Trigger (Circle of Justice #1)

by L. P. Dover

  Sighing, Glenn’s hands slid off my shoulders. “Yes.”

  “Is that why he left all those years ago?”

  “To join us, yes. He’s part of the COJ. He had to go through extensive training, just like my sons.”

  “Your sons?” I interrupted. “Like all of them, including Wade?” He nodded and I felt dizzy. I’m employed by killers.

  “Preston works for me and is one of the best assassins on my team.”

  I held my stomach. “Why are you telling me this if it’s top secret? I don’t think I want to know.”

  “You have to,” he said, his voice full of pain. “Preston needs your help. In order to give that to him, you have to know everything.” We walked back to his house and sat down on the lounge chairs, wind whipping by. It was warm outside, but I couldn’t stop shivering. I was nervous, but most of all, scared to hear what he was about to say.

  Glenn focused on the horizon, so I did the same, clasping my hands together to keep them from shaking. “I worked with Preston’s father in the Coast Guard many years ago and we became close friends. As a result, I think of Preston as a son. And about thirteen years ago, Preston’s mother and sister were murdered when he and his father left to go on a fishing trip.”

  I slapped a hand to my mouth and faced him. “Oh my God. He never said anything. I asked him questions all the time, but he found ways to change the subject. I just thought he had a bad childhood.”

  He shook his head. “No, he had a wonderful family. But after they came home and found them dead, his father lost it. Eventually, he became an assassin and tried to recruit Preston. It wasn’t until years later that he decided to join us. It was the night he saved that girl at your college from being raped. After that, it triggered something inside of him. He’s never been the same since.”

  Closing my eyes, I fought back the tears and the pain in my chest. No wonder Preston wasn’t the same. “So that’s why they never caught the guy who killed the bastard that night,” I whispered, realizing it all made sense.

  “And nobody ever will. Preston does his job well, but lately, he’s not the same. I need to get him back before we lose him completely. That’s why I hired you.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “I hired you months ago, in hopes of bringing you and Preston back together. We researched you long and hard before I sought you out.”

  I rubbed my hands over my face. “Holy shit, this is insane. So you lied when you said you needed someone to write your proposals?”

  He shrugged. “Not exactly. You’re an amazing writer, and one day you’ll put that talent to use—other than silly proposals—but I had to do everything possible to get you here. You had a connection to Preston once before, and I need you to get that again. It’s the only thing I can think of that might save him.”

  “So you knew this whole time about our past and pretended you didn’t?”

  “Yes,” he confessed. “I didn’t want Preston to know I knew about you two.”

  I scoffed. “I don’t see how your plan’s going to work. He wants nothing to do with me.” If I were being honest, that wasn’t exactly true, considering his behavior yesterday.

  “I beg to differ. He’s terrified right now, and declaring he’ll find you. I have no doubt he will.” Glenn’s phone rang and he cleared his throat before answering. “Bryce, what’s going on?” He put it on speakerphone so I could hear. The sound of horns blared in the background.

  “He’s getting close. What do you want me to do?”

  Glenn glanced at me, then closed his eyes with a sigh. “Ditch the car. I didn’t realize he’d catch on so fast.”

  “Will do. I’ll have Ian pick me up.”

  They hung up and my heart raced. “What’s going on?”

  Glenn got to his feet. “Preston’s tracking you through the rental car. Once we ditch it, he won’t be able to find you.”

  “What happens then?” I looked up at him, my stomach a ball of nerves.

  He looked down at his phone. “We wait. I have to test him, to see if he’s willing to give up killing to find you. If he does, then I know he can be saved.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “Let’s just hope, for his sake and ours, that Plan A works.”

  Emma

  (One Day Later)

  I couldn’t sleep knowing Preston was out there searching for me. It made me wonder if Glenn’s plan was actually fathomable. Looking over at the clock, it was already after midnight. I heard voices downstairs, so I got out of bed to see who it was. When I walked into the kitchen, Ian and Bryce were at the table with a deck of cards.

