by LK Shaw
In my rage, I snatched the flash drive from my pocket and hurled it at them, hitting Crocker, who’d quietly appeared next to Morgan during my father’s confession, in the chest.
“Here’s your fucking info. Everything I’ve collected on my father for the last seven years. It’s all yours. Figure that shit out on your own. In the meantime, I’m going to find my sister and get her out of whatever hell hole she’s been delivered to.”
Webber moved to stand in front of me, a conciliatory look on his face.
“We’ll do what we can to find your sister, Ms. Bishop. I’d like to speak with you later today or tomorrow. Get your statement about what happened today. I am anxious to find justice. I’ll need the evidence against the mayor and the chief.”
Absently, I nodded my head at his request. Horrifying images of what Phebe must be going through continued to race through my mind. I vowed I would do everything I could to find her.
Two months later
“I’ll call again in a couple days and stop by next week, okay? Oh, and please stop giving Philip a hard time when he comes by, will you? He hates making you feel so uncomfortable, and he tries to leave you alone as much as possible. He’s a friend, Casey, and I swear, he won’t hurt you. I love you. Bye.”
I hung up the phone after ending my twice-weekly call to Casey. I’d invited her to come live with Miles and me after we’d moved in together, but she declined. She said she wanted to stay in the cottage she’d been taken to when I’d liberated her from my father’s house. She still refused to go outside so I’d hired Philip, the bouncer from Eden, to stop in every few days and take her groceries and to check the property to make sure that everything was secure. I was monitoring the inside, but Philip was former military, and I trusted him to help look after Casey.
Both of us were dealing with our father’s death in our own way. For me, I still woke from the occasional nightmare. I hated that he could return from the grave like that and manage to fuck with my life. But, it was difficult to get over having a gun shoved in your face by your father no less. After his death, my mother took to her bed, alcohol and Valium her coping mechanism. Honestly, I thought she’d be relieved that she was finally free, but no. She was so mentally broken down she didn’t know how to be now that she was no longer under his control. It was as though my father had entirely removed her free will over the last thirty years. It was sad to see, but any sympathy for my mother had long been destroyed. If she wasn’t strong enough, then there was nothing I could do for her.
Other than dealing with the occasional flashback, I was happy. Miles made me happy. Knowing my father could have killed me made me truly realize how precious and short life is, and I refused to waste any time by not grabbing what I wanted and holding it tight. Three weeks after my father’s death, Miles packed up his apartment and moved into my house. A week after that, I was searching online and found a gorgeous leather cord necklace with silver O-ring.
My fingers had twitched over the keyboard as I contemplated if I was ready to take that step. Asking Miles if he’d accept my collar was a huge leap in our relationship, and I was terrified of what he would say. I’d silently argued back and forth with myself, my cursor hovering over the purchase button, before, finally, I took the plunge and bought it. He was still learning how to be submissive, and I wasn’t sure if he was ready for the level of commitment a collar represented.
The collar had been buried all the way in the back of my underwear drawer for the last month. Every few days I took it out and looked at it, picturing it around Miles’ neck. Each day the urge grew stronger to place it there, until finally, I knew it was time. This weekend, I was planning on asking Miles to accept my collar. I started sweating at the thought.
Tearing me from my musings, a ping sounded from my computer. I logged in and clicked a few icons. Praying my eyes weren’t deceiving me, my fingers flew across the keys, tapping out a staccato of sound that pierced my ears. Tears formed at the information in front of me.
“Miles,” I screamed.
Footsteps pounded down the hallway as a breathless Miles stumbled into the room, sleep still in his eyes.
“What happened? Are you all right?”
I turned my head to him as the tears poured down my face.
“I found her.”
Epilogue
Phebe
Death. Blessed release. Neither would be coming for me no matter how much I wished otherwise. Instead, I was stuck living in this hell I now called life. A sob disguised as a laugh escaped before I could stop it, and the echo of the sound bouncing off the walls mocked me. I thought I was going mad, and to be honest, I welcomed the madness. Perhaps if I were mad, I could forget what was happening to me. Sadly, I knew no such thing would happen. No matter what they did to me, my mind remained intact. Luck never came to people like me.
