Her stomach roiled. “Avery’s a good man. He would never enslave another human being. You cannot convince me of that.”
“I won’t try to. No, he’s not the one stuffing them in container cars or selling them as slaves—but that chain of misery involves many links, and your buddy is one of them. He’s weak and he’s greedy—he didn’t get his lifestyle running a club, I promise you. He uses his club to launder the trafficker’s money. As a matter of fact, it’s their money that funded the Jag he’s driving and the little luxuries he’s been bringing you.”
Her head whipped to him. “What do you know about what he’s been…” Her voice trailed off. “You’ve been watching me.” Oh, God. Somehow that seemed to be the worst violation yet.
“Not me. And they weren’t watching you, they were tailing him.”
“Was Sophie part of…this?” She didn’t think she could stand it if Sophie was involved, though how that was worse than knowing everything between her and JD had been a lie, she couldn’t say.
“No, of course not.” His shoulders sagged. “She’ll be hurt, too, when she finds out.”
She would not feel sorry for him.
“Look, Violet, I get that you don’t want to believe me, and I don’t blame you—it’s a big shock. But it’s not a lie. You’re in danger.”
“You’ve told me so many lies. How am I supposed to know when you’re telling the truth?”
The smoky gray eyes she’d once found beautiful were bleak, dark holes now. “Fine, you don’t have to take my word on the crimes of your so-called friend—but you do have to believe this: I want you safe, and I don’t care what I have to do to guarantee that. I want you free and whole, able to fly back to your castle, to live your glamorous life. I even want you to forget me, if that will take away the pain of how I’ve hurt you. But to accomplish any of that—” he bent his head to her “—you have to be alive. That’s all I care about, Violet—that you’re alive and safe. People close to your pal Avery are dying. Remember his phone call? Remember how frantic he sounded? Right now he’s nervous and scared because someone he met with was murdered last night…and it’s setting off a chain reaction.”
“He didn’t do it.”
“No one’s sure who’s responsible yet. Regardless, his world is unraveling and more people are going to die. Avery’s in bed with some very nasty folks. The cartel that runs the trafficking pipeline doesn’t give one good goddamn who gets hurt in order for them to make a buck.
“Hear me and believe me, if you believe nothing else.” He gripped her shoulders. “I will not let you be one of the victims.”
Sincerity rang in his voice. Blazed from his eyes.
“Avery would never hurt me.”
“He wouldn’t mean to, maybe—but this situation is far more deadly than you can imagine, maybe more dangerous than he ever expected. You could simply be collateral damage, but you’d be just as dead. And I couldn’t live with that, Violet.” He swallowed visibly. “You’re important to me.”
“But your job was more important.” She looked beyond him. “There’s my cab. Let me go.” She shrugged him off, reached for the knob.
“I wasn’t supposed to fall for you, damn it.” He stepped in her way. “You weren’t supposed to be real and warm and wonderful. You were supposed to be a snotty celebrity.”
“I’m not real, JD. And, I realize now, neither was this.” Too tired to cry, though the ache in her chest threatened to burn though bone and flesh, still she couldn’t leave him so coldly. “It’s not your fault,” she said softly. “You were just doing your job.”
He recoiled as though she’d struck him, but he didn’t relent. “I’m not letting you out of here until you promise to stay away from him.” His eyes locked on hers. “Now send the cab away and let me take you to Sophie’s. Then you’re getting on the first plane back to L.A. and away from danger. Please.”
“Funny…both you and Avery can’t wait to get rid of me.”
“Then for God’s sake, listen. There’s too much going on that you don’t understand.” He stood very still, but his face bore the strain. “I have to ask you not to reveal any of what I’ve told you—not for my sake, I don’t expect that. But there are innocent people whose lives will be placed in jeopardy if word of this investigation leaks to the wrong ears. I’m counting on the real Violet James and her sense of honor not to endanger them.”
Then he let his vulnerability show in his haunted eyes. “You don’t owe me anything, but I don’t believe the woman who made love with me would ever put other lives in danger.”
She wanted to hate him for knowing that. “But what about Avery? Who looks out for him?”
“I’m an officer of the law, not an executioner. I promise I’ll do everything I can to safeguard him so that he has his chance to defend himself in court. If he’s innocent, he’ll go free.”
“But you don’t think he is.”
“That’s for a jury of his peers to decide.”
It was a decent thing to offer. From a decent man. However hurt she was, she recognized that. “JD, I truly don’t believe he’s guilty.”
“I hope you’re right—but I’m still asking you to stay away from him. It’s the only way I can ensure your safety. I need your promise, Violet.”
She didn’t want to give it. If only she could talk to Avery, she could get this straightened out. What JD accused him of simply wasn’t possible.
“Look, I could have you taken into custody to make certain you don’t contact him. I’m trying to respect your dignity and your privacy.”
“You wouldn’t.” She’d been softening toward him, but the threat got her back up.
