Dangerous Place For Love (2 page)

Mum xxx

Reading the words her mother wrote
made things a lot clearer to Kelly. She understood why her father
had brought men into her life. He’d forced her to go on dates. He
was shopping for a new son-in-law and a means to extend his already
bulging empire.

So, fear playing a vital part in her
plan, she walked in on the special agent’s department and requested
to see the man in charge of Arthur O’Donald’s case. Not one of her
brightest moments but it fuelled her desire to seek out justice.
From that day forth, she turned rat on her father and became an
informant for the secret agents working his case. Every shred of
information she could provide, she did. This was three years ago.
They were supposed to have taken him down while she was transported
to Italy.

The plane accident and being trapped
on a deserted island hadn’t been part of the plan.

“
I just want to get home,”
she repeated. The need to see her father behind bars was strong.
This was payback for her mother and all the other women who’d
suffered at his hand.

“
You and me both, honey.
I’ve got important stuff to be getting on with as well. I don’t
have all day to be babysitting a spoilt little rich
girl.”

Erik was her father’s right-hand man
and most trusted contact. She’d seen them together a few times.
Always with a woman resting on his arm, or perched in his lap while
her father talked business. About three months ago, Arthur had
forced her to play hostess and keep Erik company. The man reeked of
danger and even if her body stirred, the thought of the wire she
wore and the calls she use to receive and make to the special agent
in charge would always be a wake-up call and make her keep her
distance.

One of the deals she made was she
would never know the name of the people involved working the case,
which helped to protect her because other than answering the phone
and wearing a wire she didn’t know anything. The other was to keep
their specially designed, untraceable phone on her person at all
times. In case she was ever in danger, she would phone and they’d
get the signal. Other than pre-planned calls, the phone was rarely
used.

From the day she’d entered the
department and sat down with a guy in his mid-forties, she hadn’t
seen anyone since.

It seemed ironic she was stuck on an
island with one of the deadliest men in the world and she had
nothing to protect herself with.

“
I’m sick and tired of your
bitching. I’m not some spoilt rich girl, okay?” She threw a shell
at him and growled in frustration as it went straight over his
head. Kelly bent down to pick up another one but Erik was already
on her. He took her down to the sand and rolled her onto her back.
The fight she put up caused more of a struggle and Erik had to use
some force to restrain her. His body came close and she detected
his masculine scent underneath the salty sea air. Dirty and hard.
She imagined rough sex and rock music. The sand gritty under her
body where she wouldn’t have to see it. Since being in this fucking
beautiful deserted island, she hated the sight of sand.

“
Okay, if you’re not some
little rich girl. Tell me sweetness, what exactly are
you?”

His body was flush against hers. Since
the crash and the battle to get their life to some form of
normality, Erik had decided to get rid of his clothes. He wore the
occasional pair of pants but he refused to wear anything when the
sun was blaring in the sky. Kelly hadn’t been able to rid herself
of her small amount of modesty. She was only thankful she’d decided
to wear her push-up bra on the day of the plane crash that had
padding in it rather than the sheer lace she often wore.

As he lay on top of her, she became
aware of two things; one, she liked the feel of lying beneath him,
and the second, he was having just as much fun. His cock was hard
and thick where it settled over her panties.

She gasped and gazed into his eyes.
Without thinking, she admitted the truth. “I’m a rat.”

He paused above her.
“What?”

Licking her lips as he trapped her
hands above her head she tried to think about what she was doing.
Part of the deal was not talking about it with anyone. Kelly needed
to get it off her chest and the best way of doing that was to tell
one of the men she was stitching up. Maybe he would kill her
quickly.

“
I ratted out my father to
the authorities. I told them everything and got them inside
information about him and his deals,” she whispered. Her chest rose
and fell as she took deep breaths. Heart pounding, like it was
ready to beat out of her chest. “Everything is documented and
taped. They have it all.”

Erik stayed above her and Kelly waited
for the explosion. “Say it again.” She saw the anger simmering
beneath the surface and she gulped down some oxygen. The air burnt
her lungs.

“
I told the authorities
everything. I gave them locations of drug busts and when you were
all sleeping, I snuck out the secured disks. All of it for the past
three years. They’ve built their case and Arthur O’Donald and all
the rest of them are going to rot for the rest of their lives in
some secured prison.” Kelly applied some pressure on the hands
binding her wrists over her head and they wouldn’t move. Erik
stayed perfectly still above her.

His eyes flashing the darkest green
she ever saw.

“
Do you have any idea what
you’ve fucking done?” he shouted. He came off her body and pulled
her to her feet. Kelly flinched away from him but he took her elbow
and led her across the sand back to where he’d made camp when they
first washed up on shore.

“
Let me go. It’s over,” she
yelled, yanking her arm trying to dislodge any hold he had on
her.

He thrust her up against the nearest
tree and held her in place. “Stay fucking still.”

Erik moved away, kicking up the sand.
He bent and put on some pants and then cursed and shouted at
nothing. Kelly waited patiently wondering what to do with a
half-crazed man.

“
They should never have
come for you,” he growled as he stood next to her. His fist
connected with the trunk of a tree off to her side and she cried
out.

“
What are you doing?” she
asked covering her head.

“
I told them, I’d get them
what they needed but they had to leave you out of it. I did all of
this for you,” he shouted and Kelly was confused.

