Bloody Vows Read online

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  THE SAVAGE SERIES

  THE POET

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  ALSO BY LISA RENEE JONES

  ABOUT LISA RENEE JONES

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the supplier and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at lisareneejones.com/contact

  All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination. www.lisareneejones.com.

  BLOODY VOWS

  Lilah Love series book five

  LISA RENEE JONES

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  INDEX

  Lilah Love (28)—dark-brown hair, brown eyes, curvy figure. An FBI profiler working in Los Angeles, she grew up in the Hamptons. Her mother was a famous movie star who died tragically in a plane crash, which caused Lilah to leave law school prematurely and eventually pursue a career in law enforcement. Lilah’s father is the mayor in East Hampton; her brother is the Hamptons’ chief of police. She dated Kane Mendez against her father’s wishes. She was brutally attacked one night, and Kane came to her rescue, somewhat, and what unfolded that night created a secret between the two they can never share with anyone else. This eventually caused Lilah to leave and take the job in LA, away from her family, Kane, and that secret. Lilah is back in the Hamptons now, and engaged to Kane Mendez, and working as part of a special FBI task force to take down the Society— an underground organization with deep pockets, and fingers in all the wrong political pots.

  Kane Mendez (32)—brown hair, dark-brown eyes, leanly muscled body. He’s the CEO of Mendez Enterprises and thought to be the leader of the cartel that his father left behind when he was killed. But Kane’s uncle runs the operations, while he runs the legitimate side of the business. Lilah’s ex from before she left for L.A., and now her fiancé since they’ve reconnected.

  Director Murphy (50s)—gray hair, perfectly groomed. Former military. Lilah’s boss. The head of the L.A. branch of the FBI. Sent Lilah to the Hamptons to follow the assassin case. Is known to have had strong feelings for Lilah’s mother, and as head of the task force Lilah is on, continues to point her in the direction to take down the Society.

  Jeff “Tic Tac” Landers—Lilah’s go-to tech guy at the FBI. She’s pulled him onto the task force with her.

  Grant Love (57)—blue eyes, graying hair. Lilah’s father, the mayor, and retired police chief of East Hampton. A perfect politician. Charming. He’s being groomed by Ted Pocher to run for New York governor.

  Andrew Love (34)—blond hair, blue eyes. Lilah’s brother and the East Hampton police chief. Andrew is protective and seems to be the perfect brother. The problem is that he’s perfect at everything, including being as macho and as bossy as their father. There’s more to Andrew than meets the eye.

  Lucas Davenport—tall, looks like a preppy version of Tarzan. A very successful and good-looking investment banker, he has taken to hacking in his spare time. He is a cousin of sorts to Lilah and Andrew. His father was the stepbrother to Lilah’s father. His father was also known to be with Lilah’s mother, Laura, on the night they both disappeared in the plane crash. He flirts mercilessly with Lilah, seeing as they’re not blood-related, but she always shoots him down.

  Greg Harrison—Lilah’s old partner from the New York Police Department. He’s working with an independent security team now.

  Laura Love—Lilah’s mother. Famous actress. Died four years ago in a horrific plane crash. She infamously portrayed Marilyn Monroe in an Oscar-winning performance. Much mystery still surrounds her death and will be a recurring issue throughout the series.

  Ted Pocher—billionaire CEO of the world’s fifth-largest privately held conglomerate, Pocher Industries. Has taken a liking to Lilah’s father in hopes of furthering her father’s political career. He tried to do business with Kane and Mendez Enterprises but was turned down because of his rep for shady business deals. The head of the Society. Was murdered by the Umbrella Man serial killer, or that’s what was told to the public. Kane really had him killed and covered it up.

  Jay—Kane’s man sent to watch over Lilah. Was shot in the final scene of Love Me Dead.

  Chief Houston (30s)—NYPD Chief. Lilah’s contact when she needs a police presence or liaison while in the city.

  Kit—tall, brooding, fit Mexican man who smiles big and kills easily. Security guard for Kane’s apartment.

  CHAPTER ONE

  It’s Thanksgiving Eve, and for many, that’s a good time to put up a tree. To me, it’s a good time to stuff my face with chocolate, Cheetos, and strawberries while watching TV, preferably naked with Kane. That’s the plan. And it’s a good one. But first, comfy leggings, a warm sweater, an airport and a chopper out of the city and to the Hamptons. Because, in an odd twist of events, just one week after I stabbed Roger Griffin, my former profiling mentor turned serial killer, to death, we’re having Thanksgiving with my police chief brother. Logically, you’d think that’s because Kane and Andrew getting rid of Roger’s body together was a bonding experience, right?

  Wrong.