  They looked exactly alike, except for the eyes. Bryce had a ring of gold in his blue eyes that Ian didn’t have. But I could tell Ian was the jokester of the two by the mischievous smile on his face. It was strange to think that guys like them, with all the smiles and good looks, could be assassins. They weren’t brooding or complete jackasses like Preston. Then again, Preston didn’t used to be like that.

  “Wanna play?” Ian asked, nodding toward the cards.

  I sat down. “Sure. Know how to play BS?”

  They both smiled while Ian shuffled the cards. “I’m a master at it.” He laughed.

  Bryce snorted. “What the fuck ever. He loses every time.”

  I wanted to laugh, in hopes it’d take my mind off the situation, but it didn’t work. “Have you heard anything on Preston?” I asked.

  Ian glanced over at Bryce, his expression serious. “Might as well show her.”

  My heart dropped. “Show me what?”

  Releasing a heavy sigh, Bryce pulled out his phone. “I recorded him when he found the rental car. I can show it to you, if you want.”

  “Yes,” I gasped, moving closer to him. “Please do.”

  He scrolled through his phone until he stopped at the video. When he pressed play, I thought my chest would split open. Preston’s eyes were frantic as he ripped the door open, searching every inch of the car. It was the most emotion I’d seen out of him since we’d reunited.

  Slamming the car door, he leaned against it, hands pulling at his hair. His chest rose and fell so rapidly, I thought he’d hyperventilate. Bryce shut off the phone.

  “No! Why did you stop it?”

  He met my gaze, then looked away. “Because you don’t need to see anymore.”

  “Why? What did he do?” They both exchanged a look, as if they were trying to protect me. “Look, I’m not a scared little girl. I already know what you guys are and what you do. I watched Preston kill a man right in front of me for Christ’s sake.”

  Bryce scoffed. “Yeah, and we all saw how well you reacted to that.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That was before I knew the reason why. If I could do what you guys do, I would in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t think twice about pulling the damn trigger.”

  They stared at me and I stared back, unrelenting. “Fine, we’ll tell you,” Ian spoke up. “If there’s one thing Bryce and I have learned about Preston, it’s that he hates to fail. And after that video was recorded, he let his anger get the best of him.”

  “What did he do?” I didn’t know if my heart could take anymore.

  Sighing, Bryce scrolled through his phone. “Basically, he tore the car apart.”

  I slapped a hand over my mouth when he showed me the pictures. The windows were broken and one of the doors had been ripped off its hinges. It didn’t even look like the same car. “Oh my God,” I gasped.

  Bryce pulled back his phone. “We’ve known Preston ever since we were kids. Our fathers used to take us camping. He’s not the same.” I remembered Preston talking favorably about the camping trips. “Ian and I have both tried to reel him back in. I can see why he’s fucked up though, especially after everything that happened with his mother and sister, and now his father.”

  I held up my hands. “His father? Glenn never told me anything about him.” I glanced back and forth between him and Ian.

  Ian set down the cards
and sighed. “As you’d assume, Preston’s father was fucked up after the murders. He searched relentlessly for the killer, but never found him. Other than Preston, he has one of the highest kill counts on our team. Unfortunately, it got the better of him.”

  I was on the edge of my seat. “What happened?”

  His jaw clenched. “He got drunk one night and wrapped his car around a tree. Now he’s paralyzed from the chest down.”

  Tears fell down my cheeks. “My God. I can’t imagine having to go through all of that. How can one person deal with so much loss?” It was the kind of stuff you saw in movies. No wonder Preston was shut off from the world. I would’ve been the same way.

  The front door slammed shut and Glenn walked into the room, brows furrowed when he looked over at me. “I thought you were in bed?”

  I shook my head. “Couldn’t sleep.”

  “You okay?” he asked.

