The UN Series Complete Box Set

by Shantel Tessier

  It’s been four months since that all happened. I quit the precinct. Well, technically I’m on leave. The captain calls me weekly to come back and I remind him every week that I’ve quit. He just won’t give up. I explained my father’s involvement in the drugs that are being ran through St. Louis. I should have known that he would be the reason for it. The problem is that we have no proof. That little card he sent me can’t be used as proof. I had it fingerprinted and it came up with nothing. It was literally my word against his. I still haven’t told Kat who was involved and the doctor said it’s common for her to block out what happened. So, even though she was awake at the time, she doesn’t remember what shew went through after Mason dragged her out of our house. I couldn’t be more thankful for that.

  A team has been watching him day and night. His phones are tapped but nothing. He must have someone else running the show at the moment. I told my mother. I told her everything and she looked me in the eyes and said, Parker, when I met your father I knew he would one day rule the world. And in order to rule the world, you have to be ruthless. I walked away from her and haven’t spoken to her once. I found out that day that my mother is just as evil as my father. They make a great couple.

  I roll over in our bed and open my eyes to see Kat sleeping next to me. She has her right arm stretched out under the pillow and her left hand rests in front of her face, I smile as I reach for it and run my fingers over the black diamond that lies on her ring finger.

  I proposed last night. I got down on both of my knees and begged her like a blubbering idiot to make my life miserable in front of all my friends. Everyone laughed and cried. She said she would take that challenge. It wasn’t sweet and mushy. It was us—crazy and fun.

  That’s what I love about her—she’s unpredictable. I never know if she’s gonna walk into the kitchen and kiss me or throw a toaster at my face. I don’t know if we’ll have no kids or eight. I just know that I will willingly turn myself into a whipped little pussy for her every day if that’s what it takes to prove to her that she’s it for me.

  I watch as her eyes flutter open. “Good morning, sweetheart.” I smile.

  She stretches and smiles. “Morning.” Once done, she gets settled back into her pillow, facing me.

  I look over her face. She looks beautiful. I reach out and touch her soft creamy skin and she sighs closing her eyes. “I wanna stay in bed all day.”

  “That sounds amazing, but we gotta go over to Sam and Slade’s.” Sam already wants to start planning our wedding. And in all honestly, I’m excited. I’d marry her today, right here, this very moment, if she would have me. But that’s not what she deserves. “But we need to be productive today,” she says dramatically.

  “What makes a man productive on a rainy Saturday?” I question, listening to the rain fall outside of our window.

  She pushes the covers off and straddles me. Her long brown hair falls to the side of her face and softly lands on my chest. I push it back so I can see all of her beauty.

  “Morning sex,” she offers.

  I chuckle. “I was thinking coffee. Sex would make me sleepy.”

  “Well, then. Let’s try my way first. And then your way.” She gives me sexy little smile. “Vous aimer,” she says softly.

  I smile up at her as she smiles down at me. “Vous aimer,” I repeat. I love this woman with all I have. I once told Missy that you can’t miss what you never had. But what if? What if it was supposed to be….You don’t know what you’ve been missing until you have it?

  There’s a little Parker philosophy for ya, bitches.

  THE END

  UNIMAGINABLE

  Adjective

  difficult or impossible to imagine or comprehend

  CHAPTER ONE

  PARKER

  I rush through the front doors of the precinct with flared nostrils and a tight jaw. Heads turn my way, and my former co-workers look at me wide-eyed. “Welcome back, Parker,” some even say. I ignore them as I head toward the back of the police station, straight for my old captain’s office.

  I’m not back!

  I quit this damn job for a reason. Funny how the same reason that made me quit is the same reason bringing me back—my father.

  I round a corner and can see Captain through his glass doors sitting behind his desk looking down at papers. Someone yells out my name in greeting, and his head snaps up. He’s out of his chair and meeting me at his door before I can open it myself. Not bad for a guy who looks like he’s put on thirty pounds since I last saw him five months ago.

