Forbidden Secrets Read online

  Maybe he was possessed.

  That was concerning.

  “No, I’m very calm. We opted to let the cases lead us. If we have to play with the dead, so be it. I told you, honey, I’m done fighting it. I’m too tired to keep doing battle only to lose. I’m letting you lead this one.”

  She took his hand in hers. “I need your trust.”

  “You have that and my love.”

  The radio came to life. “Victoria. And. Julian. Sitting. In. A. Tree…”

  “You’re funny for a dead guy, Trey. Hey, by the way, I think your babe is sitting in my lap.”

  Again, the radio went crazy.

  It jumped from station to station, as he tried to find a way to convey his anger.

  Tori glanced over at her husband.

  “Julian, don’t torment the dead man,” Tori scolded, trying not to laugh. It was funny though, since it was normally Trey riding Julian. Finally, her husband figured out how to defend himself.

  She had to give him credit.

  After a few minutes of nothing but static and radio craziness, Tori stepped in to calm her brother down.

  “Trey, you can stop trying to curse by way of the radio. The FCC blocks those words. You’ll never find them.”

  “I. Hate. Him.”

  Julian leaned back in his seat. “What was that, Bethany? You want to give me a big wet kiss?”

  “I. Will. Hurt. You.”

  Tori punched her husband in the ribs, and she didn’t pull it. After all, he was tormenting her too. His mouth on any other woman wasn’t a joking matter—dead or not.

  “Victoria! That freaking hurt!”

  “I would punch him too. In fact, Bethany, smack my brother around for me.”

  The radio chirped. “Awesome. I. Like. It. Hit. Me. Harder.”

  It was Julian’s turn to sputter.

  “How the hell did we get a perverted dead guy?”

  Fortunately for Tori, the navigational system went off and that would shut them both up.

  For now.

  They had arrived at their destination, and honestly, she was glad. There was nothing like jumping into a case, and this one was going to be a juicy one.

  She could feel it.

  As they pulled up to the gate, they slid open. At the entrance, there was a guard. He was packing a gun, no smile, and didn’t look like he trusted them.

  He’d been a cop.

  Tori could spot them a mile away. He was standing there with the dead blank look, his body was tense, and his legs were spread as if he expected someone to attack.

  “We’re the Littlemoons, and one of our associates, Everhart Rose, is behind us.”

  He cut her off before she could say anything more.

  “You can drive up to the house, park in front, and Miss Easton will be alerted of your arrival. You’re on the admittance list.”

  “Thank you…”

  She waited for his name, but he wasn’t forthcoming. That’s what happened when you hired bodyguards. They didn’t trust anyone.

  “Move along.”

  Apparently, the man didn’t like having company. Tori waited until Hart cleared the gate. When he did, they proceeded up the drive. When they came to a stop, there was no doubt how influential the family had been while alive.

  The house was gothic revival style, and on the roof, there were large angels and gargoyles staring at them. At night, Tori bet the place looked spooky.

  If it wasn’t haunted before, she’d be shocked.

  “This is some place,” Tori admitted, stepping down from their SUV. As soon as her foot hit the ground, she heard Lennox Easton calling to them from the massive stone stairs.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said, rushing toward them with her hand out.

  “Are you bleeding?” Tori asked.

  She immediately glanced down. “Oh, no, sorry! I was painting. Next weekend, I have a show. My art is being sold and my new series is being debuted. I’m a little behind, despite being locked away here.”

  Hart crossed his arms.

  He muttered something under his breath.

  She stared over at him. “What?”

  “Nothing,” he stated.

  Lennox wasn’t buying it. “If you just said publicity stunt, I swear to God I’m going to dump a bucket of paint on you. I’m not screwing around.”

  Tori gave him a look.

  Hart tried to look sheepish, but no one was buying it. This was going to be an interesting case. It looked like they were going to be babysitting these two.

  “How about you show us around your home?” Tori asked, trying to redirect them both from killing each other.

  Lennox led the way. “It would be my pleasure.”

  Inside, they stopped in the grand foyer. It smelled like flowers. Before she could say anything, Tori stopped.

  “What?” Julian asked.

  “We aren’t alone. Bethany and Trey are going insane in my head.”

  Lennox stared at her. “Uh, are you okay?” she asked. “Do you want some water? A shrink?”

  Julian would have laughed if this part didn’t always freak him out. While Lennox suspected they had gifts, she’d believed it was Nyx. Tori was their wildcard.

  Much like Bethany and Trey.

  Tori reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She hit an app and held out her hand. “It’s a radio app. It’s easier to carry it around than an actual radio.”

  Yeah, and she didn’t look like some homeless person collecting electronics.

  It began going crazy.

  “You. Have. Company. Lots. Of. Dead.”

  Lennox stared at the phone. “Is that for real? I have that same app. Is it haunted?”

  “That’s Trey,” warned Julian. “He’s always with Tori, watching her back.”

  Tori scanned the room around her. From her peripheral, she could see the swirls of gray exploding near them. Not only did they have the dead, but they were the angry dead.

