Mad Love Read online

  Mad Love

  Tabatha Drake

  Contents

  Reading Order

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Books by Tabatha Drake

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Reading Order

  While the Killer Love saga follows multiple couples, the books should not be considered stand-alone and are meant to be read in order of release.

  Reading Order

  1. Killer Love

  2. Secret Love

  3. Tainted Love

  4. Broken Love

  5. Mad Love

  Coming Soon…

  6. Cruel Love

  7. Endless Love

  Prologue

  Lilah

  Harts don't break.

  We bruise. We bleed.

  But we don't break.

  I'm not sure I believe that anymore.

  Because I am absolutely, completely, beyond the shadow of a doubt, broken.

  In the end, as I lie here on this dank and bloodstained casino floor moments away from my inevitable death, I realize I’m more surprised than anything else.

  It wasn’t the job that broke me. It wasn’t Death himself circling in and out of my life through a damn revolving door. It wasn't the blood or the scars or the gunshot wounds.

  It was a boy.

  A goddamn blond-haired, blue-eyed boy.

  Archer.

  You just had to go and be the hero, didn’t you? And now, well...

  Absolutely, completely broken.

  I’m not even mad. I'm just surprised.

  I open one eye to take a look around the room. My vision is blurred but that should clear up, hopefully. The burning smell creeping up my nose tells me there was definitely an explosion.

  I stay still as I listen closely to the others around me. Caleb sits nearby with Boxcar passed out in her lap. There's an agent pacing behind us. Another one near the bar, his itchy trigger finger constantly tapping against the side of his rifle.

  I hear voices. A woman? The sound echoes between my ears as I try and shake off the numbness still coursing through me.

  Sobbing. Someone's sobbing.

  Lucy.

  I slowly tilt my head to get a better view of her. She sits on the floor in a singed white dress by the bar. Dani is beside her, along with Sofia. They all lean on each other with tears streaming down their faces.

  Lucy notices me on the floor, but she's smart enough not to draw attention to me. She looks at the front card table instead.

  I check the agents lingering around us. They’re not looking at me either.

  They’re looking at my brother with a gun to his head.

  Okay.

  Now, I’m mad.

  Chapter 1

  Lilah

  I’ll never love again.

  There’s just no point. Sooner or later, everyone is a disappointment. They lie. They cheat. They do something to hurt you and show their true colors.

  Nope. Not for me. I’ve got all I’ll ever need right here. No boy will ever compare to my brothers, so why bother looking for love at all?

  A truck exits onto the driveway from the highway. I can’t see it yet from my spot at the end of the dock, but I know just by the sound of the engine that it’s my grandfather’s Chevy. Grams probably already told him all about what happened at school today.

  T-minus three minutes until he rips me a new one.

  I move my right ankle, briefly touching the toe of my sneaker to the foggy water beneath the dock. It hurts a lot, but a little pain never killed anybody. I do it again just to prove it.

  See? Not dead yet.

  The Chevy comes into view. I watch over my shoulder as it rolls toward the house, headlights bright on the white gravel in front of it. It stops in its usual spot between the house and the garage and my grandfather quickly hops out. His hard eyes focus on me across the lawn. I exhale with dread.

  T-minus sixty seconds.

  He reaches into the bed of his truck and pulls out two crutches before walking in my direction. I twist forward to stare out at the water, hiding from the inevitable look of disappointment bounding in my direction. Water slaps against the dock beneath me. Cicadas cry out on all sides. His steps shift from grass to wood and I close my eyes.

  Here we go...

  He takes a knee on my left and lays the crutches on the dock between us. “Hey, Lily,” he says.

  “Hey, Gramps,” I say, avoiding his eyes.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  He exhales, amused. I always say that.

  “How’s the ankle?” he asks.

  “It’s fine.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  I tap the water again. Still alive. “A little,” I answer.

  “Was it worth it?”

  I blink. “What?”

  He sits down, dangling his feet off the edge like me. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Grams didn’t tell you?”

  “Oh, she did,” he says. “As did the school when they called me and the kid’s mother when she called me, too. But I want to hear it from you.”

  I swallow hard. “I got into a fight.”

  He nods. “Why?”

  “Because he made me mad.”

  “How? I thought you liked the Sullivan boy.”

  My cheeks blaze with anger. “Not anymore.”

  “Did he call you a name?” he asks.

  “No.”

  “Did he touch you?”

  “He didn’t do anything to me.”

  “Then, how did he make you mad?”

  I choke down the lump in my throat. “He made fun of Elijah,” I spit out. “Called him a wimp.”

  My grandfather tilts his head, drawing my eyes toward his kind, patient gaze. “Is that all?” he asks.

