Queen of His Heart III

by Lena Hart

  But a deep, hidden part of her, relished the thought of having a baby—Carlos’ baby. Though a baby with him should have scared her, it didn’t. It was a dangerous fantasy to indulge in, but deep down she longed for the possibility of giving birth to her own child. And if she could give one to Carlos, she would.

  Before she could entertain such fantasies, she needed to think of the huge wedge that would soon come between them once he found out about what she’d done.

  She made her way back into the bedroom and stared at the rumpled bed. She crawled back into it, lying in the spot he’d slept on last night and inhaling his lingering scent.

  After dinner tonight, she would come clean with him. He would be upset, of course, but maybe once she told him that she’d been forced into doing it, he would understand.

  Then she would need to figure out how much to tell him about the monster who literally made her sick with terror.

  Chapter Seven

  “You’d better have a good-God-damn reason for waking me up this early.”

  Carlos shouldered past his sleepy-eyed cousin and went into the apartment. From the look of his half-dressed state, it was clear he’d just gotten out of bed.

  “Sorry to disturb your beauty sleep, Pretty Boy,” Carlos said, “but I need a favor.”

  Tristan followed him into the living room, rubbing a hand over his tired but still-too-handsome face. Growing up, Carlos had found it amusing how his cousin had managed to attract women of all ages. He’d even been a little envious of him. But now, it was something his family would tease him mercilessly about.

  “Carlos, man, it’s too early for this shit.”

  “It’s eight in the morning,” Carlos reminded him as he took a seat in the corner of the long sofa. “Did you plan to sleep the day away?”

  Tristan fell into the single chair, his dark brows pulled together fiercely over his light brown eyes. “When I get to keep cushy office hours like you then I won’t complain.”

  Carlos grunted in sympathy. Tristan was an ex-cop turned bounty hunter, though he liked to refer to himself as a Fugitive Recovery Agent, and sometimes Carlos forgot that meant keeping late hours.

  “When did you get in last night?”

  Tristan leaned back in his seat with a heavy sigh. “Daylight was just coming up when I got into bed.”

  “Sorry man,” Carlos said with genuine regret. He could just imagine what his cousin’s night had been like, while he’d spent the most remarkable night with the woman of his dreams. Even now, it was hard to not think about her. It had been hard leaving her this morning. Carlos wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the day in bed. He smiled at the thought. Maybe he could convince her to go away with him this weekend to his uncle’s ranch house in the desert.

  Tristan sighed again. “Don’t be sorry. Just tell me what’s so important you couldn’t call first.”

  Carlos pulled out the small bag containing the flash drive and placed it on the center table. “I need a favor.”

  Tristan looked at the small bag and back at him. “Of course you need a favor. Do I even want to know what’s on there?”

  Carlos shook his head. “Doesn’t matter, it’s been stripped. I need your help finding out who this came from.” He quickly filled his cousin in on Monday night’s incident with the intruder. All he wanted was a name and he was hoping his cousin could use whatever connections he had left to get that for him. “And it would be nice if you could put a rush on it,” Carlos concluded. “We’d really like to figure who this was.”

  “I may have to give out a few favors to get this done,” Tristan mumbled, picking up the small bag.

  “I’m sure if you used some of your charm, you won’t have any problems getting this to me in no time,” Carlos said, not at all concerned with his cousin’s protest. Tristan had been using his looks to get what he wanted for as long as Carlos could remember. This wouldn’t be anything new.

  “How many people have handled this?”

  “At the job? Just me.” Carlos leaned back in his seat and stared at his cousin. He was going to hate to hear this but Carlos said it anyway. “I need another favor.”

  Tristan cursed.

  “But this one is personal,” Carlos rushed. “And there’s no rush on this.”

  After a long pause, Tristan let out a heavy sigh. “What is it?”

  Carlos relayed his request and when Tristan realized it was within his line of work, he was a bit more amiable about helping him.

  “You must really be sprung on this girl,” Tristan said in amazement.

  Carlos shrugged. “She’s special.”

  “I can see that,” Tristan muttered, studying him closely. “There’s something different about you. You’re all smiles and shit.”

  “Man, shut up.”

  Tristan chuckled, but Carlos ignored him because he did feel different. Lighter, somehow, and fulfilled in a way that went beyond physical.

  “Anyway, how did you know she was adopted?”

  “We had dinner last night.”

  Tristan raised a brow. “Now it’s all starting to make sense. Just don’t get how you get—all intense and shit when you really want something—and scare her away.”

  Carlos lips quirked at his cousin’s advice—advice he’d given himself yet found it hard to follow. Maybe he was a little obsessed with Judith, but he wouldn’t admit it to his cousin. He would never hear the end of it. He had never felt this way about any woman before. He couldn’t even remember the last girl he’d actually brought over to meet his family. He and Judith weren’t even technically dating yet he hadn’t been able not to talk about her when his cousin had wondered about his self-imposed celibacy these last several weeks. Carlos was selective with the women he dated and at first his cousin had been shocked, then highly amused, at his “office crush,” as Tristan liked to call her.