  That was never a good scenario.

  They were going to be busy.

  She hoped Julian was ready for what was coming for them. There was no way this was going to be good.

  “Are you sure it’s not the dead trying to kill you?” she asked. “They’re violent. I can feel their energy. Something here has them stirred up beyond normal circumstances.”

  “You. Should. Be. Dead.”

  “Trey, is Tori in danger?” Julian asked. He needed to know. While he’d promised to be calm, he didn’t promise to let his wife play magnet for crazy.

  He wasn’t insane.

  He still had rules.

  “Victoria. Is. Safe. They. Are. Pissed. At. Her.”

  Since there was only one her, other than Tori, they all glanced at Lennox.

  “What did I do?” she asked. It was hard not to notice that Hart was glaring at her as if she was a criminal.

  “Brought. Us. Here. Secrets. Need. To. Be. Kept. Quiet.”

  That didn’t bode well for any of them.

  While they were accustomed to angry spirits, trying to make their presence known, they didn’t usually attack five minutes into their arrival.

  Yeah, this was very bad.

  Before Tori could say a word, the energy exploded around them. It didn’t touch Tori, it didn’t touch Julian, and it didn’t go after Hart.

  It was aimed at the other redhead.

  It slammed into Lennox, and she went sliding across the floor and into the table in the foyer. The big vase fell, nearly crushing her.

  They all gasped.

  Hart wasn’t accustomed to this kind of anger. While he knew Tori had ghosts who haunted her head, he wasn’t used to this kind of thing.

  Hart raced toward her, and she was lying in the puddle of water from the broken vase. There was ceramic all over, in her hair, and cutting her arm.

  The blood began tinting the water pink.

  When he reached her, she looked up at him. “Do you believe me now? I told you someone was trying to kill me. N
ow the dead are too.”

  Then…she started to cry.

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Delta Falls

  The team was hard at work, trying to dig up as much information on the Easton family as possible. While Tori wanted to help the woman, she also wanted a full background check on them. No one was going to be free of the scrutiny.

  Yes, they had their walking lie detector, but it was better safe than sorry in this case.

  They had a list of employees, and they were trying to get their hands on the autopsy and police reports.

  That was the hard part.

  They could call the FBI, but they knew now that Ethan Blackhawk had become the Deputy Director, they weren’t able to give them things off the record anymore. Before, they could hide it.

  Now he was under intense scrutiny.

  “Anything yet?” Justin asked as his wife sat beside him. He couldn’t stop staring at her. It wasn’t the black hair or lavender eyes. It was the fact that she was multitasking and growing them a child.

  It filled his heart with joy.

  “I’m working on the house staff. Any luck on the police reports or autopsies?”

  “Nada. I miss Christina. She could find shit like no one’s business.”

  Yeah, she really could.

  “Well, we’re not bothering her. She’s taking care of her son. They need some time off for good behavior.”

  “I was thinking,” Justin began.

  “About?”

  “Viv, what do I have to do to get you to stop working after you have our child?”

  She stared at him. She knew he wanted her to stay in-house during the pregnancy, but she hadn’t expected this conversation for about ten months.

  Apparently, Justin was moving up the timeline.

  “I know you love your job, and you’re part of our team, but I’d really like you raising our son or daughter. What if we end up having twins? My mother won’t be able to handle them. She’s going to have a brood to wrangle.”

  She patted his cheek.

  “I know what you’re going to tell me…don’t worry.”

  “Actually, I was going to tell you that you only needed to ask me.”

  “Wait! What?”

  She started laughing. “If we are having more than one kid, I don’t think I’ll be able to work. If you want me to stay home the first year, I will. Then, as our baby gets older, or babies, I’ll come back when you need me.”

  His heart skipped. “Viv, I’ll always need you. You saved me from myself. You’re my wife, my other half, and my soul.”

  “Then ask.”

  “Stay home and take care of our child, so I can make sure he or she has an amazing mother and everything he or she needs in the world.”

  “Okay, Justin.”

  “That was so damn easy.”

  “Well, my husband tells me I’m easy,” she teased.

  Justin wiggled his eyebrows. “The boss is away, the ghosts are too…do you want to lock the door and have some fun?”

  “Here?” she asked.

  “Yeah, here.” He knew they had work to do, but a few minutes wouldn’t kill them. He needed his wife. After the way she gave him what he wanted, Vivian deserved to be given something too.

  Copious amounts of pleasure and orgasms.

  Yeah, and some for himself too. He wasn’t going to pretend he was a saint.

  She leaned in and whispered something dirty in his ear. His mouth dropped open, and his eyes went huge at what she was saying to him.

  This was new.

  And he really liked it.

  “Holy shit! You are easy.”

  “Yeah, I told you so.”

  * * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *

  Easton Estate

  Hart felt terrible.

  Honestly, he showed up there thinking this woman was full of shit. He wanted to dislike her. Only she had to be telling the truth. The way she was tossed across the room like a ragdoll proved that she wasn’t making shit up.

