Devious Intentions (Carson Cove Scandals 3)

“I’ll look at the stuff from Carson Cove. Probably a waste of time, but you never know.” I shrugged and loaded the website for the local news station.

“I’m not seeing anything from the day they supposedly did it.” Bolt tilted his head. “I guess it would have made the news the next day…”

“Yeah, probably so. Nothing here.” I moved my mouse to click on the stories for the following day.

“Nothing the day after, either…” Bolt sighed.

“Oh my god!” I pushed my laptop away, and it felt like all the blood drained out of my body in an instant. “That—that was the night Caroline died!”

I think we’ve just found what we need—but it’s worse than I could have ever imagined.

Questions started coming from everyone in the room, but I didn’t have the strength to answer them. I felt like I was trapped underwater, and the air in the room was trying to suffocate me. My throat closed up—my whole body started to tremble. Tears started to stream down my face. Taylor brought me a glass of water, and I tried to sip it, but it tasted like stomach bi

le. It was like everything around me was happening in slow motion, and I had been shifted out of existence. At some point, I stood—walked to the bedroom—and collapsed on the bed. I don’t know how long I was there, but I cried until my eyes were burning more than they were from staring at the screen—and when those tears dried, I started crying again.

“Are you okay?” Taylor came into my room and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Do you need anything?”

“No.” I wiped the tears away from my eyes. “Did Anna and Bolt go home?”

“Yeah.” She took my hand and squeezed it. “They have school…”

“This is awful.” I tried to sit up. “I knew Edgar was a terrible person, but this goes so far beyond just being cruel.”

“I remember that night.” Taylor handed me the glass of water that I had apparently brought with me when I came to the bedroom. “That accident…”

“I need to keep digging.” I took a sip of the water and put it down. “I can’t stop—not when I’m so close.”

Damien needs to know the truth, even if it is going to shatter my heart into a million pieces when I see the pain it causes him.

I didn’t feel better about the situation, but I had to push myself forward. Taylor stayed and helped me compile all of the evidence we could find. We spent several hours digging through emails and organizing them so that the cops would have no choice but to start an investigation into Edgar—but the worst one of all was the murder of the woman who was going to be his daughter-in-law. Taylor was familiar with Addison Regan, the lawyer that represented Damien. Addison had handled some business for Taylor’s husband, and he gave us a telephone number so that we could contact her. I placed the call with trembling fingers and swallowed the biggest lump that had ever tried to silence my words as I explained what we found.

“She asked me to email it to her.” I ended the call and put my phone down on the table.

“Let’s do it.” Taylor nodded and reached over to squeeze my hand. “I know this awful, but it has to be done.”

I wish I could trust my mother enough to give her a warning…

Chapter Twenty-Two

Damien

The heartbreak I endured when Caroline died was the worst thing I ever felt—until Addison told me that my father was responsible for her death. The emotional agony came back with a newfound vengeance, and it mixed with so much rage, I would have broken out of the jailhouse if I had been physically able to do so. I didn’t just see red—I saw crimson—I saw the blood that I was going to spill from the man who took a life so precious and pure.

“Promise me you’re not going to do anything stupid when I get you out of here.” Addison tensed up and stared at me.

“I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep.” I felt my whole body trembling. “Just get me released and show me where the exit is. Nothing that happens after that is on your hands—it’s all on him.”

“Damien… Damn it; I’ll be right back.” Addison stood up and walked to the door.

I had every right to be angry, and my hatred for my father was no longer about the cruelty he put me through as a child. It wasn’t even about his plans for my sister, as awful as they were. What he did to Caroline transcended all of that. It was a cold-blooded murder. A human being wasn’t capable of that—my father was a monster that didn’t deserve mercy—and he wasn’t getting a single bit of it from me.

“Hurry the fuck up!” I yelled at the two-way mirror. “I’m a free man—treat me like one!”

I’ll be right back—trust me on that. I’ll slam the fucking door shut myself.

The door opened, and I looked up—expecting to see the guard—or Addison with an explanation for the delay. Instead, I saw a pair of beautiful aquamarine eyes that were full of tears. Leigh ran to me—she wrapped her arms around my neck, and her tears started to soak my jumpsuit. I continued to tremble with rage for a moment, but then I felt it being replaced by something else—the love I had for the woman that was sobbing on my shoulder. I snapped back from the darkness of hatred, and the violent thoughts were quelled.

“No touching,” a disembodied voice growled through the box on the wall.