Retribution
Copyright © 2015 by K.A. Robinson
All rights reserved.
Cover Designer: Letitia Hasser, Romantic Book Affairs
Editor and Interior Designer: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing,
www.unforeseenediting.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except
for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Visit my website at
www.authorkarobinson.com
Torn Series
TORN
TWISTED
TAINTED
TOXIC: LOGAN’S STORY
TAMED
ADAM: A TORN SERIES NOVELLA
Ties Series
SHATTERED TIES
TWISTED TIES
Deception Series
DECEPTION
RETRIBUTION
Stand-Alones
THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
BREAKING ALEXANDRIA
TAMING ALEC
STEAM
The Consequences of Sin: Chapter One
Other Books by K.A. Robinson Descriptions
I was so lost in my own head that I didn’t notice when Cooper stepped into the room. In fact, I didn’t notice him at all until he stopped in front of me.
“Claire…” he said, his voice hushed.
I tried to smile, but after hearing his words the night before, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“What do you want me to say? Claire’s a hot piece of ass. I’m sure I’m not the only guy who has looked at her and wanted to fuck her. But if you’re implying that I want to steal her from you, don’t hold your breath. Everything about her that makes you want her is what makes me want nothing to do with her. She’s nice to look at, but I’m not into needy, naive chicks. Have no fear, Father. I’m not trying to steal your newest toy. You can have her.”
“Cooper,” I finally said.
He sighed. “Claire, I—”
“Don’t.” I held up a hand. “I don’t want to fight with you today, Coop. It’s my wedding day, and I refuse to let anyone ruin it for me.”
His nostrils flared in anger. “Ruin it? No, we wouldn’t want that. It looks like you’ve found your happily ever after, haven’t you? Lucky girl.”
“Yes, it looks like I have.” I defiantly stared up at him.
“At least for now. Soon enough, I’m sure you’ll realize the error of your ways.”
It was my turn to be angry. “Just stop. I refuse to listen to anything else you have to say. Since the day I met you, all you’ve done is confuse and hurt me. You don’t give a damn about me, do you? The only reason you were nice to me was because you wanted me to trust you, and it almost worked, Cooper. You should be proud of yourself for fooling this stupid, naive little girl.”
“You think I’m the one trying to fool you? Seriously? You’re more of a fool than I thought. Everything I did, everything I told you, was to help you. You have no idea who my father is!”
I laughed. “Really? And I know who you are?”
“I’ve never lied to you, Claire. Never.”
“Bull!” I shouted. “Everything you told me was a lie. The way you touched me was a lie, too. You only wanted to hurt your father, and you tried to use me to do it.”
I yelped when he yanked me up by my arm. It didn’t hurt, but it was still shocking to be sitting one minute and standing inches away from Cooper the next.
“I tried to protect you, but you refused to listen to me. I do care about you, Claire, or I never would have tried to intervene.” He paused, trying to compose himself. “And when I touched you? That wasn’t a lie either. I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you. You’re beautiful, inside and out, and I want you to be mine.”
I stared up at him in shock.
“There are things you don’t know about my father, things that would terrify you. All I wanted was to get you away from him. He will destroy you, Claire. He’ll break you until nothing is left.”
“You’re lying,” I said, but my voice held none of the anger from before.
Why is he doing this to me? How can he put doubt into my mind every time I look at him?
“Am I?” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not a good man, and I’ve never claimed to be, but next to him, I’m a fucking saint.”
“Let me go, Cooper. Ellie will be here any minute,” I finally said.
He shook his head. “I’ve let you go enough times.”
He jerked me against him and kissed me like he was starving. I gasped in shock as I tried to push away from him. He held me tighter as his tongue surged into my mouth, igniting fire inside me. I finally stopped fighting and wrapped my arms around his neck. He groaned as his hands roamed over my body, finally stopping on my ass. He squeezed it, causing me to moan into his mouth. The kiss seemed to go on forever before he finally pulled away.
