Someone managed to get her stuck on one static-filled channel…
This dead man was a pain in her ass.
While he finally shut up, she knew it wouldn’t be for long. By giving the man at the winery the information, it meant that she’d placed the game into play. Her tarot cards told the truth, and she knew it was only a matter of time.
The death card kept coming up, and it scared her.
She knew it wasn’t for her, but a precursor to what was coming on the horizon. There was going to be a mess, and now, because she listened to the man’s begging, she would be in the center of it.
Damn him!
If she didn't feel bad for him, she would have told him no, but he’d died for his country.
It was the least she could do.
Right?
She’d always had a soft spot in her heart for a soldier. They not only looked sexy in their uniforms, but they sacrificed the most, and that meant something.
She knew all about sacrifice.
Nyx lived it every day of her life.
That’s why she had initially let this dead man in. Who would have known he was going to drive her insane?
Certainly not her.
Normally, dealing with the dead was safe. They couldn’t hurt you. While they could freak you out, there was no way they could make you suffer from unspeakable pain.
No, the living had the rights to that.
When you, yourself, were damaged, you tended to look for peace wherever you could find it. Locked in her head, she was able to stay protected.
That’s what she needed.
Safety was key.
In this little corner of the world, she’d found just that. As she sat in the little shop, Nyx looked around. It made her want to smile, each and every time.
She was a psychic.
It was funny as hell.
Before that fateful day, she didn't buy into it. There was no way she believed in an afterlife, and now…here she was, dealing with it on a regular basis.
She was making a living at it.
How ironic was that?
It made Nyx want to laugh. Maybe she was predestined to this madness the day she was born. After all, her mother had to have seen something, giving her a crazy-ass name like she did. It made Nyx smirk every time people told her it was a great psychic name.
Yeah, only it was really hers. You couldn’t make this shit up.
As she sat at her table, waiting for the next client to arrive, she heard the bells ringing above her door.
When Nyx glanced over, no one was there.
She knew what that meant. As the invisible breeze kissed her flesh, it told the tail.
“Shit! You’re back, aren’t you?” she asked.
Then Nyx heard his voice.
He didn't scream, but whispered into her mind.
“What do you want now, Trey?”
And he told her…
* * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *
Monastery Vineyards
He wasn’t supposed to be there, but he had to dig around. There were so many secrets there at the vineyard, and he wanted them. They were destined to be his.
He couldn’t help himself.
Deep within the walls, there were so many things that the owner wasn’t aware of, and he wanted them.
All of them.
So, he was going to bury his business to make it all his. This creepy, scary place was going to have a new owner.
But first...
He had to make him go under.
By the end of it all, the vineyard would be up for sale, and he’d have it all. It was only fair, since the place was meant to be his. From the day he had arrived, he knew he, and only he, was worthy of such a place.
It was steeped in history.
Mystery.
And money.
Truth be told, the latter was what he wanted most.
The old monastery had a treasure deep within its haunted bowels, and he craved it. He wasn’t sure where it was hidden, but he had time. The beauty of it all was that there was no way anyone would be able to stop him.
He was going to find it.
He was going to own it.
Ultimately, he was going to take everything.
When it came down to it, there would be a new owner…him. When he controlled the place, he wouldn’t need to have guests, tours, or make wine. No, he would find the riches, steal it out from beneath the man in charge, and be happy to be the king of the estate.
This place was meant to be his.
It was hard to explain, but he felt it the second the legend was told to him at the local bar. The minute he was led to the sprawling land, he knew that before the next growing season, he’d be in charge.
He was home.
This was his new kingdom.
There was no way in hell anyone could stop him either. The owner was some city slicker who was bored with his life. He was going to fail on his own, so him helping it along didn't really matter.
Really, it didn't.
He was going to make sure that the man was gone, his wife was heading out, and that all memories of the fool and his follies were erased from the locals’ lips.
He was going to get what he wanted.
Why?
Because might was right.
He was the one to have it all, and he didn't care where the current owner came from, what the locals said, or anything else.
It was time to claim what was rightfully his.
He was ready.
And in the end, if they tried to stop him, he’d kill them all. It wasn’t as if he was afraid of a little bloodshed.
This was his destiny, and he’d fight for it.
Chapter One
He wasn’t in the mood to play investigator.
For the first time since opening his business, Julian Littlemoon was ready to toss in the towel. It scared him to the deepest pit of his stomach.
This had been his dream, and he’d achieved it. His business had been created from the ground up, carefully weaving cases together to build them a strong clientele.
It all had worked as planned.
Now, he wished it hadn’t.
In all honesty, the last two weeks had barely been tolerable. They were an emotional rollercoaster. What he really wanted was to grab his wife and lock them in the apartment above.
