Embattled Home
Authors: J.M. Madden
Tags: #Contemporary, #Romantic Suspense, #Military, #Romance
By
J.M. Madden
Copyright © 2014 J.M. Madden
Kobo Edition
Cover by Viola Estrella
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Do not take part in piracy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Any logistical, technical, procedural or medical mistake in this book is truly my own.
Ever incredible hubby gets top billing, simply for his unwavering support. I love you dearly babe.
Donna and Robyn, I can’t imagine where I would be without you guys. Seriously. I love you both.
Madden Militia, you ladies ROCK! Thank you for loving my men as much as I do!
To my beta readers for this book – Mayas, Sandie, Andrea, Anima, you really gave great input. Thank you very much!
Mary, you are a rock star. Thank you for restraining the Comma Queen!
And to our military stationed around the globe. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know you don’t get recognized for what you do nearly enough, but hopefully more voices will join mine.
C
had went from
reclining in his seat, debating whether or not to take off, to hyper aware as he heard a crash of glass and a muffled sound from inside. His gaze snapped to the little white house with black shutters he’d been watching for the past couple months, but everything was dark. What the hell had he heard?
He’d been sitting here for five hours, waiting for the woman’s supposed indiscretions to show up, and all had been quiet. The little girl had gone to bed several hours ago, just like clockwork. Lora O’Neil, formerly Malone, had then puttered around the house, picking up toys and re-locking windows and doors.
She had locked the windows and doors four times now.
Fumbling the door handle with his bad hand, he jumped out of the car and started to cross the suburban street, the hairs on his neck prickling. He circled her gray minivan and paused. Nothing moved. It was after midnight on a Tuesday and every normal person in this quiet Denver suburb was in bed. The woman had been the only one moving around. She’d been pacing constantly.
For a second, he debated what to do. If he went up to the house to investigate, he ran the chance of being exposed. The woman never slept for long stretches and as restless as she’d been there was a very good chance she was still up.
The decision was taken out of his hands when he heard a second crash from inside the house, followed by a woman’s muffled scream. Adrenalin surged as he took off running. The front had been clear for the past several minutes, so he circled the house to the back door.
“Oh, shit,” he grunted as he leapt the pile of glass that used to be her sliding glass door. Inside the house, things were upturned everywhere. Dark black potting soil littered the bright white carpet. The ceiling fan was swinging as if it had just been hit. His heart pounded as he saw a smear of blood on the opposite wall.
A thump from somewhere down the hallway guided his feet. What the hell was going on?
A second smear of blood told him he was in the right area as he cleared the doorway to the master bedroom. For several heartbeats in time he couldn’t believe what he saw.
His client, the well-to-do, likable Mr. Derek Malone was beating the woman Chad had been hired to watch. Her left eye was already purple and swelling shut. Blood had begun to run down her forehead from a cut at her hairline. Derek had his hand clamped so tightly over her mouth he was pushing her head down into the mattress. Her clenched fists were beating at his head ineffectually, and Derek laughed as he reached for his fly with his other hand.
Chad was overcome with a violent fury.
Lunging forward, he slammed his right fist into the side of Derek Malone’s face. The jerk never saw it coming. The force of the punch knocked the ass off the bed and against the wall, dazing him for a moment. When Derek looked up and saw Chad standing over him, he sneered.
“Get out of here, gimp. This doesn’t concern you. It’s between me and my wife.”
“Ex-wife, asshole,” the woman croaked from the bed, levering herself up. Chad was dismayed to see she was holding her right wrist, and her lip was split on the right side.
Chad’s inattention cost him. Derek leapt up and sucker punched him in the right kidney, then tried a roundhouse to the jaw, but Chad jerked back just in time. Doubling his own fist, he smashed it up into pretty boy’s nose, breaking it instantly. Blood gushed, and Derek crumpled back to the floor, his hands trying to staunch the flow.
“You son-of-a-bitch,” he garbled. “You’re fired.”
Chad barked out a laugh and pulled his cellphone from his pocket. “Too late, dude. I already quit. LNF is off the case.”
Dialing 911, he requested a squad car and ambulance.
“No siren,” the woman pleaded. Nodding, Chad passed on the request and hung up. She was sitting up now, and Chad felt like shit. She was obviously in pain, hunched over and cradling her stomach and wrist. Occasionally she wiped away tears that coursed down her cheeks. At one point she found the blood on her head and sighed as she rubbed it away from her fingertips. Her whole demeanor screamed misery. It broke Chad’s heart to watch her.
