Free Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) by Liza O'Connor

stalking me? I’m getting a restraining order.”
    “Why don’t you get a brain and a fucking conscience instead?”
Dan slapped his cell phone closed and jumped when a timid knock sounded on his
door.
    He took a moment to calm before saying, “Enter.”
    His round-eyed daughter scurried in, placed the tape on his
desk, and hurried out. Damn, he hated she’d heard him yelling through the door.
    He wanted to call her back in and apologize, but he needed
to listen to the damn tape so he knew what to do about Carrie.
    He pulled out his ‘antique’ tape recorder as Destiny called
it and placed the cassette inside. He inserted the earplug in his ear. No way
would he risk the conversation being overheard.
    He turned the machine on and listened. Carrie sounded so
happy, and Trent so damned abusive. God! Why did she put up with such mental battering?
    Although he’d already decided his next step, he listened
through what Carrie assumed was a porn movie. If he hadn’t interrupted the
‘one-sided phone sex’ she would have learned the truth last night. The woman
called out Trent’s name several times. Part of the self-centered ass must know
he needed to break it off with Carrie. Why else would he make her listen to him
having sex with another woman?
    But what a cruel way to deliver the news.
    It made his decision easy. Still, he hated the pain his
next phone call would cause Carrie, but better the knife come from a third
party rather than Trent. To be so vicious ly stabbed by the man she believed loved her could scar her
forever.
    He dialed the number for Gossep and asked to speak
to Roberto. Once the publisher came on, and niceties were exchanged, Dan got to
the point. “I thought I’d give you a heads up, since I know you’ve got a girl
at Lancaster Chairs. Someone’s about to break the story.”
    “Shit! When?”
    “Soon, but if your girl doesn’t have sufficient information
by now, then she’s forgotten her job.”
    “Thanks, I’ll get right on it.”
    “I have a favor to ask…”
    “Sure, what?”
    “Can you leave Carrie Hanson out of the story?”
    “Who’s she?”
    “A nice person who doesn’t deserve to have her name dragged
through the mud.”
    “I’ll talk to Angela. If she’s not critical to the story, we’ll
leave her out.”
    “Thanks. She’s not critical.”
    He hung up and closed his eyes. He’d pulled the trigger that
would send a bullet headed right though Carrie’s heart. He pinched the bridge
of his nose, trying to hold back unwanted tears. He wished Trent would have let
her down easy, but the phone call left no doubt he intended to destroy the very
thing he claimed to love—her beautiful spirit.
    By pushing Gossep to publish their story, Dan hoped to
prevent Trent from delivering the fatal blow. Then Carrie would only have to deal
with the bastard’s selfish infidelities and lies, but be spared from knowing he
went out of his way to hurt her with the ug ly truth.
    Dan knew from painful experience the difference mattered. When
your partner slipped and betrayed you, it hurt like hell. But when they deliberate ly stabbed you
in the heart with the cold truth, just to see you fall, the pain exceeded
forgiveness.
    His ex-wife’s act of needless brutality had left him gun
shy ever since. He kept his heart well-guarded, or had until the day a very
small, enchanting woman entered his office and declared she had expected better
of his firm and she’d be going elsewhere. Her eyes held such honesty, such
sincerity, and determination. His walls fell in an instant.
    He glanced at his watch and frowned at the hour he’d wasted
on Trent. According to his schedule, he had a half-hour before his first client
showed. He decided to go downstairs and find Carrie something to eat for her
mid-morning snack.
    Not certain what to buy her, he called Dr. Lenard. “I know
you can’t discuss patients, but if I wanted to feed a person with an
underdeveloped stomach a mid-morning snack, what would you