by Mari Carr
Every bit of evidence from that cave near his father’s country estate had been analyzed and inspected. Still, he couldn’t help but go back to it. Not to the obvious clues, but to the violence with which the trinity had been killed. The dichotomy of a criminal who would leave such elegant clues as precisely stacked ancient coins while also being a murderer who would dismember someone while still alive was revolting. He’d consulted with experts, knew it was possible for a high-functioning psychopath to exhibit both characteristics.
The search program pinged.
Antonio sat up, the laptop nearly sliding off his lap. He closed the images of death and suffering, pulling up the search result.
Facial recognition had picked out an image of a man that was a sixty percent match for Karl Klimek at a train station near the Italy/Slovenia border. That alone wouldn’t have been enough to sound an alert.
In the same frame, facial recognition had IDed a man who was on Antonio’s list of suspects. The list was hundreds of names long, and focused on anyone with a criminal history who had also purchased ancient coins or fine art within the past eighteen months.
“Ciril Novak.” Antonio clicked, his fingers trembling though he wasn’t sure it if was from exhaustion or excitement.
He opened Ciril’s file and pulled up the still image facial recognition had flagged.
As soon as the image appeared, his heart stopped.
Karl Klimek was on a stretcher, a mask covering the lower half of his face. His eyes were closed. Ciril Novak, a security guard who’d spent time in prison after several violent fights put his opponents in the hospital, was dressed as a paramedic, escorting Karl’s stretcher out of the train station to a waiting ambulance.
Antonio ran the video, heart racing as he watched Ciril load Karl into the back of the ambulance, then climb into the driver’s seat and pull away from the station.
Antonio switched from the video to Ciril’s file.
He had to find Karl, and he had to find him now, before Antonio found himself standing over Karl’s corpse.
He was so focused on scanning Ciril’s file for locations where he might have taken Karl, he didn’t see the notice pop-up from Kalmar.
Kalmar security officer Leila Virtanen is missing.
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Are you dying to know what happens to Karl and Leila? Grab your copy of Pleasure’s Fury right now!
* * *
See where it all began…
The Trinity Masters series is available NOW!
In this red-hot collection, an exclusive secret society requires every woman to enter into a marriage with two men. Follow along on these steamy ménage nights with successful moguls and billionaire playboys!
Elemental Pleasure
Primal Passion
Scorching Desire
Forbidden Legacy
Hidden Devotion
Elegant Seduction
Secret Scandal
Delicate Ties
Beloved Sacrifice
Masterful Truth
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Turn the page for an exclusive sneak peek of Pleasure’s Fury.
Pleasure’s Fury
While on the trail of a madman, Antonio Starabba finds something unexpected—the killer’s next victims, tortured, in pain, but alive.
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Leila and Karl are both members of The Masters’ Admiralty, the same powerful secret society Antonio is sworn to defend as a security officer—aka assassin. Rescuing them means letting the killer escape, and once they’re safe, Antonio is overcome with a deep need to protect them, and takes them to one of his family’s villas to rest and recover.
* * *
As the weeks pass feelings develop between the three of them, but there’s a problem. The killer is still out there, eluding capture, and he’s made it clear that his next victims will be Leila, Karl…and Antonio.
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Exclusive excerpt:
GA incoming.
He stiffened at the word incoming. The hospital door didn’t lock, but he shoved a chair against it, then quickly yanked on the curtains that would hide Leila and Karl from sight if the door opened.
GA?
The only thing he could think of was Grande Ammiraglio, but the Fleet Admiral couldn’t, wouldn’t be coming here.
Antonio flattened himself beside the door. Instead of standing on the side where he’d be hidden by the door, he stood on the latch side. It was more dangerous for him, but the goal was to protect Karl and Leila, not himself.
The door opened, the chair scraping against the floor.
Antonio stepped into the narrow opening, his body a shield between whomever was coming and the room. His gun was up, raised slightly so it would be pointed at the head of an average height man.
“You’re going to shoot me in the neck?” the giant asked.
Antonio twitched at the sound of the accent—Scandinavian.
That combined with the man’s massive build, blond hair, and the fact that he’d been allowed to get this far all pointed to one conclusion.
“State your name,” Antonio said in Italian.
“I’ve already been through this with a couple other Italians. Don’t piss me off.”
Antonio didn’t waver. “I will not ask again.”
The newcomer grunted in apparent respect. “Eric Ericcson. The other officer vetted me.”
Antonio nodded respectfully, but didn’t move the gun. “Fleet Admiral.”
“Are you going to shoot me?”
“Why are you here?”
“Am I a suspect?”
Antonio knew it was foolish—more than that, disrespectful—to treat the Fleet Admiral this way, but his need to protect Karl and Leila overrode all his other instincts.
“Everyone is a suspect, Fleet Admiral.”
Eric nodded. “Good. You’re just the right amount of paranoid and trigger happy to be a security officer.”
Antonio blinked in surprise. Eric was not exactly what he’d expected. He knew very little about the new leader of the Masters’ Admiralty.
“But I still need to talk to Karl and Leila. I’ve done my best to keep the admirals of Germany and Kalmar from sending people in to retrieve them, but I’m going to need answers if I’m going to keep protecting you all.”
* * *
Grab your copy of Pleasure’s Fury NOW.
About the Authors
Writing a book was number one on Mari Carr’s bucket list and on her thirty-fourth birthday, she set out to see that goal achieved. Too many years later, her computer is jammed full of stories — novels, novellas, short stories and dead-ends, and she has over a hundred published works, including her popular Wild Irish and Compass books, along with the Trinity Masters series she writes with Lila Dubois.
Virginia native Mari Carr is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller of contemporary sexy romance novels. With over one million copies of her books sold, Mari was the winner of the Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Plume for her novella, Erotic Research.
Join her newsletter so you don’t miss new releases and for exclusive subscriber-only content. Find Mari on the web on Facebook | Twitter | BookBub | Email: [email protected].
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Lila Dubois is a top selling author of paranormal, fantasy and contemporary erotic romance. Having spent extensive time in France, Egypt, Turkey, England and Ireland Lila speaks five languages, none of them (including English) fluently. She now lives in Los Angeles with a cute Irishman.
You can visit Lila's website at www.liladubois.net. She loves to hear from fans! Send an email to [email protected] or join her newsletter for contests, deleted scenes, articles, and release notifications.
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