Derek, on the other hand, ran his mouth non-stop. Chad fought the urge to punch him again just to shut him up. When he started to berate the woman for being weak and asking for what he had done to her, Chad had had enough. Jerking Malone up by the collar, he frog-marched the shorter man out to the demolished living room to wait for the cops. He glanced at the woman before he cleared the doorway. “Will you be okay here alone for a few minutes?”
She nodded her head, wincing.
Within minutes, Denver P.D. arrived on scene. Chad flashed his state investigator’s license and explained what had happened. Derek denied everything, of course, and told them he wanted his lawyer. They escorted him out in handcuffs, protesting the entire way.
The ambulance team had already disappeared into the back bedroom, and he found himself drawn back that way. The woman was blinking into a penlight beam with her one good eye and the paramedic was asking her questions. She looked up at Chad for a brief moment, and there was such desolation in her face that he almost stepped forward to console her. But he stopped when she looked away. It wasn’t really his place to console her. Hell, he had been hired to gather evidence
against
her. Derek had retained the agency because he feared for his daughter’s welfare, saying that Lora was subjecting the girl to unsavory characters.
So far, the only unsavory character he had seen her with was Derek.
Chad had collected no evidence the entire time he had been watching them. Lora kept her head down and watched everything warily. She hustled her daughter to and from the minivan and very rarely let her play outside. When she did go anywhere, it was to a nondescript house in Arvada where she would stay for several hours then leave. Chad had been unable to find out what was in the house, only that it was owned by a corporation. The only other person he had seen at the house had been an elderly black woman, no relation to Lora Malone.
Derek had said that he believed she had a boyfriend, and that she was partying at all hours, leaving her daughter to fend for herself. Derek’s mother had also come forward with ‘incriminating’ evidence. Chad had a feeling now it had all been fabricated.
Chad had seen no evidence of any of it in the six weeks he’d been watching her.
“Is my mommy okay?”
Glancing down, Chad realized the little girl had come out of her own room, and was now peering into her mother’s room. Shadowed green eyes widened when she saw the people grouped around the bed.
“Mommy?” her little voice quivered in fear.
“I’m okay, honey, just had an accident. Can you go to your room please?”
Chad’s heart clenched when the woman smiled brightly for her little daughter. That had to hurt like a bitch with that split lip, but she didn’t flinch at all. She was more concerned about reassuring her child.
Reaching down with his good hand, he turned the little girl’s shoulders away from the doorway.
“Come on, sweets. Why don’t you show me your room?”
Hanging her head, little Mercedes Malone trudged back into her bedroom. She dragged a stuffed animal with her by one ear. Chad realized it was supposed to be a dog, although it was about six different pastel colors. It was obviously well-loved.
Mercedes was supposedly six years old, but even to his inexperienced eye, the little one seemed tiny for her age. Climbing onto the twin bed, the little girl sat cross-legged in her pink and purple Dora PJs, not looking at Chad. Rumpled blond hair, so similar to her mother’s, shaded her face.
“This is my room,” she said quietly. “Is my mom okay?”
Chad looked at her in the illumination from the pale blue nightlight, debating how much to tell her. “I think she will be, but she has to go get checked by the doctors right now.”
She blinked at him, and he frowned at the knowledge he could see in her eyes.
“She’s had accidents before. But only when Derek’s around.”
It took everything Chad had not to flinch.
“Were you in an accident?” she whispered. “Is that why your arm is like that?”
He blinked at the shift in topic and looked down at the combat-modified appendage. “Yes, I was. Several years ago.”
She nodded and lay down on her mattress, pulling the comforter over top of herself.
“Can’t the doctors fix it?” she whispered.
He shook his head and looked at the bookcase beside him, desperate for a distraction. “Hey, this looks good.”
He pulled out a white book with a little girl having tea with a group of stuffed animals on the front.
“Oh, that’s my favorite,” she sighed.
“Your mom must love you very much then, because you have a bunch of these books.”
Chad realized that was the incontrovertible truth too. He had logged many man-hours watching Lora O’Neil, and he had never seen her raise her voice, let alone a hand, to the child. Quite the contrary, actually. The child seemed to have every toy a kid would need, and her room was outfitted with nice furniture. Many times he had watched Lora snatch the little girl up in her arms and give her big, tickling smooches, with Mercedes wiggling and giggling. He had only ever seen a mother who loved her child. Certainly not a woman endangering her daughter with her irresponsible lifestyle.
Chad had seen men approach Lora, attracted by her classic blond good looks. And he had seen them be shot down, one after another. Those unique forest green eyes would darken with contempt before she forced a smile, shook her head and turned away. It was a little depressing watching her go through as many men as she had, because he had to admit, she appealed to him as well.
