DONNA
With a cup of coffee in hand, Bella entered the interrogation room and placed it on the table across from the man who had just plotted to kill her.
He hadn’t spoken a word since he’d been arrested, but his fingerprints were run through Leads and NCIC.
Hopefully, the law enforcement databases would shed some light on who he was.
So far, all she knew was the obvious. He was a tall Asian man with a scar over his right eye and multiple tattoos.
It was five in the morning, which meant that her assailant had been detained for a little less than four hours.
Bella noticed that not even once had he so much as shifted in his seat.
With an eerie level of discipline, he stared at the wall, sitting perfectly still.
And that didn’t change when Bella entered the room.
“Get on with it!” he growled with a heavy accent that wasn’t American.
Bella leaned forward, placing her arms on the table between them. “Let’s,” she agreed with a hiss. “Who are you and why are you trying to kill me?”
The man spat words in a different language and returned his attention to the wall.
“That’s not helpful,” Bella commented.
After a frown, he turned to Bella. “You want me to be helpful?” he questioned.
“Would be nice,” Bella muttered sarcastically.
With a hateful look that would give a lesser woman a chill, the man responded. “I am no one and I don’t know why you need to die. I don’t question. I don’t care.”
Bella exhaled a frustrated breath. “Where are you from, Mr. No One?’ Who do you work for?”
Bella was wasting her breath. It was clear that the man didn't plan to answer any of her questions, so she wasn’t irritated by the knock at the door. When it opened, Donna entered and took the chair next to Bella. The man glared from one to the other with no reaction to their similarities.
Donna slid a file over and glared at the John Doe sitting across from them. “Which one of us do you want dead?” she asked.
Bella frowned, but it was a good question. All along, she’d just assumed that she was the target.
The man chuckled with an evil grin and yanked at the handcuffs that latched his wrists to a metal loop in the table. He glared at Donna. “You!” Then, his hateful glare darted toward Bella. “Or you...” he said with a shrug. “It does not matter.”
Bella scoffed at his callousness and opened the file. She rolled her eyes, unable to hide her disappointment at the lack of information. His prints came back to nothing. Either he’d never been arrested and printed before, or he just hadn’t been arrested in the United States.
“Maybe you both die,” he growled sadistically.
Donna leaned forward, shooting daggers at the man in cuffs. “Not today, asshole!”
“It seems I am in need of counsel,” he replied with a menacing grin.
Another knock at the door drew their attention.
Bella tapped her sister on the shoulder and stood.
She walked over to the door and waited. Donna stood, making a loud screech when she kicked the chair from behind her.
She never took her eyes off the man as she walked to the door.
Bella opened the door and held it open until Donna walked out.
The would-be killer glared at her one last time before retraining his eyes on the wall.
Bella snatched the ponytail holder from her hair and left the interrogation room.
Maria Mendez was waiting in the hall, and the look on her face wasn’t conveying good news. “Process him.”
“What’s up, Lieutenant?” Bella questioned. “We’re in the middle of an interrogation.”
Maria folded her arms and raised a brow at Bella. “You heard hm ask for a lawyer. This interrogation is over. Get him processed.”
Bella blew out a frustrated breath as her sister spoke the words swirling in her head.
“So far, all we have is a misdemeanor gun charge. He’ll be out in hours.”
Maria nodded. “Fortunately, you stopped him before he killed Bella, but unfortunately, that’s why we don’t have a charge that can hold him.”
“Well, fuck!” Donna. barked “Maybe, I should have just let him take my sister’s head off.”
Bella rolled her neck when she turned the glare at her sister. “Or… maybe not,” she countered.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Detective. It would’ve been nice if you could’ve gotten some information on this guy, but you know the law as well as I do. He’s gonna bond out.”
Donna groaned and nodded in compliance. Bella looked at her sister, surprised by her reaction. The lieutenant was right. She knew the law better than most, Bella suspected. One would have to have a good working knowledge of police procedure to work undercover.
Maria smiled sympathetically. “So, go on and process him. Then you two can cut out.”
“All right, Lieu,” Donna agreed. She turned to Bella. “I’ll knock out the reports. You can go on home and get some rest.”
“Don’t forget to photograph his tattoos,” Maria reminded Donna before walking away.
