Loving Vin (Barretti Security Series, #1)

by Sloane Kennedy

  Water seeped into her hair and through the back of her shirt, but she didn’t move. There’d been so many days that she dreamed of this – of being outside. Even now she spent more time outdoors then she did inside even though the cold, rainy March weather usually left her shivering by the time she forced herself back into the house. As big and beautiful as the place was, it would never give her the same feeling of exhilaration as when she was outside. And now that the big, good-looking homeowner was back, the place would once again become like a prison if she let it.

  His name was Vin – that much she remembered from her interactions with Dom and the man she assumed was his partner, Logan. Last night it had taken Vin much longer to recognize her than it had for her to realize who he was. As much as she wished she could forget the day she killed her father, it was etched forever in her brain, as was the man who’d forced her to give up the weapon she’d used to end the life that had made hers a living hell.

  She hadn’t known when she’d bashed her father’s skull in that he was a serial rapist and murderer, but it hadn’t surprised her. What had surprised her was finding two innocent people tied up in his shed. A woman had been unconscious on the ground, a teenage boy next to her yelling at her father to leave them alone. She’d heard a young woman’s voice on the phone begging and pleading with her father not to hurt them and something inside Mia had snapped and the terror she’d been holding at bay from the moment she escaped her room drifted away.

  She wasn’t even sure where she’d found the metal pipe that had ended up in her hand or where she got the strength to crack open her father’s head with it. He’d managed to say her name once and the sound of sheer surprise in his voice had removed any doubt she’d had as she brought the pipe down over and over on his twisted, cruel features. The satisfaction at seeing the shock in his eyes the second before he realized that she would be the one to end his life had been like a balm to her soul. She wasn’t sure what that said about her – that beating him to death had come so easy to her and even now she didn’t regret her decision for even a second. But any relief his death had brought had turned out to be short-lived as the true nature of his depravity came to light. If she had just found the strength to do what she’d done years earlier, who knows how many women would still be alive – how many families would still have their loved ones? But she was the same thing then that she was now. A coward.

  ***

  “A pig, Dom – a fucking pig!” Vin muttered, stepping over one of the kittens as he filled his mug with his third cup of coffee.

  “I think it’s technically a pot-bellied pig,” Logan offered as he shoveled the omelet Dom had prepared for him into his mouth. Vin sent him a dark look.

  Dom and Logan had arrived only a few minutes earlier and Dom had seen to feeding his lover before doing anything else. It helped that at least Vin’s omelet was up next.

  “Riley said his name was Georgie,” Dom said as he dumped the finished omelet on Vin’s plate and set it down at the kitchen table. Vin took a bite, then cursed when he felt tell-tale sharp claws digging into his leg. He reached under the table and pulled the kitten off his calf and deposited it in his lap and stroked it in hopes that his touch would settle the animal down. He was rewarded with a slap of a paw followed by razor sharp teeth closing over his thumb.

  “I don’t care what its name is. I want to know what it’s doing here. What they’re all doing here,” he said, motioning to the two kittens that were playing with Logan’s shoestrings.

  “We thought Mia might like to foster a few of the animals from the rescue group that Riley volunteers for,” Logan said.

  Dom sat down next to Logan and gave him a brief kiss before he began working on his own breakfast.

  “Where is Mia?” Dom asked.

  He’d checked the security cameras a few minutes earlier and had seen her laying on her back in the grass. “Backyard,” Vin snapped. “Start talking Dom.”

  Dom sighed. “After you left the hospital that night, Mia was admitted to treat the infection from the collar.”

  Rage went through Vin as he remembered discovering the cruel torture device he’d had to cut off of her.

  “The fever broke the next day and she finally woke up. But she wouldn’t eat or drink. She wouldn’t talk – we’re not even sure she can,” Dom said sadly.

  “She can,” Vin said.

  “She spoke to you?” Logan asked. Vin nodded.

  Dom leaned forward and asked, “What did she say?”

