Face the Music (COBRA Securities Book 9)
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Face the Music
By Velvet Vaughn
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 VELVET VAUGHN LLC
ISBN:978-0-9861652-7-6
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Visit Velvet's website at: www.velvetvaughn.com and her Facebook Fanpage HERE.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my grandparents.
Acknowledgements
I would like to sincerely thank the members of my Velvet Vaughn Street Team who help spread the word: Cindi R., Debbie M., Gary A., Karen D., Karen J., Lisa B., and Tammy T. I’m so thankful for all of you and truly appreciate your support!
And as always, a huge thank you to my mom. I couldn’t do this without you!
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Epilogue
Notes
About the Author
Prologue
Layla Brooks navigated the congested streets of New York City, braking suddenly when a yellow taxi swerved in her lane, cutting her off. The driver honked and gestured as if it was her fault. Maybe it was. She was monumentally distracted.
Her adrenalin was still running high after noticing a man she thought might be looking for her and her siblings…and from her encounter with a tall, dark and devastatingly handsome stranger.
She made it to the interstate without further incident and headed north to the small cottage she and her twin siblings were renting in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Her plan to speak to the COBRA Securities agent who took down the Vigilante had been thwarted by a suspicious man with dark shades, meticulously scanning the crowd milling outside the television station. When her gaze locked onto him, her first impulse had been to run. Logically, she knew there was no way someone would be searching for them among the crowd gathered outside the studio where the agent was scheduled to appear. She’d only decided to drive down the night before after watching a commercial advertising the interview. But her instincts had screamed the opposite and run was exactly what she insisted her siblings do, sending them to the car parked in a garage a block away. She wanted them safe while she got a closer look. She’d kept her gaze trained on him as she stealthily moved closer. She planned on snapping a picture and sending it to Henry Graham. Henry was her anchor, her rock. Without him, she’d most likely be dead.
She hadn’t been paying attention as she weaved in and around the throng of spectators, so when she slammed into a wall, she’d been momentarily disoriented. It was only after the wall reached out to steady her that she realized the wall was, in fact, a human being. Or more accurately, a muscular giant with short, dark hair, sky blue eyes and perfect features. She wanted to blame the loss of breath on plowing into his rock-hard body, but it was gazing at his masculine beauty that made all the air abandon her lungs.
As a singer, she’d been around attractive men her entire career. The entertainment industry was filled with them. But none had ever affected her like this one. When their bodies touched, sparks flared. For the first time in over a year, she felt alive. The probing, penetrating gaze from his cobalt eyes seemed to reach deep into her soul. She had the overwhelming urge to pour her heart out to him. His shoulders were wide and broad and she had no doubt he could help carry her burden. She didn’t know how long they stared at each other. It could’ve been hours or minutes. She was completely lost. Then someone bumped into her from behind, jolting her back to reality. She whipped around to search for the suspicious man, but he was nowhere to be found. Tiffany and Sean were all alone in the car. What if he watched them take off and followed? She couldn’t let anything happen to her siblings. As hard as it was, she had to leave the gorgeous stranger. She needed to make sure the twins were safe. He called after her when she bolted, but she kept going, hoping he didn’t follow and praying that he did. When she found her brother and sister safe in the vehicle, she breathed a sigh of relief and told herself she wasn’t disappointed that the handsome man hadn’t followed.
She shook her head to clear the ridiculous thoughts from her brain. She’d never see him again. He wasn’t her savior. He wasn’t anything to her but a brief moment in time. Maybe she did drive by slowly and scan the crowd, but he was gone for good. The urge to cry was ridiculous. She had more important things to think about, like keeping her siblings safe, and why Henry wasn’t returning her calls.
She glanced over her shoulder and changed lanes to pass a slow-moving vehicle. The further she travelled from the city, the lighter the traffic.
When her plan to meet the COBRA Securities agent had been thwarted, she devised a new one: drive to their headquarters and meet with him there. She’d researched the company at the public library and discovered they were located in Indiana. Theoretically, they could make the drive in a day, but it would be a long one. She decided they’d take their time, making it an adventure for the kids. They could stop by any fun roadside attractions along the way. She was both nervous and excited to meet with someone who might be able to help them. She’d been trying to contact Henry for over a week and he hadn’t responded. That wasn’t like him. They checked in once a week religiously. He never missed a call before. She worried about what that meant.
She ruthlessly pushed back the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. Henry was her only contact with her old life, the only person besides Tiffany and Sean who knew her real identity. If something happened to Henry, she didn’t know how she’d manage. That’s why meeting with the COBRA Securities agent had become imperative.
