Deadly Secrets Read Free Page A

for her. “Ma’am . . . I’m . . . help . . .”
    A man’s voice, faded and loud, then silent against her eardrums.
    “No, please,” she whimpered.
    “You’re safe now. You’re safe.” The world tilted and she tried to make sense, but nothing did. Nothing solidified in her mind. Nothing congealed to a whole complete thought. Cold. So, so cold. Why was she so cold?
    Quinlan. She wanted Quinlan. She’d called him. He was coming to help. Help her. Help them.
    “Ma’am. Stay with me . . . stay . . .” A static of radio voices tunneled to her, swirling and merging, fading . . .
    “Stay with me. Help is on the way,” shouted down at her. “ . . . name?”
    The sky was dark, then bright. Red. Blue. Red. Blue. Dark. The darkness grew . . .
    She tried to pull away. Tried to go. Have to find her. Have to find her.
    “Ma’am, what’s your name? Your name?”
    A dog barked somewhere and kept barking, jerking her back to here, to now, away from the darkness for a moment. She could feel the darkness getting closer though, whispering to her. Sirens screamed louder and louder.
    “Ma’am, calm down. Calm down.” Hands held her and she blinked, finally focusing. A policeman. A cop.
    She licked her lips. “Cop. Help. Please.”
    “What’s your name?” he asked. Dark hair, dark eyes.
    “Ella. Ella.” She grabbed his shirt. “Help me. They took . . .” She tried to take a deep breath, but her chest felt funny, tired. So damned tired. “Baby. They took my baby. My . . . my . . . Please, I need him. Please. They took her.”
    “Him? . . . Ella! Stay with me! What’s his name? Stay with me!”
    “Quin.” She licked her dry, cracked lips. Dry. So tired. Have to find her. Have to find her baby . . .
    “Ella! What’s his name?”
    “Quinlan Kinncaid . . . D.C. . . . The baby. Took her. They took her. Please . . .” She wanted Quin. “He’s my . . . my . . .” She tried to swallow; the world unfocused again in bright blues and reds as sirens screamed in her ear. “Husband.”
    She saw his lips move, knew he leaned over her, but the darkness grew, a terrible monster, and swallowed her whole.

Part I: Beginnings

Chapter 1
     
     
    February, earlier that year
     
    “Where the hell are we going?”
    His brothers looked at him and no one answered.
    Quinlan Kinncaid took another deep breath of recirculated air and stared out the jet’s window. Wherever they were headed, it was south of the Washington, D.C., area. He shifted in the leather seat of the Gulfstream V and figured this was just another WTF moment in a long line of similar situations over the last few months.
    He’d chosen not to say anything. It was pointless, he’d learned that years ago as the youngest of five boys. No one ever listened to him anyway. And the last few months of his recovery? Well, his older brothers did what they did best, bullied the hell out of him when he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to. He’d heard too many times that he needed to take it easy and rest more, take a breather, don’t push so hard. Or to get off his ass, get out more, do this, do that. The lists were endless.
    He was tired of them all, it just took too damned much energy to fight off four older siblings than it did to go along and bide his time.
    However, he couldn’t really blame them. Hell, he’d be the same way if the roles were reversed.
    Kinncaids protected. Kinncaids stuck together. Kinncaids kicked anyone’s ass who messed with one of their own. And if one of the asses happened to be a Kinncaid’s, so be it.
    His brothers were worried. They had given him a choice. Not only were they worried about him, they were worried about his parents, who were also worrying about him. Guilt trips worked. So it was either go along willingly or Ian, the meanest of them all, would knock his ass out and he’d wake up where they wanted him to.
    Sibling love at its finest.
    “You know, you could say this is an intervention,” Gavin said, shifting in his seat