“Don’t ask those questions,” I say softly reaching out to her. But instead, she shoots to her feet and looks down at me.
“Why not? Why beat his son’s girlfriend instead of just shooting me in the head?”
“Stop!” I demand as I stand as well. My eyes stare down at her and my heart beats fast.
“No! I won’t stop! I want to know what he is up to! Why did Mason tell you to go there? Did he plan to kill you? Was I just bait?” she demands.
“Stop!” I shout this time. “Just stop, Katherine!” I demand placing my hands on her shoulders. “I don’t have the answers to these questions.” I soften my voice. “And all you’re doing is getting yourself worked up. Please just drop it. I promised you I will make him pay …”
“And how you gonna do that, Parker? He just killed your only witness.”
I let go of her and hang my head. Running a hand through my hair, I sigh. “Honestly, I don’t know.”
“Let me help,” she says.
My head snaps up to look at her as if she’s lost her mind. “What? Absolutely not!”
“Let me do something, Parker. How many more people have to die? How many more people have to pay for what I did?” she demands.
“Kat.” I reach up and push her hair back from her beautiful face. “You did nothing.”
She shoves me off. “Of course, I did. I survived. If you would have let me die, then …”
“He would still be killing people who get in his way,” I finish for her through gritted teeth. “He’s always been this way ever since I was younger, Kat. This didn’t start because of you, and he’s not gonna stop with you.”
“So what?” she demands. “I just stand by and wait for him to come after me again?” She throws her arms out to her side as she looks over the bedroom. “We stay hiding in our friends’ house for God knows how long? I can’t live like this, Parker! I won’t live in fear!”
She’s shouting and breathing heavy as she gets herself worked up. “I won’t do it!” Tears of anger start to fill her eyes. “I won’t raise a child who can’t go outside in fear of a family member hurting them. How long do we just sit and wait for him to decide when he’s done with us?” she asks, her brown eyes wide.
I wrap my arms around her and pull her to me. Her body starts to shake as I hold her tightly. Running my hand up and down her back, I whisper softly to her over and over that I love her. That I’m going to protect her. And that I’m going to make it better. But the problem is I have no idea how I can keep that promise. And no matter how good it sounds, she knows it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
PARKER
I knock on the glass door and Captain looks up from his desk waving me in.
I enter his office and softly close the door behind me. “Have a seat, O’Hare,” he orders.
I make my way around the two chairs and sit down in the one closest to me. “You needed to see me about something?” After the breakdown Kat had last night, I figured I would spend all day in bed with her today. Just holding her. I wanted to talk about our wedding, the baby. I wanted to keep her mind off things, and just like any other morning the Captain called, I ignored it. By the third call, Kat told me if I didn’t answer it, she was going to. She seemed off. She hasn’t acted herself since she found out that Dick had killed the only person who could help us. And that is to be expected, it’s like he has our life on hold. So when I finally answer my phone and the captain told me I needed to come in, I did just that.
He stands from his desk and grabs a file from the corner of his desk before throwing it down in front of me.
“What’s this?” I ask not bothering to look down at it.
He comes around his desk and leans up against the end of it beside my chair. “Something you need to see.”
I reach out and take it in my hands. Opening it up, I lean back in the chair. The first page has personal information on it. A female’s information.
Katy Michelle Dawson.
I frown as I read over her information. “I don’t know her,” I say trying to think where I would know her from.
“Keep reading,” he says softly.
I go over her address, height, weight. Eye color and hair color. When I see nothing that rings any bells, I turn the page.
Words fail me as I look at a picture taken. My heart pounds in my chest and I have to remind myself to breathe. Captain was right! I do know her!
“When were these taken?” I ask roughly.
“Two days ago.”
I shake my head. “This can’t be right!” I say. “They just found her last night.” When Braxton called me last night, he had just gotten the call from her father that she had committed suicide.
“The father wasn’t notified until yesterday,” he says. “But she had already been dead for forty-eight hours.”
I look at the girl who I called a hooker. A druggie. And I have an instant pain in my chest. She may have not been perfect, but she didn’t deserve to die.
She lies on a concrete floor. One I know all too well. The same one I found Kat kneeling on. She looks peaceful. Her face isn’t bruised or bloody. No cuts or scratches. But her neck—it’s been slashed.
I close the file and throw it back onto his desk. “Why call me up here for this?” I ask shaking my head. “Braxton informed me last night …”
“Do you believe it was a suicide?” he interrupts me.
I look up at him. “Do you think that a woman who used to fuck my father just happened to go to the same warehouse I found Kat in and commit suicide? No!”
“There was a suicide note,” he says with a shrug.
“That doesn’t mean shit!” I snap.
“And why not?”
I stand. “What kind of games are you playing?” I demand. “Why would you drag me up here to tell you what you already know?”