Where it was safe.
Where she was secure.
To say he was rattled would be an understatement.
After the events of two weeks ago, work had to be put on hold. Granted, he knew that at some point, they had clients to deal with and jobs to complete.
Only, he didn't want to do it and for a few reasons.
They were stretched thin, and he knew it. Before, that didn't seem dangerous, but as of late, he was concerned. Allowing any of the women out of their sight was nerve rattling.
As they waited to begin their morning meeting, Julian didn't know what to do about the situation at hand. He wasn’t ready to jump back into the work arena.
He was still freaked out.
His wife was the opposite.
Tori was back at work, raring to go, and he suspected it was because she felt bad about what had happened to Vivian. After all, Tori was driving the car when they were hit. Even when everyone, including the cops, told her that it wasn’t her fault, she didn't buy it. There was no way she would have been able to dodge that man in his drunken stupor.
He was across the line and like a loaded weapon, aimed right at them.
Tori wasn’t to blame. In fact, she saved their lives.
Had she not been as quick as she was, or had the fast reflexes of a trained soldier, it would have been a head on collision.
No one would have survived.
The men wouldn’t only be mourning the loss of Vivian’s pregnancy, but they would have had to attend the funeral of four women.
So his wife was a hero.
Yet, she didn't see it that way. For the first few days home, sh
e wept non-stop. When she heard Vivian or Justin’s name, she was brought to tears.
The guilt was eating away at her, making the PTSD slide more easily to the surface.
It had been hell.
Julian was afraid to leave her alone. Now, she was ready to jump back into work, and he was worried.
Could she handle it?
Tori was pregnant herself.
Was this a good idea?
He had no freaking clue.
Julian understood why she was so stirred up. His brother had lost his child, and he and Tori were going to have theirs. Fate had flipped the script, stealing a soul from one brother, while the other was allowed to keep his.
Yeah, he felt guilty too.
How could he not?
When Tori was in the hospital, he stuck close to Justin. He was terrified not to be right there. At any minute, he fully expected his brother to lose it. The man behind the wheel, who did this, was a dead man, and he didn't doubt by whose hand.
And that scared him.
His brother was about to go off the reservation, and he didn't mean the place they grew up.
He was about to embark on a new mission, and not one with a happy outcome.
They all saw it coming. Only, they couldn’t point it out. If they did, they feared it would only happen sooner.
While Julian had lost his unborn nephew, he couldn’t lose his brother.
It was unacceptable to him.
Now that Vivian was home, he had told his brother to take some time off, but Justin wasn’t having it.
Oh, he knew why.
Justin was running.
Not from them, but from his pain and the past that formed him. At some point, he was going to hit the wall. It was only a matter of time. Until then, he’d stay observant, trying to keep his team intact.
It was an uphill battle.
There was a problem on the horizon. Right before this accident, he’d met with a client and booked them. It couldn’t have been at a worse time, but his hands were tied. When he contacted them to make them aware they weren’t coming, the owner pitched a fit.
He was screaming foul and threatening to tell the world the Littlemoons were welching on a job. After all, Julian had taken their retainer and booked the rooms to stay at the vineyard.
To this man, it was in stone.
This proved to be a problem.
Christina and Kane were manning the office. Justin was in no shape to be away from Vivian, who was on leave, so that left Beckett, Claire, and Beau.
Well, Beckett Rand, while willing to go out, had a plate full of nonsense to work on. With Kane all over Christina, he was pulling all the surveillance duty, and there was a shitload. Julian couldn’t take Claire because of one of his long-standing rules--you always worked with a partner.
So…Claire was tied up too.
That left Beau.
While Julian was glad to have him on the team, mostly for Tori’s sake, he couldn’t let the man run loose out in the world. He wasn’t licensed, trained, or ready. Beau was more like a lone wolf. He’d yet to learn the importance of always having a backup partner. In his defense, he was gung-ho, and that was valuable, but so was making sure you made it home at night.
That meant that Julian and Tori were going to have to handle the away case. Fortunately, it was only an hour out of town, but regrettably, they were going to be down one person.
They’d just have to make do with what they had. The team was still trying to bounce back, and he didn't want to push his luck.
Sitting in his office, waiting for his wife to come down from their apartment, he was getting that feeling in the pit of his stomach.
This whole case didn't feel right.
Maybe it was because the person who referred them had never been a client. After Jamie Montgomery, and the ‘Heir Killings’, they liked to do thorough background checks on anyone who popped up.
When they interviewed Daniel Nelms, he said he’d come to them by recommendation.
That wasn’t the odd part.
What was weird was by whom the recommendation had come. In his entire life, he’d never heard of a woman named Nyx Nightingale. In fact, when he ran her, he found nothing on her.
