Ethan had always worried about Kara being fragile. But it was becoming clear that there was more to her than met the eye. A different side of his sister emerged tonight, a side that was angry and full of hatred, combining that with her admission of fighting through the darkness, and Ethan was terrified that she would harm herself. It was something he’d never even considered a possibility; maybe at first, but not now. Kara had seemed well adjusted. Now, he wasn’t so sure; now, he was scared she was about to self-destruct.
Maybe, her coming home wasn’t a good idea after all. Maybe, being so close to her parents wasn’t good for her, because it was clear to him after tonight that Kara wanted revenge. Whatever she had on them was so bad that it had turned his beautiful kid sister into someone he barely recognized tonight.
Ethan was going to have to do whatever was in his power to stop her from waging an all-out war with Stanley and Constance Vanderbilt—a war she didn’t stand a good chance of winning because their parents had their hands in every cookie jar in the great state of Wisconsin. Ethan wasn’t dumb; sure, Kara was the genius of the two of them, but Ethan was also extremely intelligent and had realized that if Kara was not going to fill him in on what happened all those years ago, he would have to find out himself.
At the time, Ethan had found it odd that his sister, the dutiful daughter, had walked away from their parents and had refused any contact with them. Not that Stanley or Constance had reached out to her, but she hadn’t reached out to them, either. He would have walked away, too, but down deep, he knew there was something there that he needed to know. The detective in him wanted to scratch away until he found the answers. But out of respect to Kara, who had told him to let it go, he had backed off. However, over the last decade, he had stayed in touch with his parents, for the sole purpose of finding out information on them. He would have loved to have washed his hands of them years ago, especially after some of the dealings he had found their hands in, but he hadn’t hit the mother lode yet. Meaning he hadn’t figured out what they had done to his sister, and he wouldn’t stop until he knew—no matter how bad it was. He was pretty sure he had enough evidence of extortion to bury them both, but not until he knew everything. It would be easier not knowing, but he had to find out.
Ethan was pulling into his precinct when he remembered why the names were so familiar. He was almost certain the two men were cops—partners. He was going to have to play this very carefully because he needed access to personnel files. Personnel files that were behind a locked door. He was not concerned about how to get into the files; there was more than one cop who’d help him out there. He was more concerned about getting caught in the act because that would tip his hand to his father, who was well connected in the police department. After only about a minute of negotiating, he had convinced a rookie, whose name badge read Hernandez, to let him into the vault with the records.
Once inside, he moved instantly to the file cabinets. He found Byrnes’ file first and whispered a cursory shit under his breath when he found that Byrnes had been killed in the line of duty during a drug bust eight years ago. The hairs on his neck stood at attention when he located the file for Jenkins because he knew what he would find before he opened the file. Jenkins was killed the same night in the line of duty at the same drug bust.
Ethan now knew why he recognized the names. He hadn’t been on the force for more than a couple of years before they had been killed, and there was a huge cloud of suspicion that had surrounded their deaths. There had been whispers throughout the department that they were dirty cops, and Ethan recalled mention of Internal Affairs opening files on them. Pieces to the puzzle started to fall into place.
The two cops had to have been among the officers that were under his father’s payroll. The question now was, what were they paid to do for Stanley Vanderbilt and what had Kara discovered? He suspected they were paid to get rid of evidence, but for what reason?
17
Kara stood, watching from a window at the taillights of her brother’s car as he pulled away. She’d lost her cool, and she knew she had. Seeing her father tonight—of all nights—had her seeing red. Tonight was about healing, not about rehashing old drawn-out stories about her parents. But that was what she had found herself doing. Rehashing that day in November that could have destroyed what little was left of her, but it was somewhat easier than she had thought it would be.
However, if those memories hadn’t been brought up, not once, but twice in the same day, she may have handled things better. Right now, she knew her brother, and probably Caleb, too, thought she was stark raving mad.
Kara should have been grateful to her parents. Because if they wouldn't have been so cocky—so foolish—she would have stayed there and maybe never gotten out from under their thumb. She was what she was because of her parents; her father had gotten that much right. She was stronger, strong enough to walk away from them and their power and money. She was more driven. Driven to make the center come to being. She was more compassionate. Compassionate enough to think of Ethan before she went to the reporters, which she desperately wanted to do. Admittedly, that was a bad example of compassion, but she was certain she was more compassionate than her parents. And she was working on being less fearful; sure, she was scared of every noise and any man that looked at her in a suspicious manner, but tonight showed her she was no longer scared to take on her father. And for that, she could, albeit grudgingly, credit him for.
Why did she hate them so much? It was easier to hate them than to forgive them. And she just didn’t think she could forgive them. She was strong enough to endure their betrayal, but she didn’t love them enough to forgive them. If that made her a selfish person, too bad. She deserved to be selfish about this one thing.
