Yours Truly Read online

  Yours Truly

  Bella Fontaine

  Contents

  Yours Truly

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Epilogue

  Yours Truly

  Beauty and the Bad Boy

  Book 2

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  Khardine Gray

  writing as

  Bella Fontaine

  Copyright © 2019 by Khardine Gray

  Yours Truly Book 2 of Beauty and the Bad Boy Copyright © 2019 by Khardine Gray

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design © 2019 by Net Hook & Line Design

  This work is copyrighted. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The author asserts that all characters and situations depicted in this work of fiction are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations.

  It is intended for mature readers. All characters are 18+ years of age and all sexual acts are consensual.

  Chapter 1

  Olivia

  * * *

  My skin…

  Oh God, my skin was on fire. Buzzing with shock. Every nerve in my body was awake, alive. On high alert.

  I couldn’t believe this was happening. Surely it had to be some crazy mistake.

  I was waiting for Sam, waiting for hours.

  I knew something must have happened, but not this.

  No way.

  Dad had called me to let me know Sam was arrested for murder.

  Murdering Bradley Henderson.

  It was so bizarre I couldn’t allow myself to believe it. So maybe this was some kind of a practical joke. Had to be that, right?

  Sam arrested for murdering Bradley Henderson. Bradley Henderson, my first big client. We were supposed to be meeting tomorrow morning.

  That was the plan. Tomorrow at ten. Contracts would be signed and Sam was going to take me to the secret cavern we used to play in as kids.

  That was the plan.

  So this news of Bradley being supposedly dead was crazy.

  Yet as I walked through the long winding corridor at the police station that led down to the cells, it all felt serious.

  Real…

  Dad was already here.

  If it was a joke he would have met me in reception or in his office and put me out of my misery. Or maybe this was the part where it would be more believable if I went through the motions when I got here.

  The solemn look on Dad’s face told me otherwise.

  The male officer who led me here had walked on ahead and opened the door for me. The door to the custody suite.

  Dad was inside looking through one of those glass windows. The glass window was part of the interrogation room.

  On shaky legs, I walked up to him. That was when Sam came into view.

  Sam sat inside the room. He sat on a metal chair with his hands resting on the wooden surface of the table in front of him. Handcuffs were around his wrists.

  Two detectives I knew by face but not name sat in front of him.

  They were questioning him.

  Dad’s cold fingers on the bare skin of my arm turned my focus back to him. To the grave expression on his face.

  Grave and solemn.

  I was waiting. Waiting for him to burst out laughing and for Sam to run out of the room and laugh at me. He’d probably say how they got me good. And, fuck, while I was dreaming I may as well add Coop into the fantasy. He’d be behind Sam, laughing too. Laughing at how they managed to fool me.

  Dad’s eyes darkened with distress the more he looked at me. The more he saw the change in my demeanor as my insides crumbled.

  “It’s not true,” I spoke, shaking my head.

  Behind us the door to the suite closed. The sound echoed through me, although the officer hadn’t slammed it.

  Everything was so loud.

  “It is.” Dad cupped my face briefly. When he released me he returned his hand to the top of my shoulder. “I was his one phone call.”

  “What happened? What happened, Dad? I was with him earlier. Hours ago. Hours ago, Dad.”

  “They won’t tell me much info. Not yet. They’re still gathering information. All I know was he was picked up at Bradley’s place. Bradley was dead, and Sam was with him. Cops got there after an anonymous tip.”

  “Dad…” I started to shake. “Are you sure Bradley was dead?” My brain couldn’t take it. It couldn’t conceive or handle the bomb that was being dropped on it.

  I couldn’t.

  Dad nodded slowly but surely and gave me that look of empathy I’d seen too many times in my life. Always when there was something going on to break me, hurt me, disappoint me. When Mom died, every time Coop got in trouble, when Coop died, then when he’d given up the search for Sam after looking for him everywhere for over two years. And now.

  It was all there in his eyes. The look said it all. But more than anything it said there was nothing he could do. Nothing more.

  “Sam didn’t do it, Dad, he would never. He was supposed to be going to work on something at his office. That was what he said. I don’t know why he would go to Bradley’s house.”

  “I don’t know either. Something must have happened since the time you saw him. Something we have to wait to find out.”

  “Why wouldn’t they tell you anything? You’re captain.”

  “Conflict of interest. They won’t tell me anything until they have the full details, then I’ll know and take the full statement.”