  They did whatever they did with the body and then they went back to hating each other, especially after Andrew saw the big rock Kane had put on my finger—that’s still on my finger, where it will stay. “Are you crazy?” he’d demanded and then scowled. “Never mind. You just stabbed a man twenty times. Yes. You are fucking crazy.”

  “Fucking?” I’d challenged. “Now you’re cursing like a sailor, Andrew. Shame on you.”

  He’d glared at me and then Kane before charging away to fight crime, but two days later, he’d still taken my call, and
agreed to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. And Kane agreed to such an invitation for one reason and that reason is not me. He’s worried Andrew is flipping the fuck out over the dead body. He wants to assess him. Still, I say it’s the bonding thing. It’s going to happen. I feel it in my Lilah fucking Love bones. At least, in some alternate universe.

  Kane, looking just as much the hot Latin king of the oil world that he is in jeans and a sweater as he does his custom suits, catches my hand and we head toward our departure gate. An hour from now, we’ll be out of the city and in the Hamptons and that much closer to Thanksgiving Eve paradise. We make it all of two steps toward the doors leading outside and to our chopper, when my cellphone rings. I snake it from my favorite Chanel trench coat and grimace at the number. “It’s Director Murphy,” I say and decline the call. “I’m not taking it. I’m on vacation.”

  “Good decision,” Kane approves, but already my cell is ringing again.

  “Damn it.” I grimace, and my gaze lifts to the television above the waiting area.

  I catch Kane’s arm and drag him to a halt. “Kane,” I say, my voice strained.

  He glances down at me and then follows the lift of my chin, where a ghost of a man that should be dead is now on the TV. Pocher, our sworn enemy, a powerful man in the Society, or what some call the Deep State, is being interviewed by a newscaster. Pocher, who Kane’s man killed under the guise of the Umbrella Man killings.

  “Tell me that’s a rerun,” I say, my throat thick with ten flavors of anger just seeing that man’s face. “It has to be a rerun,” I add. “He’s dead. He’s been dead for seven weeks.”

  Kane's expression tightens and he motions to a member of the staff to turn up the volume, already guiding me toward the screen. My cell is ringing again and I’m still ignoring it.

  “The world is shocked right now,” the newscaster is saying. “We all thought you were dead.”

  “My brother is dead,” Pocher says. “He was staying at my house at the time of the attack. Everyone simply assumed it was me who was murdered.”

  “Then why not just tell us that?” the newscaster asks. “Why let us believe you were dead?”

  “An abundance of caution,” he states. “The person who killed my brother was assumed by authorities to have been the serial killer called the Umbrella Man.”

  “He’s dead,” the newscaster points out. “Any residual danger has been removed for weeks.”

  “While that is true, someone in my position is an easy target. My private security team has assured me I’m safe, thus why I’ve now resurfaced.”

  Pocher ordered the assassination of my mother. She’s dead. He’s alive “That bastard just won’t go away. He won’t die.” I glance at Kane. “That man made a deal with the devil. Maybe he is the devil.”

  “The devil we know, Lilah,” he says. “I can handle Pocher.”

  I don’t like that answer. It implies a line between me and him, my badge between me and him, which has always been his way of dealing with things, all of which was to end when I put this ring on my finger. “Of course. You can handle him. King Kane.”

  “Lilah—”

  “Do not tell me I wear a badge, Kane, which makes this yours to handle, because I swear to you that if you do, I will lose my shit. Honesty no matter what the cost,” I add, repeating our vow to each other.

  He grabs my jacket and pulls me to him. “Careful what you demand, beautiful. You might not like the results.”

  “You promised me.”

  “I know that.”

  “Do you?” I challenge but I don’t give him time to reply. “No more secrets, Kane.”

  His eyes darken, a tic in his jaw.

  My cellphone rings. “That will be Murphy again,” I say. “Obviously we now know why he was calling me. I have to take it.”

  His expression tightens and he releases me, and he does so a little too easily. He doesn’t like this conversation. He never does.

  I’m angry with him and like the perfect adult I am, I give him my back glance at caller ID and confirm my caller before I answer with, “Director Murphy. How did we not know this?”

  “A man with money and power can make a lot of things happen. Speaking of, does Kane know?”

  The question almost certainly confirms what Kane has been telling me all along. Murphy, a high-ranking member of the FBI, supports my relationship with Kane, someone the FBI has long tried to prove is a criminal as was his father, with motive. He sees Kane’s power and influence as a weapon to use against the Society. “Kane doesn’t work for your task force, Director,” I say offering nothing more.

  “Of course not,” Murphy says dryly. “And as for what comes next. Death was too good for that man. We’ll make him pay for his sins.”

