Table of Contents
Discarded by Fate
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
Epilogue
Find out what happens next:
Discarded by Fate
By Morgan Kelley
Copyright © 2017-2018 Morgan Kelley LLC All rights reserved. Without limiting rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, introduced into a retrieval system, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including without limitation photocopying, recording, or other electronic or technical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
The scanning, uploading, and/or distribution of this document via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and is punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials. For permission requests, email [email protected]
Content Advisory: This book is intended for mature audiences and contains, explicit sexual activity between two men AND a woman. This is EROTICA. There is also language and violence.
©Copyright 2017 cover by Celestia Abraham
Editing by Rachel Blackett and proofreading by Laura Matias.
Dear Reader,
Since my books crossover a great deal, I recommend reading them as they are written. I tend to mention characters in books they don’t generally occur in, and later in the series, there are full crossovers.
Some readers have contacted me for this list, and I figured I’d pass it on to the rest of you.
While you can read the books by series only, it only enhances the reading experience if you go in order of how I wrote them. I tend to give away secrets…
I’m sneaky like that.
On the next page, I’ve given you the list.
MK
Here is the reading book order:
The Killing Times (FBI)
Sacred Burial Grounds (FBI)
True Love Lost (FBI)
Deep Dark Mire (FBI)
Fire Burns Hot (FBI)
Celestia is Falling (Croft & Croft)
Darkness of Truth (FBI)
Vegas is Dying (Croft)
Devil hath Come (FBI)
Christmas is Killing (Croft)
Blood Red Rage (Littlemoon)
Consumed by Wrath (FBI)
Sinner Repent (Carter trilogy 1)
Love is Bleeding (Croft)
Lost & Broken (Littlemoon)
Illegal Fantasies (Anthology 1)
Redemption is Here (FBI)
Sinner Realized (Carter trilogy 2)
Romance Under Arrest (Anthology 2)
Heaven is Weeping (Croft)
Unthinkable Games (Littlemoon)
Dead Shall Speak (FBI)
Sinner Reborn (Carter trilogy 3)
Pledging to Die (FBI)
Hell is Burning (Croft)
Truth is Found (Littlemoon)
Slay Bells Ring (FBI)
Holiday Reinforcements (Trilogy 3)
Oracle Rising (Oracle)
Past will Haunt (FBI Flashback 1)
Choices will Destroy (FBI)
Justice is Dead (Final croft book)
Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon)
Blood Shall Run (FBI)
Oracle Seeing (Oracle)
Dark Justice (New Croft Series)
Forbidden Secrets (Littlemoon)
Act of Blood (FBI)
Oracle Saving (Oracle)
Stalked by the Past (FBI flashback 2 )
Dying to Love (FBI)
Lost Justice (Croft)
Kiss of Souls ( Littlemoon) (FBI/Littlemoon crossover)
Oracle Haunting (Oracle)
Revenge has Come (FBI)
Paid Justice (Croft)
Wedding of Our Dreams: Steele and Dante (Croft)
Lost Souls (Littlemoon) Sept 2017
Discarded by Fate (FBI)October 2017
Atonement (Hunter Trilogy 1) November 2017
It’s Good to be the Boss (Romance Anthology 1) November 2017
Dawn of Evil (FBI) Jan 2018
Dead are Forgotten (FBI) Jan 2018
True Justice (Croft/FBI crossover) Feb 2018
Love Knows No Bounds (FBI) Valentine’s Day 2018
Oracle Hunting (Oracle) March 2018
Curses Found (Littlemoon) April 2018
Absolution (Hunter Mercenary) May 2018
All the King’s Henchmen (FBI) June 2018
Oracle Divided (Oracle) July 2018
Mob Justice (Croft Mob) August 2018
Secret Shame (Littlemoon) Sept 2018
All the Queen’s Men (FBI) October 2018
Amends (Hunter Mercenary) Nov 2018
It’s Good to be Loved (Romance Antho) Nov 2018
Wicked Hunt (Tueur) Dec 2018
Harcourte books do not cross over and can be read anytime.
Dangerous Revelations
Dangerous Choices
Dangerous Misery
Dangerous Retaliation
Dangerous Influence
Dangerous Sacrifice
Dangerous Destruction Dec 2017
~~~~ About the Author ~~~~
Morgan Kelley lives in the beautiful Pocono Mountains with her husband and two children. After attending college at Penn State University and studying Criminal Justice, Morgan knew her only true passion in life would be murder and books. She put them both together and began her career as a writer. Other than books and writing, you can find Morgan hanging out in her garden and digging in the dirt.