  “Parker.” He shuts the glass door after I enter. “What are you doing here?” He doesn’t even bother with a hello. And neither do I.

  “I told you I was coming up here,” I reply flatly.

  “I told you not to.”

  “Where is he?” I demand cutting to the chase. “Is it him?” My hands fist down by my side. Captain called me twenty minutes ago to inform me they had somebody in custody who may help put my father behind bars. Finally, something I can use in this case I’ve been trying to build against him. But up until now, it’s been nonexistent.

  “Parker, you can’t be here. You no longer work …”

  “Right! The rules,” I say remembering when we got into a fight here in this very same office over the fact I had taken Megan to the hospital instead of waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Captain is very strict on the rules! “Then reinstate me,” I snap. I don’t have the time to sit here and argue with him. Especially when I know a man in this building has information I need.

  Five months have passed since I found Kat in that abandoned warehouse. We’ve moved on; she’s recovered. Physically, she looks perfect and beautiful. But the scars remain. Inside and out. She deserves closure. She deserves for Dick to pay for what he did to her.

  I still haven’t told her. The fact that my father was the one who hurt her is hard to swallow and embarrassing. What if she tries to leave me? Thinks she’s not safe with me? Call me selfish, but I couldn’t handle losing her! She fought so hard to live. I will fight that hard to keep her safe. Even if it means keeping some information to myself.

  His sigh gets my attention. “Let me see him,” I demand once again. I have a feeling he’s gonna deny me, but instead, he surprises me by nodding his head once. “I want Kat’s file,” I add.

  Whoever this asshole is, he is gonna see what type of man would put his hands on a woman. Even if Dick didn’t physically touch her, he still stood by and allowed it. Ordered it. Mason told me that!

  He turns to his desk, picks up a handful of paperwork, and places it in a folder. Was that what he was looking at? “Why was her file on your desk?” Did the guy they have in custody say something about her? Threaten her? What if he is sending someone after her?

  “No,” he says softly shaking his head. “I know you think no one cares, Parker. But I do. I go over her file daily. I want him brought down just as much as you do. Why do you think I called you?” He places his hand on my shoulder, but I shrug it off. I’m in no mood to be sentimental at the moment. I just wanna beat this guy’s face in for answers.

  “Where is he?” I growl.

  “He’s in room three.” I turn and storm out of his office on a mission.

  “Parker.” He calls out to me, but I don’t stop. I make my way down another hallway and then slow as I come to the room. “Parker?” I feel his hand on my arm, and I turn to face him with hard eyes while breathing heavy. “This is too much. Too personal.”

  “Of course, it’s personal. My father tried to kill my girlfriend,” I snap back.

  “No, Parker …”

  I shove his hand off my arm and yank open the door to the interrogation room. I walk in and come to an immediate stop as I hear the door slam shut behind me. I stand there staring down at a familiar face. A face that looks up at me just as surprised as I am. A shiver runs up my spine.

  “Parker?”

  I stand frozen in place as I look down at the brown hair, brown-eyed boy. The
same one that I used to fight with every day growing up. “Braxton.” The single name is whispered as I look down at my little brother.

  “What are you doing here?” he asks, standing from his chair. “Who cares!” he answers his own question. “Thank God, I thought you had quit. But whatever, you gotta get me out of here.” He takes a step toward me, and I take one back.

  I swallow; suddenly, my mouth is dry and my tongue heavy. “Why are you here?” I manage to ask. When was the last time I’d even spoken to my brother? Nothing comes to mind.

  “I was meeting with a client, and they arrested me the moment I gave them my name.” He throws his hands up in the air in frustration. “I assure you, I have not broken any laws.”

  My right arm gets heavy, and I look down at my sweaty palm. My fingers curl around Kat’s file, and it reminds me of why my former boss called me. We have a man in custody who could help you. My anger returns full force as I stare at my brother. “What client?” I demand.