She also had her father to thank for her discovery of a couple things tonight. One thing was, while she knew she hadn’t put that night behind her, she had not realized how much anger had grown in her about it. The other thing she had discovered was that she was tired of the whole sordid mess. Tired of being scared, but trying to appear strong, tired of being angry over things for which she had no control, and she was exhausted when it came to her parents.
The dirty truth of it all was she could care less what happened to them. Kara had realized tonight she was tired of hiding what they’d done, tired of continuing to be the dutiful daughter even when she no longer talked to her parents. She was tired of being a masochist, tired of taking the brunt of what had happened on her shoulders, and it was time they paid. Oh, it was time, all right. It was time for their judgment day here on earth. She wouldn’t compromise herself—or her standards—for them.
Kara had had enough and knew she had to tell Ethan everything before she turned into an evil, bitter, hateful person like her parents were. Kara only hoped it wasn’t too late. Slowly, she turned to look at the tall, dark man standing beside her. Quietly, she sized him up. In another life, on another day, she may have had a chance with a man like him. But Kara was certain there was no hope for that; even so, she found that she wanted to try.
It felt like an eternity before she finally felt like she could go home for the night. Kara was certain she’d done enough mingling with the right people that she would have some lucrative investors for the center. And it appeared her father had left without tarnishing her chances at donations. He probably assumed it would hurt him more than help him to ruin her center. Searching the crowd, she located Quinn and made her way through the throngs of people so she could ask her to finish up for her.
"You did wonderful tonight!" Quinn exclaimed.
Caleb hung back a few feet, giving both women some space.
"I don't know about that. I just hope I did enough."
"I think you just may have done exactly that. Are you about to leave for the night?"
"If you don't mind. I’m exhausted; it’s been a rough day."
"I imagine it has."
If she only knew the half of it, Kara couldn't help but think. Makeup was a wond
erful invention, and Kara had been able to hide the bruise. It was a little trickier to hide the big gash on her head, but parting her hair just right had done the trick. Kara knew that Quinn's comment was aimed at the speech she had given and the mingling to get sponsors, so she didn't feel the need to explain where the injury had come from.
"Well, I’m going to be off, then."
"You have a good night." Quinn paused, seemed to be considering something and then continued. "What's the story with you and Caleb?"
Kara was taken aback by the question. She wasn't expecting it, and she realized she wasn't sure how to answer. It didn't take her long to decide, though. While it was none of the woman's business, Kara felt the need to answer. While Kara wasn't sure where she and Caleb were headed, she wanted the other woman to know that this was a territory that Kara planned to explore and that the other woman should back off.
"I'm not sure there is a story. I hope there is."
"Me too. Caleb’s a good man; he needs a good woman. I saw the way he was looking at you all night," Quinn said.
"And how was that?" Kara asked.
"You don't see it, do you? He can't take his eyes off you. He looks at you like you’re already his."
Kara wasn't sure what she expected the woman to say. But she knew it wasn’t what she had just heard. She had been certain that the woman was going to try to stake a claim on Caleb. Not that she was going to tell her to go for it with him. And she certainly wasn’t prepared for Quinn to tell her that Caleb looked at her like she was his. They hadn’t even had time to tell each other about themselves. It would be presumptuous to make it out to be more than it was.
Yet, Kara got a little excited at the idea of it all. To have a man like Caleb look at her—and only her—would be remarkable. For him to see her and not the victim would be even better. Kara said good-night, trying to make herself sound composed when her stomach was doing flip flops. Her emotions were on a roller coaster, and it felt like she was fighting to keep her head above water.
"What did you and Quinn Sanders talk about?" Caleb asked as they walked to his car.
"I just asked her if it was okay if I left early. And then she asked the weirdest question."
"What was that?"
"She asked what our story is."
If Caleb was surprised, his face didn't show it. Kara carefully studied him in the dark. It struck Kara at that point that Caleb was as good at hiding his feelings as she was. Which made for an interesting future, if there was one.
"What was your answer?" Caleb asked, sounding nonchalant.
"I told her that I wasn't sure there was a story." Kara stopped walking and turned away from him for a second, contemplating about leaving out the rest of her answer, and then changed her mind when she saw a flicker of disappointment flash across his face. If she was going to move on, she had to really move on. She hoped she hadn’t misread his face. She turned to look at Caleb and added, "And then I told her I hoped there would be."
“Thank God.” Kara was happier than she thought possible by hearing just those two words. Caleb's mouth formed into a smile, and he went from devastatingly handsome to breathtaking. He pulled her close, and she stiffened slightly, which caused him to loosen his hold, but he didn’t entirely let her go as he kissed her tenderly on the lips.
"What do you like to do to burn off energy when you get frustrated?"
Kara was confused by the question but figured out quickly what he meant.
"I like to run. When I get angry, I run for miles. Sometimes, I’ll go to the gym and run, since I’m not willing to risk running outside at certain times of day by myself. Other times, I will just punch the bag for an hour."
"Let's go. You need to work off some angry energy. I happen to have a friend who has a gym. We can stop there and burn off some steam."
