Free In Too Deep by Sharon Mignerey

him. Trade drugs for a favor or two—a plan that was already in the works. Think on his own. What the hell did the old guy on the other end of the phone even know?
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    As the opening movement of Tchaikovsky’s Seventh Symphony swelled from the small CD player on the counter, Max Jamison, aka Jones, sat at the kitchen table waiting for a collect call. Depending on the length of the lineup to use the phone at the prison, the call could come in the next second or the next three to four hours. His gaze swept over the austere apartment he’d rented after arriving here a week after the double wedding of Dahlia Jensen to Jack Trahern, and Rosie Jensen to Ian Stearne. That’s a ceremony he would have liked to have seen, though he wouldn’t have been welcome.
    The last time he had seen Dahlia, she’d believed he would kill her. She had shot him instead. Luckily for him, hospital prison wards were easier to escape from than prison cells. And now, unlikely as it seemed, here he was—seeking his revenge. Franklin Lawrence was going to pay for blackmailing him into kidnapping Lily’s sister.
    Oh, he had done it, but he’d hated everything about it. After learning that Franklin Lawrence had since issued a contract on Lily, he had headed here.
    A pro bono job—and his last. God willing, his sister would never learn that he had spent the last twenty-plus years as a paid assassin. He liked thinking how retirement would be, being with her without the lies about what he did or where he had gone. Enjoying his favorite music on his state-of-the-art system over coffee that had been ground seconds before brewing. Spending time with his niece and nephew.
    The few dishes from breakfast had been washed and put away. The double bed that should have been hauled off tothe dump ten years ago was made. The floor was swept, the battered furniture dusted. So, waiting was all he could do, just as he had done for much of his adult life.
    He suspected that Lily believed Franklin Lawrence wouldn’t still be interested in her now that the trial was over. Max knew better. Men like that—men like him—didn’t let go. Since Lawrence was looking at a life sentence of hard time if his appeal failed, Lily still wasn’t safe. She might be with her family using her married name instead of her maiden name—but she wasn’t safe. Not yet.
    Max’s cell phone rang thirty-seven minutes later.
    â€œYeah,” he said.
    â€œInteresting proposition,” came a gravelly voice on the other end of the line, “assuming you’re J.M.”
    â€œI am.”
    â€œSo how does this work?” the man asked.
    Max wished for the more secure telephone line he had at his home. “If you agree to the job, I’ll deposit fifty Gs wherever you want. After it’s done, I’ll deposit another fifty.”
    â€œOne condition,” the man said. “Can you make it look legit so my wife and my kid—”
    â€œConsider it done,” Max said. He breathed a silent sigh of relief. He’d carefully looked for the right man. A lifer who could be motivated to do a job that could only be accomplished by an inmate on the inside. Someone with nothing to lose.
    â€œYou’ve got a deal.”
    â€œOkay,” Max said. He ended the call. Franklin Lawrence didn’t know it yet, but he would never blackmail anyone again. His life sentence had been changed to a death sentence.

Chapter 5
    â€œY ou did, didn’t you?” Rosie repeated.
    Lily met her sister’s gaze, the last of her euphoria crashing like a meteor. First Quinn, now her sister. As teenagers she and Rosie had shared everything, especially those exciting firsts—first dates, first kisses, first loves. Disapproval… Lily hadn’t expected that. Disappointment washed through her. If she couldn’t share her confusing attraction to Quinn Morrison with her sister, she was even more alone than she had