Read Online Bed of Bones (A Sloane Monroe Novel, Book Five) by Cheryl Bradshaw - Free Book Online Page A

Before then, they had no idea you existed.”
    The room was cool, but a hot, tingling sensation tore through my body. They’d seen me—they’d seen us—together. They’d followed me. For how long, I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know. The thought of outsiders spying on me, capturing intimate, private moments of my life took me back to a memory of Sam Reids, the man who murdered my sister—a serial killer, and my stalker. It was a mental place I didn’t ever want to go again.
    “The men you say came here, was this a few months ago, around the time you disappeared?”
    She nodded.
    “Giovanni found out they were here, of course, only he didn’t know why. When they found the answers they were looking for, they left. And I did too.”
    “Your father’s men took you?”
    “Not exactly. I went with them.”
    “Wait—what? Giovanni said you’d been kidnapped.”
    The way she smiled while recalling the events surrounding her now “alleged” kidnapping rubbed me in all the wrong ways. It was like she relished it—the attention—the chase. Growing up she may have been a shiny beam in her daddy’s eye, but I was willing to bet her brothers were awarded most of the attention. After all, they were daddy’s little protégés.
    “At first, I suppose I can understand why my brothers thought I’d been taken,” she said. “I didn’t say goodbye. Giovanni came home, and I was gone.”
    “Why didn’t you say something? Why put him through what you did?”
    “I was with my father in New York City, and he didn’t want them to know where I’d gone. Not at first. I thought I had time, at least a few days before my brothers came looking for me. But once Giovanni detected I was gone, he began searching.” She looked away. “It was stupid of me, I know.”
    “And when they found you—what then?”
    “My father handled it. He said he was just an old man who missed his daughter, wanted her back home. He tried to convince them they worried for nothing. Carlo believed him, but then, he always does. Giovanni didn’t. He’d tried several times to get in touch with my father. My father didn’t answer. It was unlike him.”
    “I don’t understand. Why all the secrecy? Why couldn’t you be honest about why you left?”
    “Neither one of them would have sanctioned it, if they knew the real reason I was there.”
    “Which was?” I asked.
    “I volunteered.”
    “To what—work for your father?”
    “In a way. After you left the hospital yesterday, I spoke with Giovanni. I know he thinks the explosion was a personal attack on him, that somehow he’s being shown what happens when you try to leave the family. He’s wrong. Whoever is behind this cruel, sadistic act, it isn’t affiliated with us.”
    “You told him, right?”
    “I…not yet. Carlo brought you here today for a reason.” She paused then said, “I’m taking Giovanni’s place, Sloane.”
    Now I understood why I hadn’t seen Daniela wearing the necklace before. I understood why Giovanni had a thick, white area on one of his fingers, and why she wore it as a necklace instead of a ring. It was too large to fit on her finger. The signet ring had been his. And she’d decided it was rightfully hers.
    “You’re taking his place? You can do that? You’re a—”
    “Woman? Things have changed. My father needs someone he trusts, a person who will get the job done. While I was gone I was being groomed. Tested. My father wanted to be sure I could handle the responsibility.”
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
    “Why would you want this life for yourself?” I asked.
    “Do you remember the night you rescued me in Salt Lake City after Parker Stanton tried to force himself on me, as he had with so many other women in the past?”
    I nodded.
    “I wasn’t going to his place that night to be with him,” she said. “I was going there to kill him. Turned out he was a lot stronger than I gave him credit for, so I ran. But I didn’t forget. And