Dark Hearts (Part 4) (The Bleeding Love Series) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Synopsis

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Other Books by Franca Storm

  Thank You for Reading!

  Dark Hearts

  THE BLEEDING LOVE SERIES

  Part Four

  Franca Storm

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  DARK HEARTS. The Bleeding Love Series (Part 4)

  Copyright © Francesca Julia Gale (2014). All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

  Cover Design by Francesca Julia Gale

  Cover images provided by:

  ©Botanico/bigstock.com Stock Photo 9331337

  ©Artem Furman/bigstock.com Stock Photo 78419285

  The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed”. Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book”.

  Synopsis

  When an alpha female assassin meets the ultimate alpha male, all bets are off. Rules will be broken….

  ~Damon~

  She’s discovered my secret. My betrayal.

  But I did it for her. To protect her. And I’d do it again. Whatever it takes to keep her safe.

  But can she forgive me? Can she get past it? She’ll have to, because I’m not walking away.

  We’ve been given a gift and I’m not letting that go. Not for anything.

  And I’m not risking her. She’s benched from this mission. The mission that will end all of this.

  I just hope my unholy alliance with Dean and Mark can hold up.

  The stakes have never been higher.

  This is our last stand.

  ~Alana~

  He betrayed me to the man who rules my nightmares.

  But I’m different now. I can see the bigger picture. I know he did it for me. For us.

  I can find a way to accept it. But what I won’t accept is staying out of this mission. I’m going to be there to take Cartwright down, alongside them.

  I’ve never been a woman who allows anyone to put her in the corner and that’s not about to change now.

  We'll end this together.

  I just hope we’ll all come out of it in one piece. I hope we’ll all survive it.

  _________________________

  Finish the intense ride with the final part in this erotic action thriller romance that has a bit of everything: a possessive alpha male billionaire, mystery, spies, a love triangle, intense passion and a tough female lead.

  Chapter 1

  ~Damon~

  “She isn’t gonna be happy when she wakes up,” Mark comments from where he’s leaning against the door frame of my bedroom. “How long do you think that stuff is gonna knock her out for?”

  “A good few hours,” I mutter, as I finish tucking Alana in.

  My security guys followed my irate orders. They didn’t harm her.

  No. They stuck her with a goddamn needle instead. Sedated her.

  I sit down on the bed beside her and brush her golden hair out of her face. She looks so peaceful.

  If only it were real and not just a forced sleep to keep her from running out of here.

  But it’s not.

  Our lives don’t afford us that luxury. That peace.

  There’s just danger and death threats in our existence.

  And now…betrayal.

  Shit. The look on her face when I told her I’d been working with Andrew Forest and her father in secret to try to end this Cartwright threat hanging over our heads, burned into me. It sickened me, seeing the disappointment in her eyes. All this time, I’ve been pushing her to let her guard down and trust in me. And, finally, she had. Now she knows my secret, that’s all fractured.

  But I did what I had to. Working with them—all of it—was for her. To protect her. The woman I love.

  But there’s no one she hates more than Forest. So, how could she see me working with him as anything other than abhorrent? Her judgment is purely emotional. I know that. It’s the way she feels. She feels betrayed by me. How the fuck can I turn that around? How’s she ever going to trust me again? It took me so much work to earn it the first time around.

  Having her asleep right now, because of those fucking sedatives, means I can’t explain myself. I can’t make her understand why I did it. I can’t even try to make it better. It’s twisting me up inside, fearing that she won’t be able to accept it.

  Her first reaction was to run. She was out the door and trying to get away from me after she overheard me and Mark talking about it. Is that going to change when she’s had a chance to calm down?

  Alana’s stubborn, so I really have no idea.

  And what do I expect from her? Having the one man she actually trusted with all her heart—me—effectively betraying her by working with the man of her worst nightmares is a hell of a thing to simply brush under the carpet. How else did I expect her to react?

  Fuck. The truth is, I didn’t.

  I never wanted her to know. I’d never planned on telling her. It was a secret I planned to carry with me to my grave. And their graves. Her father and Forest’s. I hadn’t planned on them surviving beyond the handover.

  I still don’t.

  As far as I’m concerned, Forest and Sam are just as fucking dangerous as Cartwright. They need to be buried. I need to neutralize all threats to me and Alana.

  I pinch the bridge of my nose, fighting to get my head together.

  I gaze at Alana and lay my hand gently on her belly. Our baby.

  Jesus Christ. Could the timing be worse?

  I’m still trying to wrap my head around Alana being pregnant with my child. I can’t believe it.

