“Hell, yeah.” Owen braced her face in his hands and made gentle love to her mouth so well that she forgot all about her pain. He levered back with a serious expression. “Except for tic-tac-toe. It’s every man and woman for themselves.”
It was the first of many laughs to come.
Thirty-Five
A knock sounded on the door. “Delivery.”
It wasn’t home, but it was a regular room where her friends and lover could come and go without any threats. With all the deliveries, the room seemed even smaller than her room in the ICU. She’d already shared several with the children’s unit.
“Come in.” Gen turned down the television. The high tempo and even higher pitched voices pouring from the anchors of E! News was the closest thing to current events she could get without a mild panic attack. She’d face him in court, but she didn’t want to hear anyone’s twice chewed and regurgitated story of the events she’d survived.
The door opened, and a massive bouquet of white roses preceded a human, gender and identity to be determined. There had to be four dozen long-stemmed roses in the oversized vase.
“Wow.” She slid the legal pad littered with cat games of tic-tac-toe, pen, and remnants of the delectable breakfast Owen had fetched them before he headed in to dispense more justice.
The delivery person set down the arrangement and then stepped from behind it. Roderick, Beena Carter’s driver and lover, smiled down at her. Regret set off a flash fire under her skin. Owen had wanted to place an officer outside her room, but she’d dismissed the need instantly. And now she’d pay for it.
Both of the man’s palms shot up. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.” He dropped to both knees beside her bed. The deep voice Beena loved so much held more than a hint of emotion. “I don’t mean to scare you. I just …” His smile and the tears in his eyes confused Gen further.
“What?”
“Thank you!” He clamped his hand together and shook them at her. “Thank you!”
“Why would you thank me?”
“The police arrested Beena today for murder.”
Owen had said as much. He’d been optimistic, hoping the results would have come in the day of the exhumation of Perry Carter Sr. In truth, it’d been three days, and he’d been anxious to get it done. “I know, but why would you thank me?”
“Because you took down Perry, they found out about Beena, and now I get my life back.”
Gen stared at him in disbelief. Her own tears surprised her. She reached for his hand and urged him up. He was a beautiful man, but he’d been a beautiful man in a beautiful prison.
“Really?” Tears flooded her cheeks.
“Yes.” He nodded vehemently. “My mother cleaned for Mrs. Carter as far back as I can remember. She had emigrated illegally from Columbia and had me here, giving me the gift of citizenship. I never knew my father. She refused to speak about him, but I think now it may have been …” His gaze hit the floor, and his shoe rubbed across the linoleum tiles.
“Perry Carter Sr,” Gen gasped.
He winced and nodded.
“I never had any brothers or sisters. When my mother died, I was just a boy, so Beena and Perry took charge of my care. They paid for my education through private tutors. They fed me and gave me a place to live. I missed my mother, but I had no one else.” He stared into the near distance.
“One night, when I was seven, Mr. Carter came to my room. He told me to pack a bag and keep it quiet. He’d said that after work the next day we would take a secret trip, but I couldn’t tell Mrs. Carter.” His hand clutched his heart. “I didn’t breathe a word about it. Not until this day.”
Gen squeezed his hand.
“The next night, Mr. Carter died at the dinner table. She told me I killed him. She threatened to tell the police if I didn’t give myself to her. I never remembered hurting him, but I was so young. I didn’t know. All I knew was she had money and power. So my tutors stopped, but my education in the ways of the rich and twisted began.”
“Roderick, I … I had no idea. None.” Her head shook. Her mouth gaped.
“No one did.”
“How can I help? You have no one. I can find you a place to stay, a job, whatever you need.” Her heart ached for this kid, who’d had to grow up too soon with the devil as his guardian.
“Beena taught me well how to manipulate. I used it on her system of payment. I can afford college and a place to live.”
She smiled at him. “Amazing.”
“It’s all legal,” he assured. “Beena’s not so much. I pointed your friend, Owen, in the right direction.”
“Wow!” The wane word didn’t fit too well. “If there is anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate.” She released him, tore a piece of paper from the pad, and wrote her phone number next to one of her and Owen’s games.
“I may ask you for an internship in a few years. I’m interested in studying law.”
Gen beamed, and then her smile faltered. She couldn’t work at Carter, Cleary & McMellon, not that it would be that after Perry’s conviction.
“What’s wrong?” Roderick asked.
“Nothing really.” Her smile returned, bigger and stronger than before. She handed him the paper. “I’m going to start my own firm. It’s what I should have done a while ago. It’s going to take me a few years to build up a clientele, but I should be ready whenever you are.”
“Perfect.” Roderick bowed to her. “Thank you so very much. Thank you.”
She watched him leave and quietly close the door behind him. “Thank you.” She hadn’t saved her sister or Millie, but she’d saved Roderick, and best of all, she’d saved herself. Her laugh was barely contained, just like the joy that filled her heart.