  But she was more than that, and after last night, Carlos was convinced that she was made for him.

  After more unsolicited advice from his cousin, he rose to his feet.

  “As much as I would love to sit here and listen to more love tips from a professional bachelor, I’ve got to get to work.”

  It was a little after nine when Carlos walked into Royal Courts.

  And right into a shit show.

  It started at the casino with a drunken guest who had apparently spent all night drinking and gambling. Carlos was annoyed that the pit manager at the time hadn’t followed protocol and gotten the drunken man removed from the floor and put in a room.

  Once Carlos got that commotion settled, he headed to his office. He read through the night’s report left for him by Pete and found that it had otherwise been a quiet, ordinary night.

  Now he needed to call David and get an update from him about the woman last night, to see if he had gotten anything useful from her. Carlos could have called his boss’ directly, but he wanted to hear her voice. Just as he began to dial Judith’s desk, he noticed the blinking red light. He rarely got voice messages. Everyone knew he spent little time in his office so the best way to reach him was through the handheld radio or his cell. Hell, even email was quicker.

  Annoyed, Carlos pushed the button and the voicemail began to play. There was only one and it was from David.

  “Moreno, turns out Judith Bell was in Gabe’s office Monday night. I have someone who can ID her. Call me when you get in. I’ve arranged for Judith’s computer to be taken and the Lab will be going through all her recent activity. Security will be alerted when she gets in.” There was a brief pause, then he added, “Call me when you have her. This could be nothing but I don’t want her to leave this building until I’ve had a chance to talk to her.”

  Carlos sat rigid in his seat. Bullshit, he thought viciously. There was no way Judith was involved in that mess. He replayed the message one more time. He didn’t know who this witness was but Carlos would be damned if he’d let any of them treat Judith like some criminal.

  His Judith was no thief. She
was sweet, shy, and an all-around good girl.

  Though his heart believed one thing, his mind began to piece together the possibility. He replayed that night in his head, from the moment he ran into her in the hall. There had been a jumpiness in her, and a sort of guilt in her large, brown eyes, that he had attributed to their moment in the supply closet. But then there had also been a sort of regret before…

  His jaw clenched tightly, but he balked at the thought. A range of emotions raced through his head, and his blood pulsed at his temples.

  Carlos pulled up the security video and replayed the footage. He paused when the red skirt came into view then replayed the entire sequence. She came into view twice, before and after the cleaning woman—the woman he believed to be the one behind this.

  He needed to talk to her. None of this made sense.

  He grabbed his phone and called her desk but wasn’t surprised when the call went unanswered. He would have been alerted by now if she had come in and the fact that he hadn’t only increased the heavy lump forming in the pit of his stomach.

  Carlos carefully hung up the phone and tried her cell. It rang until the automated voice system picked up. He tried again and once again it went to voice mail. On the third try, he slammed the phone down.

  The muscles in his gut tightened, but he still couldn’t believe she was involved in this.

  He refused to believe it.

  ****

  Something solid pressed down on her chest and Judith grunted. Soft whiskers brushed across her cheek as a small furry head nudged under her chin.

  “Ugh, Prince, you’re heavy,” she wheezed as his heavy paws began kneading her the tops of her chest. She shifted him away and stretched out under the cool sheets. Turning to the clock beside the bed, she blinked. Then blinked again.

  She was late.

  Judith sprinted out of the bed and ran into the bathroom. She jumped in the shower, nearly slipping in the tub in her haste. She must have fallen back asleep after she’d walked Carlos out. Now she was going to be late for the first time in three months. And it was all Carlos Moreno’s fault.

  The thought, however, only made her smile. If she had to be late because of last night, so be it. She didn’t regret it.

  She showered in record time then grabbed the first outfit from her closet. As she dressed, she noticed the small red marks on her shoulders and breast. She paused for a moment in front of the mirror and ran her fingertips over the new love marks that stained her brown skin.

  Judith shook her head, a small, bewildered smile forming on her lips. There was indeed a feral animal behind those dark eyes and sensual lips. Carlos certainly had a habit of marking her like one. She hadn’t even noticed which probably made her just as wild.

  She finished her dressing, popped in her contact lens, then rushed to pour breakfast for a vocally annoyed Prince. With his attention focused on his food bowl, Judith rushed to slip on her shoes. She paused at the muffled sounds of her phone ringing.

  She located it buried in her purse and prayed it wasn’t her boss demanding to know where she was.

  But when she stared down at the number, she didn’t recognize it. Not at first. Then the southern California area code jogged her memory and she knew who it was.

  The Agency.

  Judith frowned. They almost never called. If she needed anything, she was the one who called them.

  Unless there was trouble.

  She quickly answered it, her voice whisper soft as she braced herself for whatever news were to come.

  “Judith?” A familiar voice came through the line. “It’s Mary Cross.”

