Because of Him: A Christian Romance (New Hope Falls Book 2)

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  “Go ahead and have a seat,” he said as he motioned to the table and chairs set off to the side of the deck.

  The barbecue wasn’t far away, so they were able to talk as he cooked. Their conversation steered clear of heavier topics, for which Cara was grateful, though she knew that eventually she wanted to talk to Kieran about what had happened in Texas. She wanted to share with him how difficult those last couple of days with her dad had been, and she figured that, having lost his own father, he’d understand some of what she was going through.

  He turned out to be pretty good with the barbecue, as the steak he cooked was done just the way she liked it and was tender as well. He’d baked a couple of potatoes and then cooked some mixed veggies on the grill as well. The desserts she’d brought were the perfect ending to their meal.

  “I hate that we can’t spend the rest of the evening together,” Kieran said as they cleaned up the dishes once they had finished their meal.

  “It’s okay,” she told him. “I don’t expect you to abandon your plans. Plus, we still have a date tomorrow night, right?”

  He grinned at her. “Yes, we do.”

  They joked back and forth about what they figured would happen when they got into the escape room once again and what their chances of getting out on time were. When they were done cleaning up, they walked out to her car, hand in hand.

  “Dare I kiss you in public?” Kieran asked with a laugh.

  Cara tugged on his hand. “I certainly hope so.”

  “I’ll take the chance.” He bent down and pressed his lips to hers.

  She had missed so many things about him while she’d been gone, but since she’d been home, the unsettled feeling she’d experienced from being apart from him had calmed. She didn’t know if it was a good thing that he had become so important to her, but that wasn’t the only important thing that had happened. Her connection with him had strengthened her connection with the town, and she’d needed that.

  “Do you think that’s going to end up on social media?” she asked when the kiss ended, though they still stood close together.

  Kieran groaned. “Knowing my luck, probably. Not that I’m ashamed of kissing you, but I’m not too keen on hearing about it from my mom. She’d be all up in arms over the comments on that video if she saw it.”

  “Oh, boy. Then I’d hear all about it from the women in my classes.”

  “Small town life, sweetheart. Small town life.”

  “Send me the link if you see it first,” Cara said as she slid behind the wheel of her car.

  “And vice versa.”

  He bent down to give her one more kiss then stepped back as she started up the car and pulled away from the curb. Her heart was lighter than it had been since she’d gotten the call about her father. She wasn’t naïve enough to think she wasn’t going to have her down moments in the days ahead, but she was also smart enough to embrace the high moments without feeling guilty about them.

  That was what would have made her papa happy.

  ~*~

  Kieran listened as Cara giggled uncontrollably as he pulled out of the parking lot of the escape room. It seemed, without fail, that each time they went, the group they ended up with was worse than the one before. This one started out pretty good, but it had quickly devolved into madness when it became clear a couple in the group had real control issues. When that was combined with Kieran’s need for things to be logical and methodical, the result had been that they didn’t have a hope of making it out of the room in the time allowed.

  But once again, if the disaster of an escape room attempt made her laugh, he was just fine with how the evening had turned out. He kept meaning to line up some people to go with them, but he knew that neither of them would be as relaxed if they had to make conversation with people they knew.

  Maybe he should see if Eli and Anna wanted to come one time. Of anyone, they might be a couple he and Cara could enjoy being with for an evening. Of course, it would be seen as a conflict of interest for him and Eli to be together since Eli was technically part of the on-going investigation. The detective was still focused on Eli as the main suspect in Sheila’s disappearance, especially since the body had been discovered. Apparently he felt that even if the body wasn’t Sheila’s, it didn’t mean Eli was innocent.

  “Do you want to stop for dessert before we go home?” he asked.

  They’d had dinner earlier, but they’d passed on dessert at the time. Kieran wasn’t anxious for the evening to end. He knew it wasn’t the best thing for them to go back to either of their places. That would be just too much of a temptation when he already knew how much he enjoyed their physical closeness.

  “I think I could be convinced,” Cara said. “Though I’m going to have to start working out more because honestly, I’m not used to eating like I do when I’m with you.”

  “Maybe we need to work out together because I’m not used to eating like this either.” He felt her hand come to rest on top of his, her fingers lacing between his as he gripped the gear shift. “The offer to run with me always stands.”

  “I think I’ll have to take you up on that.”

  “But in the meantime…dessert.”

  They ended up at a restaurant that he knew served great desserts. As they ate, Cara shared more about her dad’s passing. She didn’t go into a lot of details, but he could see how much she’d loved the man, and he had no doubt there would be rough moments for her in the days ahead.

  “The grief kind of hits me at the weirdest moments,” she said as she scooped up a piece of the berry crumble she’d ordered. “Because we didn’t live very close to each other, I was already used to not seeing or talking to him on a daily basis. So it’s like I forget that he’s gone, you know? It isn’t until I’m thinking of something I want to tell him that it hits me, he’s gone. And it could be over something as simple as how good the smells coming from the bakery are.”