  There was no possible way she could have fabricated what he’d seen. It wasn’t possible. She’d been flung across the room like nothing more than a child’s toy.

  It disturbed him.

  While Tori cleaned the wounds on her arm, he stood there. He wanted to say he was sorry, but he couldn’t seem to get it out. The words were locked in his throat.

  “Are you okay?” Julian asked as Tori placed bandages on her arm.

  “Yeah, I think so. That was really scary. I don’t know how you deal with stuff like this all the time.”

  “We don’t often have spirits being violent.”

  Julian stared at his wife as if she was bat shit insane. Did she forget about all the other cases they worked on in the past? Uh, they had quite a few spirits try to kill them.

  In fact, every one they’d encountered had that one goal in mind.

  Their attempted demise was more the norm than the aberration.

  “I’m sorry I brought you here. I’m sure you’ll want to run for your life now that you know what I’m dealing with in my home.”

  Julian was good with that.

  He could be in the SUV and down the road in under five minutes. In fact, that was the best idea he’d heard all day. If they moved Lennox near them, they could babysit her and work the case just as easily from a hotel.

  “We’re not going anywhere. This is the epicenter, and where your family lived. It has to be pertinent.”

  Crap!

  Of course they weren’t leaving.

  Why should he be surprised?

  “We don’t quit on a case, so we’re going to make sure we get to the bottom of this, okay?”

  She nodded. “Thank you so much.”

  “First up, you have a babysitter. For now, it’s going to be me. I’m going to stick close as we tour the rest of the estate.”

  Julian got her attention. “Uh, and what about us?”

  He wasn’t sure how he felt about leaving her alone. After all, the ghosts were pissed.

  “I’m going to be fine. You need to chill out.”

  He hated when she did that. After what they’d just witnessed, there was no way he was going to ‘chill’. The opposite was quite true.

  “You need to head to the sheriff’s station to get the police reports and autopsies.”

  He stared at her.

  So did Hart.

  “How the hell are we supposed to do that?”

  Tori shrugged. “Do you want me to go and flaunt some very sexy baby belly?” she asked, pointing at her eight month plus bump. “I hear some men like pregnant women. It’s a fetish.”

  That had the effect she’d been looking for, and fast.

  “NO!”

  “That’s my point. You aren’t going alone, simply because the spirits are pissed. I’ll stay with Lennox, and you and Hart can go wrangle up the reports.”

  “We’ll be safe, won’t we?” Lennox asked.

  “We will. I have back up.”

  The knife on the counter spun, pointing at Julian.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of holy water before slamming it down on the counter.

  That had Bethany’s attention.

  The knife backed away, slid all the way down the counter, and into the sink where it was out of sight.

  Tori laughed.

  “It’s all fun and games, Bethany, but I will get rid of you. I have to keep your soldier bed buddy, but I don’t have to keep you.”

  “Julian!” Tori was horrified. “You can’t scare her like that! It’s not nice.”

  He didn’t care.

  They were like kids. He needed to lay down the law, or before they knew it, they’d be throwing a kegger in Tori’s head when he turned his back.

  “We’ll head out. Are you really sure that you’re going to be okay here?” he asked.

  “Yes, I am. What could possibly happen?”

  Julian began rattling off possibilities, and she stared at him like he was abs
olutely insane. They ranged from the normal fears to some of the craziest shit she’d ever heard in her life.

  Apparently, he’d given this some thought.

  “Other than that?” she asked, trying not to laugh at his momentary lapse.

  He started laughing.

  Clearly, this round wasn’t his.

  “Come on, Hart. Let’s get the hell out of here. You and I are going to shakedown the sheriff.”

  The men headed out.

  As soon as they were gone, Tori knew what she had to do. Since they were doing battle with a spirit, she needed to check in with hers.

  The husband coast was clear.

  “We need to find a couch. I’m going to check out for a bit. You’ll be safe, but I need you to watch me for a few minutes.”

  Tori needed Julian out of the building before she ever tried to pull this off.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked, following Tori back through the foyer to where her staff was cleaning up the shattered vase and water.

  They milled about, handling the debris.

  Inside the den, she sat on the couch. “I need to channel my spirit. I’m told it’s creepy, so I’ll apologize in advance. Hold my hand and try not to freak out, okay?”

  “How creepy is creepy? Are we talking me having nightmares for the next decade or…?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen it happen.”

  That gave Lennox an idea. “Want me to record it?” she asked. “Then you’ll have a frame of reference the next time you have to give your speech. It’ll be like having a warning video. Don’t freak out if you see this.”

  She laughed.

  “Sure.”

  Why had she never thought of that? Oh, that’s right. Julian would have flipped his shit to have to watch that replay over and over again.

  “That would be great.” Tori couldn’t help it. She was curious as hell what it looked like.

  She sat beside her. “Okay, hit it.”

  Tori leaned back and closed her eyes. “Bethany, we need to talk.”