“
I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

“
No. You wouldn’t. When
your mother died, I promised myself you wouldn’t suffer the same
fate as her. I saw and knew what your father had planned. For the
past ten years I’ve watched and waited until I found the perfect
situation to become close to your father.”

Everything he said didn’t make any
sense. Erik Coldwell was one of the worst killers in the world.
She’d seen the evidence for herself.

“
What are you talking
about?” She made to move away from the tree he’d pinned her
to.

“
I told you to stay fucking
still. I’ve got to get myself under control.” Kelly nodded and
stood, nervous and shaking but waiting to see what was going to
happen.

After a few minutes he stopped and
walked over to her. Kelly braced herself and waited to see if he
would strike her or leave her alone.

“
Your mother first came to
us over six years ago. This case with your father has been open for
over twenty years. It started with his father as I’m sure you’re
aware. Cathy came to us for protection of herself and her only
daughter, you.” He ran his fingers through her hair.

“
Are you trying to tell me
you’re not some crook working for my father but are in fact part of
the agency working to bring him down?” It was too surreal to even
think about.

Erik Coldwell was a mass murderer.
Wasn’t he?

“
Don’t interrupt. Seeing as
you’ve decided to butt in on something that has been going on
longer than you’ve been living, I suggest you keep quiet for a
while.”

“
How old are you?” she
asked. Kelly was twenty-four.

“
I’m thirty-seven and way
too old to be dealing with young girls,” he said.

“
I’m not a young girl,” she
argued.

“
Look. Do you want me to
tell you or not?”

Kelly stood and wondered if she wanted
to know what was really going on. She thought it would be a simple
and straightforward process to get rid of Arthur but every step had
been met with obstacles she wasn’t prepared to deal
with.

“
Yes, I need to know what
my mother was doing.”

Chapter Three

Erik glanced down at Kelly. She was so
smart and beautiful it took his breath away. He cursed and turned
away from the temptation she’d become.

“
Cathy O’Donald made first
contact when a young girl by the name of Christine Thompson went
missing. A young, fresh eighteen-year-old. She told us her husband
Arthur O’Donald had brought a woman that matched her description to
the house and fucked her in front of her. She said it appeared as
if the girl had been drugged and wasn’t in her right mind. Through
investigation and with her help, we found Christine alive, drugged
and being forced to whore out her body for payment.”

Erik paused as he saw the horror on
Kelly’s face. He gave her time to digest everything she
heard.

“
Do you want me to
continue?” he asked.

Kelly nodded but her eyes were glazed
over with tears.

“
From that moment, Cathy
O’Donald helped us to save over one hundred girls who would have
been lost to the system and probably ended up dumped in some river
somewhere. Broken and dead. The problem was Cathy was so good at
getting us what we needed, we didn’t intervene. We left her with
Arthur and she would phone us with details. The only thing she
wanted from us was the promise we’d keep you safe once you left
home. The deal being once we secured enough evidence we could get
you and Cathy out of there.” He stopped as the wounds of the past
opened up and threatened to consume him.

“
If everything was going so
well, what happened to make it all go wrong?”

“
We were so close to having
him, Kelly. So close and then the calls stopped coming. Our
contact, who was there undercover, went missing and turned up three
weeks later dead. Arthur found out about what happened and we
believe he was instrumental in getting rid of Cathy.”

The pain of hearing the news of
Cathy’s bizarre and life-threatening illness had sent a wave of
guilt through the entire force where he worked. All of the men in
his division had known Arthur was doing something to Cathy but
because of the laws, Cathy had died and they’d not been able to
find out what happened to the woman they’d come to care about. A
great life had been lost that day.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
We think your father
poisoned Cathy after learning she’d come to us. He couldn’t kill
her and tell you some made-up story, could he? He needed to make it
a clean death where nothing could stop him,” Erik said the last on
a whisper.

The tears were falling from her eyes
and all he wanted to do was reach out and comfort her. To promise
he would keep her safe.

“
How do you fit into
this?”

“
The case had literally hit
bottom. Cathy was gone and dead and everything we collected pretty
much null and void with her death. Our informant was dead and so we
needed someone on the inside and after careful thought, I was the
one who drew the short straw. My name and everything associated
with the force was wiped clean. I was Erik Coldwell, a killer and
right-hand man to Arthur O’Donald. The hitch in the plan was you.
You came back when you were supposed to stay in another country far
from the death. My men worked against me, brought you on board and
didn’t inform me. I’ve been in the dark for over a
year.”

The calls and connection to his
special division had been broken. With no choice left, Erik had
taken on the role he’d been playing in full force. No matter what
he did, he always waited for the call to reveal his next moved.
Kelly had been the one piece of the puzzle he hadn’t thought about.
She was always around, always close by.

“
This is insane. Are you
telling me that you are in fact a cop?”

“
Yes.”

Kelly stormed away and Erik cursed. It
wasn’t safe for her to be running off. “Stay away from me.” She
pushed him away as he made to grab her. “You’re the one who should
be protecting me but you’re nothing but a guy who’s gone rogue.
I’ve seen what you’ve done to people.”

Erik cursed. She would know every
single sin he’d committed in his time serving under
O’Donald.

“
Do you think I don’t get
that?” he yelled.

“
You could have ended it.
Put a bullet through his head or something.”

“
Listen to me, Kelly.” He
followed her across the sandy beach to the shady part of the
island.

“
No. You listen to me. I
don’t trust you. I want off this island and I want far away from
you.”