Forbidden Secrets Read online

When Sheriff Byrd questioned Lennox, he’d asked her the same questions they had asked before he’d gotten there. They left no stone unturned.

  They used cop interrogation techniques.

  They used FBI ones too.

  The truth remained the same—the woman simply didn’t see her attacker’s face.

  Hell!

  She didn’t see his hands because he’d been wearing gloves. She was even confused if it was a man or woman. When you were petite like Lennox, anyone taller than you could be the opposite or same sex.

  It was a crapshoot, and they knew it.

  Julian wasn’t shocked that the man, or woman, had gloved up. If you were going to touch a window ledge, and then commit homicide, it was best to wear protection. Gloves and a dark hoodie did just that.

  The point in this round went to the killer.

  He’d out thought them.

  They had nothing.

  When Lennox had found out that one of her guards had been killed, she’d wept again, and the entire time, Hart held her in his lap. He soothed her, tried to calm her down, and ensured that she didn’t make herself sick.

  Yeah, he was doing a good job with her.

  It made Julian wonder what had changed. Just hours before, he’d wanted nothing to do with the woman, and now he was playing guardian.

  Not that he wasn’t glad.

  Don’t get him wrong.

  He and Tori were going to be busy the next couple of hours. They were going to need someone to keep an eye on Lennox.

  Tag.

  He was it.

  As they lay in bed, neither of them could sleep. Julian was thinking about the killer, and Tori…who knew what she was thinking about?

  “Want to share?” he asked when they were finally alone and he could speak freely.

  “The spirits are all stirred up.”

  Shit!

  He was sorry he asked.

  “What do you want to do?”

  “Is it too early to call and wake up Nyx and Beau?” she asked.

  Julian glanced at his watch. “No, your brother is usually up around now. He likes to get his run in before work.”

  Yeah, Tori did, too, before Julian and the horses. Now she couldn’t wait to have Veronica so they could go riding. Knight of Darkness was waiting for her to take him for some adventures. The poor horse was dying for some attention.

  “What are you going to do?” he asked.

  “I need him to get Nyx here. I really need her help. If I can channel the spirit…”

  Her phone app clicked on and chirped to life.

  “NO!”

  “Trey, are you okay?” she asked, a little surprised by his outburst. If anything, her brother was pretty laid back.

  Most of the time.

  “Do. Not. Channel. This. Monster.”

  Julian didn’t like the sound of that.

  At all.

  “I have to, Trey. I need to figure out what the hell is going on here. Who is it?”

  There was silence.

  “I’ll just ask Bethany, and you know she’ll tell me,” Tori warned.

  “You. Are. A. Pain. In. My. Ass.”

  Julian laughed. “Welcome to my world, soldier. Why should I have all the fun with your sister?”

  Tori looked over at him. “You realize how very wrong that sounded, right? Think about it.”

  He did.

  Then Julian went red. “I did NOT mean that! Jesus! Victoria! Get it out of the gutter!”

  She laughed. Tori figured they needed a moment of humor to lighten the mood. Her gut told her what was coming was going to be bad.

  Then again, it generally always was.

  “Tell me what you know,” Tori asked, trying to get it over with as soon as possible.

  “She’s. Angry. Evangeline.”

  “Is that her name?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who is she?”

  “No. Clue. Can’t. Get. Close. To. Her. She. Drains. Us. She. Wants. To. Communicate.”

  “Well, she’s going to get her wish.”

  Julian wanted to be sick.

  The radio went haywire. In fact, her battery on her phone drained to zero. That in itself was impressive since it was plugged in.

  Tori knew who was there.

  “Evangeline, are you here?” she asked, seeing the shadows in her peripheral fade out. It looked like the dead woman was sucking them dry too.

  Great.

  The room exploded with energy. The curtains began whipping about, and things slid across the dresser, desk, and floor. Odd shaped objects stood in weird angles that seemed almost…supernatural.

  Tori knew one thing for sure.

  Evangeline was powerful.

  “What do you want?”

  Julian was scared shitless for his wife. As she moved away from him, he wanted to follow, only he couldn’t. He was frozen in place.

  When he opened his mouth, nothing came out.

  “Tell me what the fuck you want!” Tori shouted into the hurricane of wind and energy. It was threatening to swallow her, as it tried to drain her.

  Tori began protecting herself. Nyx had once tried to teach her how to protect her mind, energy, and spirits.

  It seemed to be working.

  Tori focused on the wall in front of her. Slowly, it was like something was cutting through the wallpaper.

  She watched.

  That’s when she saw it.

  ‘Revenge.’

  That said it all.

  Tori knew that in order for a spirt to get this dangerous, there had to be a valid reason.

  She was angry.

  She was bitter.

  She had been murdered.

  “Who killed you?” Tori asked, her hand protectively over her belly. She could feel her energy draining fast despite her attempt to block the spirit.

  Channeling this spirit would be a bitch. In her head, Bethany was begging her to stop talking to her.

