Free Return to Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia Page B

her cold blue eyes on him. “Right now? It’s about me.”
    She leaned over and kissed her father’s head. “Dad, don’t worry. I’m gonna take this burden from you,” she whispered. She stood and smoothed her blond hair. “There’ll be security here soon, so Dad will be fine. You don’t come back. Stay with your family. That’s your only job. Got it?”
    Blake nodded as she brushed past him and out the door.

    Eve started her car and pulled away from the hospital. Whatever happened to her father, it hadn’t been an accident. What had they wanted? Money? Information, like Shark said? Had they connected him to Blake and Beckett, or just to the hospital? Maybe his skill as a surgeon had caught someone’s eye, and the next time he saw them he’d be expected to help. Or maybe knowing her had been his downfall.
    She’d gotten people’s attention the same sort of way for Beckett, once upon a time—back when she was a monster. But now five years had passed since he’d left her in a hotel room, naked and hoping for a better life. After weeks in limbo, she’d realized she had to do something, be something while she waited for his return. Vegas was over for her, and Poughkeepsie was just too much. There her role was labeled and marked. Too many people wanted her to replace Beckett, and she had no desire to be him. So she kept her distance and did her best to disappear—just sneaking in and out to visit her father for holidays.
    Clearly, Beckett was either trying so hard to be different that he’d found another life entirely or he was dead. So many years later, she wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. But not being near him, memories of the time she’d spent enforcing for him—all of it hurt. Damned if she’d show it. If he was still alive, she could find him. Yet she hadn’t even tried. It mattered that he came to her. And maybe he’d found someone else. He wasn’t a damned priest, after all. Her heart hurt thinking about him.
    Her new life had come together nicely, but the longer she worked in New York, the more she felt herself drifting with no real purpose, no idea of her future. Nothing seemed real, and none of it was what she really wanted. Her mind was always on him.
    And now she would have to go back to her previous life, face down an incoming enemy—one that had targeted her father—without him. And without Mouse. She had nothing. Or worse than nothing.
    She pulled out her phone and hit Shark’s number. Instead of hello, he just laughed his knowing, sexy laugh. She bit her lip until he was done and then delivered her instructions: “Meet me tomorrow at five. I’ll be at the river dock in Poughkeepsie.”

    Shark was waiting at the river the next evening when Eve pulled up in her Audi 8. It was a place she hadn’t visited in a long damn time, and she wished she were here under better circumstances now.
    While setting up security for her father, Eve had tapped Midian, a little spitfire down at the courthouse, for some inside info. Mouse had trusted her, and she had ways of finding every slippery bastard in the business. Shark was an easy find for the woman, and turns out Mr. Dax Aaron was not the most trustworthy. Shocking. He seemed to have worked a little bit for everyone, with no real loyalty anywhere. With Midian’s help, it was all coming back to her now. She’d never done business with him without Mouse, but now she didn’t have much of a choice. This whole situation sucked.
    Leaving the car running, Eve got out and left her door open. She wasn’t even armed—well, not with weapons anyway. Her father’s condition had rattled her, and she had to acknowledge it. Brutal honesty was the only way to live through this encounter.
    “Evening, ma’am.” Shark gave her an I’ve-got-you-where-I-want-you shit-eating grin.
    She didn’t look at him. Watching the choppy Hudson River, she waited until her silence became awkward for him.
    “You called me, in case you don’t remember.”