Her Last Chance

by Terri Reed

  “Good. That’s good.” Roman stepped toward the door. “You might want to go there, as well.”

  Her eyes rounded before she scurried down the porch stairs and headed toward the street. Roman didn’t watch to see where she went. He opened the door of the small house and stepped inside. Though the television boomed from the corner, the living room was empty.

  Roman walked down the hall, quietly opening the doors, searching for Stumps. He found the man in the last bedroom, lying facedown and sideways across the bed. The room reeked of cigarettes and booze. A bottle of whiskey lay empty on the floor.

  Disgust rose to choke Roman. He kicked the bed.

  “Hey!” Stumps grumbled. “Knock it off.”

  Roman kicked the bed again.

  Stumps rolled over, his hand raised as if to strike out at the one who had disturbed his stupor. He froze and his bloodshot eyes widened. “Who are you?”

  That face.

  For a moment Roman was transported back to that awful night. The man hitting his mother and forcing her down. Roman rushing in to defend her. The man baring his teeth as his fist slammed into Roman’s head, sending him crashing to the floor where he lay bleeding and helpless, watching the man brutalize his mother.

  Roman’s rapid breathing echoed inside his head, washing away the terror and bringing in the rage. He stalked forward to yank Stumps off the bed by the leg. Holding him upside down, Roman ground out, “I’m your worst nightmare.”

  Stump lashed out. Roman easily dodged the ineffective blows as he dropped Stumps onto the floor. “Get up!” Roman yelled.

  Stumps scrambled away. “Hey, man, I don’t know you. What beef do y’all have with me?”

  Roman loomed over the cowering man. “You don’t remember me?”

  Stumps shook his head. “Should I?”

  “Remember Loomis, Louisiana? Remember the Blue Oyster Bar?”

  Stumps’s muddled gaze showed confusion as he peered up at Roman. “You’re that kid.”

  “That’s right.” Roman could feel all the hate and rage and bitterness welling up inside until he thought he’d explode. He reached down and grabbed Stumps by the throat, lifting him off the floor.

  Fear shone bright in Stumps’s hazel eyes. “Hey, man, I’m sorry. I…I got drunk. I can’t control myself when I drink. You gotta believe me. Ask Viola.” His wild eyed gaze moved toward the door. “Viola!”

  “She’s not here,” Roman snapped. His hand tightened, his fingers digging into Stumps’s flesh.

  Stumps clawed at Roman’s hands. His eyes bulged.

  The need to avenge his mother burned hotly in Roman’s whole body, searing his soul and his mind.

  You’ll lose your soul if you make that choice.

  Leah’s voice resounded in his head. He winced and tried to block her out.

  Killing this man will only exchange anger for guilt.

  He’d accept the guilt if it meant justice.

  As long as you harbor unforgiveness in your heart, you’ll always be empty and wanting.

  With a guttural growl of unspent rage, Roman released his hold on Stumps’s throat and staggered back. Everything inside of him wanted to make this man suffer just as Roman and his mother had suffered. He wanted to kill the man with his bare hands.

  But Heaven help him, he couldn’t.

  He didn’t want to be empty and wanting anymore. He wanted to know God’s peace. He wanted Leah’s love.

  He could only accept the past and look to the future. A future he prayed included Leah.

  Yanking his cell phone out, Roman dialed 911.

  Maybe he couldn’t kill the scum, but he could make sure he went to prison for a very long time. There was no statute of limitations on rape in the state of Louisiana.

  Overwhelmed, Leah forced a smile as the people gathered in the backyard of the Renaults’ home expressed their love and support for her. She couldn’t believe that Ava had arranged a homecoming party for her. And here, of all places. But Ava was adamant. Her family had caused this pain; she wanted to start fresh and give her niece’s mother a party.

  So now Leah was surrounded by a sea of friendly faces that she didn’t remember. After about the sixth person she was reintroduced to, she let go of feeling bad and just enjoyed knowing she had so many people in her life who cared.

  Shelby sidled up next to her. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

  Leah grinned at the redhead beside her. “Me, too. And thank you for helping Clint so much while I was gone.”

  Shelby’s gaze grew serious. “I love you like a sister, Leah. I’d do anything for you.”

  Touched, Leah embraced the other woman.

  “Hey, you two,” Patrick Rivers said as he joined them. “No mushy tears, okay? This is a celebration.”

  Leah broke away from Shelby with a laugh. She looked forward to getting to know her friend again.

  Shelby slid her arm through Patrick’s. “Ah, sugar, you know I love you.”

  Patrick grinned, his eyes alight with love as he gazed at his fiancée. “I love when you call me sugar.”

  Bittersweet happiness infused Leah. She really was glad her friend had found love. As had Clint with Mandy, the woman he’d hired to nanny Sarah. Leah’s gaze sought out her brother. He and Mandy sat on a bench beneath the shade of a cypress.

  “Hey, you two, you’re monopolizing the guest of honor,” Jocelyn teased as she and her husband, FBI agent Sam Pierce, joined the circle.