  Despite my advanced age, I’ve never thought about having kids. It just wasn’t an option for a man like me. Even though I was retired until I’d stepped back in to help Alana with Cartwright, I still lived a dangerous existence. I did business with dangerous men. Men who wouldn’t hesitate to use my weaknesses against me, in order to get one over on me—to come out on top. Unfortunately for them, I didn’t have any weaknesses.

  Until I met Alana.

  Now she’s my weakness. And so is our child.

  Why?

  Because I care. Because I love.

  Having something you care about so damn much that you can’t bear the idea of losing, can be used against a man like me. It makes me vulnerable. It’s not a position I’ve ever been in before. It’s more than a little unsettling.

  As I look at Alana and hold my hand to her belly, knowing she’s carrying my child now, knowing this is my family here, emotion threatens to take me over.

  Stop!

  I can’t allow it.

  I get off the bed quickly and turn away from her.

  “I’ll get you a number for my discreet doctor. Get him in here to check on her and the baby,” I tell Mark as I brush past him and walk out of the bedroom.

  “Damon?” he calls, following me down the hall.
/>   “What?” I bark over my shoulder.

  “Do you want to postpone the handover meet?”

  I walk into my study and cross to my desk. I pull out the bottom desk drawer and start taking out what I need there. Weapons.

  “Did you hear me?” he presses. “Alana’s gonna wake up and find you gone.”

  “I can’t worry about that right now.”

  “What? You can’t worry about her? Is that what you mean? I get that finding out you’re gonna be a father is a shock to the system, but you better fucking step up here, or—”

  I slam one of my guns down on the top of my desk. “Or, what? What the fuck are you gonna do? Huh, Mark? You think you can take me? You want to step up and try, feel free. Believe me, I’m in the mood to throw down with anyone who pisses me off right now!”

  Yeah, there’s no way he can overpower me. I have twenty years of experience on him. He’s a damn kid compared to me.

  “We both know there aren’t any guarantees in this business. You go to this meet and there’s a chance you aren’t gonna make it back. It was bad enough before, but knowing now that Alana’s carrying your kid, the stakes just got too high, Damon. You can’t leave her. You can’t leave that kid fatherless. Alana’s gonna need you there to figure all of that out. She’s been a killer for so long, that I doubt very much that the whole motherly, nurturing thing is gonna be easy for her to come by.”

  It takes everything I have, all my training I’ve had over the years on how to compartmentalize things, for me to remain detached from his little speech here.

  They’re words that have the potential to tear into the heart of me and knock me off kilter. I refuse to let that happen.

  I can’t.

  I’ve shut down.

  No emotion.

  It’s the only way for me to go through with what I need to. To finish this mission. To take down Cartwright and all those who are threats to us, once and for all.

  “It’s kill, or be killed,” I tell him, as I load my two Desert Eagles and set about putting on my hip holsters.

  “It’s more complicated now.”

  I slide my guns into place and stride towards him, ready to leave. “It can’t be,” I tell him as I pass him by.

  I hear him calling out after me as I head down the hall towards the front door of my condo.

  But I tune it out.

  I have to.

  It’s been years since I’ve had to do it, but I have to now. There’s no choice.

  I have to become the man I was before I retired all those years ago.

  I need that cold-blooded killer in me to take the reins again. Anything less…any remnant of emotion…is a weakness I can’t afford, not when I’m going up against men like Robert Cartwright, Andrew Forest and Sam Halton. I need to be ready. I need to be better than them. I need to be able to pull the trigger without hesitation.

  The last time I was tested, I choked. Fucking PTSD bullshit. It screwed up my shot on Forest years ago. I can’t make that mistake again. It’s not just me on the line now. It’s my family—Alana and our child. The stakes have never been higher.

  So, the only way I can make damn sure I can pull the trigger this time, without a shadow of a doubt, is to shut down completely.

  And, right now, that means cutting myself off from Alana.

  For the greater good. To save both our lives.

  The killer is back.

  I just hope I can reel it in and come out of it. Going down a road as dark as this always poses that risk of not being able to make it back.

  It’s a risk I’m willing to take.

  For her.

  Chapter 2

  ~Damon~

  “Where the fuck is he?” I mutter. I’m pacing up and down beside the armored truck we commandeered for this meet. We weren’t taking any chances.

  “Technically, he’s got two minutes until he’s actually late,” Sam points out.

  He’s leaning against the side of the truck beside Andrew. The two of them are dragging on their smokes, just like me.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the field,” Andrew comments, flippantly.

  I spin around and bark at him, “No trips down memory lane, for fuck’s sakes. That’s the last thing we need.”

  Sam slaps his shoulder. “He’s right, Andy.”