  Getting to my feet, I could feel my heart pounding, my conviction strengthening. “We need to end this now.”

  “It’s only been a day, Emma.”

  “I don’t care. Sitting here is not going to help him. I can do this, I can bring him back.”

  His gaze narrowed. “You sure about that? Even after knowing what he is?”

  Did Preston’s profession scare me? Hell yeah. But I also knew he’d never hurt me. All I had to do was make him remember what it was like to live and be loved. I couldn’t give up. “Yes,” I answered with all my heart.

  “Do you have a plan in mind?”

  Taking a deep breath, I glanced at the Chandler men. “How are your connections at the hospital?”

  Preston

  My knuckles were bloody and I didn’t give a shit. I couldn’t rest until I found Emma, even if I had to kill everyone who got in my way. Only now, I was fucked. My link to her was gone. The car I’d tracked down was empty, just sitting on the side of the road, not far from a rough neighborhood in North Charleston. Now I was back at Glenn’s, standing at the door to the pool house. It was two in the morning, but I refused to sleep until she was safe.

  I wasn’t stupid though. I knew the longer she was gone, the less of a chance I’d have at finding her. I lived in fear of hearing news reports about a young woman found dead.

  I had no choice but to ask for help; I was desperate. Pulling out my phone, I found Glenn’s number. However, when I was about to press the button to call, he called me instead. My gut clenched and I swallowed down the bile.

  “Yeah,” I answered, not knowing what else to fucking say.

  “Where are you?”

  “Searching for Emma. I won’t stop until I find her.”

  He sighed. “She’s been found, son.”

  Closing my eyes, I gripped the wooden rail of the deck, the wood biting into my skin. “Where is she?” I demanded. The line went quiet and everything inside me exploded. “Where the fuck is she, Glenn?”

  “At the hospital in Charleston. She was found about an hour ago running down the road. She was able to escape her attackers.”

  I bolted to my car. “On my way,” I growled before hanging up.

  “You can’t see her right now,” Glenn said as I blazed into the waiting area, demanding access to her room. “Look at you. She’s been through enough already. Get yourself cleaned up and then you can see her.”

  Anger boiled in my veins and my teeth clenched so tight the muscles in my jaw ached. “I have to see her. I need to know who did this, so I can kill them.”

  Glenn shook his head. “You can’t. They’ve already been taken into custody. It was three men. Apparently, they’ve been watching her for days, waiting to make their move. They were going to sell her to the highest bidder.”

  My whole body shook with rage. “What did they do to her?” He glanced nervously around the room, where others watched on curiously. I wanted to yell at them to mind their own fucking business.

  He moved closer and lowered his voice. “They didn’t violate her, son. They wanted her in good condition for when they sold her. She’s a little shaken up is all. But she’s strong. Not many women could escape from something like that.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief, but it didn’t last long. I couldn’t rest until I saw her. They might not have raped her, but she didn’t deserve the terror they put her through. As soon as I found out who those fuckers were, they wouldn’t last long on this earth.

  “I need to see her, Glenn,” I said in all seriousness.

  A look of turmoil passed across his face. “They’re running some tests, but they said she’ll be free to go soon. We’re keeping this under wraps for the time being. We don’t want the media involved. The doctors are going to let me slip her out the back when we leave.”

  “What about her parents?”

  He shook his head. “They don’t know. She didn’t want to tell them just yet. Her mom worries enough about her as it is. Right now, I want to get her out of here as fast as I can. While the police are still searching for evidence at my house, I rented another one not far away. Meet me at the back and follow us there.” He marched off to the elevators and disappeared inside.

  I was a failure.

  I wanted to see Emma, but I didn’t want to tell her I’d failed. She would never forgive me. Instead, she escaped on her own and went through it all by herself.

  It wasn’t long before Glenn texted saying he was sneaking Emma out the back. My car idled near the door, and I couldn’t see her face as Glenn ushered her outside. There was a blanket wrapped around her, hiding her face from view.

