by HELEN HARDT
“No, it doesn’t. But it does mean I can have you questioned, and I will.”
“We don’t have time for this,” I said. “We’re going on a trip. A very important trip. You can’t hold us here.”
“You’re right. I can’t. But the police want to question all three of you. Don’t leave the state until they do.”
Joe rubbed his stubbled chin. “Christ.”
“It’s not your fault, Joe,” I said.
Talon punched some numbers into his phone. “I’m calling Jade. We need an attorney.”
“The police expect you sometime today,” the warden said.
“My girlfriend is a detective on the force,” I said. “I can assure you this will all come to nothing.”
“For all of your sakes, I hope you’re right,” the warden said. “But we have to investigate. Good day.”
We all stood, and the guard moved from the doorway, letting us pass.
“I’m sorry,” Joe said, once we were alone. “This is on me. I did slip a guard a benji. On two separate occasions.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” I said. “We all wanted to see him get the shit kicked out of him.”
“You were just taking care of things,” Talon said. “Just like you always have, big brother.”
“I wanted him to suffer for what he did to you,” Joe said.
“We understand that,” I said.
Joe rubbed his forehead. “Shit. I swear to God I never paid anyone off to kill him.”
“We know, Joe,” Talon said. “He’s no use to us dead.”
“Look,” I said. “We’ll talk to the cops, assure them we had nothing to do with Larry’s murder, and then we’ll get out of town.”
Talon eyed his phone screen. “Jade just texted me. She’s getting an attorney at the top criminal defense firm in the city to meet us at the station. Everything will be fine.”
I sighed. “All right, then. Let’s get this over with.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Ruby
“How did you get in here?”
“The same way I got in the other night.”
“So you left the book.”
“I did.”
“You should know. I’m armed.”
He smiled, and a spooky recognition oozed through me. His smile resembled mine, right down to the slightly lower gumline on the left side of his mouth. I’d never noticed that before.
“I am no threat to you. I never was.”
“Oh…except for the time you tried to rape me.”
“That was unfortunate. I was a different person then. I regret it.”
“Well, you won’t get the chance to try it again.” I pointed my gun at him.
“Kill me, Ruby, and you’ll never find what you’re looking for.”
“Maybe all I’m looking for is to send you to hell.”
He smiled again, and I gulped back nausea at the resemblance.
“Then do it, Ruby. Pull that trigger. Murder me in cold blood.”
I laughed. Actually laughed! “Cold blood? Are you kidding me? This would be the most hot-blooded murder ever committed. But I assure you, I’d get away with it. You broke into my house. Pure self-defense.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
What was I waiting for? I aimed the gun right between his eyes.
“Kill me, though,” he said, “and you’ll never discover the truth.”
“I know all the truth I need. You raped Gina. You tortured and raped Talon Steel. You tried to rape me. You’ve had something to do with the disappearance of those girls I met in Jamaica. You tried to have Brooke Bailey killed for insurance money. And God himself only knows what other heinous acts you’ve committed or had a part in.”
“I had reasons for everything I did, including letting you live all these years.”
“I’ve often wondered about that,” I said. “Why didn’t you have me taken care of long ago?”
He smiled. “A father’s pride.”
I scoffed, even though I knew he could have killed me at any time. Still, his statement rang with morsels of truth. “Please.”
“It’s true. You’re strong and determined. I’ve watched you since you left. I helped keep you safe.”
“I kept myself safe, you shithead.”
“Did you never wonder why, as a fifteen-year-old girl, you were never caught? Never arrested? Never violated?”
“I stayed under the radar.”
“Yes, you did. With a lot of help from me.”
That was bullshit. He was playing mind games. I had taken care of myself all those years. So I changed the subject on him.
“I’m not interested in your reasons for anything you did.” I cocked the gun. “Say goodbye, Daddy.”
* * *
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Misadventures of a Good Wife
Available October 3, 2017
Keep reading for an excerpt!
Chapter One
KATE
He always said I had the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen.
In truth, my eyes were more gray than blue, but when he looked into them, his face between my thighs, his own eyes searing in their dark intensity, I believed my eyes were blue and beautiful.
“You like that, sweetness?” His words whispered across my wet skin, sending chills through me.
Price always looked into my eyes when he went down on me. He had from the very first time we’d made love back in college. Ours had been a whirlwind romance—love at first sight, as corny as that sounds. After graduation, he’d begun his job as a day trader on Wall Street, and I’d started as a copywriter for The New York Tribune. With luck, we’d happened upon our quaint Brooklyn apartment—cozy and perfect.
Yes, perfect.
Perfect was how I felt every time Price licked me there, tugging on me, his low growls reverberating against the sensitive skin of my inner thighs.
And his eyes never left mine.
“God, yes,” I sighed. “Yes, yes.”
He flipped me over onto my hands and knees and gave one cheek of my ass a little slap.