“Tell me that’s a lie, Claire. Tell me that you feel nothing when I kiss you.”
I looked away from him, shame covering me like a cloud.
“That’s what I thought. Leave with me right now. I’ll protect you, Claire. I swear, I will. Just please don’t marry him.”
“Ellie will be here any moment,” I finally said as I untangled myself from him. I sidestepped to escape him, and I headed for the door. My mind was a mess.
“So, that’s it?” he called out from behind me.
I stopped and turned to look at him again. It took everything in me not to run into his arms even though I did think he was crazy. No matter how much I disliked him for hurting me, the magnetism I felt toward Cooper would always be there.
“That’s it.” I continued on toward the door.
“My father had my mother killed,” he blurted.
His words chilled me to the bone.
I stopped dead and turned back to him. “What did you say?”
“You heard me, Claire. I’ve spent the last year living with a man I hate because I have to. I have watched his every move, waiting for him to slip up. My mother was going to leave him, and he found out about it. She knew far too much about the things he’d done to get to where he was for him to let her go, so he had her killed.”
“And where’s your proof?” I asked, barely breathing. This was it—the thing he’d been trying to hide from me all this time.
He looked away. “I have nothing concrete. All I know is that two days before she died, he withdrew fifty thousand dollars from one of his accounts. A month after her death, I received a letter from a lawyer in Virginia. My mother had hired him to represent her in the divorce. It was smart of her to contact someone from out of state since my dad had every lawyer in the area in his pocket. She gave the lawyer a letter to give to me in case anything ever happened to her. She said that if something happened to her, she’d want me to know why. She told me to get as far away from my father as I could because he’d hurt me, too, if he got the chance. But I couldn’t. I can’t just walk away when he’s still out there, living his life, while my mother is in the ground. That’s why I still have my private investigator on his tail. My father is bound to slip up at some point, and when he does, I’ll have all the proof I need.”
I stared at him, openmouthed. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I were. Do you really think I’d be here if I didn’t have to be? I hated him before, Claire, but after I found out the truth, I felt such a burning rage inside me that I wanted to literally kill him. It took everything in me to keep from taking his life. My father isn’t a good man. I tried to tell you that over and over, but you refused to listen. Now, you’re in as deep as I am in all of this. He won’t hesitate to hurt you, too, if you step out of line.”
My heart raced as I tried to process what he had told me. He thought Robert was a killer.
This is insane. Cooper is insane
.
“Besides a letter and a bank withdrawal, you have no proof that Robert did anything wrong,” I mumbled. “You can’t really expect me to believe this.”
Cooper glared at me. “I wouldn’t lie about something like this, Claire!”
“Yes, you would! You’ve tried to come at me from all angles, hoping to tear my relationship with Robert apart. And now this? You’ve lost your mind, Cooper. Your hate for your father has driven you insane!”
He stalked across the room, and I shrank back, suddenly terrified of him. I had absolutely no idea what he was capable of at this point. I remembered my first assessment of him. With his tattoos, piercing, and nasty attitude, he’d screamed bad boy. Now, with him suddenly only a foot away from me, that thought came back tenfold. No, he wasn’t a bad boy. He was dangerous and insane.
“I’m trying to protect you, Claire. Goddamn it!” He ran his hands through his hair.
I’d never seen him like this. Cooper was always calm and in control, but now, he looked crazy.
“I don’t need your protection. Stay away from me,” I said as I crept backward. I reached behind me and found the doorknob.
“You know what? I don’t even fucking care anymore. Go and marry him, but don’t you dare expect me to help you when you see the monster lurking just under the surface. I’m tired of trying to save someone who can’t be helped.”
“I would never ask for your help,” I spit out.
He grinned, but it was cold and almost lifeless. “Run along then. Be Robert’s little whore.”
For the second time in my life, I slapped someone. It was ironic that it was the same person as before.
