Deadly Illusion: A Suspenseful Standalone Romance (Secrets and the City Book 1) by Kathy Lockheart

Author:Kathy Lockheart [Lockheart, Kathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781955017008
Published: 2021-12-10T05:00:00+00:00

20

Damian’s apartment had a relaxed industrial style with brick walls, exposed pipes on the ceilings, distressed wood floors, and oversized windows that flooded the place with light. In his bedroom, where he’d told me to set my stuff down, everything matched Damian’s personality—the black furniture, gray bedding, and a framed poster of a fighter in midswing. But there was one glaring exception: sitting on top of the hardened fighter’s dresser was a pink stuffed animal.

“You have my cell,” Justin muttered. He and Damian were by the front door while I lingered in here, hoping it’d decrease the chances of Justin changing his mind about leaving. “She leaves this place? You’re with her. She leaves work? You’re with her. She’s at work or here, that’s it. If I find out you took her anywhere else…”

I could imagine Damian glaring at him.

Justin needed to hurry; the sunlight was fading fast, and traffic to O’Hare Airport was unpredictable.

“Keep your eyes and ears open,” Justin demanded. “If you see him—”

“If I ever see that piece of shit again, he’ll get the beating of his life,” Damian declared in an eerily calm tone.

My face flushed in embarrassment.

“What’s your angle here? You’ve known my sister, what—a few weeks? If I find out this is some sort of Romeo play to take advantage of her—”

“You’ll swat me to death with your casts. Yeah, I know.” After a few seconds, Damian sighed. “Look, man, we’re after the same thing here. No one’s going to touch her.”

Unable to listen to their misguided belief that they were suddenly secret service agents, I refocused on the dresser, noticing a framed photo that lacked the sharpness of a modern camera. In it, a little girl and boy with green eyes and dark hair smiled, while the girl hugged a stuffed bunny. The same bunny that was sitting next to the photo. It was Damian and his sister, Sophie, I realized, and the bunny was Hippy—the one she carried everywhere. I’d never seen Damian smile as big as he did in that picture, nor had I ever seen that light brimming from his eyes.

I could imagine their life before the accident. Damian and his father playing catch in the backyard while his mom and sister played dolls, kisses as Damian climbed onto the school bus each morning with his second-grade backpack that probably had a lunchbox note that said, I love you!, bedtime stories from a loving father, and family vacations packed full of memories.

The little boy in that photo had no idea that soon, his biggest worry would no longer be his Little League game getting rained out or what Santa might bring for Christmas. He had no idea this was one of the last happy moments of his life.

Damian opened his bedroom door and saw what I was looking at.

“She’s beautiful,” I said.

Looking from the powerful guy standing before me to the happy boy in the photo, I thought about how I’ve always believed people come into your life for a reason.

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