After a moment of silence, Adare spoke, “I had a cousin who was killed in a hit and run when we were kids. They caught the woman the next street over when she ran her car up onto the sidewalk and into a lamppost. Her blood alcohol was three times the legal limit and she’d lost her license for drunk driving three weeks before. She was convicted and sent to jail, but it didn’t bring back my cousin.”
She didn’t explain why she’d shared the story, but I didn’t need her to. I understood it completely. Just because we’d gotten justice, closure even, didn’t make the hurt or anger any less. In a way that we wouldn’t have wished on anyone, we understood each other.
Another few seconds passed before she broke the silence again, this time bringing attention back to work. “I’ve got an assignment for you.”
I managed a partial smile. A distraction sounded good right about now.
5
I’d always had a decent sense of direction, so after being in Fort Collins for nearly two months, I knew my way around pretty well.
But I hadn’t been to this particular area before. It was outside the central part of Fort Collins, but still part of the city. This was the place where the wealthiest inhabitants lived, including the Archers. After Adare had told me that Jenna Archer had called to hire the firm, I’d taken a couple hours to do some basic research on the Archers.
Damn.
Jenna Rose Lang Archer had hit the news four years ago when she’d gone on record as being a victim of childhood sexual abuse and an unwilling participate in more child pornography films than I even wanted to think about. There weren’t a lot of details about her life or about the criminal proceedings that had led to the takedown of an unknown, but vast, number of people, but the interview she’d finally given two years after the fact had been enough for me to know she had overcome shit a hell of a lot more devastating than what I’d been through, and that was saying something.
The other thing I’d learned was that she’d married Rylan Archer, billionaire software designer and the owner of Archer Enterprises. For years, he’d been one of the most sought-after bachelors in the country. He and Jenna had been married for three years. I’d managed to find a single picture of their wedding, and it had been the official publicity shot that they’d released themselves. I had a feeling that Jenna’s computer skills had more to do with that than any scruples on the part of the media. The fact that there wasn’t much in the way of links to any of the videos or pictures that had been taken of her as a kid told me that she’d done some serious computer magic. Not that I’d dug very deep. That wasn’t my job.
I had no idea what my job was. Jenna hadn’t told Adare, but the Archer name afforded some leeway when it came to things like this.
The address took me to an absolutely gorgeous house, the sort of place I’d be completely uncomfortable because I’d be worrying about tracking dirt on the carpet.
When I knocked on the door, I half-expected a butler to answer, but it was a boy. Skinny, but in that way that kids had when they hit a growth spurt. He had a mop of dark, curly hair and a suspicious-looking scowl.
“What do you want?”
“Um, is your, um your…Mrs. Archer here?” I had to be at the wrong house. This kid was easily ten or so. Way too old to be the child of Jenna and Rylan Archer.
“Jenna!” he yelled over his shoulder but didn’t move.
“You aren’t supposed to be up.” A woman’s voice came from behind him, and a moment later, she appeared.
She was shorter than me, with shoulder-length ebony hair, pale gray eyes and one of those scary ‘mom’ faces even though I knew she was only a few years older than me. She wore jeans and a plain cotton shirt with three-quarter sleeves, neither of which were the sort of ragged chic that some rich people wore to try to convince themselves that they were down-to-earth. Her earrings were plain, and she wasn’t wearing any make-up. This wasn’t a woman who’d married into money and flaunted it.
“Get back to bed.”
“I don’t want to go to bed.” The boy’s tone was belligerent. “I’m not a little kid.”
She didn’t even blink. “You know the rules, Jeremiah. You stayed home from school. Unless I have to take you to the doctor, you have to stay in bed.”
“I hate you.” He stomped back into the house.
She held up a finger, listening for something. She must have heard it, because she turned to me with a smile. “You’re from Burkart Investigations?”
“Rona Quick.” I held out my hand.
“Jenna Archer.” She shook my hand, then stepped aside to let me in. “Come on in. Don’t mind Jeremiah. He’s been testing some boundaries lately.”
“You have a beautiful home,” I said as I followed her further into the house.
“Thank you,” she said.
We stopped in the kitchen and she gestured to one of the chairs at the island in the center of the room. I sat down, and she went to the fridge.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thank you.” I set my purse on the table and took out a notepad and pen.
She sat down across from me, a bottle of water between her hands. A glance down revealed a wicked looking scar on the inside of her left arm, nearly from wrist to elbow. When I looked back up, she was watching me.
“I tried to kill myself,” she said matter-of-factly. “I was eight and my life was fucked to hell.” She shrugged. “It’s better now.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it. I was here to talk about whatever she’d hired the firm for, not her personal demons.
“Ask it,” she said, the corner of her mouth quirking up. “It’ll probably connect to why you’re here in the first place.”
“You have enough money to get the scar fixed even if insurance won’t cover it.” I pointed out.
“So why haven’t I?” She finished my question.
I nodded.
“Valid question,” she said. She took a drink of water before answering. “I see my scars as proof that I survived in some very hellish circumstances.”