“I need you to tell me why you don’t believe what that report said.” I open my mouth to argue, but he continues. “Humor me.”
I let out a growl but say, “I don’t care who you are. You don’t commit suicide by slitting your own throat. Is it unheard of? No, but it’s not the first thing a woman thinks of when she wants to end her life. Especially when we know she has an addiction to drugs. Swallowing a large amount of pills would be easier. Why cause physical pain when you could just go to sleep?” I sigh heavily. “It was my father. He had to have known that Braxton and I spoke to her when she was in the hospital. And he decided to end it before she could help us put him away.”
He pushes off his desk and makes his way behind it. He pulls his chair back from his desk, but instead of sitting down, he just stares down at it. “Your dad came to me.”
“What? When?”
“About six years ago.” He looks up from his chair to look me in the eyes. “He asked me for a favor.”
“What kind of favor?”
He waves off my question. “Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I told him no.” He sighs. “Since I wasn’t on his side, he went to my men. Gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse and that is when our leaks began. I didn’t only bring you here to look at these pictures, Parker.” He finally sits down in his seat. “When I got the call and heard the address, I won’t lie; my first thought was that it was Kat.” I swallow the lump in my throat at how easily it could have been her. “I prayed it was someone else.” He shakes his head. “And I hate that. I hate that another person had to die at his hands.”
“That’s why I quit,” I add. “As much as I love this job, I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
“Well, I’m hoping to change your mind.”
I shake my head. “I’m done begin a cop.”
He places his forearms on his desk. “I’m retiring, Parker …”
“What? How can you say that?” I fist my hands on his desk. “What if the next guy is as bad as some of the cops we have on the force? Do you have any idea what will happen to this town?” Has he lost his mind?
He just stares up at me, clearl
y not as concerned as I am. “And I want you to be my replacement.”
I stare at him wide-eyed. “What?”
“No one else is better qualified. This …” He points at the file of the woman my father killed. “This is total bullshit, and this is what cops are putting in reports. All for what? An extra couple of thousand dollars a month from your father?” he growls. “This is someone’s daughter! This could have very well been my wife. Or Kat! This has got to end!”
“I can’t stop him!” I say in shame. “I can’t get ahead of him. I’ve been trying. Sitting behind that desk with a badge won’t change that.”
He slams his fists down on his desk. “Yes, it will!”
I shake my head. “You’re wrong.”
He stares at me for a long time before he finally speaks again. “You were right.”
I roll my eyes but ask anyway. “About?”
“You have always been right.” He laughs as if that’s the craziest thing he’s ever said. “When you took Megan to the hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance. I had a similar situation like that. And I got my ass chewed just like I did yours. You may be a smart-ass, cocky son of a bitch. But you know what you’re doing. You have an instinct, O’Hare, that puts others to shame. And that is exactly what this precinct needs.”
“I can’t give this place what it needs anymore. Kat needs me right now.” As long as my father is free to walk the streets, she deserves all of my attention. “We have a baby on the way,” I tell him.
He gives me a soft smile. “Congratulations. That’s great news. But what about the other men out there who have wives who are expecting?” I just stare at him. “Who is going to help protect them?”
My phone rings, and I pull it out of my pocket. “Hey, can I call you back?” I ask Slade in way of saying hello.
“No,” comes his clipped voice. “Listen, I’ll make this quick, but Kat is up to something.”
I sit straight up in my chair. “Like what?”
“I was on my way to Sadey’s room, and I could hear her on the phone. She was telling someone that she would meet them around noon. Then she left the house about five minutes ago without a word to anyone.”
I hang up without saying anything and pull up the app that I installed after what happened to her five months ago. A tracking device on her phone.
I stand from my chair and head toward the door. “I gotta go.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
DICK
I smile as the brunette walks through the heavy metal doors. “Can’t stay away?” I ask with a smile as she enters the warehouse.
She comes to a stop when she sees me. I reach my arms out to my side to show I have no weapon. I didn’t plan to kill anyone today. “I was surprised that you called me this morning,” I say to Katherine as she stands a few feet from me. I was sitting in my office when my assistant informed me a woman by the name of Kat was on line two. I knew who she was talking about immediately.
“I need answers.” Her voice is almost too low for me to make out. She clears her throat and speaks louder. “Answers that Parker can’t give me.”
“I’m not sure I can give them to you either.” I take a step toward her, and she hops back like I’m a monster that just crawled out of the shadows.
“Why did you kill Ashley and Megan?” Her voice trembles as she gets to the point. I guess she doesn’t want this meeting to last very long. That’s a shame. She is pretty to look at.
“You could have asked me that over the phone,” I say in answering.
“And you could have just shot me,” she says flatly. “I remember you being here.” She places her hand inside her purse. My brows rise to my hairline when she pulls out a gun and points it at me. “Answer the question,” she demands.
