Killer Love Read Free

He’d taken it, which not only meant she was stuck here, her means of escape vanquished, it also meant he knew she had it. He’d have to wonder how she’d gotten that much money. When had he found it?
    Dread settled in the pit of her stomach. She tried to remember the last time she’d been in the drawer. Mark’s father paid her twice a month. She’d gotten her previous paycheck last month on the twentieth. This was the fourth. She hadn’t been in the drawer for fourteen days. Bryce could have found it at any time during that period. Is that why he’d been so furious last night? He’d found the money, and she’d wanted a separation. Had he also discovered how she’d gotten the money? That she’d actually had the nerve to work without his knowledge? Had the nerve to disobey his orders?
    He’d be livid if he found out his wife had lowered herself to work for money. As if he couldn’t provide for her, give her everything she could possibly need or want.
    Oh God. He knew. She felt it, deep in her bones. He knew and he was playing some kind of game. What would he do?
    Wait a minute. Why was she afraid? Bryce was the one who’d done wrong. He’d actually stolen money from her. How dare he take what she’d worked so hard to save? He hadn’t done it because he needed the money, she knew that. He’d done it because she wasn’t supposed to have anything of her own. She was his property, therefore, her property belonged to him.
    All at once, her fear turned to anger.
    Storming downstairs, past Berta and out the rear entrance of the house, she marched toward Bryce’s office.
    Almost without seeing the swimming pool as she passed by, without feeling the cold air through her ivory wool jacket, she arrived at Bryce’s office, breathing heavily with her rage.
    Not bothering to knock, she pushed the door open, stopping when she saw that Bryce was not alone.
    Her husband sat behind the desk and a man she didn’t recognize stood in the middle of the room. He was tall, with tightly coiled muscles beneath a black Harley Davidson tee shirt. His longish white-blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and a small gold hoop dangled from his ear. Whiskers a few shades darker than his hair covered his upper lip and chin.
    “Hello, darling,” Bryce said. “Is there something I can help you with?”
    She nodded toward the stranger. “Hello.” He responded with barely a nod and she turned back to Bryce. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in a meeting. But I need to speak with you. Now.”
    His brows lifted and a hint of the anger she’d witnessed last night surfaced. “Now? Are you certain about that? I believe you can see I’m busy.”
    “Yes, I can see that.” Her gaze shifted to the man. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t said a word but his presence couldn’t be ignored. Energy radiated from him like the current from an electrical charge. Normally, Jade would be intimidated by such a forceful presence, but right now, she was too angry to be effected.
    “I had some money in my nightstand drawer. And it’s gone. I wondered if you knew anything about it.”
    “Money?”
    “Yes. Almost five thousand dollars.”
    A grin touched his lips, but his eyes were hard. “I didn’t know you had that much money, darling. What an enterprising little soul I married. Did it occur to you that one of those derelicts from the shelter might have taken it?”
    “That’s impossible. They’ve never been here.”
    “They could easily find out where you live. They could have broken in while we were gone.” The grin turned cruel. “When you feed strays, they often follow you home.”
    Strays? Jade’s fists clenched in the pockets of her coat. “They’re not animals. And I’m certain none of them broke in. You’ve got this place secured like an armored car. It was either Berta, or you.”
    The skin on Bryce’s face visibly tightened. White lines appeared around his lips. Silence filled the room, sounding louder than the boom of a