  “This can’t be happening.” I willed myself not to cry. I couldn’t break down yet. No way was I going to. Someone had to get down to the bottom of this.

  “That makes no sense.” I lifted my chin.

  “It’s murder, Olivia, you know it’s a serious offence and he’s a prime suspect. You can’t have more reasonable suspicion than what the officers saw. The suspect standing over the body. Olivia… They also heard him say something to the effect of, ‘What did I do?’”

  It didn’t take my legal training to tell me that looked bad and like an outright admission of doing the crime.

  It looked bad. It looked really bad and stumped me. I just stared at Dad, not quite knowing what to say. What the hell could I say?

  Sam, what the hell did you do, indeed?

  What did he do? My suspicions were all rising, rising to the surface. But damn it, I knew he would never kill anyone. Not like this. He never discu
ssed much from when he served as a Marine, but this wasn’t him. And why would he kill Bradley?

  I was a lawyer, not a criminal lawyer, but I’d studied enough. Enough to do what I was about to do next.

  Turning on my heel I moved with swiftness and sureness. That same sureness and confidence that got my foot in the door at Silvermans and landed me the senior associate position. I would always be grateful to Marcus for the way he supported me, but when thrown in the lion’s den, it was me who gave as good as I got and fought for the position I wanted so desperately.

  Jada was right. Senior associate now, senior partner next year. And I wasn’t going to get to where I wanted to be by just accepting whatever shit I was told and waiting to hear more.

  People said I was like Dad, but this part of me who was fearless and daring was Mama, and these people were going to get that side of me.

  I pushed the door to the interrogation room open and cast burning daggers at the detectives who looked at me like I was insane.

  “Olivia, this is a private meeting,” the first one challenged me, raising thick eyebrows.

  “That’s Councilor St. Claire, to you.” I hardened my tone. It was the second time I’d said that this week. Both people I’d said it to were in this room. Anyone would think I’d said stuff like that all the time, but I didn’t. It called for it now. “I’m Mr. Hawthorne’s legal counsel. Why is he in here talking to you without an attorney?”

  The detective straightened up and glanced over at his partner, who looked me over with caution.

  Dad hadn’t followed me in here, but I was still the captain’s daughter. People were wary around me because of that.

  “This is an initial meeting to get some facts straight. He hasn’t been charged yet. He waivered on legal counsel.”

  I snapped my attention to Sam. He’d been looking at me the whole time. I’d kept my focus on the guys but felt Sam’s penetrative stare.

  The look he gave me now made the icy tendrils of fear race down my spine. I held his gaze, just reading the expression on his face. Reading the expression I’d grown used to when he was in trouble, and not just any old trouble. Trouble of the variety where he was guilty. So did that mean he was guilty now?

  Of murder?

  No…

  His eyes… His eyes told me otherwise. However, he was guilty of something. Something I wouldn’t like. Not one damn bit.

  “It’s in Mr. Hawthorne’s best interest to have legal counsel with me. He should take it.” That was me waving the warning flag, signaling I was mad as hell and could breathe fire.

  My ability to read him didn’t come from us being a couple, it came from a time well before that. Long before.

  He looked like he caught the direction I was steering the warning. He knew what I was saying, without saying.

  “I’ll take it. She can stay,” Sam said.

  I grabbed the chair next to him and sat.

  “Can I have all the facts in issue, please?” I got straight to business.

  The detective with the thick eyebrows pressed his lips together and straightened up. My gaze dropped to his name badge. Detective Rodriguez. The other guy was Detective Wilder.

  “The dispatcher received an anonymous phone call stating that they’d seen some unusual activities happening at Mr. Henderson’s house. They said a man kicked the door in and went inside. When patrol officers got there, they found Mr. Hawthorne next to Mr. Henderson’s body. He said, and I quote, ‘What did I do?’”

  I glanced at Sam, who tensed. He wasn’t making any attempt to refute what was being said. He hadn’t even flinched.

  “Mr. Hawthorne, is this true?” I had to ask.

  “I didn’t kick the door down, and I didn’t kill him. When I got there he was already dead. Looked like he’d been that way for hours.”

  “How can you tell? That’s an interesting thing to say,” Detective Wilder stated.

  “Don’t answer that,” I cut in before Sam could even open his mouth to speak.

  “What were you doing at Mr. Henderson’s home?” I asked him.

  “I needed to check something out with him. The door was open when I arrived.”

  “Did you look at the CCTV?” I asked Detective Rodriguez then looked from one detective to the other.

