Belong to Me (48 page)

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Authors: Shayla Black

BOOK: Belong to Me
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Tara flinched as she pictured Logan’s mother dead—and that he’d been the one to find her. “That doesn’t prove my stepfather took it. I—if your dad bought it for your mom around that time, m-maybe my stepdad also bought one. If they were for sale at the mall or something—”
With a big hand, he grabbed hold of her pendant and turned it over. “This dent on the back, right here.” He pointed. “Did you ever notice it?”
How could he know about that?
“Yeah, after I’d been wearing it for a while. I always assumed that I’d accidentally slammed it in my jewelry box or set something on it.”
Logan clutched it in his fist. “My sister’s pet parrot bit it. I remember Mom crying when she realized the stupid bird had damaged the gold.”
Stomach plummeting to her knees, Tara listened as the steamy water pelted her back in a hard sting. His accusations were even more merciless. Denial clawed down to her bones. “That doesn’t mean it’s the exact same dent. Because it’s gold, it’s somewhat f-fragile and . . .”
With a growl, he grabbed her shoulders. “I know this is hard to accept, but I’m telling the truth. My mother’s necklace disappeared at nearly the same time you found one exactly like it, with the exact same damage. If your stepfather killed my mother, then he threatened to kill you, too.”
“He would never!” Tara wrenched away. “That man took me in when he didn’t have to. He raised me from the time I was twelve. He cared for me even before my mother died. I can’t believe he’d—” She shook her head. “No.”
“Threaten to kill you? If you wearing that necklace around me could implicate him as a killer and send him to prison from firstdegree murder for twenty to life, hell yeah, he’d threaten you. Even before he killed my mother, he tried every way possible to separate us without success. But once you’d found that, he had to step up his game to keep me from ever seeing it, Cherry. Or I would have known. Even if he’d gotten rid of that necklace, he couldn’t have me around in case some other tell gave him away.”
Tara stared, blinked. She heard the words, heard the logic . . . but just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that Adam had killed anyone in cold blood or threatened to do the same to her. “I—it just . . .”
“I know it’s hard to take in, but I’m not making this up.” He slammed a fist into the shower’s tile wall. “I’m almost positive that the son of a bitch killed my mother. We all suspected that she’d been seeing someone. Think back. Was Adam dating then?”
Frowning, she searched her memory, but the shock made her hazy. “I don’t know. Adam dated quietly. I never paid attention.”
“Maybe their relationship went sour.”
“Adam had dated before and ended relationships amicably.”
“Okay, so something else went wrong. But he killed her; I’d bet my god damn life on that.”
Tara wrapped her arms around herself and trembled under the hot spray. “Why are you dumping this . . . theory on me now?”
He pressed tight lips together. “I just figured it out today, and you don’t want me keeping secrets from you.”
She blinked, trying to absorb all the shock. “You were staring at my necklace.”
He nodded and caressed her hair, fastened his hand around her neck. “Cherry, when this mission is over, I can’t risk having you near Adam. He knows you’ve been with me. The son of a bitch may make good on his threat to kill you. He won’t risk me figuring out that he killed my mother.”
God, his words were pressing in on her like a vise. She covered her face with her hands, still trying to process his accusation. He slung everything at her so damn fast. “Logan . . .”
“Don’t start with that apologetic tone, Tara, like you’re going to blow me off. I’m asking for your trust, as your fiancé. As your Dom. I would
never
want to see you hurt.”
“I know you’re not trying to be malicious.” She shook her head. “You believe what you’re saying. But . . .”
Logan looked like he was grasping for patience. “Promise me this: don’t put yourself in the position to be alone with him again until I can get this taken care of.”
Taken care of? As in
. . . “You’re going to try to have him put away?”
“If he committed the crime, and I can prove it, yeah. He killed a woman who was barely forty and left three kids without a mother. Shouldn’t he pay?”
Tara blinked. If what Logan said was true, yes. “Adam is former FBI. One of the good guys. He’s not a killer.”
Frustration crested over his features as he backed away. “We’ll wait and see.”
 