“Try me.” A muscle in his jaw flexed.
“I won’t reveal what you’ve said.” She could promise that. She’d get her own sense of Avery and figure out exactly what was going on here.
“Thank you. But that’s not all I asked. You’ll stay away from him and make immediate arrangements to go home?”
She didn’t want to promise that, but anger and misery and grief were a tangle in her throat, and it would choke her to death if she didn’t leave now. “Trust me or lock me up, JD.” She tilted her chin in defiance. “Now I’d like to leave.”
“I’ll get my keys.”
“No. I’m taking that cab.”
“Violet…” He remained where he was, tall and beautiful and tortured.
Even now she longed for him to take it all back. How pathetic.
“Look at me, Violet. Please.” His voice was caress and command. He wasn’t going to budge until she did.
Slowly she raised her eyes to his, biting her cheek to keep from yielding to the treacherous yearning she couldn’t believe she still felt.
“It wasn’t all a lie,” he said softly, his heart in his eyes.
“It was only an illusion,” she whispered, “and it was cruel.” Slowly she dragged her gaze away and fastened it on the door like a prisoner awaiting release.
After a very long pause, he stepped back.
She made her way down the drive on unsteady legs and climbed into the cab.
And stared straight ahead, seeing nothing around her, only the last fragments of a dream drifting away like dandelion puffs.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
AFTER ENSURING THAT THE KITTEN would be cared for, JD barreled out of his driveway on the way to the station. But however hard he tried to concentrate on his upcoming interview with Candy and the approach he would take with her, all he could think about was Violet.
For the rest of his life he would carry with him the image of her pale, shattered face.
However bad he’d expected his revelation to be…the reality was worse.
She was beyond hurt. And doubting herself again. How
could he matter so much—and he had, he could see it in her. He’d blindsided her.
They’d both felt the pull of something extraordinary, no matter what she said now. Didn’t seem to matter that their worlds were completely unsuited to each other’s. Out of all the universe, that their paths would cross was a massive long shot…that they would form such an immediate bond was little short of a miracle. It wasn’t surprising that he would fall for her, but that she would soften in his arms so sweetly, trust him, open her heart to him—
He smacked the steering wheel and swore. He wanted something else to hit, anything that would ease this huge ball of shame and guilt and fury eating away at him.
Something like Avery Lofton, the bastard. How could he allow her to come anywhere near the sordid, nasty tangle he was in up to his neck?
Would she listen to JD’s warnings? Had she believed a word he’d said? He should have flat-out refused to let her get in that cab and bodily delivered her to Sophie’s himself, then set a watch on her.
He dialed Sophie’s number.
“Hotel Serenity.”
“Sophie, it’s JD.”
“Oh! I’m surprised to hear from you already. I guess Violet survived the shock of seeing your place.” Her teasing tone only made him feel worse.
“Sophie, I need your help.”
“You sound terrible. What’s wrong? Is Violet okay?”
“I’m headed to work, and I don’t have much time. You have to keep an eye on her.”
“Keep an eye on her? Where is she?”
“She should be there any second. She took a cab.” He paused. “I hurt her, Sophie. It’s the last thing I wanted to do, but…” He couldn’t go down that road again, not now. “She’s going to need a friend.”
“Of course, but…JD, what happened? You two seemed so happy. So good together.”
We were. Damn it, we were, in spite of the lies. “I don’t know how else I could have handled it, but…” He exhaled. Might as well get it out. “Her friend Avery is mixed up in some dirty business. I was assigned to find out if she was part of it, too.”
A very long pause. “And I played right into your hands. JD, what have you done?”
“I’ve hurt a woman I care about deeply. I’m sorry, Sophie. I didn’t want to involve you, but this is an ugly case with a body count that keeps rising. I would never have compromised you by asking you to introduce me to her, but when you came up with your bodyguard idea…”
“Oh, no. Oh, JD, she’s so fragile.”
“I’ve never been ashamed of my job before, if that helps any—and what developed between us was as real as it was unexpected. That part wasn’t a lie, Sophie, I swear. I care more for her than I have any right to—I mean, she’s from a different world, and I realize we have no future, but…” Despair swamped him, and he couldn’t let it. He had a job to do. “I have to live with what I’ve done, but I’ve got to know she’s safe. She doesn’t want to believe me about Avery, and I’m scared she’s going to get caught up in the same deadly web he is. You aren’t too happy with me right now, and I don’t blame you one bit, but I need you to promise that you’ll stick close to her, that you’ll call me if she’s getting any crazy ideas about seeing him. If she’d get on a plane back to L.A. pronto, that would be best, but she’s so angry with me and so hurt, she’s not going to listen to anything I say. You don’t owe me this, but please, Sophie, will you watch over her? The one thing I can’t handle is her being put in harm’s way, and we’re shorthanded. I’m going to do my best to get her put under surveillance, but in the meantime, I have to know she’s safe.”