She brushed her fingers over her cheek where I noticed another scar, though this one was fainter. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it if she hadn’t drawn attention to it.
“I like that,” I said. I tugged at my shirt, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “I’ll take some water, if the offer still stands.”
“It does.” She got another bottle of water and handed it to me. “How much do you know about me?”
“Basically what a quick internet search could tell me,” I said. “And I have feeling you know exactly what that would turn up.”
“I do.” She gave me an approving nod. “Between the trial and marrying Rylan, I knew people would be looking into me. I had to leave enough of the truth to satisfy most people.”
I made an educated guess. “But I need to know more than that for whatever it is you want me to do.”
“You do.” Her smile faltered. “Are you going to be able to handle it? Listening to me tell you some pretty dark shit?”
In the back of my head, I heard the scratch-scratch scratching of a branch against aluminum siding.
“I can handle it.”
“Then here it goes.” She let out a slow breath and nodded. “My mom doesn’t deserve to even be called a bitch, she was that horrible. She’d had an awful childhood too, but I can say with some authority that people can get beyond it and not treat their kids like shit.”
I really hoped that was true.
“She was born Anna Newbury, but I knew her as Helen Kingston. She was twenty-three when I was born, but I wasn’t her only kid. Just the only one she kept. As far as her official record shows, she had ten others. One died of SIDS and the last one was stillborn. The rest went into the system.” She went to take another drink and realized the bottle was empty. “I don’t know why she kept me.” She glanced at me, a bitter smile on her face. “I mean, I know why she did it. I just don’t know why I was the one she picked. I’ve made my pea
ce with it. More or less.”
I hadn’t been through the same things she had, but I could see a kindred spirit in her, someone who I might actually be able to talk to who’d understand some of what I was going through. Maybe, once this case was done, I could try it. Right now, I had to be professional.
“That’s actually why I decided that it was time.” She suddenly looked nervous. “I’m at a good place now, about what I’ve been through, about who I am. I’d thought for a while that I’d found a healthy place, but after everything that happened four years ago, I knew I still had shit I had to deal with before Rylan and I even considered adopting.”
Now the angry boy made sense. Him calling her by her first name. His age.
“We have a daughter too,” she said with a smile. “Diana. She and Jeremiah are brother and sister. We didn’t want to break them up. Not with everything they’d been through.”
At that moment, I made a promise to myself that the next time I was feeling down about things I’d gone through, I’d remember this discussion to keep things in perspective.
“Anyway.” She ran a hand through her hair and leaned back. “They’re the reason I want to do it. If there’s any way I can have a relationship with my brothers and sisters, I want it. And if they’re the sort of people my kids can be around, I want them to have that too.”
“You hired me to find your siblings?” I considered her for a moment, and then asked, “why a PI rather than tracking them down online?”
“I spend enough time on the computer as it is,” she said with a smile. “If I tried tracking them down like that, I’d get caught up, neglect things around here. If you get to a point where you need my help, I’ll do it, but I want you to do the heavy lifting.”
I nodded. “All right. I’d like to take some notes on what you know.”
“No need,” she said. “I’ve got everything I know printed out. It should give you some places to start.”
And that was it. I had a new case to work.
Continues in Claimed by HIM, the exciting spin-off to The Pleasure Series. CLICK HERE to learn more.
Also by M. S. Parker
His Obsession
His Control
His Hunger
His Secret
Sex Coach
Big O’s (Sex Coach 2)
Pleasure Island (Sex Coach 3)
Rescued by the Woodsman
The Billionaire’s Muse
Bound
One Night Only
Damage Control
Take Me, Sir
Make Me Yours
The Billionaire’s Sub
The Billionaire’s Mistress
Con Man Box Set
HERO Box Set
A Legal Affair Box Set
The Client
Indecent Encounter
Dom X Box Set
Unlawful Attraction Box Set
Chasing Perfection Box Set
Blindfold Box Set
Club Prive Box Set
The Pleasure Series Box Set
Exotic Desires Box Set
Casual Encounter Box Set
Sinful Desires Box Set
Twisted Affair Box Set
Serving HIM Box Set
Pure Lust Box Set
About the Author
M. S. Parker is a USA Today Bestselling author and the author of over fifty spicy romance series and novels.
Living part-time in Las Vegas, part-time on Maui, she enjoys sitting by the pool with her laptop writing her next spicy romance.
Growing up all she wanted to be was a dancer, actor and author. So far only the latter has come true but M. S. Parker hasn’t retired her dancing shoes just yet. She is still waiting for the call to appear on Dancing With The Stars.
When M. S. isn't writing, she can usually be found reading– oops, scratch that! She is always writing.
For more information:
www.msparker.com
[email protected] Acknowledgments
First, I would like to thank all of my readers. Without you, my books would not exist. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.
A big THANK YOU goes out to all the Facebook fans, street team, beta readers, and advanced reviewers. You are a HUGE part of the success of all my series.
Also thank you to my editor Lynette and my wonderful cover designer, Sinisa. You make my ideas and writing look so good.
M. S. Parker, Unbreak the Woodsman
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