  “Is that your grown-up Christmas list or do you have a plan?”

  “A question for after the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving, Special Agent Love.” And with that, the asshole hangs up.

  I rotate to face Kane, who hasn’t moved, the very stubbornness of his position in denial of any withdrawal on his part. He never gave up on me. Ever. And when he put this ring on my finger and I said yes to marrying him, I made a decision to do the same with him. I’m still pissed at him but to hell with fighting. I step into him. “The sooner we leave, the sooner we can be alone where we can fight this out properly, and I can win just as properly.”

  His eyes darken with approval and his arm slides around me as we head to the chopper.

  Soon we’ll be in the Hamptons, and no doubt, so will Pocher.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Kane settles into the chopper seat next to me and I don’t miss the flex of his jaw, the tension in his shoulders, that has nothing to do with our tense words. It’s about pain that he would voice, the result of the wounds created by the two blades shoved into his shoulders by Roger, meant to paralyze his arms, still only a week old. He yanks his seatbelt across his chest and I catch it and insert it for him. I might still be fuming a bit over our conversations, but I will protect him. I would kill for him. And we both know it. I used to think the problem for us was his ability to kill for me. Now I lean toward my ability to kill in general being a problem. The fact that it often doesn’t feel like a problem is an even bigger problem.

  That part of me, the killer I’ve believed I could be since that night on the beach years ago, is becoming colder and more comfortable, freer. That’s exactly why I lean in and press my lips to Kane’s. I need to feel something. I need to be human right now. He cups my head and kisses me the way only Kane can kiss me, and thank God, emotion stirs inside me, all the emotions a girl should feel when a man like Kane Mendez kisses her. He pulls back and stares down at me, knowledge in his eyes. He knows me. He knows what I’m battling but he hasn’t forced me to talk. I’m back to him knowing me. I need conversation like I need a hole in my head right now.

  And when the kiss is over, and he’s firmly reminded me that yes, I am still human, I do still have emotions, he settles back in his seat. And so do I. I lower my head to the cushion when another time I’d pull out the cold case files that are part of my job. Murphy told me to pick my case, but what he meant was to look for cases that connect to the Society. I’m just not sure that really gets us anywhere, and I’m not exactly a spin-my-wheels-for-nothing kind of agent.

  But my mind is on murder. Oh yes, it so fucking is.

  The swoosh of the chopper blades and the hum of the engine lifting us off the ground transports me back to the moment when I’d launched myself at Roger and started stabbing him. Over and over, I stabbed him. And then he was dead. He is dead, there is no coming back from that, and the blood is still warm on my hands. He’d stabbed Kane. He’d bragged about killing all those innocent victims. He’d bragged about killing my mother at the direction of the Society, which means Pocher. And he’d assured me I was a killer like him. I’d happily proven him right.

  My mind goes to my father, and his reaction to me being raped. �
��At least they didn’t kill you.” He knows the Society killed Mom, I know he knows, that statement tells me he knows, and still, still, he’s with them, using them for power and political office. I think of her beauty, her kindness, her goodness, that was too good for him, and me. I’m like him and he’ll know that soon when I make him pay for his part in all of this.

  I’m not sure how much time passes before Kane squeezes my leg and I jolt awake, instantly aware of his warning me of the imminent landing. It’s not long before we’re on the ground, deboarding, and heading inside the airport together. There was a time when I’d have been concerned about the gossip we stir, but that time isn’t now. I still can’t say that Kane and I are good for each other, but I simply don’t care anymore. We fit together. I always knew this, of course, from the moment I met him, but that was the problem. I saw my addiction to a man as notorious as Kane Mendez as a judgement on my character. Back when I wasn’t willing to take responsibility for who, and what, I am.

  Once our bags are in hand, we step outside, an early fluttering of snowflakes in the air and dusting our shoulders, but our pace is steady, relaxed. In control. I like this about Kane. He’s always in control. Control is good and it’s not long before we're inside the sporty black Mercedes he favors here on the island. He cranks the engine to a low, smooth hum and I’m remarkably happy to be here. It is the home to both of my crimes. My mind flashes back to the night I killed Roger. To me standing naked in the shower with Kane as he washed the blood off of me, my new diamond on my hand. We didn’t speak then, either. But when he pulls us onto the road, it’s hard not to be back on that boat where he proposed, and I killed Roger. “I don’t feel guilty.”

  There’s a slight shift to the air, but Kane’s reply is nothing short of nonchalant. “And that bothers you,” he assumes. God, he knows me.

  “I am an FBI agent. I should feel something different. I shouldn’t feel—”

  He glances over at me. “I’m not the person you pause with, Lilah. You know that. Finish the sentence.”