The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(110)

Okay? She’d been f*cking shot and assaulted and terrified, and all he knew was that she was “okay.”

Sean and Grace sat across from Jake, Grace leaning into Sean’s strong body. Eve and Alex had come as well, the whole of McKay-Taggart huddling together like a group of survivors in a life raft.

“You can’t hack into the hospital,” Jake said, his voice weary. He sat back, his head against the couch. They had retreated back home after the cops refused to give any information about Serena’s whereabouts. According to the hospital, Adam Miles and Jacob Dean weren’t “family” and therefore weren’t welcome after visiting hours.

And then there was the fact that killing a man, even in the line of duty, required an enormous amount of paperwork.

“We should be out there looking for her.” Adam couldn’t quite come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t allowed to see her or even know how she was doing. Not family. She was his whole f*cking heart. “And I can hack a system. I can get in there and change her records to read that she’s married to one of us.”

“And if she doesn’t want to see us?” Jake’s eyes came open, his words forming a potential truth neither had been willing to discuss.

What if Serena wanted more time to figure out what was happening between the three of them? Could he accept it? Did he really have a choice?

Liam and Ian walked out from the kitchen. Ian’s face was set in deep lines. Adam felt for him. He’d lost a lot. Ian had lost friends and family, and Lara Anderson was just one more person who was now gone forever from Ian’s life.

“I’m sorry about your friend’s sister,” Adam offered. Words didn’t mean a damn thing now, but he wasn’t sure what else to do.

Ian’s face was a careful blank. “I am, too. Despite her problems, Lara was a nice lady. She really did think she was helping Serena. It just turns out she gave her husband what he thought was a perfect cover for murder.”

Jake sat up. Mojo had taken a spot at Jake’s feet the minute he’d sat down, the dog trying to comfort the man who had become one of his masters. Jake’s hand idly played through the dog’s fur. “Go over it again. I don’t know that I’ve fully processed this. So Doyle tried to get Serena’s agent to rep his book?”

Liam shook his head. “No, Doyle tried to get Brian Anderson to rep his book.”

Eve turned toward Jake and Adam. “Brian ran the mainstream arm of the business. He’d spent years trying to build his reputation on strong literary fiction. But he’d never had anything higher than a mid-list client. Then his wife decides to try her hand, and a few years later she’s bringing in the majority of the money.”

Adam could complete that thought for her. “But with what Brian Anderson considered low-quality writers. Serena and Bridget and Chris. And from what I overheard at one of their lunches, Lara was trying to expand by bringing in more romance authors.”

Liam took a seat next to Sean and Grace. “Poor, snobby Brian couldn’t catch a break. And neither could Doyle Brooks. I checked cell phone records. They started talking about three months ago. They talked for hours, several times a week. When Brian found out about the publicity stunt Lara was pulling, he must have thought he’d died and gone to heaven.”

Grace’s eyes were wide as she looked at Adam. “They were the ones who sent the violent notes and keyed her car?”

“And burned down her house.” Killing them once hadn’t been enough. “All in an effort to lend credibility to the fact that a stalker was really after Serena.”

“Why make a move today?” Jake asked. “Why didn’t they wait until things died down a little? Eventually we would have relaxed our guard a bit. I mean if they had backed off for a month or two, we probably would have thought the whole thing was over.”

Ian took a long breath. “I can answer that. Lara told me she was filing for divorce next Monday. She was going to leave Brian and take all of her clients with her. Her clients were the only thing propping the agency up. At some point in time, he convinced Doyle Brooks that they could kill both their spouses and make some cash in the meantime. Serena had never updated her will. And there was a life insurance policy still in force on her for a half a million dollars. Doyle would have made a lot of money.”

“So they knocked out the officer we’d placed outside the door, and then Doyle would have taken Serena after he’d shot or stabbed Brian Anderson in some non-lethal way to make it look like he was just another victim. I’m sure we would have found Serena’s body in a few days and both men would have alibis. And with the money he would have made from the policy Brian had on Lara, he intended to find some real clients, I would bet. Hell, he might even have written a book himself. There would have been a lot of press. I’m sure there still will be,” Jake pointed out.

“Writer gets stalked and nearly killed by agent.” Alex huffed out a little laugh. “Yeah, it’s going to make the national news. And Serena is about to get a lot of attention. Don’t be surprised if her books go crazy after this.”

Did she know that? Did she realize she was about to get bumped into another stratosphere? Would she need two difficult bodyguards now that she had just about achieved her dream?

They hadn’t made things easy on her. Adam had been moody and emotional and Jake had been a hard-ass, and they hadn’t had the chance to say it.