She tried not to dwell on the past. A year ago, she’d been on top of the world. She was a former Miss America and Miss Universe runner-up, touring the world as a chart-topping singer. She’d won a Grammy. She had life by the tail and the ride was amazing. She owned a house overlooking the ocean in Malibu and a ski chalet in Aspen. She was fortunate that her career had been so lucrative in a short amount of time and she had more money than she could spend in three lifetimes. She glanced around the interior of the beat-up Ford Explorer with rips i
n the seat and stains on the floor mats and almost laughed. It was a far cry from her cherry red Porsche or the limos that were her constant modes of transportation in her old life.
Everything changed the night she answered her phone to discover her mother had passed away. Layla had been shocked. Shattered. Her mother was young, healthy. How could she be dead?
Her mother’s housekeeper, Mrs. Anders, had been the one to break the news. Her stepfather hadn’t even bothered to let her know. Mrs. Anders returned home from shopping and found her mother at the bottom of the staircase, broken and battered. She never regained consciousness. Blunt force trauma, Mrs. Anders told her was the official cause of death. Layla had been devastated.
Her father had been a decorated soldier, a hero, killed in the line of duty when she was young. Her mom raised her and it’d been the two of them against the world until the summer of her fourteenth birthday when her mom met Senator Eugene Mullins of Kennesaw, Georgia. At the time, Mullins had been a successful lawyer with an eye for politics. Her mother, still young and beautiful at thirty-three, fell hard for him. After a whirlwind courtship, they married in a lavish ceremony and had twins Sean and Tiffany a few years later, her half-siblings. As much as her mother loved him, Layla never warmed up to her stepfather, nor he her.
She’d been in college when the twins were born and she spent as much time with them as possible. They were sweet and loving when they were small, always wanting to be hugged and held. As they grew, they became quiet and withdrawn. At the time, she chalked the change up to the fact that she didn’t spend much time with them due to her busy schedule. After she was crowned Miss America, her time became even more limited. From there, her music career soared and their visits were brief but filled with love. Her siblings adored her and she showered them with attention. She would’ve taken them on tour with her if she could. She had no idea the terror they lived in daily.
After her mom’s sudden passing, she flew home and was immediately pulled aside by Tiffany and Sean. They were positive that their father had killed their mother. Layla’s denial was instant. Though she’d never been particularly fond of the senator, he seemed to love her mother. When Sean told her that he’d been verbally abusive for years, she’d been floored. Not only had he destroyed her mother’s self-confidence, he subjected his children to verbal abuse as well. He was controlling and domineering and oversaw every aspect of their lives. They were threatened if they ever spoke a word to anyone, especially her. She felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her. She’d never seen the signs, but looking back, their withdrawal should have been a major red light. She blamed herself for not acting sooner.
The twins also suspected he was involved in illegal activities. He dealt with shady characters and conducted secretive phone calls. He’d disappear late at night. If their mother questioned him, he yelled until she retreated, usually in tears. Their mother innocently walked into his study one night with a plate of warm cookies, not knowing he was meeting with one of his associates. He’d screamed at her and thrown the platter against the wall shattering it, sending their mother fleeing the study in fear. She was dead the next morning.
Her half-siblings were terrified of their father. Now that their mother was gone, so was their safety. They begged her to take them with her after the funeral. When she informed the senator she was taking them, he laughed and shooed her out of his office like she was a pesky fly. That’s when she snapped and accused him of killing her mother. His rage had been chilling. When she followed through and packed bags for the children, he tried to have her killed. She survived that attempt and two more, but she knew he’d never give up until she was dead. She couldn’t take the chance that the kids might be with her during one of his attempts. Her only option was to make him think he succeeded. It meant the end of her career, but the lives of her siblings were more important. With the help of Henry Graham, the head of her security team and a trusted friend, they staged her death. As soon as the announcement was made that she’d passed, she grabbed Sean and Tiff and they disappeared.
Henry, a former special ops soldier, had contacts who knew how to make someone vanish. They’d moved most of her money into offshore accounts so it couldn’t be touched by anyone, especially Mullins. She kept enough for her and the kids to live on while they were on the run. The plan had been for Henry to get someone inside Mullins’ operation so they could gather evidence to bring him down. Henry told her it would take time and to be patient. Layla hoped it would happen sooner rather than later but days turned into weeks, weeks into months. Apparently, Mullins had tightened security after the twins disappeared.
