Under His Protection (Protect and Defend 1)

Amber Bentley disappeared. Suzanne Arnold had been born.

Nine long months ago, she’d walked away, thinking she’d never see his angry, scrunched up face again. Such a different woman she’d been then. A different woman, a different life, a sad little lost soul and now she had a life full of promise.

Or so she thought. Until that promise came crashing down around her ears at first sight of her hateful husband.

Now he was practically holding her hostage. Looking for an easy way out, looking for some sort of payback for her leaving him.

“Faking your death did me no good, Amber,” he’d said when he finally got her alone, emphasizing the pronunciation of her true name, knowing it drove her crazy. “Once the insurance company denied the claim because they never found a body, I knew your ass was still alive. And I was right.”

He couldn’t get over being right or that he’d actually found her. He kept bringing it up, throwing it in her face.

All because of an insurance policy she had no idea had been on her life. Had he been planning to kill her all along for the cash? She wouldn’t doubt it. He couldn’t ever keep a job, yet he had a very expensive drug habit. He’d turned her into his work horse in order to have extra money.

When Rich screamed at her yet again for compensation last night, she’d thrown up Blake as some sort a prize. Her one and only friend, she hated how quickly she threw out her name, but he’d given her no choice.

It was all about survival now.

Rich’s ears had perked up when he discovered she was the vice president of the United States’ daughter. The gleam in his eye told her he was very interested.

If anyone could figure out how to extract every last drop of money out of a person, Rich could. He’d already put the plan into place, though she thought it had been stupid of him to call her. Distorting his voice with some sort of weird microphone thing he found at a Halloween shop. He’d drawn attention to the fact that something was brewing. The idiot.

Besides, Suzanne hadn’t really offered Blake up for money purposes. She’d actually used her brain for once when it came to Rich. Blake would be the perfect bait to draw her to the house with her big, burly Secret Service agent man following and wham-o. Rich would be toast, caught beating his wife and high on drugs as an added bonus. She knew he had a meth stash in his duffle bag. They could probably get him for dealing, he had that much on him.

Suzanne would have to explain about Amber Bentley’s untimely death but she could handle that. She was tired of running and anything was better than having Rich torture her.

“You need to get little miss VP out here and soon.” He jabbed a bony finger in Suzanne’s shoulder, making her wince. “I’m ready to get off this shit island and you’re coming with me. We need money. A lot of money to get out of here.”

“I don’t want to go,” she said but he smacked her alongside the head, shutting her up.

“You’re going. You’re my wife. Wherever I am, you are. You got away once.” She peeked from beneath her arm again, saw the arrogant smirk on Joe’s face. “You try to get away from me again, and I guarantee you’ll never see the light of day.”

She said nothing and he laughed.

“You know, Amber honey, I always said you were too stupid for your own good, but finally you came across a goldmine.” Rich grabbed another beer from the opened twelve-pack that sat next to the couch and cracked it open. “Making friends with the vice president’s daughter, unbelievable I say.”

“She really is my friend.” Suzanne’s voice trembled and she cleared her throat. Rich made her feel so weak and she hated that.

“Who’d want to be friends with you anyway? That’s what I don’t get.” He tipped the can to his lips and drank. “We’ll find out for sure tomorrow, right Amber? And once you get your la-de-da friend over here, I’ll put my plan into action.”

“What plan?” She almost didn’t want to hear it, though she needed to. She needed to prepare.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out. I can’t trust you as far as I can throw you so I’m not telling you shit.”

Grabbing her by the arm, he hauled her to her feet and shoved his face in hers. The stench of cheap beer tainted his breath and she wrinkled her nose, wishing she could run away, far away from this mess her life had suddenly become.

“Let’s go back to the bedroom, Amber. You have some wifely duties to take care of.”

Oh, God. She didn’t know she had it in her.

She didn’t know if she could take it.

* * * *

Blake stepped under the hot spray of the shower to rinse the conditioner from her hair. She’d fled from Mason’s simple touch earlier, unable to take it any longer. His words had confused her as had his questions.

He wanted to be with her and give her what she wanted, yet he couldn’t? It didn’t make sense. What stopped him? Was it her, who she was? Or was it his responsibility to her? His fear over losing his job?

As usual, he’d given her no answer. So she hid away in the shower, unsure if he would join her tonight in her bed.