by Tiffany Snow
PROLOGUE
From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back.
That is the point that must be reached. ~Franz Kafka
Kade Dennon was naked.
Of course, that’s how he always felt when he had to leave his weapons behind. His job today required he be at the Indianapolis courthouse, which necessitated a walk through a metal detector. This morning, however, he’d managed to throw a wrench in the gears at security which disabled the system long enough for him to sneak in a gun taped to his back. So while he wasn’t armed to the teeth the way he usually was, he felt less naked than if he’d had nothing.
He said a few choice words when he ripped the tape from his skin while standing inside a stall in the men’s bathroom. Shit, that hurt. Blane was so buying dinner for that one. An expensive dinner. Steak dinner. Kade shoved the gun into his ankle holster.
The big guy in charge of security—what was his name, Hank, maybe?—had done a careful pat down on Kade, eyeing him suspiciously, but not saying anything. Kade had just given him a thin-lipped smile before moving on.
Now Kade sipped hot, black coffee out of a Styrofoam cup and kept a casual eye on the entrance. The courthouse was an ideal location to arrange a clandestine meeting since so many people came and went, on both sides of the law. Which was why Kade was there to see who exactly spoke to James Gage, Jr.
Kade snorted in disgust at the mere thought of that pansy-ass. He was nothing but a spoiled pretty-boy who clung to his dad’s coattails and had achieved nothing of his own. Not to mention he’d probably shit himself if he even knew Kade was watching him.
Bored, Kade glanced at his watch. He’d gotten there early. They’d since fixed the metal detector and now the line to get in the courthouse was slightly backed up. Shifting his weight, he leaned against the wall and looked casually back at the entrance, making mental notes of those in line.
Hello. What have we here?
Kade’s gaze swiveled back to the spot in line where a woman stood waiting. She had the most unusual shade of hair he’d ever seen. He couldn’t see her face yet, she was a little thing, but her hair stood out in the crowd. It was the color of the sunset, golden with a hint of rose.
Without even thinking about it, Kade moved from his position by the wall, drawing closer into the crowd just to get a better glimpse of her. He was close enough to hear the security guard when he spoke to her, his voice booming out.
“Kathleen! How’s it going on this fine day?” Hank asked her.
Kathleen. Kade liked that. But he still couldn’t see her face or hear her reply to Hank. Her voice was too soft to carry.
Someone stepped in front of Kade, temporarily obscuring his view, and he had to tamp down his irritation. Moving again, he finally caught a glimpse of her face as she turned away from the metal detector.
For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. She was beautiful, her face and smile radiating youth and innocence. Even from where Kade stood, he could see she had blue eyes. Of course she did. Her skin was the color of cream and was flawless, a hint of pink in her cheeks betraying the chill in the air outside. She looked like a fairytale princess who’d just stepped from the pages of a storybook.
Kade stopped in his tracks. He’d unconsciously taken several steps toward her. What was he going to do, ask her out? Yeah, he could see how that would go:
“Um, excuse me, you don’t know me, and if you did, you’d probably run screaming the opposite direction, but can I buy you coffee or dinner, then take you to my apartment and spend the next several days in bed with you?”
As a pick-up line, it wasn’t one of his better ones.
Kade watched as she walked away down the hallway and turn a corner out of sight. It didn’t matter. He could tell without even speaking to her that she wasn’t his type, his type usually being the kind that weren’t looking for more than a quick hookup where names were optional. A step above having to pay for it, but not by much.
Kathleen looked like the kind of girl who liked flowers and slow-dancing, who’d no doubt never had a hard day in her life, or any cause to ever, ever hold a gun. She was the kind of girl you fell in love with and brought home to mom.
That caused a long-buried pang to echo through Kade and he pushed the thought aside. Christ, what was he doing? Going all gooey-eyed and maudlin just because he saw a pretty girl? Obviously, he’d gone too long without killing someone.
Maybe Junior…
But no. Blane would get pissed if he killed that little snot. Not that he couldn’t make it look like an accident, but Blane would know and then Kade would have that to deal with.
Kade took another sip of coffee, then tossed the rest in a nearby trash can. As he did, he heard screams and commotion coming from down the hallway where Kathleen had gone.
He followed the crowd, moving quickly through the press of people until he was able to see what the problem was.
The girl, Kathleen, was being held hostage by a man wearing a rumpled suit and desperate expression. He held a knife to her throat.
Well, fuck.
Kathleen’s pale face was as white as paper, her eyes wide and scared as she gripped the lunatic’s arm, trying to keep the knife from her throat. The guy was terrified, too, but he was also deranged. A dangerous combination. Kade doubted he even realized how close the knife was to her skin, he was too focused on the crowd of onlookers and the security guards scattered in front of him.
Kade glanced through the crowd and saw Blane standing to one side. Their eyes locked and Blane gave a short, quick nod.
