Reckless Hours: a Romantic Suspense novel (Heroes of Providence Book 3) (30 page)

Read Reckless Hours: a Romantic Suspense novel (Heroes of Providence Book 3) Online

Authors: Lisa Mondello

Tags: #romantic suspense, #thriller, #kidnapping, #romance, #mystery and romance, #clean romance

As soon as they got back to the mansion, Dylan pulled the portrait of Eleanor Davco and Serena off the wall and brought it down to the living room.

“The wall looks so empty now,” Serena said, looking at the place where the portrait had hung for years. The days since she’d cleared her body of the drugs she’d been given had been hard, but she was thinking and talking more clearly now. While her depression over Cash and the baby was still evident in her crying bouts, she’d managed to hold herself together during the interrogation for the sake of working toward getting her family back, and had only needed to leave the room for an hour or two to rest.

“Tell me again what Byron did?” Tammie asked, brushing the dust off the top of the picture frame.

“Susan never said why she’d been planted here,” Dylan said. “I’m guessing it was to find the third painting. If I’m right, this portrait is not the original painting that was done on this canvas. The stolen painting was probably given to Byron, but never delivered to its final destination. I think that’s why Turgis put so much pressure on Byron.”

Tammie frowned. “I don’t get it. Why would Byron keep the painting? If Manuel Turgis was so upset about it, why not just give the painting to him?”

“Turgis put a lot of pressure on Byron. Perhaps he’d wanted to leave town after Eleanor became suspicious of his dealings, but Turgis wouldn’t let him. We’ll never know for sure. But Turgis needed Byron to continue his illegal dealings here. Without his help to launder money, his operation would stop.”

“But my father continued working with Turgis,” Serena said. “He gave him money. He wanted me to give him the family fortune.”

“My guess is that whoever the original painting was supposed to go to put pressure on Turgis. I don’t think this was ever about money. It was about power. Byron defied him by wanting to leave the organization. When Turgis refused to give him his freedom, Byron withheld the last painting, and that made Turgis lose face with his customer. He needed to make Byron pay for that. If Byron commissioned the artist to paint over the original painting with the portrait of Eleanor and Serena, this was Byron’s only bargaining chip.”

“It all makes sense,” Aurore said. “He used to look at that painting and cry, saying it was all he had left. But what he meant was that it was all he had left to ensure his family’s safety.”

With the edge of a knife, Dylan pried the canvas away from the frame. “That’s right. As long as Byron had the painting, they were assured some element of safety.”

Aurore held the other side of the portrait. “The artist who painted this portrait died in a car accident not long after the painting was finished. There was no way at that point to find out information regarding the painting that Turgis was looking for. Byron had commissioned so many portraits from this artist that Turgis didn’t know which painting was the portrait he was looking for. Only Byron knew.”

As Dylan inspected the paint on the borders of the canvas, he said, “Byron was a smart man. Turgis would have killed the entire family from the start if he’d been able to get his hands on that painting.”

Tammie took a soft cloth and brushed dust off the front of the painting as she stared at the images. “Then why all those years of extorting money?”

“To ruin Byron,” Aurore said. “When the statute of limitations was up on the art theft, Turgis was under bigger pressure from his buyer to get the painting back. Susan must have been planted here to find it. Only she never figured out it was right under her nose the whole time. None of us did. Only Byron knew. And, of course, he must have known that if Serena had given back the painting, she was as good as dead, too. So he left that part out of his letter, hoping the family fortune would be enough to satisfy Turgis.”

“And it may well be,” Dylan said. “The painting was stolen a long time ago. Who knows if the original buyer is even still alive?”

He used the knife to pick at the paint on the border and then peeled a small piece back.

“What do you think?” Tammie asked.

“I can’t tell for sure, but it looks as if this canvas was reused. Only a professional will be able to remove the paint and see what’s underneath.”

“So what do we do now?” Serena asked. “How can we use this to get Cash and Ellie back?”

Dylan dropped the knife onto the coffee table and propped the painting up against the wall. “We do what Byron was too afraid to do. We go after Turgis and dangle the painting right in front of his face.”

Serena gasped. “But they’ll kill Cash and Ellie!”

“We have to be realistic” he said delicately. “Susan said the baby was being taken care of. But Cash might already be dead.”

Silence filled the room.

Tammie came up beside him and touched his arm. He wanted to take comfort from her, but they had to move beyond what might be to what they actually knew, to be of any good to Cash and Ellie.

Dylan cleared his throat. “The fact remains, we know where to start. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to find Cash and Ellie. I’m going after them. If Ellie is in Colombia, then that is where Cash went. I’m sure of it.”

“Then I’m going, too,” Tammie said resolutely.

He shook his head. “No, you’re staying here. I know you all want to help with this but we have to be careful. It’s much too dangerous to have all of us showing our faces on their territory.”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing. This is my family, too. I want to do something,” Tammie insisted.

“I know you do. And you will. We just have to be careful. But don’t you worry, I have a plan. None of us are going to sit back while Cash and Ellie are left in the hands of those gangsters. I’m going after them and I’m going to make sure they don’t hurt anyone in this family again.”

“You mean, we’re going after them,” Tammie said.

He drew her into his arms and kissed her soundly on the lips. “I do like the sound of that.”

All of them vowed there’d be no more secrets between them.

And later that evening, Dylan sat in the same chair he always sat in, by the window overlooking the garden in the backyard. Tammie found him there, looking intently out into the woods.

“You were right, Dylan.”

He turned to her. “About what?”

She shrugged. “It’s a done deal for me, too. I love you.”

He smiled wide and opened his arms to her. She climbed into his lap as she had the other night, and was enveloped by his warm embrace. She was safe and secure. And she was in love. “I love you, too, Tammie.”

He kissed her lightly on the lips and stroked her hair back from her face gently with his fingers. She wanted so much more. But there was time for that when they were ready.

“Do you think we’ll really find them?”
Tammi
e asked.

He kissed her head and answered honestly. “I don’t know. But I’m so thankful that I found you.”

She closed her eyes and thought about how good that was to hear. And for the first time in a long time, Tammie finally felt that she was home.

# # #

The story continues with DESPERATE HOURS, Sonny and Gil’s story as they escape with Ellie from Colombia.. Order your copy here:
http://amzn.to/2cMNz5w

Dear Reader:

I hope you enjoyed Reckless Hours, book 3 of the Heroes of Providence series. I have loved writing this series and getting to know these sexy heroes! If you enjoyed the story, please leave a review at your online retailer to let other readers know and tell a friend about the series. Readers are always looking for a new series to read.

Next up is
DESPERATE HOURS
, book 4 of the Heroes of Providence series. Dylan’s kid sister, Sonny travels to Colombia to rescue the niece she’s never met only to be stopped by a determined bounty hunter who has a heart she can’t resist. I’ve included an excerpt of
DESPERATE HOURS
in the back of this ebook.

I am still writing Cash’s rescue, but oh, I’m so excited about that one too!
FINAL HOURS
will be released later in the year, followed by the conclusion of the Heroes of Providence series
COLD HARBOR,
which will rap up the series. Of course, I’ve said that before. When I wrote
DAKOTA HEARTS
, it was only supposed to be 5 books and it ended up being 10 because I just loved those sexy McKinnon men! But for right now, Heroes of Providence will only be a total of 6 books.

If you don’t want to miss a single release, make sure you sign up for my new release newsletter at
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All my best,

Lisa Mondello

Ebooks by Lisa Mondello

HEROES OF PROVIDENCE