Vengeful Love (33 page)
Authors: Laura Carter
“I’m not the bad guy in this. I can promise you that. Kevin Pearson may have been my father but he was a sinful man. You’re about putting bad guys away, aren’t you?”
She nods again. She’s putty.
I sit back in my chair and give her space to compose herself, glancing at Barnes who winks very subtly from his left eye.
“We’re done here,” he says, turning off the cassette recorder.
I breathe a short sigh of relief.
Trina is quick to make her excuses and exit, no doubt annoyed by her inability to control her pheromones.
“You know Jackson?” I ask Barnes.
“We served together in the military and briefly in the police before he went private. I know what I need to know.” He crosses one heel over his opposite thigh, revealing horrific yellow socks.
“How’s it looking?”
He shrugs and rolls another cheap pen between his fingers. “I can work with self-defence. Jackson’s statement matches yours. But the gun is more difficult. It’s a bad time politically for gun crime. The Crown Prosecution Service are going to want possession as a minimum, even if they accept self-defence.”
“What can I do?”
“It could cost you.”
I sit up straighter now. “If there’s one thing I’ve got, it’s money, Barnes.”
He nods. “Jackson said as much. He also said you’re a good guy.”
“How is he?”
Barnes shakes his head on a short laugh. “He’s made of stone, that man. Muscle damage only. He was lucky. Had them stitch him up with a shot of the good stuff, no anaesthetic, then he discharged himself. Should be back on his feet soon enough.”
“Sounds like Jackson. And Scarlett, how’s she?”
“We haven’t spoken to her yet.”
“Where is she? Can I see her?”
He shakes his head. “We won’t be long. She’s up next.”
The foreign sensation of pressure begins to build behind my eyes again. I need to sleep.
“Can I trust you, Barnes?”
“Jackson does.”
“I’ll take that as a ringing endorsement.”
“Do so. He’s a good judge of character.”
“I hope so.”
“You and me both, kid.”
Don’t miss
VENGEFUL LOVE: DECEPTION by Laura Carter,
Available April 2016 wherever
Carina Press ebooks are sold.
Copyright © 2016 by LBM Media Limited
Acknowledgments
I can’t believe the time has come to write acknowledgments. A lot of hours have gone into bringing the Vengeful Love series to this stage. I owe an enormous thank-you to the entire team at Harlequin and Carina Press but mostly, thank you to Kerri Buckley, my fabulous editor, for believing in the series and helping to make it something we can both be proud of. To my agent, Andrea Barzvi, thanks for keeping me right and always being available no matter how big or small my questions. I have to mention my beta-bestie, Jennifer. Without you, Williams and Jackson might be very different characters. To all of my friends and family who have supported me and helped make my life easier in lots of ways so that I can split my time between lawyering and writing, you know who you are and I’m sending you huge hugs. People say you should write what you know. Well, I couldn’t have written true love without knowing it myself. So, to Sam, thank you for allowing me to love you and for loving me in return. Finally, to you the reader, thank you for helping to make my dreams come true. I hope you can take Gregory and Scarlett into your hearts the way I have. Enjoy the start of the Vengeful Love story.
Also available from Laura Carter
and Carina Press
Look for the next books in the
Vengeful Love
series:
About the Author
Laura is a lawyer by day, working for a global business law firm. By night, she puts pen to paper, writing about wealthy billionaires and sassy alpha females. Laura grew up in England, UK, and has spent a lot of time traveling the world. It was while she was living in Australia in 2009 that she began drafting her first novel (now safely in a drawer for a later date!). In 2012, working as a lawyer in London, inspired by the blinding lights and corporate world, the writing bug bit Laura again. From a small bedroom in the city, Gregory Ryans and Scarlett Heath were born in the first book of the Vengeful Love trilogy.
Learn more about Laura and her books at:
Website:
lauracarterauthor.com
.
Facebook:
Facebook.com/lauracarterauthor
Twitter:
@LCarterAuthor
Instagram:
@lauracarterauthor
DIDN’T I WARN YOU
by
AMBER BARDAN
Not everything dangerous is bad.
From the moment Angelina laid eyes on him, she fell into a fantasy.
Mysterious, foreign, gorgeous, Haithem offered her what she needed most—a chance to feel again.
But he lives in a world of danger where everything comes at a price…and she was warned.
The
Bad for You
series is coming.
You’ve been warned.
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Hard Knocks
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No Limits
Holding Strong
Tough Love
Fighting Dirty
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Run the Risk
Bare It All
Getting Rowdy
Dash of Peril
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When You Dare
Trace of Fever
Savor the Danger
A Perfect Storm
What Chris Wants
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ISBN-13: 9781459294271
Vengeful Love
Copyright © 2016 by LBM Media Limited
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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