  She watched the wall, but nothing happened. That’s when she felt such incredible pain on her arm. As she looked down in horror, she saw it. Something sharp was cutting into her flesh.

  ‘The Eastons.’

  Tori wasn’t surprised.

  Then as fast as the energy had manifested, it was gone. When she turned around, Julian was staring at her.

  No, he was staring at the blood running down her arm and the words carved there.

  “Victoria.”

  What else was he supposed to say? That was horrifying to watch, and worse to be helpless to stop it.

  Tori knew they didn’t have time to screw around. Evangeline was like nothing they’d ever dealt with before. She was evil and she was angry.

  That was a horrible combination.

  “I need to call Nyx. She is the only one who has ever channeled a spirit this powerful. I need her help.”

  He couldn’t look away from her arm.

  Julian was horrified.

  What could he say? While he wanted to tell her no, this was out of his league. He was a tracker. How the hell was he supposed to even begin to work this case?

  He was at a loss.

  Tori watched him. “I need you to believe in me, Julian. I need you to know that I have this, and Veronica is safe. Trust me. Trust your partner.”

  That said it all.

  “Make the call.”

  Fate was now driving this bus, and Julian was helpless to do anything but buckle in and watch.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Delta Falls

  When the phone rang, Beau grabbed it so it wouldn’t wake Nyx from sleep. The second he heard his sister’s voice, at that time of the day, he knew it was going to be trouble.

  Tori didn’t call at five in the morning for chitchat.

  Hell!

  A pregnant woman didn’t call at seven in the morning to do that either.

  “What happened?” he asked. “Are you hurt? How bad is it?”

  She glanced down at her arm. How did she even go abo
ut explaining this?

  Yeah, it was best to let it go.

  “Nothing happened, I’m not hurt, and it’s not bad.” Yeah, that was almost laughable. “I do need Nyx. Is she up?”

  “No. Do you want me to wake her?”

  She thought about it. “Wait. We need to talk.”

  He didn’t like the sound of that. The last time he heard that, Nyx had told him to leave her shop and start his life without her in it. He had thought he’d lost her. Now that his sister said it, he was a little freaked out.

  “I can’t wait to hear this.”

  “I have a situation here.”

  She told him about the spirit, the energy, and what she’d just learned about Evangeline. Tori told him about the dead woman’s plans to get revenge on the Easton family and shared everything they knew.

  If she was going to risk her brother’s fiancée, she couldn’t hold back. Tori had to be open and honest with him. She’d want to know in his case.

  “That’s a shit mess.”

  Yeah, and it was about to get worse.

  This was going to be Beau’s nightmare and hers.

  “I need Nyx’s help, but I need to ask you if she’s ready for this. I know she’s been telling everyone she’s okay with losing her gift, but is she?”

  He didn’t know what to say.

  “Beau? I’m your sister and your boss. I need to know in order to make a decision.”

  “If I say she’s not ready?”

  “I channel her alone. I can google it online and find out how to do it.”

  He hated that.

  That made him almost as sick as the other option. He could tell this was a lose-lose situation

  “She misses it,” he admitted. “I can see it in her eyes. Whenever Trey turns a radio on, she looks sad.”

  “She should be fine if she comes here. I just need her to teach me how to push Trey and Bethany out temporarily, so I can make room for Evangeline.”

  “Is she going to get hurt?”

  “I don’t think so. Trey is still here, and Bethany will help keep her safe.”

  “And you?”

  She glanced over at the bathroom door. Julian was showering.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  He heard the nerves. Beau wasn’t sure that was the truth. In that case, it was probably better that Julian had backup while they were there. Beau had to keep his wife to be, and his sister safe.

  He loved them both too much.

  “When do you need us there?” he asked.

  “Tonight if possible, Beau. I swear if I had another option, I wouldn’t drag you two into it.”

  He was aware.

  “I’ll grab the first part of the reports as soon as the team gets into the office, and I’ll update them. We’ll head there as soon as our work is cleared for the day.”

  “I love you, Beau.”

  He was aware. “I love you, too, Victoria. You make sure you take care of yourself. If you let anything happen to you, I’m going to be pissed and Julian…”

  Beau didn’t have to say it.

  She was already aware.

  “I’ve got it. He’ll go bat shit insane.”

  Yeah, to put it mildly.

  “We’ll see you tonight.”

  Beau hung up the phone. When he turned around, his fiancée was standing in the doorway. She was watching him.

  “Hey!”

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Tori is in over her head. She’s going to try channeling a ghost tonight, and she needs your guidance.”

  “Okay. I’m in.”

  “If you can’t…”

  She moved toward him. “Beau, I’m good. I can handle it. My gift is gone. My brain isn’t. If your sister needs to pick it to get information, so be it. I’ll be glad to help.”

  “And you’re okay with your gift being gone?”

  She smiled sweetly at him. “Yes, I am. Now, I’m going to go shower. I’ll be in there for a while if you feel dirty and want to join me.”

