“Kat!” I yell. “I know you’re here!”
“I’m okay.”
I let out a sigh when I hear her voice. Coming into the opening of the warehouse, I stop when I see her standing there. A gun raised in her hands pointed at my father’s back.
“What is this? A family reunion?” my father demands looking at me over his shoulder.
I don’t know what the fuck is going on. “Why are you here, Kat?” I demand. She’s pregnant, after all. Why is she meeting with my father?
“It was my idea.”
I step to my right, look past my father, and see Braxton standing there. His gun raised at our father’s front. “Don’t be mad at her. She called me, and she begged me for help. Said it had to end.” He looks back at my father. “And I agreed with her. I knew he wouldn’t be able to turn her down if she wanted to meet up with him.” He gives my father an evil smile. “And I was right. You may be a vindictive son of a bitch, but you are also very predictable.”
“I will kill you!” my father screams at him.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less. That is what you do when someone tries to get in our way.” He replies flatly.
I grind my teeth, pissed at not only Kat but my brother as well. “Get out of here, Kat,” I growl to her.
When she just stands there, I turn to face the Captain standing beside me. “Will you get her out of here?”
“I’m not leaving,” she snaps.
I let out a sigh of frustration but don’t say anything else to her.
“It’s over, Dick!” I call out to him. “Your time has come to an end. We’re bringing you in,” I say with a smile. I may be mad at Kat for what she and Braxton did, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I knew she would call him. That’s why I put the locator app on her phone. She isn’t the type to sit by and wait for something to come to her. Am I mad at her? Absolutely! It’s terrifying knowing that you’ve fallen in love with a woman who has no fear. But I was also counting on it. “Did he hurt you?” I ask looking her up and down.
She shakes her head. And then she starts to pat her chest area. “What are you doing, babe?”
She looks up at me with her big brown eyes and smiles brightly. She starts to pull her shirt up and I yank it down. “Kat?” I snap. “What is wrong with you?”
She looks over at my dad as she places her hand up her shirt. “You weren’t the only one who likes to record things.”
“What are you talking about?” I growl to Kat. Did she hit her head? She’s not making any sense.
She rips off a wire and holds it out for all of us to see. “Thanks for the answers, by the way,” she says happily.
“You little bitch,” my father hisses.
I turn to face my father and raise my gun as he takes a step toward her. He comes to a quick stop and throws his hands in the air.
“I’ve been told I could have been an actress.” She laughs.
“What is she talking about, Dick?” I demand not taking my eyes off him even though I want to kiss Kat right now. She got everything we needed on tape. He’s going away forever! “What did you record?”
“Us,” Kat answers for him. “Having sex in his limo. Oh, and the sick bastard got off on watching it.”
“You fucking taped us?” I demand.
Braxton shakes his head as if he’s trying not to imagine Kat and me having sex. Good thing too because I will hit him.
He smiles as he looks Kat up and down, and I step in front of her to block his view. “I didn’t expect to get porn out of it. I just needed to know what she knew. I had eyes and ears on Mason a hundred percent of the time. I knew he was seeing Ashley, and I knew who Ashley’s friends were. I recognized Kat the moment I saw her at the courthouse with you. Why do you think I insisted that she come to the reelection party? Why do you think I told you she was gonna cost me? You were fucking the one woman who could take me down.” His voice rises. “Ashley was too stupid to trace it back to me. But Katherine, she had the power. And then you can’t even keep your pants on for one fucking night.” He gives an evil grin. “Not as if I could blame you. Kat is …”
“Shut the fuck up!” I shout. “Put your hands behind your back and turn around,” I demand. “Richard O’Hare, you are under arrest.”
“Listen, son.” I hate when he calls me that. “I’m not leaving this place with you.” He shakes his head. “So go ahead and take Kat with you along with your brother and your sidekick,” he says referring to Captain. “And we’ll finish this another day.”
I shake my head. “This is ending today!”
Captain passes me as he starts to head for my father. He places his cuffs in his hand. “Turn around Dick,” he orders.
My father looks at me with hard brown eyes and a puffed chest. “You won’t get away with this,” he growls. Then he looks at Kat. “You fucked up, bitch! I will have every person in this town after you,” he shouts fisting his hands down by his side. “You will be praying that I’d killed you!”