Ethan picked up his cell to call Caleb. He’d made a decision after reading the two files. He wasn't going to wait any longer to hear Kara's story. The two officers’ deaths looked suspicious at best. Ethan was starting to get a pretty good picture of what had happened all those years ago, but there were still too many missing pieces to make the puzzle complete.
"Montgomery."
"It's Ethan. I’m on my way over. Tell Kara that her reprieve is over; she has to tell us everything tonight. We’ll figure out what to do from there, but it has to be tonight. I found out some stuff that’s pretty unnerving, and it's time to talk."
"I'll tell her. I think she’ll cooperate."
"Watch your back," Ethan said and then ended the call.
Checking his rearview mirror, Ethan noticed that the same car had been following him for a few blocks now. Shit, he had picked up a tail. All right, things were seriously getting hairy. He had to lose the tail and fast. Whoever it was, was not invited to the get together. Speeding up, he took a sharp right and got on the freeway. He knew it was out of his way to get to Kara's, but right now, losing the tail was priority over talking to her.
Glancing in the rearview, he cursed under his breath when he saw the same car still hot on his trail. They drove like a cop, and they were moving in fast. Really fast. Ethan accelerated, but the car behind him kept up with him. Both cars were traveling at speeds of over a hundred miles an hour when the bastards behind him opened fire. His back windshield shattered.
Fuck! Whoever was following him wasn't messing around. They were going to ask questions later after it was too late for him to answer. He had to get out of Dodge and fast because apparently, his snooping around at the precinct hadn’t gone unnoticed like he’d planned. Whoever was following him had the advantage because they appeared to have a passenger who was doing the shooting.
Hopefully, his years of training could get him out of this mess. Ducking in and out of traffic, they flew down the freeway that was still busy for that hour of night. Misjudging one of his lane changes, his car veered to the right and hit the shoulder. He almost hit the ditch and had just gained control of the vehicle when the car following him hit his bumper and sent both cars into a tailspin.
Ethan knew he wouldn't be able to pull out of it; he prayed he could hit the ditch at the right angle. He was peripherally aware that the other car had not regained control and was cartwheeling down the highway when his own car hit the ditch, and then all his focus turned to crushing metal and shattering glass as it rolled several times before landing upside down. When the car stopped moving, everything became deathly silent. In the distance, Ethan could hear sirens. Knowing the cavalry was coming, he stopped fighting the blackness.
18
Caleb looked at his watch; it had been thirty minutes since Ethan had called. They had been at the gym hitting the bag when he’d gotten the urgent call that Ethan was on his way to Kara’s to talk to her. Something in his voice told Caleb to listen. He told Kara they had to go, that Ethan had found out some important information and they left. Thirty minutes ago. Ethan should have beat them to Kara's house, and yet they waited. Something was gnawing at his stomach; he was worried. He didn’t like that he wasn’t there yet. He didn't let on to Kara; he knew it would be bad to jump to conclusions.
“Why won't you tell Ethan what happened between you and your parents? I assume it’s bad, but Ethan has a right to know and decide for himself how to process the information."
Kara had been rummaging around in a cupboard trying to find something and stilled immediately. Obviously surprised by his question. And he was equally surprised. He had expected her to tell him to mind his own business.
“Because my life was already ruined. What was one more ugly detail?"
"How do you feel now?"
"The same way, but now I’ll at least concede that it might be in the best interest of all to explain what happened."
Caleb was standing behind Kara, leaning on her counter watching her as she began to rummage through the cupboards once again. He found it mildly entertaining and a good distraction from his worrying about Ethan to see her trying to keep busy, especially considering her
height and the cupboard she was trying to retrieve something from. He knew that she was trying not to show how nervous she was about having him there. About the prospect of him spending the night. But she was failing miserably.
He was trying just as hard to not look at her round ass as it bounced while she continued to look around in the cupboard. Trying being the operative word; trying and failing miserably. Yep, Kara Vanderbilt was something else. It was obvious before they had gotten to the gym that she took care of herself, but Caleb was still surprised to see how fit she was.
Shit, all he could think of was how she looked all sweaty in an outfit he had borrowed for her because she had nothing with her to wear. An outfit that she nearly drowned in. Fortunately, she had a hair tie in her purse that she was able to use to tighten the shorts. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if she would have gone in with them that loose on her with all the men in the gym working out. The thought that there could have been a wardrobe malfunction and all those testosterone-filled men would get an eyeful was almost more than he could take. It was worth his anxiety about drooling Neanderthals to see the look on her face when she hit the punching bag. The woman wasn't going to lie down without a fight. Kara clearly had been preparing herself over the last ten years in case the occasion ever arose again, and she would need it.
A sense of pride swelled his chest yet again at that thought. That she had been working to prepare herself so she would never be a victim again said a lot about her character. It said she would not lie down and die. Deciding he needed a distraction before his thoughts brought him back to her tush on display in front of him, he moved forward to stand behind her.
In the Night (Darkness Falls Book 1) Page 14