  “She told me not to shoot my dog,” Vin said with grim amusement. “Not in so many words though.”

  “Shoot your dog?” Logan asked in confusion.

  “Long story. Continue,” he said to Dom.

  “Police showed up to question her, but she wouldn’t speak to them. Doctors had to insert a feeding tube but she pulled it out.” Dom’s voice dropped off.

  Vin stiffened at what his brother wasn’t saying. “Did they restrain her again?” he asked with a snarl. He’d made Dom promise to not let the staff at the hospital use restraints on her like they had the first night she’d arrived at the hospital.

  Dom shook his head sadly. “They didn’t have a choice. Even with sedation she still fought everything they did to her.”

  The food in Vin’s mouth suddenly felt sour and he had to force himself to swallow. He dropped the fork to the plate and then carefully put the kitten that was in his lap back on the floor. Agitation went through him as he remembered the sight of Mia tied to the hospital bed that night. He’d released her himself and had nearly come to blows with the staff who tried to intervene. Only Dom stepping in had kept the situation from escalating further. Vin stood and moved around the kitchen, too wound up to sit any longer.

  “Keep going,” was all he said.

  “They moved her to the psych ward.”

  Vin muttered a harsh curse and saw Logan grab Dom’s hand. He could see that his brother felt guilty for what had transpired with the young woman and he sighed as he realized he was being a prick. Dom would have protected Mia with everything he had – if she’d been restrained and sedated, it was clearly something that had been necessary to save her life.

  “Did Reynolds turn out to be her father?”

  “Yes,” Dom said.

  Police had taken Mia’s blood the night of the killing to test it so they could find out if Sam Reynolds – aka Cyrus Hamilton – really was Mia’s father as they’d suspected. Vin had hoped it wasn’t true, but the cops had found evidence that Mia had been with Sam for many years, well into her adulthood, so it wasn’t a complete surprise to learn they shared blood.

  “Her mother?” Vin asked.

  “No idea – there weren’t any signs of anyone else living in the house,” Logan interjected.

  “How long was she in the hospital?”

  Dom sighed. “A month.”

  “How did she end up here?”

  “The case made international headlines after they started digging up the bodies,” Dom began.

  “How many?” Vin asked.

  “Twelve.”

  “Jesus,” Vin whispered as he ran his hand through his hair.

  “The press were all over the place – they followed us,” Dom said as he motioned to himself and Logan. “Riley, Savannah and Eli too. One reporter even snuck into the psych ward to take pictures of Mia and try to talk to her.”

  Vin gnashed his teeth in frustration.

  Logan picked up where Dom left off. “Dom went to see her a couple times, but she wouldn’t talk to him. But after the reporter showed up, he knew she wasn’t safe there.”

  “So you brought her here?” Vin finished.

  “Vin, I had no choice. She was dying in that place, but I knew she’d never make it on her own with the press watching her every move, harassing her. There’s speculation that she knew what her father was doing all these years – that she protected him.”

  “That’s complete bullshit,” Vin nearly yelled.

  “She was
n’t comfortable around me or Logan. There was no one else. I told her she’d be safe here. The press never connected you with the case so we knew they’d give up pretty fast when they realized you weren’t even in the country. Your place is a fucking fortress between your security system and the dogs so we figured as long as she stayed on the property, the press wouldn’t get wind that she was here.”

  “She agreed to this?” Vin wondered.

  “She didn’t disagree. We’ve kept our distance, but Kayla agreed to play intermediary for us and bring her food and check in on her. She was the one who told us how well Mia was doing with Bane and Briego so we came up with the idea to have her foster some animals for the rescue group Riley volunteers for in the hopes it would draw Mia out...get her to be more comfortable with us.”

  “And is she?”

  “No,” Logan said. “But she looks a whole hell of a lot better than she did two months ago so we must be doing something right.”

