recovered from their dullness. She started to hear a beeping sound to her left. Her suspicion about her location was confirmed when she got a whiff of the distinct, sterile smell that couldn't be mistaken for anywhere else. She was in a hospital.
Hope looked around her surroundings. There were several machines to her left, one monitoring her heart rate and other vital signs. This was where the beeping was coming from. She was naked under her hospital gown, save for a tag on her wrist with her name written on it. She tried to remember how she had ended up in the hospital, and then an image of Gabriel stabbing her flashed through her mind. The memory startled her. The beeping from the machine increased its pace, mirroring the pressure she felt in her chest.
She had been stabbed – by Gabriel no less. The whole night seemed like a weird nightmare, now, but the pain in her side indicated that what she remembered was very real. Her mid-torso had a white bandage on it, but she could feel a vague sting coming from beneath it. It looked as if the wound had been taken care of, but Hope was still terrified. She had not planned the events of that night at all, nor did she have time to prepare for the aftermath.
The entire Lark family was dead now, thanks to Hope. Normally, she was good at covering up her tracks, but Gabriel – that treacherous liar – had stabbed her. Then, she remembered dragging her bleeding body into the street, trying to get as far away from the crime scene as possible.
As she lay in her hospital bed thinking, Hope realized that she had made a few mistakes. She had hoped that Gabriel and she could move past the entire situation, but Gabriel hadn’t understood. He just didn’t comprehend that she had done everything she did, so they could be together; they had loved each other, after all.
Then, after she had shot him Hope had allowed the knife-sized wound in her stomach to distract her. In her hysteria, she began to run away, to avoid the cops. Now she realized should’ve called the cops herself, so she could get on top of the story and shape the narrative. She knew that the police were more likely to believe that a girl, such as herself, had almost been killed by her abusive boyfriend. That she was a sobbing, near-fatally wounded survivor of domestic violence and slaughter, rather than the murderer herself. Even if they didn't take her word for it, they would certainly review the case, based on the assumption of her victimhood, instead of letting the evidence lead them to a different conclusion.
Hope was afraid she had missed her opportunity to sway the investigation in her favor, which would've been effective, seeing as she was the only living witness. Now, the detectives on the case were looking for the person who had killed everyone in the house and were probably wondering why she fled instead of calling for help. It was inevitable that Hope would have to explain herself, now that she had tried to flee the scene.
She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. All she needed to do was think; her brain was her most valuable tool, and it had carried her this far. Gabriel was a beautiful, albeit stressful, experiment for Hope, and her journey to find true love, despite her apathetic nature, had hit a ditch. Hope had come as close as she’d ever been to experiencing what romance was, or at least her subjective understanding of romance, and although it required a lot of work, she knew she would just have to try harder next time.
The image of the man with the car suddenly flashed across Hope’s mind. She remembered that there was a man who had found her on the street, as she was about to pass out. Just when she had been losing her will to keep moving. Hope realized that she would’ve bled out, right there on the asphalt and died, if he hadn’t come to her rescue. There was a man out there who had saved her life at just the right time, and from what Hope remembered, he was quite handsome, as well.
The door to Hope’s left swung open without warning, and a nurse came in. “Oh, goodie, you’re awake.”
"Hi," Hope said, attempting to sit up, but receiving an abrupt protest from her wound, which made her wince.
“No. Don’t bother yourself,” the nurse said, rushing to her. “You’ve just had an operation – successful by the way, congratulations – but you can’t be moving around just yet.”
“Operation?”
“Yes, dear,” the blonde woman said, reading off an electronic tablet. She had a youthful face, although it was clear that she was in her forties, and she had a British accent. “You had a punctured spleen, but that’s been taken care of. Right now, it’s very important that you rest.”
Hope rubbed the bandage, thinking of how bizarre it was that she had been unconscious for so long. “So, um, what about the bill?”
“Oh, that's the interesting part," the nurse said. “The gentleman that brought you in offered to pay for your medical bills, since your insurance didn't cover it. We get quite a few instances where peoples insurance doesn’t pay everything, but they're always alm
ost car accidents. You are lucky, although, of course, your personal matters are none of my concern, now are they?”