Kade crouched and pulled his gun from its holster, careful to keep it hidden from those around him as he stood back up. His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the situation. Kathleen was lucky. She was short. Kade could get a clear shot if he was careful and quick. If Kathleen had been taller, there wouldn’t have been anything Kade could have done.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kade saw Blane moving, slow but deliberate. Kade would tap the guy to the head and Blane would grab the girl, followed by a hasty retreat out the back exit. Problem solved.
The guy’s knife slipped, nicking Kathleen. People in the crowd gasped at the sight. The bright gash of red blood against her ivory skin made Kade forget everyone around him. Cold fury took over and he instantly raised his gun to take aim—
Kathleen moved suddenly and Kade’s finger twitched. He’d been a split second from pulling the trigger, but now she was free, the knife embedded in the man’s side. He crumpled to the ground.
Security guards swarmed around the man, obscuring him from view. There were shouts for an ambulance and the crowd started talking and moving again, filling the hallway with noise and mayhem. But Kade only had eyes for the girl.
She had retreated to the wall, as far as she could get, and now stood looking shell-shocked. Her mouth was agape, her eyes unblinking as she stared at where the man had fallen, as though surprised by her own actions. As Kade watched, her knees seemed to give out and she slid down the wall to the floor, dropping from sight.
Kade pushed through people to get to her. Was she okay? Had she been hurt? When he finally reached her, he could see from where he stood that Kathleen’s entire body shook with tremors, her chest rising and falling with rapid, short breaths.
She was in shock and hyperventilating.
“Put your head between your knees,” Kade ordered.
Kathleen didn’t seem to hear him, her attention still on the crowd around the man. Kade could hear her gasping breaths. Her little hands were curled into fists at her side.
The last thing he needed was her passing out
on him. Reaching down, Kade pushed on the back of her head and neck, forcing her head down between her knees. She fought him at first, how cute, but he kept pushing and then held her there.
Her hair was soft, the locks slipping through and over his fingers like silk. Her neck felt fragile and delicate in his grip. Too delicate. But then again, she’d just escaped from that guy like a pro. Maybe Kade had pegged her wrong.
After a few moments, her breathing slowed and the tremors eased. When she pushed back on his hand to sit up, Kade reluctantly released her, allowing his fingers to trail slightly through her hair as she sat back. Then she looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes as pure blue as the summer sky.
And he was lost.
Crouching down next to her, he asked, “Are you all right?” Now that he was closer, he could smell her perfume. It was like spring after a thunderstorm, and Kade knew he’d never smell that fragrance again without thinking of this moment and the color of her eyes.
Kathleen just stared at him, open-mouthed, before finally nodding. Kade wondered if he should get the paramedics over to her. She was obviously still reeling and in shock.
Reaching out to the still oozing wound in her throat, he brushed away the warm blood. It felt almost intimate, her blood on his fingers. Soft was too dull of a word to describe her skin. “You’re bleeding,” he said. No shit. Nothing like stating the obvious, but he had to give some excuse as to why he’d touched her.
“Just a scratch,” she murmured.
Kade smiled a little at that. Sounded like something he would say, actually.
“Nice move,” he complimented her, wanting to prolong the conversation. She just looked confused. “What you did to get away,” he said. Had she hit her head?
Kathleen just shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “Thanks,” she said, then jerked her chin to indicate the guy on the floor. “Will he be okay?”
Okay, that was certainly not something Kade would say. Who gave a shit if he was going to be okay? He’d used her as a human shield. He was lucky Kathleen had done what she had or his brains would be splattered all over the hallway right now, courtesy of Kade. It still wasn’t a bad idea, the motherfucker.
But still, she seemed worried. Kade gave an inward sigh. Innocent, naive, and way too soft-hearted. Nope. Not his type. At all. He needed to keep thinking about that and not how he felt as though she held a magnet inside her body that was focused solely on reeling him in.
“Yeah,” he assured her. “The wound isn’t deep and the medics got here quickly enough.” Kathleen was too little to have caused any serious damage with the knife, and Kade thought it more than a little amusing that she thought she might have really hurt him.
She closed her eyes in relief. Kade knew he had to take the opportunity to leave. If she looked at him again with those eyes that made him wish she’d be impressed by his hand-to-hand combat skills or his aim at fifty yards, he’d do something stupid and no doubt juvenile, like ask if he could buy her dinner, or ice cream, or a car, anything just to be around her a little while longer.
God, he was really losing it. With one last glance at her, memorizing every last detail, Kade stood and melted into the crowd.
One Week Later
He could kill her so easily.
Kade Dennon stared down at the sleeping woman. She was a plant. She had to be. There was no other explanation for it.
She’d bolted from Blane’s house in the dead of night into a car waiting at the curb. She’d known enough to wipe the hard drive he’d coerced from her, pretended innocence and got Blane to sleep with her, ran off once she’d realized Kade was on to her, and hid here with a known prostitute.
And she’d fired at gun at his brother.
Kade’s hands curled into fists. If Blane hadn’t shoved him, following Kade down as they’d hit the deck, she might’ve shot him.
The switchblade was in his hand before Kade had made the conscious decision to pull it. A flick of his wrist exposed the razor sharp edge.
