A New Life Series - Finisher Set

by Samantha Jacobey

  “Are we?” Tori cut in sharply. “From what I’ve seen, the Feds are a group in name only, and it’s pretty much every man for himself.” Eli hung his head slightly as she spoke, and she carried on, “You want me to cooperate, you’re going to have to do better than that.”

  Looking over at the soot smeared faces of Brandon and Sharon Tate, Agent Hunt shook his head. “Terry, is there some place we can take these two? I mean someplace safe where they can get cleaned up and get some rest?”

  “I can take them to our hotel,” Brian offered quickly, “Get them some clothes, too. Whatever they need.” Tori stared at her brother, aware that his generosity might have been due to her connection to the couple, but she would take it, either way.

  “Thanks, Danny, that would be great,” she mumbled as she stepped over to give him a hug. “I’ll get to the bottom of this and see you later, ok?” He stared at her, aware that her mood had changed, which frightened him.

  “Yeah, sure thing, sis. I’ll take good care of them. And I’ll send the car back after you, in case you need a ride.” Wrapping his arms around his sibling, he hugged her tightly, while hoping the fear that danced in the pit of his stomach didn’t show. Backing away a moment later, he curled his fingers to indicate for them to follow him out to the limo, and Terry moved to act as their escort.

  “I’m going with them,” he stated in a crisp voice. “Keep me informed should anything happen,” well aware that there were more people needing looked after than eyes to do the looking at the moment.

  Tori watched the swinging doors sway after the four had passed through them. Drawing a deep breath, she could almost feel the tension drawing in around her, aware that the danger had always been there. She had known it for a while, since she woke up in Mercy hospital in fact. But she kept hoping at some point, it would simply go away.

  Fated

  Tori glanced around at the familiar room, riddled with guilt, “I shouldn’t have been here. This is my fault.” She shook her head at the five men who shared the space with her.

  “Your fault?” Eli countered flatly, “You’re damn right, it’s your fault. But not for the reason you think.” She glared at him, chest beginning to heave visibly. “You think things would have been different if you were still hiding in that little town in Texas,” he accused.

  “Yeah, exactly. If I hadn’t been drawn in, they wouldn’t have found me,” she spit out, anger simmering and leaking into her voice. “If I hadn’t allowed them to persuade me, to put my picture out and advertise where to find me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “Sure, it would have, it just wouldn’t have happened here,” he lifted his chin slightly as he spoke. “They got to Doug, Tori. I saw the pictures. What they did to him; it was beyond horrific. They know where you have been, and probably everything about you, from the beginning. If you hadn’t surfaced here, they would have gone after you there.”

  Staring at a bench strewn with tools, her mind raced. If they had hit the town, oh my God. They could have hurt or killed… everyone. Done it just to prove a point. “Wow, they aren’t going to give up, are they…”

  Eli could see the pain on her face, the awareness that she wasn’t going to get out of the task that had been waiting for her to complete. “I don’t think so. I think that it has always been your fate. That you would have to deal with this. Or it would deal with you.”

  Her crystal eyes shifting, she met his gaze, and the words of his note flowed through her troubled thoughts. She could see them through her mind’s eye as if she held his book in her hand, and the message that it held. The special words her friend had penned:

  My Dearest Tori,

  I know the past was filled with difficult times, and your future feels uncertain. Understand that you are not alone in your quest and that even though your path will not be an easy one, you are strong, and you will endure, so long as you endeavor to persevere. My thoughts and hopes are with you.

  Yours Always,

  Eli

  My future feels uncertain, but it isn’t. It’s been waiting for me to accept it, and to take my final role. Swinging her focus around the small group that stood staring at her, they were patiently waiting for her to decide what to do next. I have been such a fool. Clenching her jaw, her anger no longer simmered; it had hit hard boil. “Well then, I guess I have a job to do.”

  Lifting her chin towards Brett and Enrique, “Looks like I could use your help after all. Are you with me?”

  “Oh, hell yeah,” Enrique jumped at the chance, more than eager to whisk her away and delve into the mayhem once more.

  “I’m coming too,” Michael interjected, not about to be left behind this time.

  Tori inhaled sharply, as if she had been kicked. Turning to her mate, she reached out to him, her heart torn at the realization this could be their last time ever to speak to one another. She shook her head, “I can’t let you do that, love. I need you to stay here. I need you to watch my brother and my friends, make sure they stay safe.”

  “The fuck if I will,” his outburst unexpected, his words sharp. “I’m going and you’re not stopping me!”

  Grasping his hand with her right, her left running up his arm to catch him by the neck, Tori leaned her forehead against his, “I need you here,” she whispered loudly. “I need to know that you’re safe and that my brother is well guarded. And I need you to come home to.”

  Michael reached up with his free hand, grasping her hip. Sliding it around to stroke her back, he heaved a deep sigh. “I can’t let you go alone. Even with your friends. I won’t stay back, and I know I can help. I know there are things we never talked about. Things I never shared with you, about my past. I’m not the nice guy you think I am.”