“Gonna kill me?” I snort. “Plan on spending the rest of your life in jail?”
“You’re the one who will go to jail,” she snaps.
I shake my head. “It doesn’t work that way, sweetheart. You called me. You asked to meet me here. Then you pull a gun? That is premeditated murder. You will go to jail for life.” She swallows nervously. “Do you know what they will do to you in jail if you kill me?”
“No one will miss you,” she says shaking her head.
“On the contrary.” I smile. “I own this town, sweetheart! I have very important people on my payroll. You kill me then their money stops coming. A man can get awfully mad when you cut off his income. They will do whatever they want to you while you’re locked in that cell. Beat you. Fuck you. And all you’ll be able to do is take it.” The gun begins to shake in her hand. Good, means I’m making my point. “But you like that, don’t you?” She tilts her head to the side as if she’s confused. “Being taken?” I ask, and her eyes narrow on me. “You know I’ve watched that video many times.”
“What video?” she demands.
“The one of my son fucking you in the limo.”
She gasps and then she starts to shake her head. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not. I loaned you that limo, after all. I’m pretty sure the driver even got off on it.”
“You sick fuck!” she screams.
I throw my head back laughing. “There’s nothing wrong with sex, darling,” I say with a smile. “Especially with someone as beautiful as you.” I allow my eyes to look her up and down. She wears a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. She’s not showing much skin, but it doesn’t hide the fact that she’s beautiful. My son did a great job. I have to give him that. I’m actually quite jealous of what he gets to take advantage of.
“Just tell me why,” she demands changing the subject. “Why did you kill them and not me?”
“You were right when you said I could have killed you. I thought about it,” I say truthfully. “But you were never supposed to die. You were supposed to be a warning.”
“To who?”
“Parker. He told me that you wouldn’t cost him. I had to prove him wrong.”
“You’re a sick bastard,” she grinds out as she continues to point the gun at me.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of, sweetheart,” I say in all seriousness.
“Why did you kill Ashley and Megan? They were innocent. Megan was just a baby,” she cries.
Why not tell her what she wants to know? Might as well let her die happy. “Ashley knew too much, and I knew that Parker would kill Mason. So if she had lived, she would have caused more trouble than she was worth.”
“And Megan?” A single tear rolls down her cheek. “How can you kill a child?” she demands.
“It’s nothing personal, if you must know. But believe me; I did the child a favor. She would have just ended up in foster care.” I wave my hand in the air. “That’s no place for a child.”
Her face goes white as she sucks in a deep breath. “Do you even care that you took their lives?”
“No,” I say in all honesty. “But I’m starting to regret that I didn’t take care of you when I had the chance.” Although I’m going to fix that here and now! My son be damned.
She wipes the tears angrily from her face as she takes another step back. I watch as her hand goes to her stomach before she pulls it away.
I growl deep in my chest. “You’re pregnant.” My stupid son went and knocked the bitch up. I’ve been around enough women to know when one is expecting even when they’re not showing.
She straightens her back and places her other hand on the gun to hold it up. Her arms must be getting tired. “I won’t let you hurt my family. Everyone else in this town may be scared of you, but I’m not.”
I knew she would be trouble for me from the moment I saw her with Parker in the courthouse. A woman like her, beautiful and strong, doesn’t go down easily, and now, she’s pregnant. Willing to do anything to protect her family. Not all women are like my wife—easy to manipulate. Just throw money at them.
“So what is it exactly that you want?” I ask slowly. “Money?”
She laughs. “I don’t want
or need your money. I want you dead,” she says matter-of-factly.
“Well, I would like you on your knees while I fuck you the way my son did in my limo, but we don’t all get what we want,” I say.
She pulls her lips back in disgust. “You’d have to kill me first.”
“That’s the first thing you’ve said that makes sense,” I say reaching into my back pocket for my gun. Of course, she wants me dead. No way in hell was I gonna meet her without protection. I lift it toward her and she gives me a little smile.
“Stop right there!”
I spin around to see Braxton standing there with his gun trained right on my chest.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask my youngest son.
Kat starts to laugh. I spin back around to look at her with narrowed eyes. “You set me up?” I growl. I should have killed her when I had the chance. I knew she could ruin me.
She shrugs. “As soon as Parker left this morning I called the only other person I could think of that would help me. And help me he did.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
PARKER
The tires squeal on the cop car as Captain comes to a stop. He followed me out of his office. When he asked what was wrong and I told him that Kat’s GPS put her at the warehouse, he insisted on coming with me. We hopped in a cop car and headed straight there.
We jump out of the car, leaving the doors wide open and running over to the heavy metal door.
With guns raised, we run into the abandoned warehouse. “Kat?” I yell as soon as I enter. This isn’t time for games. I’m not gonna pretend to sneak up on them or try to get the upper hand on Dick.
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