  Glenn helped her into the car and we started on our way toward the Isle of Palms. The house he’d rented was located several houses down from my childhood home. Emma got out of the car, wearing the same clothes from the night before, only now they were dirty and torn. I wasn’t going to be satisfied until I killed the fuckers who took her.

  She rushed inside before I could catch up to her. Glenn stopped me with a hand to my shoulder. “Give her a minute. Let her wash up and change clothes. She’ll talk to you when she’s ready. Maybe you should give her until morning.”

  That wasn’t going to happen. “Okay,” was all I could say.

  Glenn walked off and I circled around to the back of the house. There was a light shining through the glass door on the second floor. A shadow moved past, and there was no mistaking Emma’s golden blonde hair.

  I jumped as high as I could, grabbing the bottom railing of the balcony. Pulling myself up, I climbed over onto the balcony. The curtains over the window were sheer and I could see into her room. Her dirty clothes were already in a pile on the floor, and a bathrobe covered her body as she reached to touch the water pouring into the shower.

  I couldn’t look away, especially when the robe slowly dropped to the floor, exposing her bare skin underneath. A need sparked deep inside of me. And for the first time in a long time, it wasn’t the need to kill. No, this ran bone deep. I ached to touch her skin, to mark her as my own.

  As soon as she stepped into the shower, I backed up against the wall. My dick was harder than a fucking rock and I palmed myself like a horny teenager, thinking about spreading her wide and plunging deep. I wouldn’t be able to rest until I did. I’d never had sex with anyone I gave a fuck about. But there was something about her I couldn’t ignore.

  Fuck. I had to get control of myself. The last thing she needed right now was some hard-up loser creeping on her through a window. Opting to give her some space, I stayed against the wall, contemplating my next move.

  Once Emma was dressed and in bed, she turned off the lights. I knew I should listen to Glenn and give her some space, but every fiber of my being told me to go in there and hold her. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t let myself give in. However, I also couldn’t let her go without telling her the truth.

  The patio door was unlocked, so without overthinking it, I snuck inside, gently shutting it behind me. Emma’s breathing was light and steady, her blonde hair fanned out across the pillow. I couldn’t see her face,
but I could tell she was falling asleep. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her after all the shit she’d been through.

  “Emma,” I murmured.

  She moaned and turned around, her body facing toward me. She was absolutely, fucking beautiful. I sat on the edge of the bed and started to touch her lips, when her eyes fluttered open. Before she could make a sound, I covered her mouth with my hand.

  “Shh, it’s just me. Don’t be scared.” Her body relaxed and I let her go.

  She sat up and leaned against the headboard. “What are you doing in here?”

  “I wanted to make sure you were okay. Glenn didn’t tell me much.”

  Her brows furrowed. “I’m fine. But honestly, I didn’t think you’d care.”

  I shook my head. “You have no idea. I never stopped looking for you. I couldn’t rest, not knowing what was being done to you.”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” she whispered. “All that matters is that it’s over and I’m safe. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  Eventually, she was going to have to. I had to know what they did to her; if they touched her. That way, I could make killing them that much more painful. “I should’ve been there to protect you.”

  “Just like you were in college?” she countered softly. Smiling to herself, she appeared to be reliving a memory. “You got so pissed at me that one time, when I walked across campus at night by myself.”

  I didn’t want to remember my past, but looking into those soft, green eyes of hers, I couldn’t deny it. “And then after that, I walked with you everywhere,” I added.

  Her eyes lit up. “So you do remember? Why lie about it?”

  I shrugged. “It’s just easier that way.”

  “Easier? How? We were friends, Preston. I cared about you, and so did Andrea and Cliff. I tried looking you up for years. It gutted me when you didn’t say goodbye.”

  “That time in our lives is over. It should stay in the past.” I got off the bed and walked back to the balcony door.