Need Me (Dark Obsession 3)

Until his parents had died. Gone out in their blaze of glory. And the people from DHR had come to take him away from his grandmother. Suddenly, they’d decided she was the unfit one.

“You swore not to be like them, right?” Ethan’s fingers tapped on his desk. “Your buddies Chance and Lex—they went off to be true blue soldiers, but you were different. You stayed here. You got a job with the FBI.”

Julianna’s hand jerked in his grasp and she tried to pull away. He didn’t let her go.

“You’re with the FBI?” Her voice came out as a high squeak. “You—you can’t be!”

He shrugged. Julianna was definitely worried now, not a good sign. “I was.” He put a deliberate emphasis on was. “I have a knack with computers. I learned early on that I could use that knack on the wrong side of the law.” A side that his parents had been too familiar with during their lives. “Or I could try to make up for some of the pain my family caused.” And he had. He’d worked with the cyber unit for years, unraveling so many secrets. Learning that the polite world he saw truly was just a thin veneer of deception. Real monsters were out there, and they were everywhere.

When Chance had come to him with the idea of opening VJS, he’d agreed. Devlin wasn’t sure if Chance even realized the truth about all the work he’d done for the FBI. Sometimes, Devlin didn’t even want to think of the cases.

Because he hadn’t just stayed with the cyber unit. He’d gone out on missions, slipped into the darkness…

And wondered if I’d ever get back into the light.

Julianna was still trying to pull free. He was still keeping his hold on her. He was afraid if he let her go right then, he just might lose her. He glanced toward her.

“The FBI,” she said, shaking her head. “I am so screwed.”

He frowned at her words.

“How much of her past…” Ethan said, drawing Devlin’s attention, “have you already discovered?”

“Apparently, not enough,” Devlin fired back. “Because I didn’t realize she was involved with you.” That fact pissed him off. Just how involved had they been? Friends, lovers? And when?

Ethan Barclay was trouble, and Devlin hated for Julianna to be any place near the guy.

Ethan’s fingers drummed on the desk top once more. “I know lots of people. You’d be surprised at the folks who owe me favors in this town.”

“She’s your friend,” Devlin said.

Ethan inclined his head. “So it would seem.”

“Then explain to me…” Now fury pumped through him. “Why you let your friend stay with that bastard? He broke her wrist. He hit her—”

Julianna gasped. “Stop—”

“I saw the hospital records,” Devlin nearly snarled. “Sophie is building your defense, remember? It was easy enough to access those files.” Child’s play. “He didn’t just hurt you once. He hurt you over and—”

“I tried to leave a second time, all right? I tried!” Her voice was too sharp.

Ethan shot to his feet. “Julianna…”

Her shoulders straightened with pride. A pride that made Devlin’s chest ache. “He thought he controlled me when he hurt me. He was wrong. I was just biding my time with him.”

Ethan paled. “This shit never should have happened! I would have taken care of him! I would have—”

“The flash drive,” Julianna whispered. “I had to get it, no matter what.”

For an instant, a red haze swam in front of Devlin’s vision. “You were abused because you were protecting this bastard?” First Sophie had tried to protect Ethan, and now Julianna? What. The. Fuck?

“No.” Julianna’s voice was sad. “It wasn’t for him.”

Silence.

Ethan’s gaze was on Julianna.

“Who?” Devlin demanded. Who had she endured that pain for? Who the hell was it?

Julianna cast a worried glance his way. “You don’t have to turn over evidence you find today, do you? I mean, if you’re not FBI any more, maybe you can just let the past go.”

That ache in his chest got worse. “What are you covering up?” His fingers slid along the inside of her wrist, a caress that he couldn’t help even as he waited to see just how much trouble she was really in.

Julianna swallowed. “I’m covering up a murder.”

Chapter Seven

“Uh, Jules,” Ethan said, his voice more than a bit strained. “If Sophie happened to be here right now, this is the part where she’d advise you to stop talking.”

Devlin had turned to face her. There was no expression on his face. A very big part of her wondered if she were making a terrible mistake. She’d certainly made her share of those over the years. Perhaps she was making another one right then. But lying to Devlin just didn’t seem right.

When she’d been with him earlier, she’d felt a connection that had been real. True. He’d seemed to actually see her—the person she was, and not just the woman she spent so much time pretending to be.

“My sister.” As soon as she said those words, Julianna knew there would be no going back now. “I’m protecting her.” That was her job, wasn’t it? As the older sister, she was supposed to protect Carly, no matter what. She’d screwed up before, but she’d been determined to help her sister this time around.

