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Authors: Kate Douglas
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Even so, he trusted her to stand by him as his friend, no matter what he learned.
If you couldn’t trust the ones you loved, then who could you trust?
In his world, there were very few people. He’d trusted Bill Locke, his head of security at Reed Industries, and look where that had ended up. The bastard had kidnapped and tried to kill Lola. It wasn’t until later that they’d discovered Locke was working for the wife of a famous senator—the same senator recently indicted on a number of charges ranging from racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, to tax evasion. Ben and Lola were in Washington, DC now, giving preliminary testimony for the prosecution on the senator’s case, since notes Ben had kept while stationed in Afghanistan had become evidence crucial to the government’s case.
Marc had trusted his parents, and they’d both screwed him over. His father was a scam artist and an absolute jerk who appeared to have made it his life’s goal to get money out of Marc, and once his mother had lost the custody case, she’d completely abandoned him. The one person he’d ever been able to count on, Jake Lowell, had done a job on him as well when he’d pled guilty to a crime he didn’t commit out of some misguided loyalty to his older brother, Ben.
Except it was hard to think something was misguided when it was done out of loyalty and love, so Marc held no animosity toward Jake. Blood didn’t matter; Jake was his brother.
That line of thought led him to wonder just who he could trust. Mandy, of course. Jake, Kaz, Ben, and Lola were the siblings he’d never had. He would trust any of them with his life. Theo Hadley, his business manager. They’d known each other for years now; Theo’s kid sister had graduated from the same high school with Marc, and the two men had a good working relationship. He trusted Theo to keep his various businesses running and his money safe, and so far he hadn’t been disappointed. Ted Robinson, the FBI agent they’d all gotten to know while trying to figure out why someone was after Ben. Definitely him. Ted was good people.
And that was about it—a pretty short list. Short, but comforting. He wasn’t alone. He stared at the business card with Dr. Alden Chung, licensed psychologist and certified hypnotherapist’s address on it, and went in search of Mandy. They needed to get moving if he was going to make that appointment.
CHAPTER 4
“No wonder he’s a regular customer. His office is really close to the coffee shop.” Marc’s arm slipped around her waist as they walked by the place where she’d worked for the past seven years.
“Was.” Mandy stared at the closed sign on the door. “He was a regular customer. I wonder if he knows it’s closed for good? There’s no other place nearby that sells good coffee.”
Forget poor Dr. Chung. She wished she had some idea what she was going to do now. So far? Not a clue. It wasn’t like there was a huge shortage of baristas in San Francisco. The job didn’t pay nearly enough, but there always seemed to be plenty of people willing to do it.
Marc didn’t say anything. She knew he was apprehensive about the appointment. She was, as well. Worried for Marc and what he might learn today. It could be anything, but she was positive he wouldn’t discover he’d murdered anyone.
“This way.” He pushed open a door and they took the stairs to the second floor. Dr. Chung’s office was the first door past the stairwell. There was an open sign in the frosted window, and they stepped through into a small office with a front desk but no receptionist. A small brass gong on the desk had a note that said to ring for Dr. Chung. Marc tapped the gong with a tiny brass hammer on the plate beside it.
The sound was such a pure note that Mandy stood perfectly still so as not to miss the final tone as it gently faded away. When she glanced at Marc, she realized both of them were smiling.
Squeezing his hand, she whispered,
If you couldn’t trust the ones you loved, then who could you trust?
In his world, there were very few people. He’d trusted Bill Locke, his head of security at Reed Industries, and look where that had ended up. The bastard had kidnapped and tried to kill Lola. It wasn’t until later that they’d discovered Locke was working for the wife of a famous senator—the same senator recently indicted on a number of charges ranging from racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, to tax evasion. Ben and Lola were in Washington, DC now, giving preliminary testimony for the prosecution on the senator’s case, since notes Ben had kept while stationed in Afghanistan had become evidence crucial to the government’s case.
Marc had trusted his parents, and they’d both screwed him over. His father was a scam artist and an absolute jerk who appeared to have made it his life’s goal to get money out of Marc, and once his mother had lost the custody case, she’d completely abandoned him. The one person he’d ever been able to count on, Jake Lowell, had done a job on him as well when he’d pled guilty to a crime he didn’t commit out of some misguided loyalty to his older brother, Ben.
Except it was hard to think something was misguided when it was done out of loyalty and love, so Marc held no animosity toward Jake. Blood didn’t matter; Jake was his brother.
That line of thought led him to wonder just who he could trust. Mandy, of course. Jake, Kaz, Ben, and Lola were the siblings he’d never had. He would trust any of them with his life. Theo Hadley, his business manager. They’d known each other for years now; Theo’s kid sister had graduated from the same high school with Marc, and the two men had a good working relationship. He trusted Theo to keep his various businesses running and his money safe, and so far he hadn’t been disappointed. Ted Robinson, the FBI agent they’d all gotten to know while trying to figure out why someone was after Ben. Definitely him. Ted was good people.
And that was about it—a pretty short list. Short, but comforting. He wasn’t alone. He stared at the business card with Dr. Alden Chung, licensed psychologist and certified hypnotherapist’s address on it, and went in search of Mandy. They needed to get moving if he was going to make that appointment.
CHAPTER 4
“No wonder he’s a regular customer. His office is really close to the coffee shop.” Marc’s arm slipped around her waist as they walked by the place where she’d worked for the past seven years.
“Was.” Mandy stared at the closed sign on the door. “He was a regular customer. I wonder if he knows it’s closed for good? There’s no other place nearby that sells good coffee.”
Forget poor Dr. Chung. She wished she had some idea what she was going to do now. So far? Not a clue. It wasn’t like there was a huge shortage of baristas in San Francisco. The job didn’t pay nearly enough, but there always seemed to be plenty of people willing to do it.
Marc didn’t say anything. She knew he was apprehensive about the appointment. She was, as well. Worried for Marc and what he might learn today. It could be anything, but she was positive he wouldn’t discover he’d murdered anyone.
“This way.” He pushed open a door and they took the stairs to the second floor. Dr. Chung’s office was the first door past the stairwell. There was an open sign in the frosted window, and they stepped through into a small office with a front desk but no receptionist. A small brass gong on the desk had a note that said to ring for Dr. Chung. Marc tapped the gong with a tiny brass hammer on the plate beside it.
The sound was such a pure note that Mandy stood perfectly still so as not to miss the final tone as it gently faded away. When she glanced at Marc, she realized both of them were smiling.
Squeezing his hand, she whispered,
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