The woman was a mystery.
After the last three cases, Julian was wary about everything. He didn't like being dumped into the middle of a shit mess, and the last two cases, with ghosts, dead women, and a killer had been just that.
This case was going to be straightforward.
At least he hoped so. The last thing he needed now was for his wife’s shadow, Bethany, to pop up. Since the accident, Tori hadn’t said jack about her spirit guide.
That made Julian nervous.
Actually, it freaked him out.
Normally, Tori would joke about it, but now she was keeping mum.
Yeah, he was scared shitless.
That’s why he made sure this case was straightforward and without any creepy elements to it. While playing Mystery Inc. was entertaining, they weren’t Fred and Daphne.
This wasn’t make-believe. They were Julian and Tori, and he liked it that way.
As he leaned back in his chair, he couldn’t help but watch her through the glass windows of their office. They shared a space, just like every team did.
Across the hall, Justin sat behind his desk staring off into space--alone.
He really wished there was something he could do.
Watching his wife walk toward their doors, he prayed that she’d stay out of Justin’s way. While they all knew it wasn’t her fault, his brother was in no mood to be nice.
They were giving him leeway, and Tori seemed to be the catalyst to his anger. As much as Julian wanted to protect Tori, he was caught between them both.
He loved his wife.
He loved his brother.
He only wished he knew how to fix all of this. If he could just turn back time to that day, Julian would.
His eyes never left her as she paused outside their door. Then, doing the opposite of what he wanted, she headed right into the lion’s den.
Well, shit.
The day was about to get worse.
* * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *
Tori was dying inside.
There was no doubt in her mind that Justin hated her. The love he used to feel was gone, and she didn't need to be told why it had happened. She understood.
Fate had turned him against her.
Why?
Because she’d killed his child.
Had Tori ordered delivery of their lunch, or had gone by herself, none of this would have happened.
No, instead, she opted to have a girls’ afternoon with a car full of pregnant women.
She was a fool.
If she could go back, she absolutely would. On that day, not only had Vivian and Justin lost their child, but she lost something too. The second that car had hit them, Tori had lost her brother.
He was ripped from her life, and she didn't think he’d ever be back.
Who could blame him?
Granted, he was only her relative by marriage, but Justin had always been close. They were soldiers, struggling with the same demons, and now he was blocking her out.
She kept trying to reach him because she knew if it was her, he’d be doing the same thing.
Tori refused to quit.
She had to reach him.
There was no doubt in her mind that if she gave up, what they had would never be repaired.
Gathering her courage, she knocked on his door. When he looked over, her heart skipped. There was her husband’s face, eyes, and body behind the desk. While they only had small differences, like how Justin’s hair was just growing out, they were still hard to tell apart. The only thing making him standout today was the pure look of misery on his face.
It was heart wrenching.
For a brief second, she was pretty sure he wasn’t going to invite her in. When he waved, there was that brief feeling of relief. Maybe today wo
uld be the turning point.
“What do you want?” he asked when she opened the door. His voice was fraught with anger that all hope was dashed.
Well, so much for relief.
Here came the sick feeling in her gut all over again.
“Can we talk?”
Immediately, his eyes cascaded down her body to the small telltale bump.
That simple act said it all.
The switch was flipped, and instead of the old easiness that had once been there, Tori bore the target for his anger.
“No.”
“Justin.”
He stood, his chair sliding backward and into the wall. “I said NO! I’m not in the mood, Victoria. Surely, you get that. It can’t be that hard to understand. We have NOTHING to discuss, and we never will.”
She flinched at the use of her full name. Usually, it was Tor, Army, or at least, Tori. Now it was clear that she was not only on his shit list, but he did blame her.
Great.
So much for feeling better.
“We have to talk, Justin. You can’t keep avoiding me. I’m sorry about what happened. If I could fix it…”
He glared at her. “Well, you can’t, so leave me alone. It’s done, and so are we.”
When he grabbed his paper and pen, Tori moved out of his way. She could feel the room wavering and the faint tinkling of music. For days she’d been fighting off Bethany, and of course her dead shadow was going to take this moment to try and come through.
“Justin! Wait!”
He ignored her.
When he stormed out, slamming the door, she heard Bethany’s singsong voice whispering in her ear.
‘I can help.’
It broke her heart. Where the hell was Bethany weeks ago, when she needed a warning before getting into the SUV?
Maybe she was angry too.
With a sigh, she closed her eyes and tried to keep from crying. This was her mess, and she needed to fix it. Tori couldn’t rely on her ‘gift’ when she needed to be bailed out.
For now, she needed to heal, and the only way to do that was to get Justin to speak to her.
Truth Is Found Page 2