I closed my eyes and pictured sunlight. I didn’t think about my nice car, my designer clothes, or even my lumpy mattress at home. I thought about the sun, and the way the rays of light would catch on a raindrop and produce the brilliant colors of the rainbow. The way it sparkled like diamonds on glistening, white snow. I could almost swear my body heated slightly with the thought of the sun shining down on it. I mentally absorbed the heat and forced the chills to escape my cold form lying on the even colder floor.
A countless number of days had passed, how many I couldn’t tell. I’d lost track, and soon they ran together in nothing but one endless night. A shiver racked my body, and I forced my thoughts back to the faux sunshine coming through the non-existent window in my cell wall. And it was a cell. Black stone walls surrounded me on three sides, and I refused to open my eyes to the steel bars in front of me. I didn’t need to open them to know they were there.
A soft sound came from far away, but I ignored it. My punishment would come soon enough; I refused to think about it unless I had to. The sound got louder, but I blocked the noise out. Sunshine was my only friend in the bleak existence I now found myself in. I heard a crash outside the entrance to the room my cell was housed in. Instinctively, I flinched when the door slammed open. I didn’t move again. Not that it would have mattered. I would have made myself smaller and less conspicuous if I thought it would make a difference. I remained curled on my side, my knees tucked to my chest.
“Phebe? Phebe Lawson?”
Well, shit, I guess wishes do come true. My mind had finally snapped. Knowing I wouldn’t see anything, I forced my eyes open and my head to turn in the direction of the door. Blink. Blink. A hazy outline of a man, with what appeared to be a gun drawn, stood silhouetted in the doorway. Finally, death had come to take me away. Sweet relief coursed through me, and my head sagged back down to the floor.
“She’s in here! She’s alive.” The booming voice sounded too loud in my ears.
Metal against metal scraped my eardrums as a key was thrust into the lock of my cell door. It clanged against the wall as it was hastily torn open. Tentative footsteps moved closer, and I waited for the gunshot. I hoped he made it quick. However, instead of the pain of a bullet, the sweet pain of a soft touch floated across my hair, gently moving it out of my face.
“Phebe.” The deep male voice came from directly above me. Why was he torturing me? Just do it and get it over with. Against my will, a tear spilled from behind my closed eyes. A thumb ghosted across my cheek taking the moisture with it. “Phebe, my name is Daniel Webber. I’m with the Pinegrove Police. I’m here to take you home.”
A Note From Lk
Thank you so much for reading SECRETS OF REDEMPTION. I hope you liked Miles and Josie’s story. If you did, I would love it if you would please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and/or Goodreads. Reviews are the lifeblood of an author. They help by spreading word about the book and they also improve visibility of the book so others have the opportunity to read it. In this world of ever increasing self-published authors, visibility is paramount.
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Booklist
SECRETS SERIES
Secrets of Submission
(Marcus and Penny’s story)
Secrets of Desire
(Connor and Bridget’s story)
Secrets of Redemption
(Miles and Josie’s story)
COMING 2017: Secrets of Betrayal
(Donovan and Phebe’s story)
COMING 2017: A Secret Christmas
OTHER BOOKS BY LK SHAW
The Navy SEAL’s Secret Baby
COMING JUNE 2017: A Second Chance at Love (The Beach House Anthology)
COMING FALL 2017: His To Protect (The Smex Files)
About the Author
LK Shaw is a physical therapist assistant by day and writer/social media addict by night. She resides in South Carolina with her high maintenance beagle mix dog, Miss P, who should probably just have her own Instagram account. She’s been an avid reader since childhood. In her spare time, she loves to travel and read. While historical romance remains one of her favorite go-to genres, romantic suspense, especially with a little kink thrown in, have become a first pick from her TBR list.
She initially began writing in November 2015 as part of National Novel Writing Month, when, suddenly, the story became something more than just a whim. The vision for the story snowballed and, before she knew it, she began taking steps toward publishing. Each book in her first series feature Romantic Suspense and BDSM combined.
LK loves to interact with readers. You can follow her on any of her social media. Don’t forget to sign up for her monthly newsletter! http://eepurl.com/bTSyrP
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