F-BOMB: Curvy Vigilantes 8: Fracture
Автор
Mary E Thompson
Прочтений
65,4K
Глав
24
Enjoy the 8th book in the steamy BBW romantic suspense series from USA TODAY Bestselling Author Mary E Thompson.
She found the truth once. But it was locked inside her mind. She had to find it again. If the one who broke her doesn’t get to her first.
Lorelei spent months on the trail of a monster. Months that were wasted after an attack left her with amnesia. She can’t remember who she was, what she learned, or how she managed to end up hundreds of miles away in her old apartment.
Vinnie wanted in on the case that captivated his city, but all he could do was wait for the call to say his team was needed. Until then, he admired the woman in charge and tried to get to know her. When she disappeared, he knew something was wrong, even if every single person told him to stand down. He trusted his instincts. Always.
While Vinnie helps Lorelei put the pieces of her broken mind together, they find themselves going deeper and deeper into a truth they never expected to find. A truth that could destroy everything they hold dear. Including each other.
Chapter 1
Vinnie
Vinnie Morgan ignored the phone buzzing on his hip and continued down the deserted hallway. Something wasn’t right. His gut told him he needed to investigate, and he never ignored his gut. Not when it was so loud.
Three days. It had been three days since anyone had heard from Lorelei Sloane. The badass woman who was in charge of the biggest investigation his city had ever seen hadn’t been out of touch with her team since it was created.
Going missing at her partner’s wedding wasn’t more of a comfort. Especially when Vinnie heard she was meeting with a contact. Not that it surprised him she would take off during a social event for work. There was no doubt in his mind she would have at least checked in afterward.
In Vinnie’s line of work, people didn’t go dark. Not when they were on a case. Not without someone knowing where they were. Sure, the gorgeous woman in charge could have shacked up with someone after the wedding, but for three days? That didn’t feel right to Vinnie. He’d seen her in action. He knew her type. The type that would stop at nothing to get the job done and put the bad guys away.
He was the same type. It was why he was plucked from the force and invited to join SWAT—a decision he never once second-guessed.
Vinnie’s heart pounded as he drew closer to the door. If he broke in, he could surprise a woman who was perfectly fine. If he ignored that fear, he could find anything.
No one was in the hallway. Not a sound came from behind any of the doors. Either they were expertly soundproofed or no one was home. A high-end place like Lorelei Sloane’s apartment complex could have been either. But it made Vinnie aware of every creak the floor made as he moved toward her unit.
The door was closed. It didn’t appear to have been forced open at any point. The trim was intact, and the door wasn’t damaged. But something still wasn’t right.
Vinnie tried the knob. Locked. He jiggled the door a little and could tell the deadbolt wasn’t engaged. A single woman living alone in a big city would never lock her doorknob only. Especially not a woman with her training.
He knocked softly, hoping he was wrong about everything and Agent Sloane would open the door and tell him he was being paranoid and a creep. He waited, holding his breath so he didn’t miss a sound from the other side of the door. None came, and Vinnie pulled out his lock-picking kit.
Less than ten seconds later, he had the door open and his suspicions and fears were confirmed. Lorelei Sloane lay on her couch in the living room. She’d been badly beaten. Her beautiful face was marked with cuts and bruises. Her clothing was all in place, but she was not okay. She was far from okay.
She was barely alive.
Vinnie snatched his phone just as the buzzing started up again. He swiped to answer, not caring who was calling him. “What?”
“Where the hell are you?” his boss barked.
Yeah, Vinnie might have skipped town. Against orders. He would be lucky if he wasn’t fired. Except he had good news. Sort of. “I found her.”
“Who?” Damien asked. Vinnie had his boss’s attention now.
“Lorelei Sloane. She’s in her apartment in Boston. We need an ambulance here now. Head trauma, bodily injury.” Vinnie swallowed roughly as he took in the bloody clothes and bruises appearing on Lorelei’s dark skin. He knew if he could see them, they were worse than they appeared. And so was she.
Noises in the background told Vinnie that Damien was notifying everyone that Lorelei Sloane was alive and where she was. Vinnie put his phone on speaker and set it down so he could hear if Damien asked more questions.
Vinnie probed her skull, checking for fractures.
She groaned and opened her eyes. Deep brown pools stared up at him.
“You’re safe now,” Vinnie whispered.
She appeared to nod, then drifted off again.
“Hey, wake up. Stay with me.”
Her eyes blinked open again, slowly, like it was taking all her effort to open them.
“There you go. Do you know where you are?”
The pinch between her brows said she either thought he was insane or she had no idea where she was. Either was possible. She opened her mouth, then winced and slammed her eyes shut again.
“Lorelei, look at me. I need you to stay with me. Help is on the way.”
She drew a breath—one that stopped in the middle with another wince.
Vinnie laid her head back on the couch and ran his hands over her sides. At least a few broken ribs. She wormed away from his touch, telling him where she hurt the worst. He held his breath and slid his hands over her hips to her legs. She didn’t fight him until he touched her right ankle, which he realized was bent at an awkward angle.