Her other works include: The Junction, Serial Sins, The Blood Betrayal, The Killing Times (1), Sacred Burial Grounds (2), True Love Lost (3), Deep Dark Mire (4), Fire Burns Hot (5), Darkness of Truth (6), Devil Hath Come (7), Consumed by Wrath (8), Redemption is Here (9), Dead Shall Speak (10), Pledging to Die (11), Slay Bells Ring (12), Past will Haunt (13), Choices will Destroy (14), Blood shall Run (15), Act of Blood (16), Stalked by the Past (17), Dying to Love (18), Revenge has Come (19), Blood Red Rage (1) Lost & Broken (2), Unthinkable Games (3), Truth is Found (4), Haven of Nightmares (5), Forbidden Secrets (6), Kiss of Souls (7), Celestia is Falling (1), Vegas is Dying (2), Christmas is Killing (3), Love is Bleeding (4), Heaven is Weeping (5), Hell is Burning (6), Justice is Dead (7), Dark Justice (1), Lost Justice (2), Paid Justice (3), Dangerous Revelations (1), Dangerous Choices (2), Dangerous Misery (3), Dangerous Retaliation (4), Dangerous Influence (5), Dangerous Sacrifice (6), Sinner Repent (1), Sinner Realized (2), Sinner Reborn (3), Oracle Rising (1), Oracle Seeing (2), Oracle Saving (3), Oracle Haunting, (4),Illegal Fantasies (Anthology 1), Romance Under Arrest (Anthology 2), and Holiday Reinforcements (Anthology 3)
Please feel free to visit Morgan at her website: www.morgankelley.com, email her [email protected], or visit her blog at www.morgankelley.blogspot.com
Ivan Bennet, you’re going to have to love again. Blue Garrick, you’ve got a gift…
Prologue
Boston
Friday
The Day before…
T here was only one way to get her attention, and it was going to mean taking the game right to her. Oh, she was in town, and it was time to get her to notice him. She was on the news, and he’d seen it.
How could he not?
It was hard to miss her. The woman’s name was on everyone’s lips—some for good reasons and others for nothing more than gossip.
Shit!
She was everywhere, and he should know. After all, he’d made it his business to study her—to study her family, her life, and her job.
His days had been all about her.
All about her moves.
All about her location.
Time had been on his side during the whole thing, and he was happy about that. To beat your adversary, you had to get to know them.
Everything about them.
This was an intimate dance between them, and truthfully, it was a long time coming.
This was destined to happen.
It was written in the stars.
Fate had deemed it part of the plan from very early on, and he was willing to play the game with her.
Now, it was all about getting her attention and seeing if she would be the winner or loser.
That was the question in his mind.
Was he smart enough to beat her?
After all the hype, could it be done?
To the victor went the spoils, and this was a long time coming for him. You could say it was decades in the making.
And it was time.
As she dressed up and partied with her rich husband, she’d never see this little twist coming, and that was the whole point of all of his planning.
It had taken years.
It had taken time.
It had taken an endless supply of patience.
That was the hardest part.
Still, it gave him something to look forward to, and he was glad.
He wanted to see that look on her beautiful face as she challenged all of the media, the other cops, and now…him.
Truth be told, he really loved the way her mind worked. It was a multifaceted powerhouse that seemed to see all the tiny threads woven into the plan.
She missed nothing.
She was genius.
That’s why he’d always wanted to try his smarts out against her. If she were to look at him, she’d never give him an ounce of credit. To her, and everyone else, he was nothing.
Well, that was going to change.
His dear, sweet mother had told him to reach for the stars and be the best at whatever it was he wanted to do, and this was his shot.
It was his time to shine.
His gift?
Killing.
Oh, and he was in good company. He could tell she was just as sick as him. He didn’t doubt for a second that she was a worthy opponent—born in the belly of the beast.
How did he know?
He could see the blood on her hands—invisible to all but those who killed.
This woman was special.
This woman was no pretty face in fancy clothes.
No. She was so much more.
She was a killer, and no one appreciated another of their kind until they ran into someone just like them. She killed under the guise of cop, but he knew the truth.
She was just as wicked as they come.
She would kill at the drop of a hat.
She would shed blood in the name of her cause.
It was crystal clear just by looking at her. While you saw the pretty blue eyes, the freckles crisscrossing her nose, and sweet Southern drawl, they were a front. Beneath it all, she was dark, dangerous, and someone who wouldn’t think twice about doing what he loved so much.
She was just as homicidal as him, and it was time to prove it. Yes, it was definitely time.
Now he wanted to go head-to-head against her, seeing exactly what she was made of beneath the badge.
She was a woman.
She was someone’s mother.
She was a wife.
But could she be so slick, deceitful, and tricky to match wits with someone of his caliber?
Or was it nothing more than hype?