  He reached out and put his hand on her arm. “The grief definitely comes in waves. I had to learn to just ride it out.”

  “I thought it would be the same as when my mom died, but it’s not. Her death was so sudden that I had to work through the shock and the grief at the same time. This time around, though, I had time to plan, but the grief is still intense.”

  “The church has a grief support group you might want to consider attending.”

  “Do you go to it?”

  “I haven’t been in a couple of years, but I think Mom goes more frequently. I’d go with you, if you’d like me to.”

  She took a bite of her dessert then said, “I’ll keep that in mind. I haven’t been one to share much of my life, to be honest. It would take some getting used to.”

  “You don’t have to talk or share anything, but it helps to hear from others who have gone through something similar.”

  Though she seemed to be considering his suggestion, she didn’t commit to anything, and he didn’t pressure her.

  Because there was church the next day, they didn’t stay out too late. Cara directed the conversation away from her father’s death, and Kieran let her since he knew that sometimes you just needed a break from it. He wanted her to feel that she could talk about whatever she wanted without any judgment from him.

  Once they got back to town, he dropped her off, then headed for home after sharing a few goodnight kisses. He didn’t like having to leave her at the end of each date, but it was necessary, and he left encouraged that they were closer than ever. The trajectory of their relationship made him excited for what was still to come.

  Monday morning, Kieran was at his desk when he got a call from a fellow cop in New York that he’d been working with when his dad had passed away.

  “Dude, I’ve got some interesting news,” he said after they’d exchanged pleasantries. “Rumor has it that Marco Moretti has kicked the bucket.”

  Kieran sat forward, his pulse pounding. “How do you know that?”

  “Apparently someone let it leak. Not sure who, but the
y’re saying he was in a federal prison in Texas when he died.”

  “Did someone get to him?”

  “I assume that’s what happened, but who knows. All I know is that he didn’t die the way he should have,” the man groused. “Which is in the electric chair.”

  Even after the man had turned state’s witness, he’d never had to face all the loved ones of the people whose deaths he’d been responsible for in one way or another. He’d testified in several trials, but he’d done so remotely—a protective measure that none of the cops thought he was entitled to—and then had promptly disappeared.

  While they’d been glad that several very bad men had gone to jail as a result of Moretti’s testimony, it had seemed a bit unfair that he, the mob boss, had “escaped.” While he hadn’t pulled the trigger for all the deaths he had ordered, he’d certainly pulled it for enough of them that he should have faced the full weight of the law. Victims’ families had been assured that he wasn’t off living his life in luxury somewhere, but given what the DA had gained through Moretti’s testimony, no one had been truly convinced of that.

  “Thanks for letting me know, man,” Kieran said. “I guess we’ll call that good news.”

  “I know this is not the ending we might have wanted for the guy, but at least he’s gone now.” The man sighed. “If only I could say the same for his sons.”

  “Are they still causing problems?”

  “In some ways, they’re worse than Marco. Eduardo and Antonio Moretti are two peas in a pod, which I guess is a given since they’re twins, but together, they’re worse than their dad.”

  “I still don’t understand how they ended up not going to prison even after Marco testified against them while others in the organization ended up with lengthy prison sentences.”

  “We’re pretty sure it’s because they had someone on their payroll.”

  “A judge?”

  “Possibly. Or a juror.”

  “So maybe there was no risk in Marco testifying against his sons if he’d made sure they wouldn’t be convicted.”

  “I wouldn’t put it past him.”

  “What about the other son?”

  “He’s not been on the scene since Marco disappeared.”

  “Really?” Kieran leaned back in his chair and swung around to face the window. “If he hadn’t died in prison, I would have wondered if he’d taken that son with him when he went into hiding.”

  “I don’t know. We got info just after Marco disappeared that the youngest son was in university to become an accountant. My guess is that they were hoping to have a close family member handling the money. Those guys aren’t much for trust.”

  “So Marco’s gone, but his kids are stepping up their game.”

  “We’ve lost more guys to their madness.”

  Kieran rubbed a hand across his forehead. The idea of more officers losing their lives because of guys like the Morettis was hard to take.

  “It feels kind of like we’re dealing with the hydra. We cut off one head, but two grew in its place. Still, I’d be happy to see these two sons gone.”

  “Wish I could help, but not much I can do from here. Stay safe.”

  “Always, bro. Same to you.”

  As the call ended, Kieran fought a battle with guilt. He had no problem staying safe in his small-town job. The cops who were dealing with mobsters like Marco Moretti and his sons were the ones putting their lives on the line. Part of him wished he could be back in New York, helping with that fight, but he couldn’t do that to his mom, and he wouldn’t do that to Cara.

  After spending a couple of hours on phone calls regarding everything from the unidentified body to the high school principal wanting to confirm his appearance at an upcoming career day, Kieran headed over to Norma’s to grab some lunch. Cara hadn’t been able to join him as she said she had several classes plus a meeting that was going to keep her tied up for most the day.