  Vin didn’t miss the growing anger in Logan’s voice and he knew the younger man was tired of Dom needing to try to justify the decisions he’d made.

  Vin sighed and returned to his seat. “You did the right thing, Dom,” he said with a sigh and began picking at the food again. And it was true. He couldn’t have imagined how he would have done anything different for the girl and they owed her everything – she’d saved not only the lives of Riley and Eli, but the countless lives of Sam’s future victims. “I’m sorry for coming down on you so hard – it’s been a rough few days,” he said.

  “Unfortunately there’s more,” Dom said on a sigh. “We think Sam had help,” he said.

  Vin stiffened. “What do you mean?”

  “He wasn’t smart enough to pull all this off alone. Hiding his identity for so long,” Dom explained, then hesitated. “And the collars...”

  “Collars? There was more than one?” Vin asked.

  “Most of the bodies the cops found had the same type of collar that Mia did. They were shock collars like you thought and they were linked to an invisible fence around the property. But they had a modification that the cops don’t think Sam would have had the knowledge and skill to make.”

  “What kind of modification?” Vin asked warily.

  “They were modified to include a small charge-”

  Vin reared back and shook his head as he realized what Dom was saying.

  “Forensics said the charge in the collar could be activated by a remote trigger like a cell phone or if the collar crossed the invisible fence or was removed.”

  Vin stood up so fast his chair nearly fell over. He managed to catch it before it fell on the kittens that had fallen asleep near his feet.

  “Fuck!” he yelled. “I took the collar off of Mia without thinking-” he said in shock. “Jesus Fucking Christ!” he shouted as he moved around the kitchen. His oversight could have killed her – blown a hole in her neck that would have taken her life instantly. Nausea swept through him as he grabbed the edge of the counter for support.

  Dom stood and grabbed him by the arm. “The charge in Mia’s collar was a dud. Whoever built it missed something. If it had been working, it would have been triggered when she crossed the fence between the house and the shed. She would have felt warning shocks though as she got closer to the perimeter. We don’t know if she knew about the charge.”

  “I knew.”

  All three men whipped their heads around at the sound of Mia’s soft voice. She stood in the entryway to the kitchen, the ever present Bane pressed against her leg. Vin noticed her hair was damp and she was wearing the yellow dress he’d first seen her in. He would have thought someone would have had the sense to burn the thing instead of just laundering it, but apparently not.

  Dom and Logan were both staring at her in stunned silence, clearly shocked that she’d not only appeared out of nowhere, but had spoken as if she’d been doing it from day one.

  “If you knew, why did you cross the fence to get to the shed?” Vin asked.

  Mia studied him for a moment, then stepped forward and handed him a piece of paper. “Would you please give this to Riley? I wrote some notes about each of the animals – it might help when it’s time to find them permanent homes.”

  He took the note from her and watched as she turned and left the room. Bane and Briego followed her and Vin glanced at Dom. Before he could say anything, he heard the front door open and close, then the dogs were whining and he could tell they were scratching at the door.

  “Shit,” Vin muttered as he left Dom and Logan and hurried after Mia. Bane and Briego were standing by the door anxiously and the second he threw it open, they darted after Mia as she walked determinedly down the driveway towards the front gate. It took him only seconds to catch up to her, but when he grabbed her arm to stop her, she ripped out of his grasp and raised her fisted hands defensively.

  “I just want to talk,” he said as he took a step back and lifted his hands, palms open so she could see he was no threat to her.

  She closed her eyes as if trying to get control of her reaction. He used the opportunity to study her and was alarmed by the surge of desire that went through him. The T-shirt she’d been wearing last night had hidden her figure, including shapely hips and full breasts. Once she gained a little more weight, he suspected men would be drooling over her curves. He felt a flash of jealousy go through him, but pushed it away and focused on her face.