“Enough!” I shout.
Captain comes up to him and grabs his right wrist. He pulls it behind his back. “No,” my father yells. He rears his head back, knocking it into the captain. He takes a stumbling step back as my father reaches behind his back. I jump in front of Kat as he raises a gun toward her. I pull the trigger at the same time. We hit the ground as several more bangs ring out in the abandoned warehouse.
EPILOGUE
FIVE YEARS LATER
PARKER
I stand in the living room looking out the front windows as I watch our friends and family pull up one by one to celebrate Christmas with us. It’s been five years since my father died in that warehouse. I hate to say it, but he rarely crosses my mind. Even when I look at Kat’s scars, I don’t think about him. I think about her. How strong she is. How beautiful she is, and how lucky I am to have her in my life. How lucky I am to have her as my other half. I never believed in soul mates until she showed me what I had been missing all along.
What does hurt to think about is my mother. Two weeks after Captain killed my father, she committed suicide. There was no note. No call or text good-bye. She took some pills and laid down in bed. Their housekeeper found her the following day. The very next day, I walked into the precinct and took over Captain’s job. He was right when he said I was born for this. That was why I became a cop in the first place. To help people. I went through the force with a fine-tooth comb, and I got rid of almost everyone. Five years later, I have a team I can trust.
Captain comes by at least once a week to check on me and to see if I need any help. He is another one who became a great friend. He was there when I married Kat. He even gave her away. Her father was dead, and I have always looked to him as a father. She felt it was the right thing to do. And he was there the day my beautiful wife gave birth to our little boy. He is also the reason we named him Blake. After the Captain. If he hadn’t gone with me to the warehouse, who knows what would have happened when I took Kat to the ground to protect her from my dad shooting her. I had fired, but I only hit him in the arm. I was too busy trying to help her rather than shoot my father. Captain took him down, though. He saved my life. He saved Kat’s life; therefore, he saved Blake’s life.
Kat still works at the hospital, but she has cut back since Blake came into our lives. She loves being a mother, and she wants to give him as much of her time as she can. Being a father has changed my life. I thought marrying Kat was the greatest thing I could ever accomplish, but I was wrong. There’s nothing like holding your son for the first time. It will bring tears to your eyes. Now, we’re expecting our second child. Kat is due on Valentine’s Day, and it’s a girl. I about had a mini heart attack when we found out it’s gonna be a girl. I know all about boys. But a girl? Kat still looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind when I speak. I can’t imagine if two of them are ganging up on me. Or two of them being moody. Or the boys. God, what if she meets a guy who treats women like I used to. Shit, that was every guy I knew! It’s gonna be
hard, but hopefully, I’ll get through it with some dignity and my hair.
“Hey, babe, can you get some more ice from the fridge down in the basement?” Kat calls out from the kitchen.
“Yes.” I do as she asks and make my way to the kitchen.
I break it up before placing it in the sink for her. Then I grab a beer and make my way back into our living room. We sold her father’s house about three years ago and bought a bigger one. It just made sense. Our family was growing and we needed more space.
I take a sip of my beer as I sit down next to Josh on our couch. “What’s wrong with you?” he asks.
I turn to look at him with a frown. “What? I’m chipper,” I say wondering why he would think that I’m not. It’s Christmas, after all.
He snorts. “Maybe a wood chipper.”
Slade laughs at Josh’s lame joke, and I just roll my eyes. I go to speak, but shut my mouth when Slade and Sam’s little girl walks into the living room. “Uncle Josh,” she says in that adorable little voice of hers. She’s growing up so fast. She’s six now, but I can still remember the time I first held her.
“Yes, princess?” he asks leaning forward on the couch with a big smile on his face.
She smiles back. “Dominic just peed on the fake tree that’s in the other room.”
Josh jumps up so fast he almost trips as he runs out of the living room. Slade and I burst out into laughter.
“That’s so gross,” Braxton’s girlfriend says pulling her lips back in disgust as she sits next to Braxton on the loveseat. They’ve been dating for almost a year now. And I know that he is planning to propose to her any day now. I know this because I went with him to pick out her ring two weeks ago. The poor guy is scared to death, though.