  “I can’t tell you that, Parker. Attorney-client privileges,” he says as he adjusts his suit jacket.

  “Fuck that bullshit!” I snap taking a step towards him. His eyes widen. “Who the fuck is your client? And what does he have to do with this?”

  “I, uh, Parker.” He stumbles over his words. “Have to do with what?” For someone who plays a big shot attorney, he always has been a pussy when it comes to getting his hands dirty. “What is going on?”

  “I’ll be the one asking the questions.” I take another step toward him. “Now, I won’t ask again. Who is your client, and what does he have to do with Dad?”

  He frowns. His nervousness vanishes, replaced with confusion. “Dad? What does Dad have to do with this?”

  “Everything!” I throw Kat’s file onto the steel table that sits in the middle of the room. “Now, tell me. What does your client have to do with Dad?” I’m really tired of repeating myself.

  “Nothing!” He shakes his head.

  I reach out my right hand and hit him in the chest, shoving him backwards. He stumbles a few steps and trips over his chair. They both go crashing to the linoleum floor. “Start talking, Braxton, or I will lock your ass up for days!” I will pull every string I have at the precinct to get the information I need. Kat deserves that.

  “What the fuck, Parker?” he shouts picking himself up and dusting his expensive dark suit off. “Have you lost your mind?” he demands. “Dad said you’ve gone off the deep end since you started seeing some whore …”

  My right hand snaps out, hitting him in the left side of his jaw. It hits him so hard it throws him into the table. His hand comes out to try to catch himself from falling again, but all it does is make the papers from Kat’s file scatter across the table and to the floor.

  “Jesus Christ,” he hisses as he holds his face. “What the fuck …”

  “Don’t you ever call her a whore!” I snap. Just the fact that my father has mentioned her to him has my skin crawling. How often does Dick think of her? How much did he see when I had her coming at his reelection event? Was he there with her in the warehouse? The unknown makes me physically ill. Nauseous.

  I take a deep, calming breath as I fist my hand and then relax it. It hurts from the contact with Braxton’s face. But it feels good to finally release that tension. Five months with no answers will do something to a man. “What else has he told you about her?” I ask through gritted teeth.

  “Nothing!” he snaps.

  “Want me to hit you again?” I ask lifting my balled fists to prove I’m ready to go.

  He takes a quick look over at the window that separates us from my old boss. I would say I’m surprised that he hasn’t come in and pulled me from the room, but his words come back to me. I look over the case every day, Parker, he had said. He won’t interrupt me; he wants my dad dead as much as I do!

  “I said nothing!” he says running a hand through his hair in confusion.

  “I don’t believe you!”

  He lets out an aggravated sigh. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He shakes his head as if I’ve lost my mind. “We never see you. We hear you quit the force. Then I get arrested and here you are. Dad misses you ...”

  I drop my fists and give a hard laugh. “God, you’re more of an idiot than I gave you credit for.”

  He narrows his dark eyes at me. “You’re the one who walked away from us. You’re the one who chose some bitch over your own fucking family!”

  I reach out and grab his suit jacket, pushing him back into the wall. “I told you not to talk about her!” I spit in his face.

  “What’s the matter, Parker? Did she leave you already? Once a whore, always a whore.”

  I yank him from the wall and shove him down into his metal seat. Leaning over his shoulder, I start slapping the loose papers of Kat on the desk in front of him.

  I feel his body stiffen, and he gasps as his eyes make contact with each photo I slam down. The last one on top of the pile is of her face. It’s right after her surgery. Stitches run along her right eyebrow, lower lip, and right cheek. Both eyes swollen shut and black and blue. She has white tape on her broken nose and her mouth is wired shut.

  “Oh my God,” he whispers. “Is this …?”

  “It’s Kat.” My voice is thick, and my body breaks out in a sweat. I let go of his shoulder and take a stumbling step back from him, closing my eyes. I haven’t seen those pictures that the police came and took of her. As soon as she went into surgery, I called Captain back and told him what had happened. He was up at the hospital sitting with us in the waiting room within minutes with two other officers to take Slade’s and my statement.

