âNO ONEâS GOING TO HURT YOU.â
When he finds Nicole Harris cowering in a closetâa terrified witness to murderâDetective Alex Donovanâs only priority is keeping the beautiful redhead alive. But Nicole is harboring a deep, dark secretâa childhood trauma that stops her from counting on anyone. Haunted by the violence in his own past, Alex knows he shouldnât get personally involved, but his own feelings blindside him. With a killer targeting Nicole as his next victim, Alexâs toughest road is still ahead. Somehow, heâs got to convince her to trust him with her life...and her heart.
Alex heard something,
a muffled cough-gasp that echoed from across the room. The closet.
He slowly crossed the room, then whipped the door open. He reached up, pulled the light chain and spotted a woman cowering behind a stack of boxes. Her face was buried in arms folded across her knees.
âMiss?â He crouched in front of her. âItâs okay, Iâm Detective Alex Donovan.â
She didnât look up.
Alex spotted a cell phone clenched in her hand. She must have made the 9-1-1 call.
âAre you a friend of Edward Lange?â
A negative head shake.
âDo you work for him?â
She nodded affirmative.
âWere you here when he was attacked?â
She nodded yes. He wanted to tell her it was going to be okay, but he wasnât one to make promises he couldnât keep. If she was hiding in here, that meant she might have seen or heard something that could help them find the killerâand consequently put her life in danger.
HOPE WHITE
An eternal optimist, Hope White was born and raised in the Midwest. She began spinning tales of intrigue and adventure when she was in grade school, and wrote her first book when she was elevenâa thriller that ended with a mysterious phone call the reader never heard!
She and her college sweetheart have been married for thirty years and are blessed with two wonderful sons, two feisty cats and a bossy border collie.
When not dreaming up inspirational tales, Hope enjoys hiking, sipping tea with friends and going to the movies. She loves to hear from readers, who can contact her at [email protected].
ONE
Personal assistant Nicole Harris dropped her messenger bag on the floor next to Mr. Langeâs desk and answered her cell phone. âThis is Nicole.â
âThank you so much for covering for me this weekend,â her boss, Ruby said. âI owe you.â
âBig time.â Nicole smiled, logged into Outlook and sorted piles of papers on the computer magnateâs desk. Edward Lange may be a tech genius but he had the organizational skills of a five-year-old on a sugar high.
âI just canât do weekends, not with the boysâ soccer and baseball andââ
âHey, no problem.â Nicole didnât have a husband or family so she didnât mind working on the weekend, especially if it meant helping out her boss, whoâd also become a good friend.
âWhat can I do to repay you?â Ruby asked.
âItâs my job, remember?â
âAnd youâre seriously good at it or Edward wouldnât have requested you. Did you get the passcodes I texted you earlier?â
âYes, maâam. Committed them to memory and ate my phone.â
âVery funny.â
The front door slammed.
âHeâs back from his run. Gotta go.â Nic pocketed her phone and checked Mr. Langeâs Outlook calendar to make sure he wasnât missing anything crucial by escaping the city on a whim. Nic was a natural at her job as a personal assistant, but then sheâd spent her childhood keeping her younger sister and brother organized.
Voices echoed down the front hallway. Odd, considering she was told they werenât expecting guests this weekend. She blocked out the voices and focused on checking messages on Mr. Langeâs smartphone.
âItâs borderline criminal!â Mr. Lange shouted.
Shouted? He was usually such a soft-spoken man. Nic felt guilty eavesdropping, so she refocused on his voice mails. âMr. Lange, this is Audrey Ross from Tech Worldwide. Iâm on a deadline and I need a statement about the Tech-Link software failureââ
âI said no!â
Her shoulders jerked.
âItâs okay, itâs not him,â she coached herself, as posttraumatic panic skittered across her nerve endings.
Something slammed against the wall, rattling the books in the mahogany case next to the door. She slowly backed up toward the closet.
âGet out of my house!â Mr. Lange bellowed.
Her pulse raced as buried memories of her abusive father rushed to the surface.
âI said out!â
She darted into the closet and shut the door with a soft click. Scrambling to the far corner, she hid behind a stack of boxes.