The people on the street spoke of her as they planned out the biggest and best killing sprees. He knew because he hung out with the dredges of society.
He was surrounded by the ones who tried and failed.
Well, he was free, and this was a long time coming. For him, it was now or never. He’d waited so long, and then she went off his radar.
Again, it had to be fate.
It had to be written in the stars.
He wasn’t able to do it then, but now…he was ready for the oncoming battle.
His goal had returned.
Suddenly, like a gift, she was back and just waiting for him to make the challenge. He’d seen her on the news, going up against the likes of other criminals with far less practice under their belts.
Most recently, it was all over the news how she’d gone head-to-head with some little girl.
Bonnie was her name.
He’d watched the news, taking it all in. As Elizabeth crisscrossed the States to catch her, he was able to keep an eye on the woman he wanted to challenge.
She’d picked up her trail in Damascus, then DC, chasing her to Salem, and then losing her.
He hoped it was just an off moment.
When he saw the news tearing her a new one over letting ‘one of the most prolific killers’ escape, he almost felt bad for her. See, killing shouldn’t be personal.
It should be a job.
Bonnie had gone after her kids and family, and that was way off base. He wouldn’t hurt her family.
That would be wrong.
Killing, or serial killing, should be a game of wits. It should be two people who tried out their skills to find who would be the best.
That’s how he looked at it.
Bonnie, that child…she’d approached it all wrong, and that was why one day, she’d go down, but him?
Never.
He was going to be unstoppable.
While the killing had intrigued him, Bonnie had nothing on him. That little girl thought she was evil enough to play with the big boys, but she wasn’t.
She was misinformed.
He could do her crimes in his sleep, and he didn’t need an accomplice. To beat the best, you had to be the best, and he was going to take her down.
Lackeys were for pussies.
To be a true killer, you had to get your hands dirty. He didn’t doubt, from what he’d seen on the news, and what he heard in the seedy underbelly of his world, that she was a priss-pot. That wasn’t the reality of life. Bonnie, or Lottie Tipton, didn’t deserve the title of killer.
She was a princess, having her besotted partners do the dirty work.
Well, that wasn’t him.
He loved the dirty work.
In fact, it had been his job. When he was paid to be a killer, he’d been excellent at it. He’d been well compensated, and that was how he got his practice.
While Bonnie thought she was sick enough to surprise Elizabeth Blackhawk, he knew the truth.
She didn’t stand a chance.
Why?
She was a sad little girl.
Oh, don’t get him wrong. He respected the opposite sex and even revered it. His momma, bless her, had taught him that. When he looked at Elizabeth Blackhawk, he didn’t see tits and ass. He saw someone who should have been born into the seedier side of the law.
He saw a woman who was discarded by fate and placed in the wrong field.
Cop?
No way.
Killer?
Oh, yes!
She should have been a hired killer before they became a dying breed. In those years, she would have scored shitloads of money—like he had—and then squirreled it away. Then she wouldn’t need to be some man’s arm candy.
But he got it.
Sadly, times were changing.
A man like him, or a woman like her, coul
dn’t just call up the highest payer and ask for a job.
Those were the good old days.
Now the law had become paramount in his town, and he had to play by the rules. It was about creeping around, finding the women, and making them his.
He was a creature of the shadows.
He was a lurker.
When he decided that his life goal was to school the woman that the media called ‘the best’, he knew it was going to have to be so creative, so outside the box, that it would get her attention on some deep level.
Mano-a-mano.
Hand in hand.
He remade himself into the perfect enemy—the perfect adversary.
He was ‘The Puppet Master’.
That was his new lease on life, and his new calling in the world of killing.
It was sick.
It was twisted.
It was perfection.
There were potential victims everywhere. He had but to return to his old stomping grounds, and the girls were his supplies to make the best of the best. He thought he loved his work before, but he had been so very wrong.
He loved it now.
To him, the ‘career change’ was the best decision he’d ever been forced to make.
The gift he was giving the world was worth it.
He was taking the ugly and making it into something so beautiful.
This was something that not everyone could do, and he knew it was his true calling. Out of necessity came something so amazing.
His old life fell away, and he used his new life to recreate himself.
And that was perfect.
Just like them when he was finished with them.
When Elizabeth Blackhawk got his gift, she would see that he was the biggest evil in town, and she would be convinced to play his game.
He knew her.
He’d watched her.
And soon, if he were lucky, he’d have her full attention and he’d be in the spotlight too. He would love nothing more than for them to be the power couple.
She was lovely.
All that alabaster skin.
Those blue eyes.
And the heart of a killer.
He loved that most. If she wouldn’t play against him in the battle of wills, he’d have only one choice.
He would make her into the prettiest of the pretty, and she would love him for it.
Discarded by Fate Page 1