Watch Me (Dark Obsession #1)(34)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Gwen had sat up, too. She pulled the covers with her. She was leaning in close and Chance knew she was listening to Lex’s words.

“I found out that Sophie’s parents died when she was seventeen. A gunman broke into their house and killed them both. That shooter was never identified, the murder never solved. But…medical records Dev managed to access indicated that there was a…history there.”

Managed to access? Right. He knew Dev had probably hacked into the system.

“Sophie had over a dozen broken bones during her teenage years. She was admitted to the hospital again and again, and though the docs suspected abuse, no charges were ever filed against her parents. The police cleared them every time.”

Chance met Gwen’s worried gaze.

“There was absolutely no evidence left at the scene of her parents’ murder. Nothing at all. But…but my gut is telling me there is a lot more going on here. Sophie’s past is bloody and dark and with her tied so closely to Ethan—she should have been the stalker’s victim.”

“But she isn’t,” Chance said softly, “Gwen is.”

Gwen’s gaze never faltered.

Chance understood exactly what Lex was saying. “You think she could be our perp.”

“I think the stalker should have gone after her,” Lex responded carefully, “but he didn’t…and I want to know why.”

“So do I.” Maybe he and Gwen needed to have a little sit down with the lawyer. “Keep me posted.”

“And you keep your lady safe,” Lex said.

“Count on it.”

***

“You’re welcome,” Sophie told Ethan as the driver shut the back door of Ethan’s car, sealing them inside. “Because, yes, I did manage to work a minor miracle in there…”

“I’m out on a million dollar bond,” Ethan said as he leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. “That’s not so much a miracle as it is huge chunk of change.” He heard the driver’s door shut and the vehicle began to accelerate.

Sophie didn’t speak.

Hell. His eyes opened. “Thank you, Soph,” he told her. “You know I can’t repay the shit you do for me. I’d be lost without you.”

“So you say.” Her smile was bittersweet. “But I’m the one who’d be alone. After my parents…you were all I had.”

Her parents. His gut clenched when he remembered that particular nightmare. He’d wanted to kill Sophie’s father for years, and…in a blink, Sophie’s hell had been over. He knew her secrets, just as she knew his. Secrets that he would take to the grave.

His fingers reached for hers. Twined. They’d never been lovers. They never would be. They were family. Closer than blood.

He glanced toward the front of the car. His driver and sometimes bodyguard, Daniel, had just braked at the light. “Take Sophie home first. I want to make sure she’s safe.”

Sophie laughed. “Right. Because I don’t know how to take care of myself. Have you forgotten that most of the criminals in this city know me on a first name basis?”

His hold on her tightened. “You matter to me. I want you safe.”

Her eyelids lowered. She stared down at their hands. “He’s targeted women close to you.”

Yes, the bastard had.

“Lex Jensen made me wonder…” Sophie stopped talking and glanced out of her window.

“Soph?”

“He works with Chance. He, um, stopped me at the station.”

Ethan waited, wondering where this was going.

“I was never targeted.”

“That’s a fucking good thing.” He brought her hand to his lips. Pressed a quick kiss to her knuckles. “Because without you, I’d go insane.”

She glanced back at him, a faint smile curving her lips. “How do you think I’d be without you? You’ve been my rock for all of these years.”

“I’ll always be here for you.”

Sophie nodded. Her dark hair was pulled back and her eyes—they seemed even bigger without the thick tumble of her hair falling near her heart-shaped face. Bigger, but…sad?

“It’s going to be all right,” Ethan told her. How many times had he said those words or something similar to Sophie over the years? “We’re going to find him. We’re going to stop him.”

“You’ve said that before.”

Unfortunately, he had.

Exhaling slowly, he looked toward the front of the vehicle. Daniel turned the car to the left, not saying a word to them, and they headed for Sophie’s home.

Chapter Eleven

The elevator doors opened and Gwen stepped out into the lush hotel lobby. Plenty of people were buzzing in that space—guests checking out, bell hops carrying luggage.

And Dev was there, standing in the middle of the lobby, staring right at her and Chance. Dev’s face appeared grim. Dark circles were under his eyes and a serious five o’clock shadow lined his jaw.

“We’ve got a problem,” he said as they approached him.

Another one? Gwen was really over any new problems. She had more than enough to deal with as it was—

“Marjorie West is dead.”

Gwen stilled.

“Ethan gave her a new identity and sent her to Europe, yeah, that part of his little story was true, but the woman sure as hell didn’t get away scot free.” Dev rolled back his shoulders. “I kept digging until I found out what became of her. It took a while and some serious string pulling…but an unknown female was killed by a hit and run driver in Paris, four months after Marjorie supposedly started her new life.”

“You don’t know that it was her,” Gwen said. “You can’t know, you can’t—”

“I compared that victim’s dental records with Marjorie’s. They were a match.”

She could only stare blankly at him.

“You don’t want to know the connections he has,” Chance said, his voice rough. “Or the laws that he probably broke to make that match.”

Dev cleared his throat. “Laws were bent, not broken. There’s a difference.” Then he shook his head. “Based on the police reports for that accident…”

She was too numb to be surprised that he’d accessed French police records.

“The hit and run scene went down much like the recent one with Gwen here. The driver was waiting on the side of the street, waiting for his moment to strike. Witnesses said he didn’t slow down, that he deliberately accelerated when he aimed for his prey. He swerved to hit her, and when she went down, he roared away.”