“Fuck,” Vinnie whispered.
“Paramedics and police should be there any minute,” Damien said.
Vinnie sucked in a breath and looked back up at the woman he’d been watching for months. The woman who led a multi-agency team without hesitation. She was strong and smart and capable.
And she was broken.
She opened her mouth again, a whisper of a word coming out.
Vinnie moved back to her head again and saw the marks around her throat. It could have been hands or it could have been something more. It didn’t matter what it was; she was going to have a hard time talking for a while.
“I’m not going to let anyone else hurt you, Lorelei. You’re safe now.”
She nodded, the move jerky like it hurt. Her eyes filled with tears.
All Vinnie wanted to do was scoop her up and hold her, but he didn’t know what other injuries she had. That and they’d never actually spoken, so him being in her apartment was more than a little fucked up.
Voices outside grew louder, then the squawk of a radio echoed in the hallway.
“In here,” Vinnie called, drawing the attention of the people heading toward them. “I haven’t cleared the apartment.”
Two officers walked in first, guns drawn. They nodded to Vinnie, then spread out to search the place. Both called out clear and came back into the living room as the paramedics entered.
“Can you tell us what happened here, Mr. Morgan?” one of the cops asked, clearly aware of the overall situation from Damien.
Vinnie shook his head and watched the paramedics work. “I wish I could. I showed up a few minutes ago and found her like this. She’s been missing for three days. People were here two days ago, but there was no sign of her. She’s an FBI agent.”
“It’s pretty clear someone wanted her dead.”
“Yeah. The people she’s been investigating. We just don’t know who that is.”
“We’ll get a crime lab out here. Hopefully, we’ll find something. Are you local?”
Vinnie shook his head. “No, sir. I live in Niagara Falls, New York, where she’s been for the last few months, running the investigation.”
“That’s a long way from here.”
“Yeah. These people are smart.”
“Too smart.”
Vinnie nodded. Unfortunately, that was accurate.
* * *
Lorelei
“Your name is Lorelei Sloane. You are an FBI agent,” the woman said.
Lorelei nodded, the slight movement making her brain feel like it was full of eggs—raw ones that had no shape and would make you sick.
Which was how she’d spent the last day.
“Okay,” Lorelei whispered. It was the best she could do with the damage to her throat.
“Do you remember anything about who attacked you?”
Lorelei groaned, sending a bolt of pain through her throat. She jerked at the feel and sent more pain through the rest of her body. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She was not going to show her pain.
“Do you need more meds?” the menacing man in the corner asked. He was up and out of his seat, hurrying to her side.
The nurses said his name was Vinnie and he came in with her, but Lorelei didn’t remember him—not that it was a shock, since she didn’t remember any damn thing.
“I’m fine,” she hissed.
She was being a bitch to everyone. She fucking hated feeling like she was incapable of doing something, and at the moment, she was incapable of doing everything. She couldn’t go to the bathroom alone. She couldn’t sit up. She couldn’t speak or think or remember anything.
All she wanted to do was cry and scream and remember who she was and what happened to her.
“Maybe we should do this another time,” Vinnie suggested firmly.
The woman sighed heavily. She glared at Vinnie, but he didn’t blink. She looked back at Lorelei and flipped her tablet closed. “Fine. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” Vinnie said in a tone that suggested he was less than grateful.
Lorelei watched the woman walk out of the room. She knew there was a reason she was there, but everything was so mixed up that she didn’t know what it was. “Who was that?”
Vinnie moved to the chair next to the bed. “That was Alexis Waterford. She’s an FBI agent in your old office. She said you didn’t work together, so you only met a handful of times, but she is trying to find whoever attacked you.”
Lorelei nodded, trying to pretend she followed any of that. She’d been told over and over again that she was an FBI agent, but she wasn’t even sure what that really meant. Since she woke up the day before with Vinnie hovering over her, she hadn’t recognized anyone or anything. It was all foreign to her, including the woman in the mirror.
The doctors said it was because of the assault. She’d been beaten so badly she didn’t recognize herself, but shouldn’t she recognize something? Her eyes, her hair? Something?
For all Lorelei knew, it was a stranger staring back at her.
The only thing she was sure of was that Vinnie was one of the good guys. She couldn’t explain how she knew that, but she did. He saved her. He protected her. He hadn’t left her side since she woke up.
A knock on the door made Vinnie tense. He moved around the bed to check whoever was at the door before opening it.
“Vinnie Morgan?” a man asked.
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry—Oof,” Vinnie said.
The machine Lorelei was connected to beeped quickly with her panic. Someone hit Vinnie or did something to knock the words out of him.
“Thank you,” the other man whispered.
What did that mean?
“Happy I made it in time, sir,” Vinnie said.
Who the hell—?