  He smiled at her as she walked away.

  Only, he wasn’t thinking about being dirty.

  He was thinking about how she had just lied.

  To his face.

  She wasn’t okay with losing her gift at all. In fact, he was beginning to think she resented them.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Thursday Mid-Morning

  It had been a horrible night. Not only had someone tried to kill her, but one of the men she had hired to protect her had lost his life in the process.

  The man had a family.

  He had kids.

  Everything about that made Lennox’s heart ache. He’d been a cop in some big city, moving his family to the area to keep them safe. He’d worked a second job as a security guard at night to make ends meet.

  And now the end was here.

  She had fallen asleep crying, and with good cause.

  This wasn’t supposed to happen.

  What the hell was wrong with the world?

  There were some things she needed to handle, so she was going to get to her office to do what she could to make it right.

  Well, as right as she could.

  Sitting up, she realized she was in Everhart’s bed. He was asleep in a chair, his feet up on the edge of the dresser. He was still shirtless, and while it wasn’t freezing, he had to be cold.

  It touched her heart that he’d stayed there watching over her all night. His gun was on his lap, and his head was braced on the back of the Chippendale. How it held his bulky frame, she didn’t know, but it was one hell of a sight.

  She couldn’t help herself.

  She snapped his picture.

  When this was all over, if she didn’t die, she’d have a memento of the moment. A part of her wanted to paint him. She’d do his portrait in abstract, and save it in her personal collection.

  It would be called ‘what couldn’t be’.

  The thought made her heart hurt.

  All of this damaged her.

  While he’d saved her, all she could think about was the man who died. She prayed that Hart wouldn’t lose his life too. If he did, Ivy would be alone.

  She couldn’t live with that.

  She also couldn’t live with the idea that he would be gone. There was something about the man that screwed with her head and heart. When he’d fixed her side last night, he didn’t even notice she was naked.

  She wanted to be hurt, but she couldn’t be. He was a decent man, and there was her proof. She’d watched him get aroused, but he didn’t try to push himself on her.

  Lennox’s needs came first.

  That was the first time in her life.

  She didn’t know how to process that—not in the least. In her life, she was always the last one people worried about when feelings were at stake. The media called her names, and the family called her weak.

  Her grandmother once called her a genetic mishap.

  Her own mother never really loved her.

  It was probably a good thing that she had opted to never have kids. Everyone thought she was crazy when she had her tubes tied a few years back, but honestly, her family sucked and she didn’t want to pass on that gene.

  Now that she’d met a man who was gentle, she maybe regretted it a little. Apparently, there were good guys out there, but they were just out of her reach.

  Slipping out of bed, she opted to keep his shirt. Yeah, it was probably wrong, but she couldn’t help herself. It smelled like him, and it was the only way she’d managed to get any sleep. Who knew if she’d need it in the future?

  Without it, her three-hour nap wouldn’t have happened. She’d buy him a new one to replace it, but this treasure was hers to keep.

  Grabbing the throw off the bottom of the bed, she silently crept toward his prone form. Gently, she placed the blanket over him, and he didn’t move.

  She released the breath she had been holding. Then on a whim, she softly left a kiss on his cheek.

  �
��Thank you,” she whispered.

  Now she had to run down to her office to make a call. It was important to do this now. Lennox wished she could leave the estate to do it, but it was dangerous.

  She didn’t want to die.

  Then again, after making this call, she might want to. This was going to suck, and she wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

  But responsibility sucked.

  At least she was the one Easton who understood that.

  The second the door closed, he was up.

  He’d heard her approaching him while he was in the chair, and he didn’t move so she didn’t get startled. Hart wished that he’d slept, but in all honesty, he couldn’t get his mind to settle down. He’d been thinking about how close they’d come to losing a client.

  How close he’d come to losing Lennox.

  Shit.

  That was going to be the destruction of his well-ordered life, and he knew it. He could already see it coming. He was getting attached to her.

  When she actually took the time to cover him and leave a kiss on his cheek, his heart defrosted.

  How could it not?

  Heartless bitches didn’t do that.

  No.

  Sweet, kind, and gentle women did. One day into the investigation, and he liked being around her. He kind of felt sorry for her, but it was more than that. Before, he’d judged her as being a rich bitch, who didn’t have a clue, and he had definitely been wrong.

  Lennox was damaged.

  He could see it beneath the sunny disposition. There were cracks in her façade. As he got dressed, he thought about how delicate she really was. In his mind, he could still see how she cowered in the corner after the killer tried to end her life.

  Her blue-lavender eyes were huge like saucers, and she was scared shitless.

  He had to keep her safe.

  That had to be his focus. His needs didn’t matter, and he couldn’t think of her as anything but the job, but damn!

  It was hard.

  Now she was sneaking away, and he needed to find out where she had run off to on the estate. Hopefully, she had the common sense not to do anything stupid like leave.