  “We did. The surveillance in the house wasn’t working.” Detective Wilder gave Sam an accusatory stare that I didn’t miss. “So nothing was captured, and the surveillance on the street is angled so that it doesn’t capture images from the front of Mr. Henderson’s house.”

  Shit.

  I was hoping that would show something, or help.

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” Detective Rodriguez called out and in came a wiry-looking man with thick-rimmed glasses. He carried a stack of paperwork.

  He glanced at me then focused on Detective Rodriquez and lowered to give him the files and point out something I couldn’t see.

  The look on Detective Rodriguez’ face changed as he read over the first page.

  He clenched his teeth the more he read, and the longer we waited the more antsy I became. Eventually, when he stood, glowering at Sam, I thought my head was going to explode.

  “Looks like we just found the missing piece of the puzzle.” He tilted his head to the side.

  “What? What’d you find?” Sam asked.

  “Cyber thief. Is that what you are? This was downloaded from your computer. Looks like you were planning to steal Mr. Henderson’s research. You kill him for it?”

  “No, I’ve been set up. It’s not true,” Sam challenged, getting up with his fists clenched out in front of him.

  My hands started shaking. Yesterday, back at Sam’s place, he asked me to trust him. He gave the appearance that he needed me to trust him on something he couldn’t talk about. He’d mentioned the whole client confidentiality thing. I’d thought it was to do with Stephens. But it wasn’t.

  My gut told me it wasn’t.

  Detective Rodriguez picked up the first page from the file and slammed it down on the desk.

  It was an email printout.

  An email from Remote user 1, who said,

  The chip could be worth a lot of money. I’m sure a guy like Bradley won’t miss it. I should just steal it, sell it and retire in Mexico. Great place to get gone and stay off grid to everyone.

  To which user 2 replied,

  Sam don’t be a dick. Grab the chip and go the first chance you get.

  My hands started to shake. I didn’t know of a chip but that user 1 definitely sounded like Sam.

  Mexico…

  Staying off grid…

  All I could do was look at him.

  “Go on, tell us this isn’t you? Also, look at this.” Detective Rodriguez now placed down another print out.

  It was an employee search from Stephens Inc. Under Sam’s name in the search box it stated:

  Employee Not Found.

  Oh my God.

  I stood now; I’d had enough.

  “Olivia, please, I’ve been set up. I didn’t do this.” Sam was just focused on me. He moved to go to me but Detective Wilder was at his side in a split second, taking him by his arms. “Let go of me, man, don’t touch me.”

  “You’re in the wrong position to be making any kind of demands,” Detective Wilder warned.

  “Is it true?” I asked. I didn’t know where my voice came from. I didn’t know where my strength came from to speak. “Is it true? The email and the…this print out? You don’t work for Stephens?”

  Sam‘s gaze intensified and I already knew before he answered my question that he was going to hurt me. Deeply.

  “It’s true, but I didn’t kill Bradley. I didn’t kill him. Please, you have to believe me.”

  Oh God. This was part of some plan. It screamed it. Part of some crazy plan.

  I was so stupid. How could I be so stupid? I was a lawyer, a woman with more sense than this.

  I shook my head at him. The mistake was mine. I nev
er factored in the glaring fact that people change. I hadn’t seen Sam in eight years. The man he was back then thought it was okay to leave me when I needed him the most.

  There it was again. That fact. That fact that screamed at me, giving me all the reasons why I shouldn’t trust Sam.

  People deserved a second chance, sure. But not everyone did.

  “I don’t know you.” It was all I had strength to say. That and to leave, walk out.

  “Olivia!” He called out to me but I just kept going.

  Dad called me, too, as I walked past him, but I didn’t stop.

  I just kept walking. Walking until I reached my car.

  I got in, sat down and pressed my head to the steering wheel.

  The tears I’d been holding off came now. They came and brought along all the emotions I’d carried for the last eight years.

  I thought I was broken before, but this was the straw that broke my back.

  Chapter 2

  Sam

  Two days.

  Two days in this place. It felt like déjà vu. I was having far too many of those lately.

  Too many, and all painful.

  All fucking painful. As if my life didn’t suck enough as it was.

  The booking, the mug shots, the finger printing, everything at the police station felt like I’d stepped right back in time and resumed my old life. The life I lived before I changed.

  Back then, though, I didn’t have the girl. I didn’t have the girl I was completely taken with to the point where she was all I could think about.

  That was me now.