Lost in Deception (Lost series) by DeVito Anita

Author:DeVito, Anita
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Entangled; Select Suspense; Romance; Romantic Suspense; Anita DeVito; Lost series; private investigator; PI
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2017-07-31T04:00:00+00:00

Thursday, April 13 five-thirty a.m.

Peach stood at attention in her dress uniform, her unruly hair tamed by a French braid that ended with a coil at her neck. An officer marched down the line, inspecting the soldiers. She kept her eyes straight ahead even as she felt scrutiny go up and down her body. The officer walked past her, down to the end of the line, and then came back to stand directly in front of her. “Morales, as you are. The rest of you, dismissed.”

The nameless, faceless bodies in identical colors faded from her vision. As ordered, she stayed as she was. Sweat beaded and ran down the column of her spine, down the back of her legs. The command came at last. “At ease.”

She changed positions, shifting her gaze to that of her father.

There was no warmth in the green eyes that matched her own. There was only disappointment. Only regret. “I expected more,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” she shouted.

“A daughter of mine should be strong—”

“I am strong, sir.”

“—and courageous—”

“I am courageous, sir.”

“and honorable.”

“—I, I—”

“I what, soldier?”

She lifted her chin. “I did what I had to do, sir.”

“Ah. I’ll put that on your grave. Esmeralda Morales. She died alone, doing what she had to do.”

She flinched at her name, at her fate.

“This is not what we wanted for you,” a female voice came from behind her. Her mother walked into view. Her dark skin was still flawless, her milk chocolate eyes wet with tears. Her own hair, curlier than Peach’s, was cut close to her head. “We raised you to be a soldier. What we got was a thief.”

“I was a good soldier,” Peach said, her voice wavering.

“You were generally discharged,” her mother shouted.

“The bastard had no right to touch her like that. It was rape, no matter what the file says.”

“It was none of your business,” her mother shouted again, this time an inch from Peach’s face.

“It was everybody’s business. I was the only one who took care of it. I was the only one who stood—”

The sharp slap came out of nowhere and knocked Peach into morning. She woke on her feet, her heart racing as it burned the endless supply of oxygenated fuel hate provided. The alarm on the table with its pretty lace top began to beep. She pivoted and silenced the damn thing with her fist.

She threw her body into automatic to go through the morning routine while she focused her brain on the details. Hawthorne’s computer. Carter’s money. Her uncle’s body.

She calmed as she packed her travel bag, the image of her uncle talking to her, laughing, that moment before… She would walk away if she could find her uncle. Tom had enough already to ensure her uncle wasn’t the scapegoat. That and bringing him home was all she cared about. Everything else was a means to that end.

She checked her bags one last time. The messenger bag had her computer, phone, and the gadgets she would need for Hawthorne’s computer. Her travel bag had the accessories she would need to meet the grieving widows.

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