  He knows I’m right on the edge when it comes to that fucker and that it’ll take next to nothing for me to snap his goddamn neck.

  Although, truth be told, I’ve still got two minutes left to wait. So, even if he pisses me off, I’m still going to have to hold back. For the greater good. For Alana. For my family. This has to be done right.

  Feeling the weight of the stakes involved has me more on edge than I’ve ever been.

  I’m basically trying to do the impossible here. To ensure that a plan involving the three most manipulative and untrustworthy people I’ve ever known in my life goes off without a hitch.

  “You’re not usually this antsy when we’re on a job, Damon,” Sam comments.

  “I’m retired,” I grunt back at him.

  “We all are,” Andrew cuts in.

  I scoff. “Give me a break.” The two of them never really retired. They might have gone to ground for years, but they weren’t technically out of the business. They were moving through other people, exacting their will and influence from a distance.

  “What?” Andrew says, feigning innocence.

  “You’re really gonna stand here and patronize me?”

  When he just sneers back at me, I take an aggressive step forward.

  Sam steps in between us quickly. “All right. Take it down. You’re right, Damon. Okay? Retirement’s never truly been in the cards for us. But all of that’s classified.”

  Classified? They still think they’re in the goddamn army. Delusional fuckers. Even when they were, they were involved in some dirty shit pretty early on. They were a disgrace. But they’re so twisted, they can’t even see that reality.

  I shake my head to myself and tell them, “Let’s just get this done.”

  I scan the area. We’re in a parking lot at the back of a seedy strip club in the middle of the city. A shithole part of the city. It’s the kind of place that my public persona wouldn’t be caught dead in, but the kind of place my killer persona is more than a little familiar with.

  Where the hell is Cartwright? The asshole has a reputation for always making an entrance. He must be pulling some fashionably late bullshit here. Pathetic. This is a handover, not a club opening. It’s just a ridiculous attempt to exert control over the situation. As a man who operates the same way when it comes to controlling everything around me, it really pisses me off on a personal level that he’d try to take that role on.

  Argh. I just need to keep reminding myself that none of it will matter soon.

  If all goes to plan, the three of them won’t matter.

  They’ll all be in the fucking ground. It’s where they should’ve been long ago.

  “How’s Alana?” Sam asks, cutting through the last few seconds of welcomed silence.

  “She’s fine,” I respond, offering fuck all.

  With everything he’s done to her, he deserves even less than that. He has let her down in the most God awful ways. In ways no father ever should. Sickening ways.

  “You’re sure?” he presses.

  Right then I know he has an ulterior motive for asking.

  I was finding it a little difficult to believe he was actually asking out of parental concern, given his disgusting track record. And by pressing it, he’s just unwittingly revealed that he’s asking for a specific reason.

  “Why?” I ask, looking between him and Andrew.

  Andrew isn’t making eye contact. He’s staring off into the distance. He probably shut down at hearing her name. Guilt will do that.

  “I’m just more than a little surprised that she’s not here with you. I’d have thought she would’ve wanted to be a part of Cartwright’s takedown as much as any
of us.”

  He’s fishing for information. And he’s not subtle about it. It means he’s anxious.

  Shit. He knows something, or he thinks he knows something.

  My pulse kicks up a few notches.

  Something’s not right here.

  “She couldn’t be trusted. With him,” I say, pointing at Andrew.

  He stops staring into space then and eyes me. “What?”

  “She’s vowed to kill you, given the opportunity. I had to ensure she wasn’t a part of this in any way.”

  Sam shakes his head. “It’s a shame that she can’t separate emotion from the job. I thought she was more professional than that. Better.”

  His comment gets under my skin in a major fucking way.

  The fact that she has finally been able to show emotion at all, has been a huge triumph for her. She’s come such a long way in a short amount of time. And, here he is, talking about that being a bad thing? A bad thing that she isn’t twisted like them?

  It’s sickening.

  The ironic thing is, the only thing stopping me from ripping them both to shreds is her. I have to keep to the plan. Taking the two of them out right now will still leave Cartwright.

  I need all three of them dead.

  That’s when Alana and I will truly be safe. Only then. Nothing short of that will be enough.

  “Well, Damon? What do you have to say about that?” Sam presses me.

  Yeah, something’s definitely not right here.

  He must know something.

  Fuck!

  It clicks for me in the next few seconds. They’re going to double cross me.

  I glare back and forth between them.

  “If either of you has something to say, please spit it the fuck out. None of us are getting any younger. Spill it.”

  The screeching of tires on the asphalt parking lot interrupts the tense moment between the three of us. We all turn to see a black town car speeding into the lot.