  Tori lifted her head, staring into his bits of mahogany, feeling a small wave of confusion, “What do you mean you’re not a nice guy?”

  Pulling away slightly, he ran his hand through his sandy waves as he tried to explain himself, and the secrets he had kept from her. Things that had scarred his soul, and that he never shared with anyone. “I was Special Forces, you know that, so you know that I have training. The same training that Henry and many of the others had. And, I was in a special unit. A unit that took care of things. Things that weren’t meant to be talked about.”

  “I even rode with the Dragons from time to time, working with them, while a few of them were in South America. They never said where they were, or why they were there.” He paused, allowing her to put two and two together, “And I didn’t ask.”

  “I could have joined them; it was always a given that I would. I was one of them,” he stared at her lips as he confessed his sins. “But when my service was up, I didn’t. I walked away. I wanted a different life.”

  Tori shook her dark curls, her brow furrowed by pain and rage, “Then why were you there?” The night with Red came crashing in around her. “You saw what they did to me. You were there, and you didn’t do anything about it?” her anger briefly found its way to him.

  “No. No, baby girl, I couldn’t. I wanted to take you, but Henry wouldn’t let me. And he was right; Eddie would have come after us. He had to be dealt with, permanently if we were ever going to get away. My brother’s plan was sound, except that Eddie got to him first. Otherwise, it would have worked.”

  He stared at her, the idea that he had always loved her, maybe even back then, tickling the back of his mind. “Either way, this’s how it worked out. This’s how it is. We can only go from here.”

  He drew a deep breath, separating himself from her as he prepared to make his stand, “And you’re not leaving me behind. I’m your equal, capable of being as cold hearted and brutal as you are. If you’re going after those bastards that run the show, I’m going with you, and not you or anyone else is going to tell me any different.”

  Rocky Road

  Tori stared at her husband; slack-jawed at their brief altercation. She had never had him speak to her that way, and she damn sure wasn’t happy that he had chos
en this particular moment to stand up to her. Swallowing hard, she spoke softly, “You know, we got a rocky road ahead of us. And I don’t mean because it will be dangerous. Things are going to happen. Bad things.”

  Michael stared into her eyes, fully aware of what she meant, “I can take it. I told you; I’m not the nice guy you think I am. I’ve tried to be, but in the end…” Taking another a step back, he put some more distance between them, aware that he had officially been demoted in rank from husband to underling. Glaring over at the two men in suits, he shifted to German, “We take these two with us? Or make it a group of four?”

  “You’re not leaving us here,” Mason countered evenly, surprising the group with his linguistic abilities. Nodding towards the girl, he continued flatly, “Tori makes the calls. She’s the one that knows the details. Of course, as soon as our superiors figure out that Eli and I have joined her ranks, we may get trouble from that side as well.”

  “Then we make sure they don’t find out, don’t we,” Tori took charge, reverting the conversation back to a common tongue, “And we should all use English.” She gave Eli a small smile, “No sense cutting out members of our own group, and it’s the only language that we all speak.”

  “Wait a second,” Enrique looked perplexed. “You means after everything that’s happened, you’re gonna trust this guy?” he indicated the shorter man with a waft of his hand.

  Tori pursed her lips for a moment, staring at Eli’s blue eyes as they met hers calmly. “Yeah,” she finally agreed, “Yeah, I think I am. I can’t explain to you how or why I know that we can. I just know. Ok?”

  She shifted her gaze to her former lover. “Call it my sixth sense about people.” She smiled, aware of all the times her intuition had paid off. “So you two need to get out of here. Give me your number though, so we can contact you when we’re ready to meet up.”

  “We won’t be far. That’s our orders, to follow you around,” he hesitated slightly, “Wait until they get to you and follow them back to where ever it is that they hide.”

  “You’re kidding me. Is that really what you’ve been doing? Following me and waiting for them to kill me?” she stared at the first man outside the Dragons she had thought of as a friend, then shifted her gaze to his counterpart.

  Mason only nodded to confirm Eli’s statement, so she continued, “That son of a bitch. James Godfry made that call, didn’t he? Fucking bastard, I knew he couldn’t be trusted!”

  Eli shifted uncomfortably and stared at the floor between his toes. “I’ve known for a while things weren’t adding up,” his voice grew quiet, “But, I didn’t know what to do about it. I’m sorry.” Lifting his face enough to cut his eyes up at her, he hoped he came across as sincere.

  Avenged

  Book 7 of A New Life Series

  Samantha Jacobey

  Lavish Publishing, LLC ~ Houston

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  AVENGED. Copyright 2014 ©

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Lavish Publishing, LLC.