But Devlin shook his head. “I didn’t turn up a report of any sister in your background check.”

“She’s not my blood sister. My mother’s second husband…” Oh, but her mother had enjoyed her marriages—all of them. “He had a daughter. Carly. My mom only stayed married to him for a few months before she moved on.” She’d moved on to much greener pastures because Carly’s father had been too much of a dreamer, and not a “doer” for her. “But I kept in touch with Carly. She was family.”

Ethan nodded. “You should understand that, Devlin. Didn’t you and your VJS buddies form your own family in foster care?”

Devlin had been in foster care? Julianna’s eyes widened. She didn’t—

“Carly murdered someone,” Devlin said, his words sharp.

“Sh-she was protecting herself,” Julianna tried to explain. “She was…money was tight, okay? I wish she had told me sooner, but Carly was trying to support herself and her dad. She was only seventeen and she was—”

Ethan stood up. “I found out she had gotten a job dancing at a club. One she had no business being in. Julianna and I found out at the same time.”

Julianna glanced toward Ethan. He always tried so hard to keep his voice expressionless when he talked about Carly. He was good at wearing his mask, too.

“The owner of that club became obsessed with Carly. I got her to quit,” Julianna said and she hated that painful memory of Carly. Her humiliation. Her tears. “But he kept coming after her. Saying that she belonged to him. He was following her everywhere.”

Ethan strode from around his desk. “I told the bastard to back off, but those days, I was just some twenty-one year old punk to him. He didn’t fear me.”

Not like today. Julianna knew too many people feared him today.

“He came after me,” Ethan said flatly. “He and his goons had me pinned down and they were beating the hell out of me.” His hand lifted and he held the flash drive out to Devlin. “You can see the rest for yourself.”

Ethan’s fingers finally released their hold on Julianna’s wrist.

She said, “One of…one of Quincy’s men made the video.” Quincy Atkins. Would the name mean anything to him? The D.C. crime boss who’d vanished years before. “I didn’t even know it existed, I mean…why the hell didn’t the guy come forward sooner? I had no idea about it, not until I tried to leave Jeremy.” Her back teeth clenched together. “He had it. He knew.”

Devlin headed toward Ethan’s computer. He inserted the flash drive and tapped on the keyboard. A few mouse clicks later, the video opened. Julianna crept forward so she could see the screen.

A much younger Ethan was on the dirty floor, bleeding. His face was smashed to hell and back.

Carly was there, her long, dark hair streaming down her shoulders. She was tied to a chair, screaming, begging for Quincy to stop hurting Ethan.

Quincy waved his hand and his men rushed from the room.

Then Quincy—a big, hulking jerk of a man—took the knife from the sheath at his hip. “I’m gonna cut Loverboy open,” Quincy boasted. “Then you’ll be mine. Body and soul. I’ll own every inch of you…and no one will ever be able to help you again.”

Tears poured down Carly’s face. “Please,” she begged in that video. “Don’t hurt him anymore. Don’t. I’ll do anything—just don’t!”

But Quincy lunged toward Ethan. He kicked Ethan in the ribs. Again and again. Then he rolled Ethan onto his back, holding the knife right over Ethan’s heart.

In the present, Ethan cleared his throat. “Too many bastards are always coming at me with a knife,” Ethan said then, his shuttered gaze on the video. “Why the hell is that?”

Julianna’s stare slid back to the screen. She saw Carly tear free of the ropes that bound her. She saw her sister lunge out of the chair. “Don’t hurt him!”

Carly slammed into Quincy. They flew over Ethan’s body and the knife…

Carly rose. The knife was in Quincy’s chest. The handle stuck out, but the hilt was in him. Quincy opened his mouth, as if to call out to the guards.

Carly put her hand over his mouth. Tears streamed from her eyes. Her body shuddered.

Ethan crawled toward her. A trail of blood was left in his path. His hand lifted…

And he shoved that knife even deeper into Quincy’s chest.

The video stopped.

Nausea swirled in Julianna’s stomach. “Jeremy showed me the video. H-he told me that he’d make sure Carly went to prison. That he’d destroy her.” She pushed back her hair, aware of the quiver in her fingertips. “Quincy raped my sister. He terrorized her. After that…after his death…she broke down. It took so long for her to get her strength back. But she finally moved past that night. Put it totally behind her. She has a new life now. She’s thriving in New York. She…she’s safe.” Julianna swiped at the tear that had slid down her left cheek. “I just wanted to keep her that way.”

Devlin took the flash drive out of the computer and put it in his pocket.

And it was right then that Julianna realized…she was still wearing his coat. His warmth had been surrounding her the whole time.