Bella raised both brows. She was surprised but grateful for her twin’s generosity. “Ohh-kay. You ain’t gotta tell me twice.”
Bella walked over to her desk, grabbed her bag, and headed towards the stairwell.
“Text me when you get in the house!” Donna shouted at her back.
“Will do, sis. See you later.”
Bella’s laugh was soft when she jogged down the stairs. She wasn’t stupid. Her sister was up to something. She wouldn't be at all surprised if Donna found her way back into the interrogation room as soon as Maria Mendez turned her back.
Since it was so early in the morning and Bella was driving in the opposite direction of rush-hour traffic, it didn’t take long to get home.
But when she turned into her driveway, the path to her garage was blocked by a black Cadillac SUV.
Even though she doubted an attacker would lie in wait, parked openly in her driveway, Bella grabbed the gearshift of her old school Chevy, shifted into park, and snatched her pistol from its holster.
Bella got out of the car and scanned the area for danger. All was quiet, so she crept over to the SUV and peered inside. It was empty. There was always the possibility that someone would be in her house, but for them to park in the driveway would be ludicrous.
“Detective?”
The voice came from the side of her house.
Bella trained her weapon in the direction of the sound.
A tall white man dressed in black stepped out.
His jacket lifted when he raised his hands, exposing the handgun on his side.
“Ma’am, my name is Cody McClain. I work with Colonel Creed.
I’ve been entrusted with the protection of your family. ”
Bella kept her weapon trained on the man who had called himself Cody.
She really had no way of knowing if he was telling the truth.
She’d seen the men at the Creeds’ compound, but she hadn’t studied any of their faces.
She didn’t know any by name. She didn’t even know the name of the soldier who’d been assigned to protect her.
All she knew was that he was in the way, and she needed to get rid of him.
Otherwise, how would she and Donna trap whoever it was that was hunting them?
With his hands still in the air, Cody stepped over to her porch and walked backward up the steps. With his left hand, he placed a key in the lock and unlocked the door. “Mr. Creed is waiting inside.”
“Step away,” Bella ordered as she moved closer.
Cody walked down the steps and sidestepped until he was near a hedge that divided Bella’s house from her neighbor’s.
Her eyes never left the man as she took the steps and twisted the knob.
Lincoln’s man must’ve thought she was a paranoid freak.
But people were trying to kill her. He would just have to get over it.
Bella stepped inside and secured the door. She turned around to discover an empty living room. “Donna’s not here, Linc!” she shouted toward the back of the house.
“Neither is Lincoln!” came from the bedroom.
Bella smiled, pleasantly surprised by the sound of her man’s voice.
She returned her handgun to its holster, dropped her bag, and made her way down the hall.
Lucas was standing in the doorway to her bedroom, leaning against the doorjamb.
His thick, black waves had grown nearly to his chin.
In a white T-shirt and jeans, Bella noticed that his physique hadn’t suffered even after being bedridden for weeks.
“Hey, babe,” she nearly sang.
“Hey, babe,” Lucas repeated in the same manner but with the sexiest grin. “Mm-mm-mm,” Bella moaned. “You lookin’ good, Lucas Creed.”
“Yeah?” he questioned. The sparkle in his emerald gaze nearly took Bella’s breath away.
Bella moved in and snaked her arms around his neck. When she peered up at him, she could see the heat behind his eyes. It was a heat that warmed her to the rawest, most ravenous part of her core. She needed him bad. Only she loved him more. “Does your mother know you’re here?”
With wide eyes, Lucas shook his head as if he was afraid. “Hell, no! I sneaked out.”
Bella chuckled and dropped her head on his chest. The feel of Lucas’ hands sliding over her back caused her to melt in his arms.
“Long night?” Lucas whispered against her hair.
It was a basic question, but in his voice, she heard the same desire. “Long night, indeed.”
Bella didn’t know whether Lucas knew about the man who’d intended to kill her, and she wasn’t about to tell him.
At least, not in the moment. She was just relieved to be in his arms. But in arms, resting against his chest, Bella could hear labored breaths and the quick beat of his heart. “Come, Honey. Let’s sit down.”
“I’m good, sweetheart,” he lied with a heavy sigh.
Bella reached up and rubbed the stubble along his jaw. “This is hot.”
Lucas covered her hand with his. “I missed you.”