The curtain separating Lorelei from the men slid to the side, and they both stepped back into view. Lorelei’s gaze slid down Vinnie, cataloging him to make sure he wasn’t harmed.
Satisfied her protector was okay, she looked at the other man. Blond hair, blue eyes. White. There was something… maybe… familiar about him, but Lorelei wasn’t sure what it was.
“Holy fuck. Are you okay?” He moved toward her quickly, crossing the space before Lorelei could say anything.
She recoiled when he reached out to touch her, and he pulled back.
“Sorry. I should have asked where your injuries are. I was just going to touch your hand,” the blond man said.
“Who…” She looked from him to Vinnie, then back to the blond man.
“This is Adam Johnson. He’s your partner—at the FBI,” Vinnie said.
Lorelei looked at the man.
He held her gaze for a moment, then turned to Vinnie. “Why are you telling her who I am?”
“She doesn’t remember anything from before yesterday—who took her, from where, where she was held. And she doesn’t remember who she is. You’re the first one to show up that she should know, but clearly she doesn’t know you either.”
Adam looked at her, his face going soft.
“Nope,” Lorelei said. “No pity. Fuck that. Get out if you’re going to look at me like that.”
Adam snorted. “Well, they didn’t knock your personality out. We just have to help you remember everything else.”
“We?” Lorelei asked.
Adam nodded and gestured to the door. “Raina is here—my wife. You were at our wedding before you went missing. And Karli, your cousin, is here with her boyfriend, Cade.”
“Cousin?”
Adam nodded and looked at Vinnie. “Is it okay if the others come in?”
Vinnie nodded. “As long as everyone gives her space and time to process. Maybe start with her cousin?”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“I’m here, too, you know,” Lorelei snapped at them. She didn’t like people making decisions for her.
“You are, but if you don’t know me, chances are you’re not sure what the doctors have said about visitors and recovery. I’m asking the person in the room who has an intact memory.”
Lorelei scowled at both men. She wanted to be indignant, but they weren’t wrong.
Adam walked out, saying something to someone in the hallway before coming right back in. He held the shoulders of a Black woman with dark hair like Lorelei’s, same tight curls and dark brown eyes. She had full lips and red circles around her eyes.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered as she moved toward Lorelei. “I’m so happy you’re alive.”
“Me, too,” Lorelei said. She stared at the woman who must be her cousin and tried to remember her. Just like Adam, she was familiar, but her mind wasn’t letting her access any of her memories.
“Adam said you don’t remember anything.”
Lorelei looked at Adam, once more trying to place him. She kept scanning the room and found Vinnie. “I remember Vinnie.”
Karli looked at the man. She tilted her head and smiled. “I don’t remember Vinnie. Have we met?”
Vinnie shook his head. “No, ma’am. I’m on a SWAT team in Niagara Falls. We’ve been called in for support a few times. I heard about your cousin’s disappearance and couldn’t let it go.”
“Wait, we didn’t know each other before?” Lorelei asked. The nurses said he came in with her. Didn’t that mean they had some kind of history?
Vinnie shook his head. “No. Not well. We’ve met, but we’d never spoken until yesterday.”
“Well, shit. I thought I knew you.” Her memories were shot, but Vinnie was someone she didn’t doubt was supposed to be there. He protected her—made sure she wasn’t pushed too hard. Never left her alone unless he verified the ID of whoever walked into the room.
But he was a stranger.
Lorelei looked at the man who said he was her partner. “Wait. How do I know you’re all here to keep me safe and not to hurt me again?”
“Look at me, Lorelei,” Vinnie said. He sat down in the chair next to her bed. “You know I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You know I’m here to protect you and help you and keep you safe. You might not know me, but you know that.”
Lorelei looked at the man and nodded slowly. The beeping of her heart rate monitor slowed as she stared at him.
He was right. She wasn’t afraid of him. He wasn’t a threat. He was the one who saved her. And he was protecting her in ways she didn’t even realize—making sure she was given time to rest and not pressured to reveal things she didn’t know.
He was her guardian angel.
“Wow,” Karli whispered from Lorelei’s other side. “I’ve never seen you calm down that quickly.”
“Same. You’re good for her, Vinnie,” Adam said.
Vinnie didn’t look away from Lorelei as he spoke. “She’s good for all of us. I’m just lucky that I get to be around her for a little while.”
Lorelei’s body tingled at his words. Desire? Maybe. Appreciation? Definitely. “Thank you.”
Vinnie nodded at her. “I’m not leaving unless you tell me you want me to. And if you do, I’ll be right outside making sure no one ever hurts you again. I promise you that.”
Lorelei sucked in a breath. She might not remember anything about her life before she woke up, but she knew, without a doubt, no man had ever made her a promise like that. And no man had ever made her feel like she didn’t have to do it all—like she could lean on someone else and know she wouldn’t fall.
It was a damn good feeling. Because with Vinnie by her side, Lorelei knew she’d find answers—all the answers.