  Since he was alone, he decided to stay and eat in the restaurant. He didn’t enjoy it much when Cara was with him because he preferred not being interrupted by a constant stream of people, but when he was on his own, that didn’t matter as much.

  He ordered a sandwich and soup from Missy then settled back into the booth. Though he wished Cara was there with him, he managed to entertain himself on his phone in between people stopping to talk to him about various things.

  He’d just finished eating when he saw two familiar faces walk by the window. Stunned, he watched as the pair crossed the street and went into Cara’s studio. He sat there for a moment, unsure of what to think or do.

  Part of him wanted to storm into the studio to make sure that Cara was okay, but Cara had told him she was having a meeting. Was she expecting them? And if so, why? Their presence in New Hope made no sense at all. And beyond that, what were they doing with Cara?

  She’d told him she was from Chicago. So what were these two men from New York coming to see her about? Unless she’d lied about where she was from.

  Kieran’s gut ached at the idea. He didn’t want to believe something like that, but what other explanation was there? And what could possibly connect her to these two men? Also surprising—but maybe not when he thought about the conversation he’d had earlier—was the presence of these two men, not just in New Hope, but there together.

  His mind was spinning with so many things as he tried to figure out what was going on, and whether he needed to brace himself for an influx of crime. He prayed that wasn’t about to happen because his life was much more intimately intertwined with the people of this town than it had been in New York, and his officers here weren’t used to the level of crime that was prevalent in New York. It would be a blood bath.

  Sliding out of the booth, Kieran settled up with Norma then left the restaurant. He glanced at the studio but then turned in the direction of the station. There was no way he could risk going into the studio without knowing why those men were in New Hope.

  Once he was behind his desk, he thought back on his conversations with Cara, and the things that had puzzled him about her. First and foremost, her intense security. What she had installed went far beyond a simple alarm system. It was the type of security someone would have if they were afraid of bad people coming after them.

  Like one of the men who’d just walked into her studio. Except if they were walking in the front door, maybe they weren’t the ones she was afraid of. The thought was too much for him to consider.

  He needed more information, and this time, he wasn’t afraid to go digging. After a general search pulled up nothing on Cara in their systems or online, he sat for a moment, thinking of other things she’d told him, trying to find significance in those conversations beyond what he’d originally given them.

  It was as he thought about her parents dying—if that was even true—that he decided to consider another angle. He didn’t know her father’s name, but thanks to the urn on her mantle, he knew her mother’s. Her last name had been different to Cara’s, but he’d just figured that she’d either kept her maiden name or that she’d divorced Cara’s father and remarried. It hadn’t been anything that had tripped an alarm in his head, but now, that alarm bell was clanging loudly.

  Leaning forward, he typed Elizabeth Jameson into the search bar, hoping that he’d find, at the very least, an obituary. What he found was so much more.

  Local mother and daughter killed in car bombing.

  He read the article, puzzled by the information it contained. It said that Elizabeth Jameson had been killed in a car bombing, and her daughter, Carolina Jameson, had been severely injured, passing away later in the hospital. One of the pictures included with the article was definitely of Cara, plus it went on to talk about how Carolina had been a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, so Cara hadn’t been lying about that.

  More confused than ever, Kieran grabbed a notepad he had on his desk and began to scribble down what he was learning. It was clear that even though it had been reported that Carolina had died in th
e car bombing, she hadn’t. That meant that her death had been faked. But why?

  He wished he knew her father’s name. That might have given him additional insight.

  Father unknown.

  Passed away in Texas.

  Passed away in Texas? What had the guy said earlier? That Marco Moretti had died in a federal prison…in Texas.

  Kieran shoved back from his desk and stared at his notepad. That…that was just not possible. The coincidence was too big. But more than that, he didn’t want to think that Cara’s father had been responsible for the deaths of his father and brother.

  He bent forward, trying to draw air into his lungs. The very idea that this scenario was even a possibility was enough to cause a band to tighten around his chest and make breathing difficult.

  If the scenario was, in fact, truth, it gave a new reason for why Marco had turned state’s witness. He knew that Marco’s wife had lived in New York, and she’d shared his name. So if he was Cara’s father that meant her mother had been his mistress. Cara had mentioned that her father traveled a lot, which would make sense since Marco had lived in New York.

  Was it possible that he’d turned state’s witness in order to protect his daughter, but then he’d also done what was necessary to ensure that his sons didn’t go to prison even though he’d also testified against them? It had left them free to run the organization even while he’d ended up in prison.

  If all this were true, Cara was a mafia princess, the daughter of one of the most vicious mafia bosses New York City had ever known.

  So what was an ADA and Marco’s youngest son doing in New Hope Falls? And how did Cara factor into their visit?

  He needed answers, but for the first time in his career, he was scared of what he might find out. He wasn’t sure that he could be in a relationship with Cara if Marco really was her father. Not to mention that she hadn’t been truthful about her past. Not that he could really blame her. There would be a target on her back if the wrong people found out she was still alive.