At first, the cops believed Tiffany and Sean had been kidnapped, possibly for money. To make it look real, they had to leave their phones and computers and everything but their most cherished possessions and photos. When no ransom note appeared, they were listed as missing. That was almost a year ago. Instead of imploding with the death of his wife, stepdaughter and the disappearance of his two children, Mullins had been practically sainted by the media. He was a tragic hero, plodding forward in the face of adversity. He played up his suffering to the hilt, crying on camera and begging for the return of his beloved children. He’d do anything, he told the media, to have them back. His popularity was off the charts. He’d even thrown his hat into the ring for the presidency.
Layla couldn’t let that happen. The man was evil and twisted and he’d killed her mother. She vowed to bring him down if it was the last thing she did.
She glanced in the rear-view mirror at her twin siblings. They were so innocent and she hated the fear they lived in the first ten years of their life. She’d had no idea what their lives were like, but they were happy now and she was thankful for the resilience of youth. She couldn’t help but feel guilty that she hadn’t seen the signs. If she had, maybe her mother would still be alive.
The last year had put her own life in perspective. She’d bought into the fame and the fast life. She didn’t do drugs or sleep around, but she enjoyed partying with her friends and indulged in the finer things in life. Somewhere in the past few months, she realized they were just things. Her life had been shallow and superficial. She was never caught on camera without her makeup. Now, she rarely wore any.
She missed singing, but she didn’t miss the constant travel, the commitments, the loss of privacy. Paparazzi camped out in the trees outside her house, hoping to snap pictures of her. She’d had one follow her to the gynecologist and pose as a nurse. Thankfully, she’d been caught before any pictures could be taken. When this ordeal was over and Mullins was behind bars, she’d figure out how to resume her career while leading a normal life. She was now responsible for her siblings. A life on the road was no way for them to grow up. They needed stability and she’d find a way to give it to them.
She was homeschooling Tiff and Sean and they were both incredibly bright. They hated the private school Mullins insisted they attend, so she wasn’t sorry they were away from it, but she didn’t want to wait much longer to get them back into a structured learning environment to nurture their intellect.
As far as taking Mullins down, she didn’t have a plan beyond trying to talk to Mr. Mylonas. She was tired of running, looking over their shoulders. It’d only been a year, but she didn’t want Sean and Tiff to live their lives on the run. Now that she couldn’t get in touch with Henry, she was in panic mode. She didn’t have the strength or resources to go it alone. Yesterday, before they left for the city, her Henry phone rang. She’d been so happy when she picked up, chastising him for not getting in touch sooner, but her words were met with silence. She sensed someone was on the phone, but they weren’t talking. She hung up, assuming it was a wrong number.
The house they were renting now was small…it would easily fit into the closet of her Malibu home…but it met their needs. The widowed woman who owned the home was sweet and kind and she didn’t ask for references, thank goodness. She assumed Layla was running from an abusive husband and Layla didn’
t bother to correct her. She paid in cash and took bags of groceries when she dropped off the check. Mrs. Craig knew that two children lived in the house, but she thought they were Layla’s kids and Layla made sure that she never saw them. The story of their disappearance had dominated the news…was still making headlines with Mullins’ presidential aspirations. Their pictures had been widely circulated. Layla had altered their appearance, changing the color and length of their hair, but she still worried someone might recognize them. She’d basically turned the vibrant, energetic kids into hermits and she hated it. They never complained and they were so grateful to her. They looked at the ordeal as an adventure. She wished she could look at it that way, too. Instead, all she felt was a sense of impending doom.
Layla decided she’d pack all their meager belongings when they headed to Indiana. They traveled light in case they needed to flee. The only items left in the house were some clothes and a few groceries, toiletries and household items they’d picked up at a discount store. Layla also kept a safe hidden in the back of the closet in her bedroom. It contained all the music she’d written in the last year. She made sure names weren’t on anything so it couldn’t be traced back to her. The house had an old upright piano and she’d spent so many hours writing, she had enough material for four albums. She’d hate to lose it now. Some of it was her best work to date.
They’d been at this residence for a couple of months, so it was time to move on. They tried not to stay in one place too long. Mrs. Craig allowed them to rent weekly. Hopefully it wouldn’t take long for her to find a new tenant.
Layla signaled for the off-ramp and navigated the curving roads to the sleepy town nestled in the foothills of the mountains. As she turned down their road, she had the overwhelming sensation that something wasn’t right.
“Look!” Tiff yelled, leaning forward to point out the windshield.
An ominous black cloud rose high into the air. She glanced in her rear-view mirror to see a wall of flashing lights. She pulled to the curb to let the fire trucks pass. The wail of sirens was piercing. As soon as they whizzed by, she eased back out and followed. When she came upon two police cruisers angled to prevent cars from proceeding any further, her stomach dropped.