“Who was that, and what did he do for you?” Marlis shoved through the door with her thumb hiked toward the hallway. “You have Owen. Don’t be greedy.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s nothing like that.”
“Sounded like that.” Mar held up the bag of seductively smelling food. She headed for the table with the oversized load of flowers but redirected to the foot of the bed.
“It’s fine. You can set it there. I don't know where else we could put it.” Each of her friends had taken turns tending to her. She ate up every minute of their attention.
Mar ignored her and held the bag above the bed.
“Hello?” Gen waved. “You can …”
She noticed Mar’s gaze fully fixed to the television screen. Marlis never watched TV. Not sports. Not awards shows. Not the news. Most certainly not mindless blather.
“Volume! Up!” Mar demanded.
Gen scrambled for the remote, kicked up the volume, and looked at the screen in time to see a picture of a stunningly gorgeous brunette in jeans, a black shirt, and tactical boots with FBI in bold white font across her hat. In one arm, she clutched a long rifle with one more in each hand. She exited a shipping container with hundreds and hundreds of rifles stacked against its walls and two more containers open on either side. The picture resembled Libby with the curves, the look of determination, and triumph. But this was E! News, entertainment news. Surely, it was a picture from a movie set.
“That’s not Libby,” she reassured Marlis.
“The latest viral photo has garnered over three million likes on Instagram. The image even caught the attention of blockbuster director Victor Juliet, who shared the photo with the caption, “I think I’ve found my next action star!” Could this image get the real-life FBI agent out of the field and in front of the camera? Find out more after the break.”
A commercial about makeup remover filled the screen. They both gaped.
“Victor Juliet!” Mar squealed.
“No, it couldn’t be …” Gen knew it was Libby even as denial poured from her lips.
“That was Libby.” Marlis dropped their lunch on Gen’s toes.
“I know.” She looked at Mar, ignoring the precious pantsuit she wore or the food she’d brought to share.
&nbs
p; “She’s going to be so pissed.” Marlis bit her lip.
“Pissed. This photo, if it really is that popular, could ruin her career.”
HOW : SNEAK PEEK
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HOW
STALKER SERIES NOVEL 3
A crime scene photo gone viral. A fanboy turned stalker. How far will one FBI agent go to protect the ones she loves?
FBI Special Agent Libby Irish thrives off the constant pressure of proving herself in a male-dominated workplace. After she busts a notorious weapons ring, she thinks she’ll finally get the respect she deserves. When a photo of her curvy figure in front of the guns goes viral, the media frenzy that follows only makes her the laughing stock of her division. Between unwanted fan mail, a feral cat attack, and the flashing cameras, she almost doesn't notice that someone has been rearranging small items in her house.
Her first suspicions fall on her drop-dead-gorgeous neighbor who regrettably seems to be missing a few screws. But when tragedy strikes next door and her neighbor offers to help her track down the stalker, she discovers a whole new side to him she never expected. As Libby's stalker grows bolder, the pair must work together to catch him before his game of cat and mouse takes a deadly turn.
How is the third standalone book in a high-octane series of psychological suspense thrillers. If you like strong female leads, shocking twists, and a solid serving of romance, then you’ll love Megan Mitcham’s tale of passion and madness.
Read How to pounce on a fast-paced, fiery thriller!
Books by Megan Mitcham
BASE BRANCH SERIES
ENEMY MINE
JUSTICE MINE
STRANGER MINE
WARRIOR MINE
DANGER MINE
PRISONER MINE
VERSIONS
VIRTUES
VARIATIONS
NEVER MINE
RELENTLESSLY MINE
FURIOUSLY MINE
CAPTOR MINE
BUREAU SERIES
FOR ALL TO SEE
PAINTED WALLS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Megan Mitcham is a USA Today bestselling author who has penned more than 15 sizzling suspense novels. Her work is said to whisk you across the globe, wedge your heart in your throat, make your hands sweat and your skin tingle. Check out Megan's special forces heroes in the Base Branch Series. If you like the darker side of suspense, try her Bureau Series or her Stalker Series, now available. She is a Mississippi native, living in the Carolinas.
Megan was born and raised among the live oaks and shrimp boats of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where her enormous family still calls home. She attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi where she received a bachelor's degree in curriculum, instruction, and special education. For several years Megan worked as a teacher in Mississippi. She married and moved to South Carolina and began working for an international non-profit organization as an instructor and co-director.
In 2009 Megan fell in love with books. Until then, books had been a source for research or the topic of tests. But one day she read Mercy by Julie Garwood. And Oh Mercy, she was hooked!
Facebook: AuthorMeganMitcham
Twitter: @MeganMMMitcham
Goodreads: Megan_Mitcham
Pinterest: MeganMitcham5
Website: www.meganmitcham.com
Why (Stalker Series Book 2) Page 29