“You have the best ass, Kate.”
Shivers surged through my body. I loved it when he sucked me in this position. Already, I was on the verge. I knew it wouldn’t be long until he—
“Oh!”
Two of his fingers breached my wet channel, and the convulsions began. Price had given me countless orgasms over our years together, and each one always seemed more magnificent than the last. This one was an implosion—every cell in my body coursing toward my inner core. I pushed backward, trying to force his fingers farther and deeper into me.
“That’s right. Come for me, sweet Kate.”
My limbs shook, my arms finally giving way until only my thighs held my ass in the air.
“I love making you come,” Price said, his voice low and husky. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you look right now?”
His words made me spiral toward the peak once more.
“I can feel you, sweetness. I feel you getting ready to come again.” He removed his fingers, and in an instant he was inside me.
That’s all it took. I exploded around him.
“Price! My God, Price!”
“That’s it, baby. I love it when you scream my name. I love to make you come.” He thrust once more. “You hug me so completely, Kate. No one else… No one else in the world but you…”
I pushed my hips backward, forcing him to increase his rhythm. Hard and fast. That’s how I liked it, especially right before he left
on one of his trips. He always made sure I’d think only of him while he was gone.
And I always did. He never left my thoughts.
He plunged into me more deeply and then withdrew. Though I whimpered at the loss, he flipped me over onto my back, spread my legs, and then tunneled into me.
“Look at me, Kate. I want to look into your beautiful blue eyes.” Beads of sweat emerged on his brow, gluing dark strands of hair to his forehand. “You’re beautiful. So beautiful.” He thrust once more, groaning. “God, yeah. Feels so good.”
So sensitive was I from my multiple orgasms, I felt every tiny convulsion as Price shot into me.
One day we’d make a baby together. The time wasn’t right yet, but one day…
He collapsed on top of me, his body hot and slick. After a few seconds, he mumbled, “Sorry, baby,” and moved to the side.
I turned toward him and brushed my lips over his. “I miss you already.”
His arm was over his forehead, his eyes closed. “Me too. But it’s only for a week.”
I smiled and kissed him again. “A week sounds like a year to me.”
He opened his eyes and turned toward me. “I know. I’ll call you every day like I always do.” Then he sighed. “I’d better get moving if I’m going to make that flight. An afternoon nap is just what you need. You deserve it.”
The bed shifted as he got up. I wanted to stay awake until he left, but I was exhausted. I’d pulled an eighty-hour week and still managed to get home to see Price before he left. Tomorrow was Saturday. I was going to indulge in a well-deserved session of sleeping in followed by a late lunch with my bestie and then a massage.
“Love you, baby,” I said, drifting off.
His words echoed back to me. “And I love you. Always.”
* * *
I shot up in bed. What the hell was that annoying noise?
Not my alarm. I hadn’t set it. I’d only lain down for an afternoon nap.
The door buzzer. I’d been so sound asleep that I hadn’t recognized the ring. I quickly grabbed my phone off the night table. Noon? Damn. I’d really been exhausted. A wave of regret swept over me. I’d wanted to say goodbye to Price when he left. He was no doubt already in Switzerland by now.
I hurried into some sweats and a shirt and stumbled out of the bedroom to the front door. I opened the intercom. “Yes?”
“Mrs. Lewis? Katherine Lewis?”
I cleared my throat. “Yes.”
“I’m Officer Trent Nixon, NYPD. I have…news for you. May I come up?”
My heart fell into my stomach.
Something was terribly wrong.
* * *
A year later…
“Come on, Kate,” Michelle, my sister-in-law, urged. “You need a vacation.”
“The last year has been a vacation. I’ve hardly worked.” I hadn’t needed to. Price had left me a hefty life insurance policy. With proper investment, I’d never have to work again. Which was good, because apparently I no longer had it in me.
“That’s my point. You have a promising career. A promising future.”
A future without Price? No thank you. I gazed at my sister-in-law. She looked so much like him, with her dark hair and expressive eyes. She even had the same fiery spirit and determination, which she was exhibiting now. Michelle had decided I needed a tropical escape with her. A girl’s trip to some remote island in the South Pacific.
I wasn’t buying into it.
“You can’t wallow around forever,” she continued.
“I can’t seem to pull myself out of this, Chelle.” No truer words. How was I supposed to get over the love of my life?
She touched my forearm, no doubt trying to offer comfort but failing. “I miss him too. We all do. I understand.”
She thought she understood. But she didn’t. She was his little sister, not his soulmate. Not the woman who was supposed to bear his children—those beautiful phantom babies I’d never meet. Not the woman he should have grown old with—laughing together on a park bench, feeding pigeons, watching children play.
My lover had been snatched from me by the jaws of hell, and no one got it. No one understood.
Michelle gazed around my kitchen. “When was the last time you cleaned? Ate a decent meal?”
