Read Online Beck: Hollywood Hitman by Maggie Marr - Free Book Online

threat?”
    “Mom, no. Daddy?” She paused. “Since their divorce . . . well . . .”
    “Arrested six times since the emancipation. You bailed him out twice, but not after. Did jail time for DUI and possession.” Beck looked up from the picture of Natalie’s dad. “Seen him since then?”
    “Nope.” Her throat tightened and she swallowed a sip of coffee. “Same story, different day. Gambling. Drinking. Needing money. Usually I delete his voicemails, but sometimes I listen to remind myself of who he is. He called the other day.”
    Knowingness flickered in Beck’s eyes. “Your mom?”
    “I hear from her more often.” Natalie’s chin dipped to her chest. She missed Mom. “Some days I want to see her and some days . . .” She shook her head. “They’re divorced now and just, whenever I’m with her, somehow I end up being the parent.”
    “Like that your whole childhood?”
    She squinted and her lips curled into a wry smile. “What childhood? They had me doing commercials when I was three months old. Had my first series by age nine. My daddy’s nickname for me was ATM.” She tilted her coffee cup and raised an eyebrow.
    ***
    She was taking what Beck was serving. He pitched the questions hard and fast and then circled back. Question upon question. He needed to determine if the intel Estrella’s people had accumulated about Natalie’s life and the potential threats was accurate. Beck also wanted to understand where Natalie was emotionally vulnerable. Which of these people who’d betrayed her still inhabited a spot in her heart?
    Beck set the picture of the wannabe gangster thug onto the marble counter. “Heard from Rico since his release?”
    A sharp intake of air and Natalie’s eyes widened.
    A slick, oily feeling curled through his gut. Fuck. Was Natalie’s psyche so dented that she still wanted this guy?
    Color drained from her face, her skin now the color of paper. Rico had his hooks implanted into Natalie’s heart. Her gaze skittered away from Beck’s eyes.
    Uh-oh. Not good. Not good at all. She was getting ready to lie to him or, even worse, she was lying to herself.
    “I haven’t seen him since his release.”
    Hmm. Maybe not a lie? Maybe just a careful use of words? She’d done the same yesterday at Villa Blanco.
    “Have you spoken to him?” Beck kept a tight leash on his tone. Natalie’s eyes flashed with his question. “My ability to keep you safe becomes exponentially more difficult if you lie to me.”
    Her eyes widened, those brilliant blue eyes that made Beck want to grab her, pull her onto the kitchen island, and press his dick deep into her body.
    The pulse in her neck fluttered, her nostrils flared, and her pupils dilated. She either wanted to kill him, fuck him, or do either to Rico.
    “I’ve spoken to him,” Natalie finally admitted.
    “More than once?”
    “More than once. A few times. He wants to see me. I told him no.”
    Tightly coiled, he’d held his breath waiting for her answer about this fucking bastard. “What he did to you and those other people makes him a big risk.”
    Natalie shook her head. “No, no, no, Rico wouldn’t ever hurt me, he—”
    “He hurt you before.” Beck flipped over the photo of Natalie’s busted face with bruises and red marks. Angry stitches across her chin and cheekbone.
    “That was an accident,” Natalie said. “He didn’t do that, my face . . . my accident wasn’t his fault.”
    “He pled guilty.”
    Natalie’s cheeks pulled inward as though she held back words that wanted to be set free. “Events aren’t always as they appear.”
    Boy, didn’t he know it. He’d spent a decade pretending to be someone he wasn’t.
    “I know Rico and I know he won’t hurt me. I also know that our time together is over.” Her gaze locked on Beck. “I don’t love him anymore.”
    The knot in Beck’s chest loosened. Fucking dangerous for him to care who Natalie Warner loved or didn’t love. Not his business. Not supposed to be his