  “No,” I say, biting down. “He said Dante was a psycho.”

  He sighs. “Those are just words. They’re not worth putting a kid in the hospital over.”

  I look down into the water, avoiding his eyes again as a lone tear tumbles down my cheek. “I know. I just thought...”

  He rests a steady hand on my knee. “What?”

  “I thought that if I did what I did, then they’d all talk about me instead,” I say. “They’d leave Eli alone.”

  To my surprise, he smiles. “That’s why you did it?” he asks. “To protect your brother?”

  I nod, saying nothing more.

  He exhales, looking relieved. “So, he didn’t do anything... inappropriate to you? Anything you weren’t ready for?”

  “No.”

  He relaxes a little more. “I gotta tell you, honey, I haven’t slept a full night since you started dating. That Sullivan kid made me nervous as all hell.”

  I blink twice. “So, you’re not mad?” I ask.

  “No,” he says. “I’m not mad.”

  “Disappointed?”

  “Don’t tell your grandmother, but I’m actually a little proud. You stood up for yourself
and your family, but...” He squints. “Lilah, violence isn’t always the answer. In fact, it almost never is and should be avoided, especially by a little one like you. I don’t want to see you go down the same path as your big brother.”

  “I’m sorry, Gramps,” I say weakly.

  He kisses my forehead. “And Elijah needs to learn how to fight his own battles. He won’t always have you around to do that for him. Okay?”

  I nod. “Okay.”

  “He’s a Hart,” he adds. “Just like you and me. And what do Harts do?”

  My lips twitch. “We always get back up.”

  He nudges my chin. “That’s right, Lily. We always get back up.”

  I smile and wipe my cheeks as he stands.

  “Come on,” he says, grabbing the crutches. “Let’s get inside. It’s taco night! Don’t want to miss that.”

  He extends his hand to me. I take it, using his strength to help me up and keep my balance. He gives me one crutch and props the second beneath his own arm to show me what to do.

  “Keep your weight off it for a while,” he says, looking at my ankle.

  I lean against the crutch. “I will.”

  “Should have some ice packs in the freezer, too. Make sure you use them.” He pauses, his wrinkles showing as he admires me. “You’re growing up too fast on me, honey.”

  “Sorry,” I say, blushing.

  “And, you know...” We start slowly down the dock toward the house. “While we’re on the subject of boys...”

  I cringe. “Gramps.”

  “It might behoove you to know that they don’t typically respond well to girls who beat them up,” he says, amused. “Don’t be too rough. Boys don’t like that.”

  “Don’t worry.” I scoff. “I won’t be dating ever again.”

  “You say that now but sooner or later—”

  “No, I’m done,” I say, hitting every word. “I don’t need boys. Not now. Not ever.”

  Gramps doesn’t reply. He merely nudges my chin again and smiles.

  Chapter 2

  Lilah

  Twelve Years Later

  Water slaps against the dock beneath me. An old, metal rowboat drifts away with each gust of the warm breeze before getting tugged back in by the ancient rope still clinging to it.

  I hug my knees as I stare out across the lake. The sun rose about an hour ago and the world has been glowing ever since. I breathe it in, taking comfort in the fact that this view hasn’t changed in the twenty years since I first saw it. I wonder if it could say the same about me.

  Definitely not.

  “Hey.”

  I flinch, recoiling away from the sudden voice in my ear. “Dammit, Eli…”

  He kneels beside me with that smug smirk on his face. There’s only one person in the whole world with the ability to sneak up on me and that’s my twin brother, Elijah.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” he asks me, running his fingers through his overgrown, chestnut hair.

  I sigh. “Oh, who could with that racket going on all night long?”

  He winces with a casual glance at the house behind us. “They certainly are… affectionate.”

  “It’s disgusting.”

  Elijah chuckles. “You’re just jealous.”

  “No,” I say, picking up my coffee mug. “I just think they could be a little more considerate. Also, they’re using Gram and Gramp’s bed and that is just weird.”

  “Can’t argue with that.” He settles into a seated position. “You think it might be time for us to pack up? Give them their space for a little while…”

  I nod. “Oh, yeah.”

  “Good. I already brought our bags down. We’ll leave after breakfast.” He nudges my arm, the classic signal that he’s about to drop some wisdom on me. “And Dante deserves some happiness after everything he’s been through. Lucy couldn’t have come at a better time if you ask me.”

  “Phrasing.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah.” I smile and down the last sip of my coffee. “I know. Dante and Lucy forever. We’ll carve it into a tree.”

  “Where do you want to go?”

  It’s a heavy question. We used to be able to wander the world and go wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted to. With Snake Eyes exposed, that’s a little more difficult to do.