  Leah accepted Jocelyn’s hug with gratitude. “I’m glad you two were able to come. Ava thought you might not.”

  “Well, Sam and I are working on a case right now, but—” Jocelyn threw Sam a meaningful glance. “Sam has some information we thought you might want to know.”

  Apprehension and dread trembled through Leah. Was Sam going to tell her Roman had been arrested for murdering the man who’d attacked his mother? Her gaze quickly sought out her daughter, making sure Sarah and Colleen were still in the far corner of the garden watching the koi in the little pond. Once assured Sarah wouldn’t overhear anything, Leah braced herself for the heartbreaking news.

  “We’ve been interviewing both Charla and Bosworth extensively and now have a pretty clear picture of the chain of events,” Sam said, his intelligent eyes grim.

  Leah almost sagged with relief. This wasn’t about Roman.

  “Wait a sec,” Shelby said. “Ava!” She waved over their host. “She’ll want to hear this.”

  Ava and Max moved to stand beside Shelby and Patrick. Others, aware that something was happening, hurried over. Clint and Mandy squeezed in next to Leah. Shelby’s cousin, Wendy, apparently another of Leah’s friends, jostled her way into the group.

  An engaged couple, Jodie Gilmore and FBI Agent Harrison Cahill, whom Leah had been introduced to but no one had said whether she’d known them prior to her amnesia, finished the circle. It seemed everyone had someone. She glanced at Wendy. Well, not everyone. Though Shelby had mentioned that Wendy had been seen with Deputy Olsen of late.

  “According to Bosworth, Charla had a very unhappy and abusive childhood,” Sam said.

  Just as Leah had suspected.

  “Oh, no,” Ava stated. “I knew she detested my grandfather but I had no idea she’d been…I mean, not that I would.” A tear slipped down her pale check. “Mother never spoke of her childhood. For that matter, she barely spoke of anything of a personal nature.”

  “Maybe you don’t want to hear the rest,” Max suggested softly.

  “No, I need to know. I need to understand,” Ava said. To Sam, she said, “Bosworth has been with the Renault family since his boyhood. His father was grandfather’s valet. So I’m sure what Bosworth has said is true.”

  Sam nodded. “Bosworth has tried to protect your mother for years.” Sam glanced at Jocelyn. She nodded for him to proceed. “It appears that Bosworth has been in love with your mother since they were children.”

  “That makes sense. He’s always been so attentive to Mother, especially
after the car accident,” Ava remarked.

  “Is the car accident when she supposedly became paralyzed?” Leah asked, feeling a bit awkward for talking so disparagingly about Ava’s mother.

  Ava sighed. “Yes. The accident killed my father, as well.”

  Leah’s heart went out to the other woman. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Tell us what you’ve learned from Charla,” Wendy interjected, her voice sounding eager for gossip.

  Leah frowned, wondering at this woman whom she’d supposedly been friends with.

  “Wendy, please.” Shelby hushed her cousin.

  “After a psychiatric evaluation, it’s been determined that Charla suffers from DID,” Jocelyn said. “Dissociative Identity Disorder.”

  “In other words, she’s Sybil,” Patrick said.

  Jocelyn nodded. “Like the character Sybil. Only in the movie, Sybil had multiple personalities. Charla has only one. With DID, the person may or may not be aware of the other personality. In Charla’s saner moments, she does know that something happens to her, but the periods when she is controlled by this other personality are murky and surreal.”

  “So she’s certifiable?” Max asked. “I mean, she won’t go to prison but to a mental hospital?”

  “Correct,” Sam answered.

  “And you think that her childhood caused this DID?” Ava asked.

  “I do,” Jocelyn answered. “In Charla’s case, when she felt threatened, a hostile, protective personality would emerge. This personality may have been around for many years before she turned deadly.”

  “So she really killed Earl, Angelina and her own son, Dylan?” Leah asked. The scope of Charla’s madness astounded her.

  “She did. Earl apparently threatened to expose Sarah as Dylan’s child,” Sam said.

  Leah winced. The whole world would know now that she’d been raped by Dylan. But in the grand scheme of things, it was a minor blip. She and her daughter had been reunited. That was all that mattered.

  But deep inside, an intense longing for someone to love and be loved by throbbed in Leah. That someone being Roman.

  “Do you think Charla was the one who sent me the threatening messages?” Shelby asked with a note of hope in her voice.

  This was the first Leah had heard of any threatening notes. She touched Shelby’s arm. “What happened?”

  “I found a note on the windshield of my car, warning me to keep my mouth shut. I threw it away because I thought it was a prank. Then I opened the book bin like I always do and a snake jumped out at me. Thankfully, Patrick was there to save me.”

  Leah shivered. “That could have been horrible. Was the snake caught?”

  Shelby nodded. “Yep.”

  “Bosworth confessed to putting the snake in the book bin at the library,” Harrison Cahill answered, his oh-so-charming features grim.

  “And we compared the pictures of the writing found on the library’s mirror to Charla’s,” Jodie said.

  “Another threat?” Leah asked.

  “Written in lipstick, no less,” Shelby said.

  “And?” Patrick said with impatience.

