Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,82
us not to overstep. With Melissa’s death—he’s closing ranks. Her body was found in another jurisdiction and the cops are drawing their line in the sand.”
A line that had said: no more outsiders. Victoria knew Captain Vann was teaming up with the authorities in Jekyll. She wanted to help more, but . . .
That help wasn’t wanted, not right then.
“Captain Harry Vann.” Lucas said the name with disgust. “I remember him. He was the one who did nothing when Kennedy first vanished. I went to him directly. I begged the guy to put more manpower in the hunt.” His hands went to his hips. “You know what it’s like to have the cops do nothing? To have no one believe you?”
I know too well.
“LOST believed me. You helped me.” He turned his attention to Connie once more. “I wish you could find that bastard. Because I don’t think the cops will.” Then he hunched his shoulders and headed toward the waiting car.
Victoria wrapped her arms around her stomach as she watched him walk away. Lucas seemed to carry so much pain.
Kennedy hadn’t been the only one to suffer during all those years. Lucas hadn’t been with her, but he’d been in agony, too. Always looking, always searching.
But now he knew she wouldn’t be coming back to him.
He climbed into the little car and drove away.
“It’s not what we do,” Victoria said. “I mean, it isn’t supposed to be what we do.” She turned to look at Wade. “But we have managed to stop killers. On Dauphin Island—”
“The Lady Killer nearly took out Gabe. That was no easy scene, and you know it—blood and death and hell, baby.”
But in the end the serial killer had been the one to perish.
“And don’t even get me started on the shit that went down in New Orleans recently.” A muscle flexed in Wade’s jaw. “You carry the scars that prove just how close to death you came.”
“Walking away doesn’t feel right,” Victoria said. Because the killer was still out there. He’d gone after Jim, and who would be next? “He’s making contact with me. We can use that.”
He caught her arm and pulled her close. “You’re not going to be bait.”
“Someone needs to be. Or are you really fine with letting another innocent woman be taken and killed?”
“You wound up in a freaking body bag the last time a killer got hold of you.” He growled out the words. “Do you really want that same thing happening again? Only this time, you won’t be left alive . . .”
For an instant she saw the darkness all around her and remembered just what it was like to be in that bag. Kennedy was in a bag. I was in a bag. “I—I want to help.”
“You want to atone.” He kept his hold on her arm and pulled her back inside the little cottage they shared. “But there’s nothing for you to atone for.” He shut the door behind them. “Your father was a bastard, and you did what you had to do in order to survive.”
The breath she sucked in seemed to chill her lungs. “What are you going to do about that?”
“Do?” His brows shot up. “You actually still think I’d turn you in to the cops?”
She didn’t know what to think.
His hand curled under her chin and he tipped her head back. “Trust, baby. It has to start.” His lips took hers. Carefully at first, gently. “Trust me.” The kiss became harder after those words. He wasn’t just caressing her, he was . . . taking? Staking a claim?
Her fingers wrapped around his shoulders and she held onto him. She might have also risen to her toes to better meet his kiss.
Too soon, his mouth lifted from hers. “Trust me to protect you. Trust me not to let you the fuck down.”
She wanted to trust him. She wanted to open herself totally to him. “It’s not you,” Victoria whispered. “I don’t trust myself.”
“Stop letting your father’s ghost control you. You aren’t him. You can need and want and love just like anyone else.”
His words pierced straight to her core.
“You’re stronger than he is. You’re better. So much better. You have to see that.”
“You don’t . . . you’re not turning me in.” She was having trouble getting past that fact.
He pulled back, just a bit, but he didn’t let her go. “No.” He spoke with absolute finality. “I’ll keep your secret, you don’t have to worry about that.”
She didn’t understand him. “In the