  First Edition

  2015 Lavish Publishing, LLC

  Book 7 of A New Life Series

  All Rights Reserved

  Published in the United States by Lavish Publishing, LLC, Houston

  Cover Design by: Nicolene Lorette Design

  Cover Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK

  Paperback ISBN

  ISBN 10: 0692335080

  ISBN 13: 978-0692335086

  www.LavishPublishing.com

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Get the Hell Out

  Set Up Shop

  Time to Think

  We Need a Plan

  Out of the Past

  Dirty Boys

  Back to Chicago

  You’re the Man

  What We Know

  The Buck Stops Here

  Devil’s Advocate

  Risky Business

  A Last Goodbye

  Gather the Evidence

  Says Who

  Eddie’s Girl

  My Side of the Law

  Stand or Fold

  It’s My Call

  Black as Night

  Yesterday’s Prize

  Cat and Mouse

  Classic

  How the Cookie Crumbles

  Labyrinth of Lies

  Let it Ring

  You Don’t Say

  Stranger Things

  Who Cares

  Hidden Paths

  Poor Man’s Justice

  Life of Choice

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  Eli cast a glance to his left, his partner towering above him as they marched to their sedan. “You know this is only going to get more complicated,” he spoke crisply, relieved to be outside the building.

  “Yes, it is,” the other man agreed. “So, if you have any doubts, this is the time to speak up.” Mason kept moving as he cajoled, reaching for the door handle and climbing inside.

  Taking his place behind the wheel, Eli started the car and pulled away from the curb, moving a few hundred yards and parking again to wait. “You don’t know her like I do,” he stated flatly. “She’s a compulsive liar. Only gives you enough truth to make her story sound credible.”

  Mason cut his gaze over at him, “Is that your ego talking?”

  Drumming his fingers on the wheel, he considered the question, “I don’t know. Maybe. She got the better of me, and two agents have paid the price with their lives. Three counting the one she killed when she was still with the Dragons.”

  “I’m going with her,” his passenger cut in. “Regardless of what you think, that’s the side I’m choosing. If you want to play it by the book, I will understand. But know this: James Godfry is dirty. I can’t prove it, yet. But I will.”

  Bending his arm, Eli slouched over and rested his elbow on the door frame, his head in his hand as if he had a migraine. “I’m tired of thinking about it. Half a decade. That’s how long I’ve been worrying about this. Trying to figure it out.”

  “Stop trying so hard,” Mason offered. “What’s your gut telling you?”

  “My gut?” the other man sneered, “The last time I listened to anything other than my head, I wound up reassigned. Still haven’t figured out how they discovered what happened between us, either. I figure Tori talked once she was done with me.” He could hear the rumble start low, turning his head to see Agent Hunt trying to suppress his laughter. “What’s so fucking funny?”

  “You,” his counterpart continued to snicker. “I shouldn’t laugh though. It took me a while to figure it out.” Shifting in his seat, Mason drew a deep breath to calm his spasms, “Debra was sleeping with Godfry. I’m sure she mentioned it to him, maybe not even thinking anything of it.”

  “You’re kidding me! How the hell did you find that out?”

  “I poked around… a lot,” Hunt shrugged. “Found out quite a few interesting things about the Chicago office,” he dusted imaginary dirt off his knee for a moment. “The only reason I trust you, is because Tori says I can.”

  Eli’s brow furrowed, “What the hell does that mean? You’d take her word over mine?”

  “You could say that.” Mason opened his left palm to the roof, “Let me clue you in on my theory about people. I don’t put much stock in
what people say. Everyone’s a liar. Everyone hides the truth and covers their ass at some point in their lives. You want to know who someone is… what they stand for… watch what they do. They’ll tell you who they are.”

  Mason turned enough to look the other man in the eye. “Don’t judge her too harshly. In the end, she’s the one who holds the key to ending this whole mess. That’s a lot of weight for one pair of shoulders to bear. Besides, she didn’t choose to leave you. She was holding on the best she could until she found out you were gone. That’s when things fell apart.”

  “Yeah,” Eli scoffed, “Tell me about it,” leaning back into his palm with a sigh.

  Get the Hell Out

  Tori glanced around the shop, her lips drawn into a frown. Son of a bitch. She didn’t want to be there. Didn’t want things to have turned out the way they were. “You think the car is back yet?”

  “I’ll check,” Brett offered calmly, leaving his cohorts in the back and making his way out to the single glass door next to the register. Pushing it open enough to glance up and down the street, he then allowed it to close, relocking it with a snap.

  “Nope. Not back yet,” he sighed the words when he had rejoined the others. “We should make a plan, what we’re gonna do when it does get here.” Glancing between the other two men, he continued, “You’re in charge, baby girl. That means it’s up t’ you.”

  “This isn’t a dictatorship,” she tossed at him flatly, sinking down to sit on the edge of Terry’s workbench.

  “It ain’t a democracy, neither,” he replied calmly. “It’s ok, tell us what you think. If we don’t like it, we’ll let ya know.”

  The girl inhaled deeply, pushing the air out noisily through a relaxed jaw, “Alrighty then.” She gave them her evaluation, “We’re pretty much fucked. All our bikes are scattered across the country, so we have no rides. The Organization knows everything about us, and we have almost no information on them -”