Hope smiled, feigning a warmness she didn’t feel but knew she had to do when interacting with other people. She didn’t feel the urge that people felt to fit in, and to avoid conflict, but Hope knew that it was important to seem to be like everyone else, if she wanted people to like her.
“Is he here, in the hospital?”
“Oh, no dear. He left yesterday when he took care of the payment,” the nurse replied.
“Oh.” Hope wanted to meet this man more than anything. She couldn’t quite remember the details of his face, just the knowledge that when she saw him, she had thought he looked beautiful.
“Is there a problem?”
"Well, he saved me. I would be dead if not for him – and if not dead – then I'd also be dead broke from this surgery you're saying I had," Hope answered, to which the nurse chuckled. "I just wanted to thank him for everything."
“Well, I’ll be sure to let you know if he shows up,” the nurse smiled. “Now, you must be starving.”
“Oh, yes!” Hope laughed.
She spent the evening eating and watching a soap-opera on the room's television. The food wasn't great; the bread was stale, and the mashed potato made Hope wish she was still in China with Gabriel, dining at one of the best restaurants in the world. Thankfully, Hope hadn't been caught up in that lifestyle for long enough to get used to it, so she appreciated the food. Soon, there was a knock at the door. Before Hope could say anything, a couple of men came in.
“Good evening, Hope,” the first one greeted her.
“Detective Bailey,” Hope leaned forward, already in a sitting position. “I was wondering when someone would come.”
“How’re you doing?” Detective Bailey asked. “I heard about your nasty stabbing.”
"Not great," Hope said, looking down at her wound. She knew to act in line with her story, and these detectives would need a good sell. "I thought I was going to die."
"Yes, well, that's what we're here for, actually," Bailey said.
His partner looked young, and he seemed quiet and observant. The badge on his belt was shiny, the leather behind it new. Hope guessed he was a newbie on the force. "We need a statement from you about the events of that night."
“I guessed that’s why you’re here,” Hope said with a pained expression. “But I’m not sure I want to relive that night just yet.”
"I understand, but if there's anything you can tell us, anything at all," Bailey persisted. "Look, you're the only living witness to a mass murder. I came to talk to you, because I am a familiar face; we wanted you to feel more comfortable. I know you've been through a lot, but if I don't get something out of you right now, the department might choose to get it another way."
Hope sighed deeply. “Okay. So, we’d just finished wrapping up Tony’s burial, and everyone had been in bed for a while. Gabriel suddenly climbed out of bed and went downstairs. He’s been having insomnia for weeks, and I promised him I was going to help him sleep as much as possible, so I followed him downstairs. By the time I got downstairs, Gabriel was beating the detective on the floor. Ruth tried to fight him off, but he shot her.”
"Do you know what caused the conflict?"
"Ruth screamed at Gabriel, calling him a murderer," Hope explained. “She was in tears; she looked as if she was really hurt. That was when I realized she might've been implying that Gabriel had killed Tony, his brother. His other siblings, Caroline and Derek, tried to wrestle him away, but he shot them as well . . .” Hope's voice started to crack up, and a tear fell down her face.
She wanted to act as if remembering the event was extremely painful for her, and acting was something she was very good at. Hope couldn't even remember the last time she interacted with another human, where she didn't have some kind of mask on. She was used to it, but if she was honest with herself, it was a very lonely existence.
“What happened next?” Bailey asked.
“Sir,” his partner opposed.
“No, it's fine," Hope sniffed. “I ran into the kitchen to hide, scrambling for a weapon to use against him, on the way. I waited for him there, knowing he would come back for me. From the look of it, he wasn't willing to leave any witnesses, and he was doing whatever it took. He came into the kitchen, as I expected, and I was ready. The knife rack was right next to me, so I could grab one at a moment's notice, if I needed to. Gabriel pointed the gun at me. He told me he loved me and said that if I promised to keep quiet and stay with him, he would spare me.
“I know that only a fool would trust the words of a sociopathic killer like him. I pretended to trust him, telling him I loved him too, to get him to lower his guard. As soon as he relaxed, I grabbed the gun from his hands. Just as quickly, it seemed, Gabriel pulled a knife from the rack and stabbed me with it. I shot the gun instinctually. The pain was immeasurable; I couldn't even think straight. I crawled out of the compound; although I knew he was probably dead, I knew I had to run. Obviously, I didn't make it far. I passed out on the road, and everything else I know was told to me."