  Full, pink lips with the upper lip just a little more plump then the lower one. Pale, but flawless skin. A small, pert nose and softly arched brows. Her hair was insanely long and looked soft, though the stark contrast from auburn to black was odd. The fiery red tint to her hair was definitely more suited to her. When she finally opened her eyes, he felt a stab go through his chest at how truly remarkable they were. From a distance, her eyes might pass as brown, but up close they were a combination of brown and gold with a circle of dark brown along the outer edge. Near the pupil, the brown mixed with copper to create a striking shade of amber unlike any he’d ever seen.

  He realized he was staring at her and shook free the completely inappropriate attraction he was feeling towards her. Not only was she way too young for him, he was absolutely not in the market for any woman, let alone one as damaged as she had to be considering the hell she’d lived through. She’d remained silent through his perusal and her expression was blank so he had no clue if she was even aware of the lustful feelings that were even now causing his cock to harden painfully behind his pants.

  “Where are you going?” he finally managed to ask. She didn’t respond and he felt a flash of annoyance. “It’s not safe for you out there.”

  She actually rolled her beautiful eyes at him, then turned and began walking again. He didn’t try to stop her this time, just fell in step beside her.

  “Fine, you don’t want to talk to me, you can listen,” he muttered. “Truth is, I don’t want you here anymore than you probably want to be here,” he admitted.

  No response.

  “But I suspect you don’t have a lot of options,” he said.

  Still nothing.

  “You have money? A change of clothes? ID?”

  She just kept walking.

  “Dom said that a reporter managed to get your picture – hundred bucks says it’s been plastered all over the news. How long do you think you’ll last out there before the reporters find you? Or the cops? Or the psycho who helped your father kill all those women?”

  He was satisfied when he saw her eyes narrow in anger. It was preferable to the utter lack of emotion. He took a risk and grabbed her arm again.

  “Why’d you cross that fence?” he asked.

  She didn’t fight his hold and he struggled to ignore the flash of electricity that surged under his skin where his fingers pressed into her upper arm. Her steps slowed and then those eyes were grabbing his, holding him.

  “I didn’t hear them in the shed until after I crossed the fence,” she whispered.

  “You mean Riley and El
i,” he responded. She nodded. It finally dawned on him what she was saying and before he realized what he was doing, he was drawing her closer. He needed her to admit what he already knew to be true, though he wasn’t sure why it mattered. “Tell me why you crossed the fence.”

  She pulled her gaze from his and looked past him towards the gate at the end of the driveway. He still had a hold of her arm and felt a tremor go through her.

  “I wanted it to go off,” she finally said quietly, her tone even and firm.

  “Why?”

  “Because I knew it was the only way I’d ever get away from him.”

  “And after? The hospital? You refused food, water,” he reminded her. She shrugged and finally pulled free of him, but he was pleased that she didn’t start walking again. Her hand went up to her throat and she began stroking the scar absentmindedly. “Give us time to figure some stuff out,” he said. “To help you figure some stuff out,” he corrected.

  He knew his choice of words were the right ones when she glanced up at him. She needed whatever happened to her to be her decision. He suspected she hadn’t been able to make her own choices in quite a while, if ever.

  “At least give me time to try and win back my dogs’ affection,” he joked as he glanced down at the dogs that were once again pressed up against her.

  He saw a ghost of a smile pass over her lips and he wanted to shout out in victory. It made no sense why it should matter to him, but it did.

  Chapter 3

  Mia clasped her hands in her lap as Dom eased around her and deposited a plate in front of her. Upon her return to the kitchen with Vin, the other men were cleaning up their dishes and Dom had immediately asked if she’d eaten. A shake of the head had resulted in the huge omelet now sitting in front of her and three large men trying to pretend they were unconcerned with whether or not she ate it. She forced in a deep breath to calm her raging nerves and reached for her fork. Vin was still working on his own breakfast when Dom returned to the seat across from her, his hand intertwining with Logan’s. Being around two men who were clearly together was new to her, but the way they spoke to each other with silent looks and intimate gestures brought her an odd sense of comfort.