Chapter 1
COLLIN
“If it isn’t Joe Allaro with his brand new helo,” I say as I meet him on the tarmac. He reaches me and I give him a half hug, thumping his back. “Thanks for picking me up.” A breeze picks up and I get a wistful whiff of the island’s distinct scent, part beach and part pine.
“Anything for my new partner.” He grins and then glances at my two duffels on the ground next to me.
Taking a deep breath of the island air he says, “I’ll miss coming to the Vineyard on the regular, but without you here…
” He shrugs his shoulders and I’m grateful he doesn’t mention the others from our team who already left Martha’s Vineyard.
I nod, but I have nothing to say on the subject of leaving the island and my job as State Police Captain here.
He slaps my back. “Let’s get you settled in your new digs, Cap.”
“I’m not Cap anymore.” The admission kicks me in the gut. But it’s not the first kick I’ve felt today after packing up and slipping from my small rental. I left the resignation letter on my desk at State Police Headquarters for the deputy to find.
“Right. Then Collin it is. We have a client and a job that starts tonight. Are you ready to jump right in?”
“Always ready.” Starting the new security career tonight sounds perfect, and if I’m honest, it’s a relief to move forward as quickly as possible. But I keep that to myself. No looking back.
“You sure? I’d understand if you need a breather. You’re leaving your world behind, your career, your home, your--"
I interrupt him before he can remind me I’m leaving my friends behind, because my best friends are already gone. I have no room for regrets because I knew testifying at Dane’s trial would cut the line of friendship with him. Shana too, by default, because she’s his new wife.
“You think I’ve gone soft? The past is past. Next mission up. Discussion closed.”
He arches a brow. “Fine with me. But I hope you’re not completely closed to the past.” He picks up one of the two bags where my entire life is packed away and ready to go.
His words sink in through the tremor of loss I feel in my gut, repudiating my words.
“What do you mean about not being completely closed to the past?” A ball of trepidation rises in my throat feeling a lot like a hand grenade ready to blow my head off.
Joe doesn’t answer me, but walks ahead. My heart gallops and I gulp down the trepidation—or try to. But it’s hard not to think about our shared past in the special ops unit. There’s a reason I closed that door long ago.
When he waves at the helo, I notice there’s someone inside who jumps out the door on the far side as we approach.
“We have a third partner,” he says, his usually genuine smile now forced.
“A third—”
He stops, and stands between me and the so-called third partner as they come around the helo.
Joe failed to mention a third person when he pitched the idea of partnering in a personal security firm.
The memory of our third partner back in our special ops days batters at my mind bringing the sickening feeling of loss with it.
My need for self-preservation automatically kicks in, shutting down the memories. .
“You remember the Holy Trinity?”
Shit. The door to all those memories blows open. Joe knows very well the Holy Trinity is impossible to forget. Exorcising those memories altogether would require a lobotomy for any one of us.
As his words reach inside me and grab hold with all their implications about our third partner, a wave of chaos churns so strong it freezes me when it hits. My mind, my breathing and every muscle in me turns to stone. Am I elated or horrified? I can’t be both, and yet…
Joe steps aside and the third person in our so-called Holy Trinity from twelve years ago steps forward.
The woman I never thought I’d see again, the one who got away—or more accurately, the one who chose to run away, far and fast from any future with me—stands in front of me looking as scorching and untouchable as the picture of her I’ve carried since I last saw her in the hospital.
“Fuck.” I murmur the word, only half aware that I’m speaking out loud. “Dagmar Larsen.”