Alpha One (Shadow Agents #1)(29)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Maybe.

She knew her father kept a small staff in the house. A driver. A housekeeper. A cook. And—

“Take any room you want,” Susan said softly as her shoulders sagged. “Take everything… It’s yours, anyway.” Then she brushed by Juliana. “I’m in your father’s room.”

Juliana felt badly about upsetting Susan. She knew the woman was hurting, too. She was pushing into this place—where I don’t belong—and ripping into Susan’s life. Bringing her hell right down on the hapless woman. “Susan…” She wanted her to be safe. Juliana took a breath and though she hated to say it, she forced the words out. “Maybe you should leave for a few days, until…” Until it’s safe. Until I’m not afraid you’ll get caught in the cross fire when Guerrero attacks.

Susan truly had always been kind to her, and when this nightmare was over, Juliana would give her the house. She could take it and be happy.

Juliana sure didn’t want the place. She much preferred her small house on the beach. It never seemed cold there.

Susan’s pretty face tightened. “You’re kicking me out?”

And she’d screwed up. Juliana tried to back up. “No, no, that’s not—”

“For your protection,” Logan inserted smoothly. “The government will be happy to provide you with temporary lodging for a few days, until the situation becomes more stable.”

Susan just shook her head. Her gaze seemed to swim with tears. “I’m not in any danger. No one would want to hurt me!”

“I’m sure that’s what Charles thought, too,” Juliana said quietly. She’d arranged to send flowers to his family, but she’d do more for them, too. When her father’s estate was settled—after the government had their turn to go through everything, she’d see that they were taken care of.

“Wrong place,” Gunner added darkly. “Wrong damn time.”

Susan flinched. Then her eyes focused on Juliana. “Why? Why is this even happening?”

“Because my father was involved with some very dangerous people.” Susan would have been the prime person to realize that truth, only, she seemed clueless. “Now they want me dead.”

“We’ll be escorting you out tonight, Ms. Walker,” Gunner said. “Just show us to your room, and I can help you pack up.”

Susan was still staring at Juliana. “I told you. I shared a room with the senator.” Then she turned away, moving toward the circular staircase with her head up. But at the stairs, she paused with her hand on the banister. “He was going to marry me.”

Juliana barely heard the quiet words.

“We’d planned… He was going to give up his office. Retire. Stay with me.” Her head tilted and Juliana saw her scan the house. What did Susan see when she looked around?

Not death and ice, like Juliana saw.

Antiques, wealth, good memories?

“It’s all gone,” Susan whispered and she climbed up the steps.

Juliana’s gaze darted to the closed study door. Her father had died in that room. He’d put one of his prized guns to his head and squeezed the trigger.

Susan had found his body. So that meant she must have found the suicide note, too. She knew that the senator had fallen far from grace.

It’s all gone.

Yes, it was.

* * *

THE LITTLE BITCH was back.

Susan closed the bedroom door behind herself. Flipped the lock—then slapped her palm against the wood.

The pain was fresh, staggering, and it helped her to push back the fury that had her whole body shaking.

Juliana had just marched in…and kicked her out.

After all of these years. After all the work she’d done.

Juliana hadn’t stayed around to look after Aaron. She hadn’t been there, day in and day out, working to keep the man on a leash. Working to make him look sane when the man hadn’t cared about anything.

Or anyone.

Susan glanced at the ornate bed.

I was here.

And everything—it was supposed to be hers now. Aaron had promised to take care of her. Only, he hadn’t.

He’d been weak until the end. Weak and desperate, and he’d taken the easy way out.

A bullet to the brain. She would have made him suffer more. He’d dangled his promises in front of her for so long.

It should all be mine. The money. The houses. The cars. Every. Single. Thing.

She was so tired of pretending. She’d pretended for years. Yanked herself out of the gutter. Pushed her way into Aaron’s life.

His weakness had been an advantage for her, at first.

But now…

Her gaze roamed around the room. Right past the paintings that he’d ordered hung on the wall. Juliana’s paintings. Her precious work.

Did the girl even realize her father had bought them? That he’d ordered the pieces, paying far too much, and had them delivered back here?

Susan hated them. Storms, dark skies and threatening clouds.

Susan had been so tempted to slice the paintings in the past few days. To just rip them apart.

Payback.

But she’d kept up her image, for all the good it had done her. Kept it up even when she’d shattered on the inside.

“Ms. Walker.” A rap sounded at her door. “We’ll be leaving soon.” An order.

She recognized the voice, of course; it belonged to the first man who’d come into her home. The dark man with the darker eyes.

His stare didn’t scare her. She’d seen plenty of darkness as a kid.

“Just a minute,” she called, trying to keep her voice level. Now wasn’t the time to lose her control. Now was the time to keep planning. To keep her focus.

She headed for the nightstand and the small safe that she knew waited inside.

There were files in that safe. A small handgun. Sure, the police and the FBI and who the hell knew who else had been in the house, and they’d searched everywhere, but…

But they didn’t see the papers inside the safe.

She’d made sure of it. She’d taken those papers, hidden them, then brought them back when the agents backed off.

I knew I could use them.

Another rap. “You need to hurry, Ms. Walker. A car’s waiting downstairs for you.”

Her jaw ached, and she forced her teeth to unclench. She’d recognized the other man downstairs. He’d changed over the years, yes, but she’d still remembered him.

His eyes were the same.

She pulled out the papers from the safe. Flipped open the file.

Logan Quinn’s eyes stared back at her.