  “St. Louis?” I suggest.

  He tilts his head and nods. “Sounds good to me. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them.”

  We stand up off the dock. I brush a little bit of dirt off my pajama slacks as we trudge through the solid bushes of weeds between the lake and the house. I have half the mind to stick around and help clear this place out but there’s no telling what tomorrow will bring. There might not be a point in making this place as beautiful as it used to be if we have to drop everything to be on the run at a moment’s notice.

  But that’s the life that chose us.

  Secrets always see the light of day and something as big as Snake Eyes couldn’t be kept hidden forever. Gun to the head, I’d have to admit that I felt a sudden rush of relief the moment the news broke.

  Terrorist group exposed.

  We aren’t terrorists. At least, not in the ways most think when they hear the word. We provide a service to those who can afford it. Intelligence. Covert ops. Assassinations. Every major power in the world has dipped their toe into Snake Eyes at one point in time but no one will ever admit it. The Boss has kept a record of every transaction since the group’s inception. Every name, every target, every dollar exchanged. It was called the master file.

  And it was stolen.

  Fox Fitzpatrick. A sniper from my big brother’s squad. I met him a few times. Quiet, handsome in that boy next door kind of way, but he didn’t belong. Dante couldn’t see that, though. He and Fox were friends, or as close to friends as you can get to someone you occasionally travel the world and kill people with. Drinking buddies, mostly.

  When he disappeared nine months ago on a mission, something didn’t feel right. They found traces of his blood in a warehouse in Rome and everyone assumed the Russian mobster he was sent to kill got to him first.

  A squad of Snake Eyes agents was wiped out in Russia shortly after, sending up red flags throughout the entire organization. Dante’s squad tracked down their cargo plane in the woods outside of Moscow. The vocal recorder in the cockpit had been destroyed but our tech team managed to retrieve three seconds of audio.

  “We thought you were dead.”

  “I am.”

  It was Fox. Two little words gave him away.

  The Lutrova crime family started picking off agents one-by-one after that. They weren’t quiet about it, either. They wanted us to know who they were, what they were doing, and why. No agent was safe.

  That’s when we discovered the data leak. When Fox took off, he didn’t go empty-handed. He took the master file with him and he traded it to the Russians to save his own skin.

  A traitor and a coward. Just like I always suspected.

  Afterward, Dante was sent to Chicago to infiltrate the notorious Zappia crime family. The Lutrovas and the Zappias have a rich history and it was possible the Russians passed their Snake Eyes knowledge on to the Italians. The rest of us got to work. The entire organization united under one common goal: Find and kill Fox Fitzpatrick. We have a special term for when a rogue agent needs to be put down.

  It’s called a Code Black.

  Months went by and the Boss got impatient. She put more pressure on the leader of Dante’s squad, Mercer, to fix the problem he started when he recruited Fox in the first place.

  Mercer and his squad headed to Los Angeles where Fox grew up. Go after his family and lure him out of hiding. It worked but, in the end, Fox’s famous stepsister ended up in the hospital and Fox disappeared again, leaving little trace behind.

  If I were a betting woman, I’d wager that they found Fox, but they didn’t live to speak of it. Mercer was taken down by the killer he created. It’s almost poetic.

&nbs
p; I think about how easy it could have been for Dante to be there and it makes me sick. They may have been drinking buddies once but I’ve no doubt in my mind that Fox would have put a bullet in my brother’s brain without a second thought.

  Elijah pushes open the back door and holds it for me. We step into the house and ancient memories flash in my head the moment I inhale a breath. Sitting at the dinner table with my brothers and our grandparents. Sprawled out on the couch watching cartoons on one of the four channels we got out here. Sprinting down the dock to cannonball into the lake.

  A happy childhood to anyone on the outside looking in, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, I’ll tell you that much.

  “Hey, guys. You hungry?”

  I smile at the girl standing in front of the stove. Brown-haired, green-eyed Lucy Vaughn. My big brother’s girlfriend and honorary Hart — until Dante makes it official. And he will if he knows what’s good for him.

  Lucy grabs a package of bacon from the fridge and sets it down to pick at an itch beneath the bandage on her wrist.

  Elijah points a firm finger at her. “Stop doing that.”

  Her hands quickly rise in surrender. “Sorry! It just tickles.”

  “If you didn’t want to deal with itchy bandages then you shouldn’t have dislocated your own thumb.”

  Lucy opens her mouth to argue but thinks twice. “Okay, you have a point.”

  I set my mug down on the cabinet next to the coffee pot. “Don’t scold her for being a badass,” I say to Elijah. “I would have done the same if Dante pulled that crap with me.”