Dirty dishes towered high in the sink, and the remainder of my Chinese takeout from two nights ago littered the table. I hadn’t been able to choke much of it down.
I didn’t answer.
“Look,” Michelle said. “We’re getting out of here. I’m calling a cleaning service to fumigate this place, and I’m taking you to lunch. Where you will eat. Then we’re going shopping.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but she shushed me.
“No arguments. You need clothes. Island wear.” Then she dug into her purse and pulled out some papers. “Here are our e-tickets and itinerary. We leave first thing tomorrow.”
* * *
After a turbulent flight, a ferry ride that nearly had me retching—“You’re not seasick,” Michelle had said. “It’s just nerves.”—and a bumpy, bouncy excursion ride over roads made of actual rocks, we finally arrived at a small beachfront villa on the South Pacific island of Leiloa.
The cabbie unloaded our luggage. Michelle paid him and muttered something I didn’t understand.
Once the driver was on his way, she turned to me. “So what do you think?”
“I think I have to pee.” The bumps and bounces to get here had taken their toll.
“For God’s sake, Kate. Look around you. It’s beautiful here. The beach is straight ahead, and I hear the sunsets are amazing. This is paradise. Embrace it.”
The only thing I wanted to embrace was dead and buried. I picked up my suitcase and carry-on. “Let’s go inside.”
Michelle shook her head and sighed. “Fine.” She produced a keycard and unlocked the door. “This place is supposed to be great. Four bedrooms, full kitchen. Pool and hot tub.”
“What do we need with four bedrooms?” I queried.
“Just go with it for once. Okay, Kate?”
Michelle had been a good sport, putting up with my pessimistic attitude. The least I could do was try to enjoy this trip she’d arranged. She’d obviously gone to a lot of effort. Everything had been first class all the way. It was likely costing an arm and a leg. At least I could afford it. “You win. Let’s go with it.”
The villa was beautiful and decorated in a plush modern style. The kitchen was equipped with a gourmet stove, marble countertops, and a huge stainless steel refrigerator.
Michelle opened it and pulled out a bottle of Moët. “Some bubbles to toast the beginning of our three weeks in paradise.”
I wasn’t in a partying mood quite yet. “No thank you.”
“Hey. Remember? You’re going to go with it.” She unwrapped the cork and pulled it out with a pop.
“You’re right. I said that.” Trying to do my part, I searched the cupboards until I found some champagne flutes. Michelle filled them and handed one to me.
“To finding what we’ve lost,” she said, clinking my glass.
I inhaled deeply. She’d chosen interesting words. I would never literally find what I’d lost, but maybe I could find part of myself—a part that was strong, a part that could help me get through what was coming. “All right. To finding what we’ve lost.” I took a drink of the sparkling liquid. The bubbles danced across my tongue.
“To that end,” Michelle said, “let’s change clothes and go for a walk on the beach. You take the room at the end of the hallway upstairs. I’ll take the bedroom down here.”
I lugged my bags upstairs to the room she’d chosen for me…and dropped my jaw to the floor when I walked in. This was the master suite of all master suites. I didn’t need this room. Why had she rented this particular villa, anyway? We could have made do in one hotel room with two beds.
The king-size bed was draped in black and silver silk, and the dressers and night tables were dark cherry. But that was nothi
ng compared to the bathroom. Pure decadence. Silvery white marble countertops and black porcelain fixtures, including a bidet. The tub and steam shower were both big enough for two. I inhaled. The entire room smelled of rose and lavender.
I unpacked a few things and changed into a hot pink bikini that Michelle had insisted I buy. “You have a great body,” she’d said. “Show it off!”
To whom I was going to show it off, I had no idea. I put it on anyway and wrapped a black and pink sarong around my waist. I wriggled my toes into some flip-flops, brushed out my honey-blond hair and gathered it into a high ponytail, and went back downstairs.
Michelle was waiting for me in the kitchen, dressed in a royal-blue bikini top and white broomstick skirt. She handed me another glass of champagne. “Some bubbles for the walk.”
“On a public beach?”
“Silly. This is a private beach. Did you notice any other houses around when we drove up here?”
I hadn’t noticed much of anything. I’d been too busy feeling sorry for myself. “I’m sorry. Then I guess it’s okay.”
“It’s all okay,” she said, smiling. “Go on out. Walk to the left. The view is spectacular. I’ll catch up in a minute.” She sipped her drink.
“No. I’ll wait for you.”
“I have a quick call to make, and I don’t want you hanging around here when the beach and waves are right outside. Go. I don’t want you to miss the sunset.”
What did I have to lose? I’d already lost everything. Walking on the beach by myself for a few minutes wouldn’t hurt me. I stepped outside, gripping the stem of my glass, and looked toward the ocean. The sun was nearing the horizon, a bright orange ball with rays of yellow and white radiating around it. It was still quite bright, so I shielded my eyes. I hadn’t thought to put on sunglasses.