He cut off her bra in one quick slice. It cut her skin, and there was some blood.
Cordelia knew she had to fight hard. If she could get her wrists free…
“Oh, sweetheart, I love when a woman fights. Let me get something to make you feel good. I promise you’ll float and just feel the sex. The last pet had orgasm after orgasm. See, these street drugs make the memory fuzzy, but you’ll feel it all.”
He pulled a vial from the dresser and filled a syringe. She fought so hard to get out of the cuffs, her wrists were bloody.
“HELP!” she screamed. “HELP!”
Cordelia knew if his ‘guys’ got there, she was as good as gone. She’d never see Rogue again.
God!
She couldn’t bear that.
“Hold on, pet, this is going to hurt so good.”
He jammed the syringe into her neck and Cordelia fought. She fought for her, and she fought for Rogue.
She fought to buck him off her body. The adrenaline worked against her, sending the drug into her blood and through her body faster.
She moaned.
“Yeah, pet, like that. I like when my property moans in pleasure.”
As the room spun, she watched him pick up a belt or a leash, and her arms felt so dead.
Like her.
As he wrapped it around her throat, she struggled for air.
“If you behave, pet, you get fucked. If you don’t behave, I will have you laid out at a party and used by every man I can find. Now make me enjoy myself.”
She whimpered.
“Good girl. Now, let’s have some fun.”
Cordelia closed her eyes.
And prayed for death.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
When they pulled up to the house, Rogue was ready to lose it. They luckily found her car, simply because Zayn had been paranoid and placed a tracker on her.
Rogue would never call him crazy again.
Never!
As they jumped out, Dakota grabbed him.
“We split up. Go with Zayn. I’ll take Sarah. We’ll take two entrances.”
“Okay,” he said until he heard Cordelia scream.
That was all it took.
Rogue broke free, Zayn behind him. They both hit the front door full force and raced into the living room.
They heard another scream and hustled it to the door.
Zayn booted it, and Rogue went in first. There was his woman, her shirt gone, and some lunatic in leather over her. When he picked up a gun and lifted it toward Cordelia, Rogue knew he had to move.
He dove onto her, putting his body over her bare one. The shots rang out, echoing in the room. Rogue felt them hit, and then there was one more, and silence.
His ears rang.
His body sang in pain.
She didn’t move.
“ROGUE!” Dakota stated, rolling the man off of Cordelia to check on them both.
He moaned.
The armor plating of the body armor Zayn had forced him to put on in the car on their way over there had saved his life.
“Help. Her.”
That was all he could get out as his body struggled to get air.
Sarah touched her cheek and grabbed a blanket.
“She’s out cold. I think he drugged her. She has a pulse. It’s just slow.”
They saw the syringe on the nightstand.
Zayn heard a car in the drive and headed that way. He wasn’t gone long before there were two shots, back to back. Then he came back in eating a banana like nothing had happened.
“What was that?” Dakota asked as he pulled off his shirt for Sarah to put on Cordelia, who was out of it.
“Thugs. He had helpers. It was the two assholes we saw leaving his secured house that night. Banana?” he asked.
Dakota stared at him like he was insane.
Clearly, he was.
Rogue finally sat up and pulled his shirt and body armor off. He had two already forming bruises on his back.
“Jesus. Did he rape her?” he asked, staring at Carter Foley, Virgil Livingston, and Alessandro Anderson all as one person, and all very dead on the floor with one bullet hole to the head.
“I don’t think so,” Dakota stated. “His dick is holstered,” he said, as Sarah tugged the T-Shirt over Cordelia’s bare body, “and her panties are intact.”
“Well, I guess we’ve all seen Cordy’s breasts now too,” she said, trying to lighten the mood. “Stella is next.”
Rogue stared at her.
“Too soon?” she asked.
He began laughing and then crying.
That had been too close.
He’d nearly lost his girl.
He’d nearly lost the woman he loved, and that was hard to swallow.
Epilogue
Three Weeks
Later
D inner was always a way to connect, and they were going to make sure that they had a decent one together, as a family. That’s what they were. When it came down to it, they were people who loved each other, committed some crimes, but loved justice in their own ways.
Now they were having a meal.
As they sat at the large dining room table at Chartres Street, it had been a bumpy three weeks. They’d taken out Carter Foley, and that was a good thing, but as of yet, Taz and Chesky were still off their radar.
For now, they were helping Cordelia get through the fact that her boss had been a big-time player in the New Orleans underground, and Storm to regain her ability to stand on her own again.
Food helped.
As they sat there, eating Italian, there was wine, laughter, and calm.
The calm before the storm—right before SHE rolled in.
“Howdy.”
“Uh, you know that freaks us out when you just walk in,” Dakota stated the second he saw her.
Elizabeth laughed.
“My bad. In my defense, Sarah invited me to dinner. I thought I’d pop in.”
Grace’s eyes got huge.
“You’re Elizabeth Blackhawk. Where are your sexy husbands?” she asked. “I could use…”
“Mother,” Rogue stated. “Behave.”
Elizabeth laughed.
“Callen has a book signing, and I’m heading there now. Meanwhile, Ethan is dealing with the president. I came to give you this.”
She tossed a packet of money onto the table.
“Uh, we don’t need cash,” Rogue stated.
“Yeah, well, that’s not money. It’s papers. You’re going to want to read them.”
“Why?” Rogue asked as he watched his daughter toddle around the table and right for the woman. “Peony, come here.”
“She’s good,” Elizabeth said, picking her up. “I have two at home around her age.”
The little girl immediately went right for all of her black curly hair.
“Back to the papers.”
“What are they?”