  She closed her eyes briefly at the memories that calm, light voice seemed to resurface. In that moment, she was brought back to that hospital bed, where she’d been lying in pain, confused as to how she had gotten there. Mary Cross, a young woman with kind eyes, who had identified herself as a counselor, had stood beside her bed, talking to her about her organization. The woman had apparently read about her case, found out about her protective order against Ken, and had come to the conclusion herself that what had brought her to that hospital had not been just a simple tragic car accident. She understood Judith’s fears and had offered to help—as her organization had helped many women before her.

  Judith cleared her throat before responding. She was no longer helpless and confined to a hospital bed. She needed to get a grip and stop worrying herself about a discussion that could turn out to be nothing.

  But deep down, something told her it couldn’t be good.

  “Mary, is something wrong?” Judith surprised herself with the direct question. She had meant to be pleasant, ask the woman how she was doing, since it had been a while since they last spoke. But it seemed her mind and her emotions weren’t in the mood to put off the inevitable.

  The woman was silent for a moment before she spoke again. “Well, we’ve been trying to get ahold of you for some time now but didn’t have your current contact information on file.”

  It occurred to her that she had never updated her phone number with them after she’d started at Royal Courts. It was a habit of hers now to change her phone number every six months. For some reason, it just made her feel better to do it.

  “I’m sorry. I forgot,” she said.

  “No, no,” Mary rushed out. “I’m not calling about that. I just wanted to let you know that we would have contacted you sooner had we been able to.”

  Judith grip on the phone tightened. “Contact me about what?”

  Mary sighed. “Kenneth Tate,” she said. “He’s been granted parole.”

  The bottom of Judith’s stomach dropped. “When?” Her voice was barely above a whisper that she was surprised the other woman had heard.

  “Sometime last week,” Mary said. “I don’t have the exact date, but it was fairly recent. “You were put on the list for his parole hearing, but you didn’t show up. But I don’t think you have anything to worry about. We’ve managed to keep everything about your new name and location concealed, but we just wanted to inform you of his release just in case.”

  He’d been released last week? A cold sensation began to crawl up the back of Judith’s neck and lock around her throat. For a minute, she couldn’t breathe. She had expected to receive a letter from the courts or even the Agency about his appeal for parole and his subsequent approval. Not that she would have gone to his hearing. Judith wanted nothing to do with him and nothing could have forced her into the same room with him. But it would have left her feeling less panicked to know before today that he’d been free since last week.

  “You know,” Mary added, “if you suspect your new identity has been compromised, let us know as soon as possible. But in the meantime, it’s best that you take certain precautions that could…”

  Mary continued speaking, but her voice became a distant hum as the buzzing in Judith’s head grew louder. In the back of her mind, Judith had known this was coming—that the monster in her closet would one day be released and allowed to roam free—she had just not expected it this soon.

  What should have been an attempted murder conviction, that put him away forever, had been litigated down to reckless endangerment and violation of a protective order. Unfortunately, Judith had been in the hospital fighting for her life when Ken had pled guilty to the lesser charge. She had never gotten the chance to tell her side of what had really happened that night she’d been trapped in his car.

  The suffocating panic that threatened to engulf her was too much for Judith to handle. Her new name and new life gave her little assurance that he couldn’t find her if he wanted to.

  Someone already had.

  Judith thought of the strange woman who’d sent her the package, who had blackmailed her into breaking the law, and who had lied about helping her. If Ken had been released last week, there was no way the woman could have done anything to stop it.

  She had risked everything, and had lost a part of her integrity, all for nothing. Not peace of mind or a semblance of
safety. None of it had ever been in her reach.

  The knowledge of her stupid gullibility made her sick.

  Judith fell into her sofa and rested her head on her hand, the pounding in her head made it feel heavy.

  “Mary,” Judith said, interrupting the woman. “Someone knows about me.”

  “What? Who?” There was a sharpness now in her tone that oddly made Judith feel better. Her usual soft, placating tone would have done little to soothe her right now.

  “I don’t know,” Judith admitted. “I just got a letter. It was sent to my job and they knew all about me. The woman even told me that Ken was being paroled next week. I guess that was a lie,” she added vaguely.

  “Wait, you spoke to them?”

  Judith stifled a groan. Yes, like an idiot, she had. If she could do it all again, she would have called the Agency first or brought the letter and flash drive to Carlos. She should have done so many things differently…

  But there was no time to dwell on that.

  “What else did she say to you?” Mary asked next. “Did they threaten you in any way?”

  Judith was selective in her response. If she said too much, she could risk losing any more support from the Agency. Mary had explained the “rules” to her from the start. The Agency was there to help her whenever she needed it, but any arrests would end all of that. It was important that she keep her big lapse of judgment away from the Agency.

  “No,” Judith said. “She was actually pretty polite. She just…wanted to tell me about Ken’s upcoming release.”

  From the silence over the phone, Judith knew the other woman was trying to make sense of that. But sense or not, Mary understood the potential risk she was now in and Judith wasn’t surprised by her next words.

  “We’re going to have to start over.”

  Judith sighed in resignation, though tears brimmed around her eyes at the thought of ending the life she’d made for herself and virtually disappearing again.