  “Is she …” He pauses and I swallow. “Is she dead?”

  “No!” I say roughly. I open my eyes and start to pick up the pictures from the floor that fell from the desk. I make my way around the opposite side of the table and sit down, placing the papers in front of me. “She survived,” I say running a hand through my hair. “But I think he intended to kill her.”

  His head snaps up to look me in the eyes. “Who?” he asks wide-eyed.

  “Dad!”

  “What?” He starts shaking his head real fast as his brows crinkle in confusion. “You must be confused, Parker.”

  I pick up the picture next to me and slam it down in front of him. It’s of her wrists. They’re covered in white bandages, but you can still see the bruises and dried blood. He looks down at it. His mouth opens and closes but nothing comes out. I slap down another picture. It’s the note.

  I told you she would cost me. But in the long run, she ended up costing you as well. Dick

  He sucks in a deep breath as he places a hand over his mouth. It’s no secret that I have called our father Dick for as long as I can remember. Braxton understands that note just as much as I did the first time I read it. I watch his eyes skim over it twenty, maybe thirty, times before he finally lifts them to meet mine.

  “I’m not confused, Braxton.”

  He stares at me for a long time before looking away. His head drops to look back down at the table, and he picks up another picture. She has a tube in her nose. Her left arm in a cast. A brace around her neck. Wires and tubes stuck to her chest and needles in both hands.

  “He did this to her, Braxton,” I say softly looking away from the pictures.

  “Is she gonna be okay?” His voice breaks and then he sniffs.

  “She is okay. This was five months ago.”

  He lifts his head slowly to meet mine, and his eyes widen. “Why do you think I haven’t been around?” I ask him. “Dad and a guy named Mason cuffed her hands behind her back and beat her.” He swallows, making his Adam's apple bob up and down. “Mason held a gun to her head and threatened to shoot her.”

  “How do you know all of this?” he asks softly.

  I place my forearms on the cold metal table. “I went to her house and found blood in the kitchen. I received a text giving me an address. I showed up to find her on her knees, hands cuffed behi
nd her back while Mason stood next to her with his gun to her head.” He runs a hand over his face as he tries to process everything. “He also threatened to shoot me. This Mason guy, he shot and killed his girlfriend and her little girl.” He wipes his face with the back of his hand. “She was a child.” Mason had sworn he didn’t kill her, but he did. Even if he didn’t pull the trigger, it’s still his fault that they are dead.

  “Was Dad there?” he asks before clearing his throat. “At the warehouse?”

  I shake my head. “I didn’t see him there. But the note … A homeless man had delivered it to the hospital after she came out of surgery.”

  “What happened to the guy? Mason?”

  “Slade killed him. Too quickly for my liking but, at least, the fucker can’t touch her again,” I say through clenched teeth.

  “And Dad? What are you gonna do about him?”

  I almost smile because he believes me. But instead, I look him straight in the eyes and let him in on my little secret. Am I afraid he’ll rat me out? I truly don’t fucking care! My father knows I want him dead! “I’m gonna expose him for what he is. And then he’s gonna pay!”

  CHAPTER TWO

  SLADE

  I sit behind my desk talking to Tate as my door opens and Parker comes walking in.

  “Well, look who decided to come to work today, after all,” Tate says looking down at his watch with a smile.

  Parker throws him a ‘fuck you’ look and drops down into the chair next to him. His brown eyes look tired, and his face looks a little pale. His shoulders slack and he breathes deeply. “Are you hung over?” I ask curiously. “You know if you plan on going out and drinking, you’re supposed to invite us.” He snorts. “Just ‘cause Tate can’t go doesn’t mean I can’t go,” I add with a smile. Missy is about to pop any day now, and she would probably rip Tate’s head off if he even asked to go drink at a bar.