Detective Bailey nodded his head, a blank look remaining on his face, as if he was trying not to convey any of his thoughts on it. Hope thought this was odd, but she kept on with the act anyway, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"That all sounds horrible," Bailey said. "Well, I'm terribly sorry for everything. I know this must all be hard for you. What did the doctors say about the stab wound?"
“The surgery went well, thank you,” Hope answered. “The nurse says I should be out of here in about ten days.”
“That’s great. Goodnight then, and do feel better.”
“Thank you, Detective,” Hope smiled wryly.
She sat in her bed, going through her story in her mind, making sure she hadn’t messed anything up. She couldn’t trust that the detective believed her completely, but she could do but nothing about that, now. There was a further way Hope could sway the investigation in her favor, but she would have to wait until she wasn’t in a hospital gown anymore.
“Hey, sweetie,” Hope’s nurse, Maggie, entered the room, as cheerful as ever. “I have someone here to meet you.”
Hope’s heart jumped. She knew there was no other person Maggie could be talking about other than from the man who had saved her. She looked towards the doorway behind Maggie, waiting for him to come in. A few seconds later and there he was, stepping into the room with a smile on his face.
2
Scott wasn't sure what he was doing in the hospital again. Well, he knew what he was doing, but he had no plan on how to go about it. He had heard that the girl was awake now, and he knew he had to see her. The nurse that led him to her room seemed a little too enthusiastic about the whole thing, like an excited parent trying to hook up her kid with a well-mannered boy.
He was quite nervous; the girl was very beautiful, after all. He could make a fool of himself in many ways, the biggest of which would be to make a big deal out of his taking care of her medical bills or saving her from bleeding out. Scott planned to avoid that subject matter as much as possible.
The nurse led Scott into the woman’s room. He took a deep breath before following the nurse in – and there she was, leaning forward as if she was waiting for him to come in. She smiled at him, obviously taking in his features as if she was happy with the package she had ordered. To be fair, Scott was glad she was pretty as well.
“Hey,” Scott said as he walked towards her, making his voice a bit deeper than it normally was.
“Hi,” she smiled. She was even more beautiful, when she smiled. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, properly.”
“It’s nice to see you awake, finally” Scott said. She looked a tiny bit taken aback by this, which made Scott realize the implications of what he had said. “I mean, I didn’t, like, watch you sleep or anything. It’s just that I’ve only seen you unconscious, is all.”
“Oh, that’s not true,” she sai
d.
Scott’s heart beat painfully against his chest. Maybe she recognized him after all. “It’s not?”
“No,” she said. “I was still awake when you found me, although maybe only half-awake.”
"Right," Scott laughed in relief, and then stopped abruptly. "I mean, it certainly wasn't funny. I'm sorry about what happened to you. I spoke to the police; they said you were stabbed by your boyfriend."
“Yes,” she said, looking down.
“That’s messed up,” he continued.
"I don't really want to talk about that, if you don't mind."
“Oh, right, of course.”
“I’m Hope, by the way,” she stretched her hand out to shake his.
"I know," he said, shaking her hand.
“What?”
"Your stylish wristband gave it away," Scott smiled. "It must be in style; I saw a lot of people in here wearing it."
Hope laughed, and Scott felt oddly validated.
“I’m Scott, by the way,” he said.
“Well, Scott. Thanks for saving my life,” Hope smiled.
“Don’t mention it.”
They stared at each other for a while, sharing an awkward handshake that managed to pale in comparison with the almost unbearably long eye contact.
“Well, I guess I’ll leave you two birds to it then,” the nurse said suddenly, startling them both. “I’ll be off now.”
She smiled at them as she backed out of the room, blushing as if she were witnessing a romance novel come to life.
“That wasn’t awkward at all,” Scott said, finally breaking the eye contact and handshake.
“Honestly, I’m not even a little bit surprised,” Hope said. “She’s kind of always like that. But she’s harmless, and very sweet.”