Blane’s weakness: women. This one in particular seemed to have gotten under his skin, and Kade could see why.
She was beautiful in a too-innocent-to-be-true kind of way. Kade had been taken in as well, from the moment he’d first spotted her in the courthouse, so he could hardly blame his brother. It appeared this particular woman—this Kathleen Turner—had managed to squeeze between the armor of not just one, but both brothers.
That alone was a compelling reason to kill her and the events of tonight just added to the list against her continued presence among the living. She’d taken the code from the drive and then fucked his brother. Now she knew that he and Blane were working together, which was a threat to not only Kade, but Blane, too.
And the list kept growing.
Blane would be pissed, but he’d get over it. Yeah, Kade was just supposed to check on the girl, make sure she was there in this chick’s apartment, but Blane didn’t have to know she was dead. Kade could break the news later. A quick flick of his knife and it’d be done.
The more he considered it, the more logical it seemed, until there wasn’t any reason Kade could think of to not kill her. Yeah, she had the code, but he’d gotten a look at the neighbor’s apartment and seen the computer equipment. Kade would bet a thousand bucks she was in on the TecSol plan, too. He’d hack into her stuff and get what he needed. Easy peasy.
A pillow over the face would be less messy, but it was also more personal and took longer. A slice to the carotid was efficient and slightly more merciful, in Kade’s opinion, not that he cared much. It was a shame she was so pretty, but as she’d already proven, beauty was only skin deep.
Kade slowly drew back the covers she’d pulled to her neck. Luck was with him, she was sleeping on her back with her head turned to the side. Her hair was in the way, but it only took a moment to move the silky strands aside. There it was. If he looked closely enough, Kade could see a faint pulse underneath the delicate skin.
She made a slight noise and Kade froze, holding his breath. It had always amazed him how people could sense another human being’s presence at times, no matter how silent he was. Science said there were five senses, but experience had proven to Kade that there were really six, though not everyone listened when their intuition told them things their mind didn’t want to believe.
The girl made another noise, something like a whimper, and Kade watched in disbelief as tears leaked from her eyes to slide down her cheeks.
She was crying in her sleep.
But wait, was she asleep? Maybe this was a ploy, a tactic to get him to relent. Kade reached with the hand not holding a knife and gently touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers. It was like brushing against warm velvet, the track of her tears wet on his skin. She didn’t so much as flinch at his touch, which told him she really was sound asleep.
Kade frowned, softly wiping away her tears until he caught himself doing so and jerked his hand away. What the fuck was he doing? He was here to kill her, not comfort her. But she’d stopped crying and part of him was glad of that, though he refused to dwell on it.
Back to business.
He held the knife to her neck, finding just the right spot before the artery split on its way to the brain. Then, inexplicably, he hesitated.
Maybe the girl had gotten caught up in this without her consent. She was young and tiny. What defense did she have against people like the Santini brothers if they wanted to use her? They could have threatened her, hurt her, done all matter of vile things to ensure she did as she was told. Was Kade going to deliver her final judgment to a sentence that may not have been of her choosing?
Kade was familiar with being made to do something against your will, and there were few he hated more than those bullies who forced others to do their bidding. He’d once been a victim of men such as those, and he’d vowed to never let it happen again. But he was stronger, colder, than the woman who lay innocently oblivious beneath his blade.
Slowly, he withdrew the knife. Ano
ther flick of his wrist and the blade disappeared.
He’d let her live, for now, and dig into who she was, her past, her friends, every move she’d ever made, every mistake she regretted, every guy she’d fucked, every friend she’d betrayed—Kade would find out. And so help her, if she wasn’t everything she appeared to be—what he couldn’t help hoping that she was—then she’d pay, and pay dearly.
CHAPTER ONE
Two Months Later
“Kathleen is in danger.”
Blane’s words ricocheted inside Kade’s head as he drove. It took about seven hours to get from Buffalo to Indy. A quick glance at the clock said Kade would make it in six.
He didn’t want to go, but Blane had left him no choice. Kade couldn’t refuse Blane’s plea for help, and wouldn’t. If his brother needed him, then he’d be there, no matter what. It had always been that way, and it always would be that way.
Alone in the dark silence of his Mercedes, the road nearly empty of cars, Kade allowed himself to acknowledge the ridiculous surge of anticipation inside at the thought that he’d get to see her again.
Her. Kathleen. A woman who’d haunted him since he’d first set eyes on her. He remembered now how close he’d come to killing her that one night, the night she’d ran from Blane’s house, and a chill ran down his spine.
She’d become his obsession after that night. He’d found everything out about her that was possible to know, determined to dig up something that would prove she was a fraud, something concrete he could take to Blane.
But there was nothing.
Born an only child, she’d been raised by two seemingly happily married people. Her father was a cop who died in the line of duty; her mother a stay-at-home mom who’d passed from cancer not long ago. Though she’d grown up in a small town, she’d left soon after the death of her mother to move to Indianapolis, selling the family home and using the money to try and make a dent in the mountain of bills left from her mother’s cancer treatments.