“Intel. Chesky and Tasunke have teamed up. They are in the process of shipping out women. You’re up to bat. Find the women and take down the ring.”
She let the little girl get pasta sauce all over her. It wouldn't be the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.
“When?” Dakota asked.
“Mardi Gras is coming, my friend, oh, and Bonnie is out of her hole.”
He stood up.
“Where?”
She kissed the little girl on the cheek and glanced over at Storm—all the while ignoring him. He had the intel, so he could dig.
“Want to come home?” she asked Storm, as she passed Peony back to her father. “We can set you up in DC. We know you lost your home, your car, and your life. I’m willing to fix all of that.”
“And fix me too?” Storm asked as she started to feel panicky.
“Are you broken, Storm?” she asked.
The woman didn’t answer.
Yeah, Elizabeth thought so.
“Dak, get your asses moving. Chesky is going big on this one, and I’ve finally found a N
ative I don’t like. Taz is going to be hard. Shut them down.”
She headed toward the door.
“Storm?”
“Yes?” she asked, trying to stay calm. It wasn’t easy. She didn’t want to pass out, but her vision was graying.
“Welcome home. It’s yours. You now own this house—compliments of the Blackhawks. Drive it like you stole it, y’all. Fight the good fight and call me if you need me.”
And with that, she was gone.
And the team had to get ready.
Mardi Gras was coming, and that meant one thing.
It was time to make AMENDS…for someone’s sins.
Coming Next:
All the King’s Henchmen
Book 24 in the FBI series
Other books by Morgan Kelley:
Standalone books
The Junction (Out of Print)
Serial Sins (Out of Print)
The Blood Betrayal (Out of Print)
Romance/FBI Thriller Series
Elizabeth, Ethan, and Callen
The Killing Times (book 1)
Sacred Burial Grounds (book 2)
True Love Lost (book 3)
Deep Dark Mire (book 4)
Fire Burns Hot (book 5)
Darkness of Truth (book 6)
Devil Hath Come (book 7)
Consumed by Wrath (book 8)
Redemption is Here (book 9)
Dead Shall Speak (book 10)
Pledging to Die (book 11)
Slay Bells Ring (book 12)
Past will Haunt (13) Flashback Book #1
Choices will Destroy (14)
Blood shall Run (15)
Act of Blood (16)
Stalked by the Past (17) Flashback book #2
Dying to Love (18)
Kiss of Souls (18.5) a Littlemoon/FBI crossover.
Revenge has Come (19) June 2017
Discarded by Fate (20) Oct 2017
Dawn of Evil (21) Flashback book #3
Dead are Forgotten (22)
Love Knows No Bounds (23) Valentine’s Day 2018
All the King’s Henchmen (24) June 2018
Honor Thy Anger (25) Flashback book #4 July 2018
All the Queen’s Men (26) October 2018
Angel of Death (27) Dec 2018
Cause of Death (28) January 2019
Time of Death (29) January 2019
Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Series
Greyson and Emma Croft
Celestia is Falling (book 1)
Vegas is Dying (book 2)
Christmas is Killing (book 3)
Love is Bleeding (book 4)
Heaven is Weeping (book 5)
Hell is Burning (book 6)
Justice is Dying (book 7)
The Croft Mob Series
Greyson and Emma Croft spinoff series
Dark Justice (1)
Lost Justice (2)
Paid Justice (3)
Wedding of our Dreams Novella (3.5) Steele and Dante
True Justice (4) March 2018/FBI crossover
Mob Justice (5) March 2018
No Justice (6) August 2019
Wedding Day TBD (6.5)
All Justice (7) TBD
City Justice (8) TBD
Bad Justice (9) TBD
Sold Justice (10) TBD
The Littlemoon Investigations Series
Julian and Tori Littlemoon
Blood Red Rage (book 1)
Lost & Broken (book 2)
Unthinkable Games (book 3)
Haven of Nightmares (book 5)
Forbidden Secrets (book 6)
Kiss of Souls (book 7)/FBI crossover
Lost Souls (book 8) Sept 2017
Found Curses (book 9) April 2018
Choice of Despair (book 10) September 2018
Secret Shame (book 11)
The Hunter Series
Dakota Rakin
Atonement (1) December 2017
Absolution (2) May 2018
Amends (3) December 2018
Apology (4) May 2019
The Romance Anthology
Blackhawks, Crofts, Littlemoons etc
It’s Good to be the Boss (Antho 1)
It’s Good to be Loved (Antho 2) Surprise 2018
It’s Good to be Bad (Antho 3) Surprise release 2019
The Carter Chronicles Trilogy
Callista, Nathaniel, and Lucas
Sinner Repent (book 1)
Sinner Realized (book 2)
Sinner Reborn (book 3)
The Oracle Phoenix Files
Nathaniel Carter and Avalon Miller
Oracle Rising (book 1)
Oracle Seeing (book 2)
Oracle Haunting (book 3)
Oracle Hunting (book 4) Pending Release Date
Harcourte Vampyre Society
Jolie, Jacques, and Flynn
Dangerous Revelations (book 1)
Dangerous Choices (book 2)
Dangerous Misery (book 3)
Dangerous Retaliation (book 4)
Dangerous Influence (book 5)
Dangerous Sacrifice (book 6)
Dangerous Destruction (Final Book)
The Tueur
Flynn and Jolie
Wicked Hunt (1) TBD
Anthologies
All the couples in one book
Illegal Fantasies-
Behind Closed Doors(1)
Romance Under Arrest- winter 2014
Behind Closed Doors(2)
Holiday Reinforcements-
Behind Closed Doors (3)- winter 2015
Please feel free to visit her at her blog at
www.morgankelley.blogspot.com
MK
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