AS soon as they stepped from the shower, Logan was relieved to hear the sat phone chirping. At least it would give them both something else to focus on. He pressed down his disappointment. Her reluctance to believe him was a blade in his heart. All the trust he’d been trying to build with her, where the fuck was that? Yes, he was asking for a lot, but she could at least try to believe him?
Tara charged over to the phone. “Jacobs.”
Once she’d given her security code, Logan could hear the male voice muffled on the other end. In between, she said a lot of “yes, sir” and finally, “we’ll get on that.”
Within three minutes, she pressed the button to end the call, then heaved a huge sigh. “Some of the data has been processed. Still no identity on the mysterious owner of Fantasy Key. In all the files, he’s simply referred to as ‘Sire.’ The analysts were able to find coded references on Kantor’s computer about the slave auctions. The next one is set for Thursday at eleven p.m. The ‘product’ is being held in the Pit.”
Logan filtered through the information. “The ‘product’ being Darcy?”
“Yeah.” She shivered, and Logan knew she feared for her friend. “The Pit likely being that dungeon under the resort we found on the blueprints. We need to get down there today, see if there’s a way to break Darcy out. If so, I can talk to them about arresting Kantor, at least. His fingerprints are all over that computer and his user ID is attached to the files. He’s guilty as hell.”
“He is, but I’m sure the Feds want Sire. If we go in too soon with guns blazing, what are the chances we’ll get him? He’ll turn tail and run, then set up shop elsewhere.”
“I know.” She tossed her head back and stared at the ceiling, uncertainty and anxiety clearly pressing down on her. “But I can’t let Darcy be sold off—”
Logan wished he could do more to set her at ease than talk. “Let’s see if we can find someone who can identify Sire. If they don’t know his name, I have to believe that if he’s running a business, he’s been here at some point. Someone must have seen his face or know his identity. I’ll ask Xander to poke around. We’ll do everything possible to nail this bastard.”
She nodded absently, her mind already turning. In spite of the furious pace of the bombshells coming her way, his Cherry was doing her best to press forward. Again, his pride in her bravery, her intelligence brimmed over. As much as he wanted her blind faith, dealing with the shock of his accusations against Adam would take time; no one could be expected to believe that a beloved family member was a stone-cold killer without proof in a matter of minutes. But she would do anything and everything to both save Darcy and salvage the other mission objectives. Her first objective was to save her fellow agent. The FBI didn’t leave their own behind. Then she had to catch a killer.
“I think I have an idea.” She bit her lip, still gelling her thoughts. “But I need to talk to Xander. We’ll need his help.”
Logan pulled out his phone. “I’ll call him now. We’ll figure this out, baby. We’ll get Darcy free.”
And he’d prove to her that her stepfather was a dangerous son of a bitch—while keeping her well loved and safe. Somehow.
 
TARA pushed fruit salad around her plate, avoiding Logan’s glower.
“I don’t like it,” he growled.
“Got a better plan?”
He didn’t, and she knew it. They’d been over everything when they’d consulted with Xander. They needed access to the Pit. They suspected that Kantor and Jordan had it. Kantor was damn hard to pin down, but Tara knew exactly how to get near Jordan, even if the dungeon master had been oddly stand-offish since their first day on the island. That man wanted her, and she could use it to her advantage.
Logan sighed. “You’re pissing me off.”
“Doubt it will be the last time in our lives.” She tried to smile at him.
“Probably not.”
He pursed his lips together, and she knew he was thinking of all the danger, worrying about her, maybe even brooding about what would happen when she got home and saw Adam. Frankly, that worried her, too. It didn’t seem possible that her stepfather was a killer . . . but Logan seemed so convinced. While he was trying to prove Adam guilty, maybe she could get the real story on the necklace and show Logan that someone else had murdered his mother. Her stepfather and her fiancé were never going to be great friends, but she’d like at least a little harmony on holidays, especially for the kids’ sake.
She blinked. Kids. Wow. Thinking about having them with the man she’d always secretly, deep down loved was magical, a sparkling fantasy she’d never expected to come true. Logan would make a great husband and father. And she’d get to share all the love, passion, and joy with him—just as soon as she rescued Darcy and got off this damn island.
“You’d better eat, Cherry. You’re going to need your strength.” A sensual threat threaded his low, growled words.
She repressed a shiver. “You’re trying to scare me.”
“No. I’m stating a fact. And I want you wet.”
Tara couldn’t help it; her womb clenched. “I’d ask if all you think about is sex, but that would be a stupid question.”
“When you’re near, I give a full point-one percent attention to other concerns.”
He tried to grin, but it wasn’t quite real. Her heart ached for him. She knew her lack of faith in him about his mother’s killer upset him. It hurt her to disappoint Logan, but she needed time to work through this, prove Adam’s innocence. Then they’d talk it all out.
“Do you need anything else?” Chaz stopped by their table and began collecting their half-empty plates. “Dessert?”
“Not for me.” The idea of eating anything else turned her stomach.
“No thanks,” Logan murmured.
Chaz regarded him with pale, tormented eyes against his olive skin. “At your three o’clock, see the empty table.”
Logan glanced out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah.”
“Allison, Laken’s friend, was assigned to that table until her departure on Sunday. Jordan lured her to the VIP room last night. I haven’t seen her since and I haven’t been able to reach her.”
Tara’s blood froze in her veins.
“Her room attendant is a friend of mine,” Chaz went on. “She said Allison didn’t sleep in her bed last night. Allison knew I was concerned after Laken’s death, and she was completely freaked about her friend’s murder. She wouldn’t have left without telling me.”
“We’ll look into it,” Tara reassured.
With a tight nod, he turned and left.
“I’ll bet Kantor is also involved in Allison’s disappearance,” Logan muttered.
Tara nodded, holding in a curse. “I’m guessing he’s the brains on site. He and Jordan probably needed more ‘product’ for Sire to replace Laken.”

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