Sweet Jayne Read Free Page A

with a searing stare. “Shhh. We’ll tell the police. But you’re safe now, Nadia. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” He then curses, “Jesus Christ, it could have been you instead.”
    I want to feel comforted that it wasn’t me but I don’t. All I can think about is her terrified expression. The fact that someone took her. How, if the police aren’t able to find her and soon, she’ll never get to hold the babies at the day care like she dreamed about.
    Someone could abuse her. Rape her even.
    And what’s worse, they may kill her.
    Kasey was right.
    She has no future.
    Donovan carries me up the steps of our house where moments earlier he was acting like a pervert and fondling my ass. It seems so miniscule in comparison to what Kasey is now facing—being taken by some twisted predator. While I was annoyed and creeped out over my stepdad, she’s probably scared out of her fucking mind in the clutches of a lunatic. I really am just a spoiled brat. A girl who doesn’t know how good she really has it.
    “Please help me find her,” I beg him with tears in my eyes.
    He stares at me for a long minute, a frown tarnishing his otherwise handsome face. When he eventually snaps out of whatever thought held him, he nods. “I’ll do what I can, baby. I swear to fucking God, I will do everything in my power to find her.” The intensity in his vow to find a random girl who is a stranger to him shocks me. A newfound respect for him begins taking root deep inside me.
    In this moment, I realize Donovan might not be so bad. The glimmer of the man he’d shown me earlier is making a reappearance. I see the promise in his penetrating gaze—a promise to make me happy. To indulge his little girl.
    And if sucking up to Donovan is what it takes to find Kasey, then that’s what I’ll do.
    I have to save her.
    I swear to God, I’ll find and save her somehow.
    She’ll have her future.
    Her happy ending.
    I’ll make sure of it.

 
    Nearly ten years later…
     
    H ate.
    A four letter word that has consumed nine years of my life.
    Nine fucking years.
    It’s dictated my every thought, my every action, and my every move. I’ve faded into a ghost of the person I was before and gladly taken on a new image. A new persona.
    I’ve become a nightmare.
    Sure, you could call me one of the good guys. But I know better. Despite my career choices and the way I carry myself for all to see, I’m something dark and bitter beneath the surface. Beneath the lopsided grins and cocky exterior, I’m a hell storm of fury and rage.
    My fire burns for one person.
    So bright and brilliant—exceedingly hot.
    I crave to decimate everything in her path, including her.
    I’ve made it my life’s mission to destroy hers. I don’t want to kill her. Nah, that’d be too fucking easy for the bitch. Instead, I want to take every single thing she cares about and ruin it. I want her to watch as I rip and tear her entire life to shreds, only to then stomp what’s left into the dirt.
    She needs to pay for being a stupid, useless cunt.
    “You still coming by on Saturday for the game?” Rhodes questions from the doorway of my office. “Ashley was pissed she made pigs in a blanket just for you, only for you to not show up last weekend. You know how emotional her pregnant ass gets, Ghost.”
    I smirk at him and shrug my shoulders. Jason Rhodes and I go way back. All the way to our high school years. He’s one of the few guys at the station I actually like and don’t mind hanging out with. “I don’t know, man. You know how it gets this time of year. Everyone wants shit built so they can enjoy it for spring. I’ve already done two decks and a gazebo and we’re only two weeks into November. If I’m free, I’ll stop by.”
    He shakes his head. “You work too much. What, being lieutenant and Chief’s bitch isn’t enough? You just have to spend all your free time building shit too?” His radio beeps and he responds that he’s en route. Before he