Sophie’s voice was heavy when she replied. “Of course I will. I’m not angry with you, JD.”
“I can’t imagine why not. I’m furious as hell at myself.”
“You’ll beat yourself up ten times more than I ever could. But poor Violet…”
“Yeah.” His own sorrow weighed him down. “Would you tell her…never mind. She doesn’t want to hear anything from me. I’m nearly at the station, Sophie. A thank you isn’t enough, but it’s the best I’ve got right now.”
“You be careful, JD. Don’t get hurt because you’re not focused. I’ll take care of Violet for you.”
“You’re a better friend than I deserve. I’m grateful.”
“Be safe, JD.”
“Thank you, Sophie.”
As the station came into sight, JD flipped through his options. He’d talk to Doc first and see if there were any resources Doc could tap for Violet’s surveillance. If need be, JD would snag some of his buddies in APD.
Once he was sure Violet was being watched over, he could turn his mind fully to this case. He’d already lost more than he could bear. To let Avery Lofton and his friends swim through their nets would mean all the pain he’d caused was for nothing.
That was not going to happen.
* * *
INSIDE THE CAB, VIOLET HUDDLED in the corner of the backseat, refusing all the driver’s attempts to converse.
She was all talked out.
She considered herself fortunate that the driver hadn’t recognized her; then she realized that she hadn’t spared time for even a speck of makeup in her haste to get away from JD. She was a wreck, her features haggard, her eyes red with unshed tears. Seeing any resemblance to the star most people knew would be a real stretch.
Plus, she felt a hundred years older. And broken.
Not thinking about that.
She was an empty husk, dry and lifeless…and she welcomed the void. If she let herself feel…if she let herself remember JD, his teasing, his warmth, his touch…she would, quite simply, die from the pain.
Why a man she’d known only a matter of days could have come to mean this much to her when her husband had never been half so close to her heart, she couldn’t fathom.
But now her soul had withered as quickly as her illusions.
If only her mind would do the same.
She had to stop thinking about him. Frantically, she cast around for something, anything that would ease the blistering sense of betrayal, the dull thud of worry over Avery, the dying echo of lost hope that love would ever find her.
“Eight twenty-five,” said the driver as he stopped before Hotel Serenity.
Violet didn’t move. If she went inside now, Sophie would sense that something was wrong. She would be sympathetic, and her sympathy would make Violet break.
I will not break, not ever again. The time for tears was over…because if she started now, she might never stop.
“Ma’am?”
Maybe she should just head for the airport, as JD wanted. Go back to what she knew. She could ask Sophie to pack her things for her and send them… .
No. That would be rude, and Sophie would be distraught enough once she found out how her attempt to help Violet had ended.
Or had the attempt truly been Sophie’s? The notion struck her with the force of a blow: had meeting her been JD’s initiative all along, whatever he said?
She’d told JD she wouldn’t reveal to Avery what she’d learned about the investigation, but she hadn’t agreed not to contact him. Clearly JD didn’t want her to, but what did that matter? She didn’t owe JD Cameron anything. Avery had been her best friend for half her life. Maybe JD was right and Avery had fallen in with some unsavory company—he’d always had a tendency to look for an angle. Maybe he had financial problems, and that had forced him in an undesirable direction. Or maybe his partner Sage, whom she’d never met, had done something that had dragged Avery into a web he couldn’t escape. She couldn’t deny that Avery had been tense and uneasy ever since she’d arrived.
This situation is far more deadly than you can imagine, maybe more dangerous than he ever expected. You could simply be collateral damage, but you’d
be just as dead.
Avery had been evasive on the phone, and she would get no more information out of him from a distance. She had to be able to look him in the eye, and once she did, she would know if he was in trouble.
Women and children? Sexual slavery? Her mind balked. Could she be that naïve? That blind? Regardless, she was done with all of that. No more blinders on her, not ever again.
She tried Avery’s cell again, but the call went straight to voice mail. She didn’t leave a message.
“Miss?” the cabbie prompted.
“Yes.” She battled her way out of the fog and reached into her purse, tipping him handsomely. “Thank you.”
She stepped from the cab and stood at the walk gate, blinking like a cave creature emerging into sunlight. The hotel grounds looked exactly as she’d left them, a welcome refuge, a beautiful retreat.
While she was forever changed.
In the midst of her misery and humiliation, she forced herself to acknowledge that however much JD had wounded her heart and her pride, if any of what he’d said was true, she had to proceed carefully. If there indeed were innocents being victimized, she didn’t want to stand in the way of the efforts to save them.
Her focus would be on learning the truth.
Reassured by some semblance of purpose, at last she remembered that she needed a key card and a combination for the gate. While she was scrabbling in her purse to find the card, she heard footsteps and looked up.
Sophie opened the gate for her and held out her arms. “Oh, Violet…” She drew her inside and opened her arms. “Come here.”
On His Honor Page 18