“Sadey …” Slade pauses to try to calm his laughter. “It’s not nice to tattletale on others,” he says, but there’s a big smile on his face.
“Aunt Courtney said to tell someone every time Dominic peed anywhere besides a toilet.” Then she turns and takes off.
Dominic is Josh and Country’s youngest son. About three years ago, they had another one. And he’s in the middle of potty training right now. He just can’t seem to get the hang of it.
Josh comes back in and plops down beside me. “Sorry, man.”
I wave him off. “No worries. It happens.” I take a sip of my beer.
“When I asked him why he did it, he said that the tree needed to be watered.”
“Well, at least, he’s smart,” I say, and the guys laugh again.
I get up off the couch as the doorbell rings, and I make my way to the front door.
“Well, hello there, O’Hare,” Blake, my old captain, says as I open the door.
“Hello, Captain. Josie.” I nod my head to his wife as they enter the house.
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Blake?” he asks with a smile.
“How many times have I reminded you to call me Captain?” I joke back. He pulls me in for a hug, and then I hug his wife.
I smile as I watch the snow fall outside and start to cover the ground. Turning back around, I look at all of our friends and family. Tate sits on the floor; Star is in his lap playing with a Barbie doll that Blake just had to get her for Christmas. Josh is getting attacked on the couch by his two oldest, Trent and Ashton. Sadey laughs as Slade has her pinned down on the couch tickling her.
It’s crazy how we all grew up together, and now, our kids are going to do the same. I wonder if any of them will end up falling in love. How many kids our kids will have? I know they’ll fight and grow apart at some point in their life, but I hope they always find their way back to one another. I hope they realize how special their friendships will be.
“Dinner is ready.”
I look over at the opening of the living room to see my wife standing there. A bright pink apron on and her long, dark hair up in a messy bun. Her brown eyes land on mine, and she smiles as she reaches down to rub her growing belly. We have less than two months before our little girl arrives.
This is what life is supposed to be. This is what the dream truly is. We’ll all go sit around a table and laugh until the late hours. The kids will pass out like little drunk humans. And the adults will laugh until we cry. Then we’ll say our good-byes. Well, that is until tomorrow, when we’ll do it all over again.
THE END
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Want to read more from Shantel Tessier? Other books by Shantel Tessier include Dash, a standalone novel, and Addiction- first novel in the Seven Deadly Sins series but can be read as a standalone. BOTH books are FREE in KU!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shantel is a Texas born girl who now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her high school sweetheart, who is a wonderful, supportive husband and their five year old little princess. She loves to spend time cuddled up on the couch with a good book.
She is currently working on book two in the Seven Deadly Sins series. She considers herself extremely lucky to get to be a stay at home wife and mother. Going to concerts and the movies are just a few of her favorite things to do. She hates coffee, but loves wine. She and her husband are both huge football fans, college and NFL. And she has to feed her high heel addiction by shopping for shoes weekly.
Although she has a passion to write, her family is most important to her. She loves spending evenings at home with her husband and daughter, along with their cat and dog.
For more information about the author and her books, visit:
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Or email her at [email protected]
ACKNOLWEDMENTS
First I would like to thank two readers who have supported me more than anything. Kelly Tucker and Genevieve Wilkerson-Migala. You two ladies have been there every step of the way. And never complained when I was throwing all my crazy ideas your way. You both took time out of day to read whatever I was working on, or changed. I can’t thank you guys enough.
A big thank you to my assistant, Amanda Wooden. This lady keeps me on track and makes sure I don’t lose my mind. Thanks so much princess. I would be lost without you.
Thank you to Emma VonDielingen for formatting this box set for me. I know it wasn’t easy and I am truly thankful for your time.
To my editor, Jenny Sims. Thanks for always having time for me. Even when I am running behind on schedule. You have saved my butt more than once. I love you.
To my cover artist, Sommer Stein, You’re amazing! Thank you for another beautiful cover!
And a big thank you to all of my readers in my Facebook Fan Page. You girls rock!!!! Getting to talk to you every day and hear all the things that you love about my work is the best feeling in the world. Love you bitches!
The UN Series Complete Box Set Page 194
