“I won’t let anything happen to my baby. I would die first.”
Adrenaline shot through her. “Don’t even say that. Bolt yourself in. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Evangeline waited outside the door until Hannah threw the deadbolt into place. And then, she ran to the town car. She wished her beautiful Sinclair was waiting in the back seat, that devilish smile on his handsome face. But she sat alone. As Kevin drove in the darkness, her thoughts bounced between the man she had loved—and lost—and the sister she needed to keep safe.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I can’t say, ma’am.”
“What can you say?”
“Congratulations on your nephew,” he replied.
“Thanks,” she grumbled. On a sigh, she stared out the window as they headed west toward Tysons and beyond. Twenty minutes later, Kevin pulled down an unmarked gravel road. A huge sign said, “Private Property. No Trespassing.”
They pulled around the back of what looked like an abandoned warehouse. A large garage door rolled open and Kevin drove inside. As Evangeline pushed out of the car, Jacoby hurried over.
“Thanks for coming,” he said.
“What’s going on? What is this place?”
“Come with me.”
She was ushered inside and down a short corridor with closed doors on either side. Jacoby stopped in front of one of them and opened it. “After you.”
She entered and gasped, the rush of air filling her lungs. A shirtless Sin was propped up in a hospital bed, his arm in a sling, those piercing blue eyes locked on hers. She hurried over to him and kissed him again and again, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Miss me?”
“I hate you so much.” She sat beside him on the bed. “So fucking much.”
He wiped away her tears. “Lie beside me. I need to feel you close.”
For several minutes, she clung to him like a lifeboat in the middle of a turbulent ocean. Moving slowly, she rose and kissed him. Her mouth on his, his warmth bursting through her like the sun on a cloudy day. Her heart rejoiced and she smiled. “Loving you sucks, you know that?”
His smile helped alleviate some of her anxiety. “I’m sorry I couldn’t reply to your texts or calls.”
“I have never been so happy to see anyone, ever.” Not wanting to crowd him, she moved to the chair and held his hand. “What happened?”
“I took a bullet to the arm. That vest saved me from getting two bullets in my back. You saved me.”
That made her smile. “Did Joey do this to you?”
“Yeah,” Dakota said, walking into the room. “He sure as fuck did. And now, it’s payback time.”
“What do you need me to do?” she asked. “I’ll help any way I can.”
“I needed to see you,” Sin said. “Having you here, even if for a little while, is the best medicine.”
“You are one lovesick puppy,” Dakota mumbled.
Smiling, Evangeline kissed Sin again. “What’s the plan?”
Jacoby entered, carrying a laptop. “Evangeline, Sanchez and I can’t find Thomas Monty, er…Joey Thomason. He hasn’t been back to his house and he wasn’t at Mac’s when we checked. Walk me through where else he might be.”
“Tucker Henninger’s shooting range or Charlene Caraway’s house. He also goes to that strip club on K Street.”
“I’ll check those.” Jacoby left.
“Sanchez told me you two have a history,” she said to Sin. “Why did he try to kill you?”
“I’ll give you two a few,” Dakota said before exiting.
Sin slid his gaze to hers. “Come sit beside me.”
She settled gently on the bed, facing him. “I want to hear the whole story. No shortcuts.”
A moment passed while he stared into her eyes. “I met Thomas Monty—we called him Monty—at Harvard,” Sin began. “There were seven of us—Colton, Crockett, Jagger, Maverick, Dakota, Monty and I—who became good friends freshman year. The second year, we rented a house together. Not long after, Colton suggested we buy the house next door, renovate it, and rent it out. We worked well together, each managing different parts of the project. Monty was great with numbers and had an eye for the stock market, so he invested any excess rental income. That turned some good profits. By the time senior year rolled around, we had over a dozen rental properties in the area. Money not being used was kept in the joint brokerage account.”
“Sounds like you guys were quite a team.”
“We were. But during the first semester of senior year, I suspected Monty had plagiarized my work, so I confronted him. He admitted it, but told me he had only done it once.”
“That’s serious.”
“Sure as hell was. A week later, I found out he’d done it again, only this time, he turned in my paper ahead of me.”
“Were you in the same class?”
“Same class, different profs. I didn’t want to get kicked out, so I spoke to my professor and he opened an investigation. It was a fucking nightmare. Everyone in the house was pissed at Monty and it caused a huge strain on our business. It was determined that Monty had plagiarized several of my papers over the years and, a month before graduation, they expelled him for violating the honor code. Right after that, I discovered two hundred and twenty grand was missing from our brokerage account, and not because the market was down. I confided my suspicions to Maverick. We suspected Monty might be stealing funds, so I changed the password, but never told him. When I caught him trying to hack into the account, he and I got into it. He pulled a gun and shot me.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Dakota found me before I bled out. Monty was caught, tried and convicted of attempted murder. While he was being transported from the courthouse back to jail, he overtook the sheriff’s deputy, shot him to death, and took off. Several months after that, he contacted me, vowing revenge. That was fourteen years ago.”
“That’s unbelievable,” she said, caressing his hand.
“Sad, really. He was a genius when it came to the market. That’s probably why he was so successful at scamming women in Florida.”
“Which begs the question, why impersonate a pastor who’s pushing for adoption?” OMG. No way. “Maybe he’s…could he be Uncle Charlie?”
“I’m convinced he burned down my club. We’ll know more as soon as we haul his ass in here and get some damn answers.” Sin shifted in bed and winced. “I fucking hate pain.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” She kissed his cheek. “What can I do to make you feel better?”
“I can think of a few things.” Seeing his playful expression made her smile.
I adore this man. “Glad your libido is still intact.” She dotted his face with tender kisses. “I will make all your sexy wishes come true as soon as we catch Joey, I mean, Thomas Monty. “Do you think he’s still in town?”
“Hard to say,” Sin replied. “Based on his obsession with you, I’m surprised you haven’t heard from him.”
She bolted off the bed. “That’s it. I’ll lure him out of hiding.”