  “They don’t match Charla,” Jodie said. Petite and pretty, the woman held up her hand as Shelby groaned. “We also found your missing Bible in the Renault Library. The threatening note in the Bible doesn’t match Charla’s handwriting, either.”

  “Both of the threatening notes matched Bosworth’s handwriting,” Harrison said.

  Shelby shuddered. “Well, I’m glad they only tried to scare me.”

  “Hey, that snake could have proved deadly,” Patrick said with a scowl.

  “Apparently, when you started snooping around, asking questions about Leah, Bosworth thought he could head Charla’s destructive side off by trying to scare you,” Jodie explained.

  “What about Angelina?” Clint asked. “I thought y’all had pretty much decided that Dylan had killed her.”

  Sam spoke. “Charla found out that Angelina had overheard Earl threaten Dylan. Angelina saw that as an opportunity to blackmail Dylan into marrying her. Charla, with Bosworth’s help, killed Angelina and framed Dylan.”

  “And then Mother killed Dylan?” Ava said, her voice raw. “Why?”

  Sam’s gaze pierced Leah. “He wanted to sue you for custody of Sarah. Charla wasn’t going to let anyone or anything hurt the Renault name. She didn’t mean to kill Dylan, though. Evidently, the gun went off accidentally.”

  “She saw Leah and Sarah as threats, which explains why she hit Leah over the head and dumped her body out in the boonies,” Clint said, shaking his head and reaching out for Leah’s hand. “I’m sure glad she didn’t use her gun that time.”

  “Me, too.” A deep familiar voice from behind Leah echoed the sentiment.

  Leah spun around and found herself staring into the dark, brooding gaze of Roman Black. Butterflies took flight in her stomach. Her pulse sang a happy tune. She tried not to let herself get too hopeful. His presence could mean a multitude of things. The best of which could be he’d come back to tell her he loved her. “You’re here.”

  His mouth curved into a smile. “I am.”

  “I’m glad to see you.” She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “Are you…I mean, did everything work out?”

  His eyes revealed that he knew exactly what she referred to. He took her hands in his, completely un-abashed that they had an audience. “Yes, he’s in jail. And now I’m free of that.”

  She blinked, barely daring to let her thoughts run rampant with possibilities. “Free?”

  The dark of his eyes seemed to light up from within. “Free.”

  She could see the peace in his expression, and her heart soared with thanksgiving. He hadn’t killed the man. He’d allowed legal justice to be served for now and to allow God’s peace into his life. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.”

  “I hope I can make you even happier,” he stated, his voice low and husky.

  Her mouth went dry. “You do?”

  He pulled her closer. “I love you, Leah Farley. You helped me to draw closer to God and to rely on Him for my peace. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”

  They were surrounded by gasps and giggles and deep chuckles. But Leah didn’t care. All she could focus on was the man standing in front of her, declaring his love. Tears of joy crested her lashes. “I love you, too, Roman.”

  “That’s all that matters in life. Your love and God’s presence,” he stated, and captured her lips. “Now introduce me to the young lady who will be my daughter.”

  The sound of applause filled the air and cocooned them in a blanket of love. Leah sent up a silent praise to God for a second chance at life. And love with Roman.

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed learning about Leah and Roman as they searched for her identity and the truth of all the murder, mystery and mayhem in Loomis, Louisiana. I found Leah and Roman challenging characters to explore, having so much angst and heartache in their pasts. Roman’s need for revenge was a strong, driving force in his life, but it left him empty inside. Only through God’s peace and Leah’s love was he able to come to terms with the past. For Leah, hiding the past was what set off the awful events of this series. When evil is allowed to live in darkness, it thrives, but when evil is exposed to the light, its power diminishes. A lesson we all must remember.

  It’s amazing how much of what we go through in life shapes who we become, whether we mean for it to or not. But I know in my heart that every experience, every heartache and triumph has brought me closer to God because I choose to look to God in all circumstances. For through Christ who strengthens me, I can do all things.

  May God bless you always,

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  What made you pick up this book to read? Did it live up to your expectations?

  Did you think Leah and Roman were realistic characters? Did their romance build believably?

  Talk about the secondary characters. What did you like
or dislike about the people in the story?

  Was the setting clear and appealing? Could you “see” where the story took place?

  For Leah, to have no memory of her past must have been frightening. Have you had an experience in the past that was frightening? How did you deal with that fear?

  Roman burned with the need for revenge. Have you ever wanted to take revenge on someone for something they did? Did you? If so, did you feel better, or worse?

  Have you read the first five books in this series? If so, talk about the ways the books were connected.

  Did the suspense element of the story keep you guessing? Why or why not?

  Did you notice the scripture in the beginning of the book? What application does it have to your life?

  Did the author’s use of language and her writing style make this an enjoyable read? Would you read more from the author?

  What will be your most vivid memories of this book?

  What lessons about life, love and faith did you learn from this story?

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-3505-6

  HER LAST CHANCE

  Copyright © 2009 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Steeple Hill Books.

  ® and TM are trademarks of Steeple Hill Books, used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.