Page 1 of Every Breath

PROLOGUE

Damon hated working nights.

He had better things he would rather spend his time on than sitting in an old patrol car with his partner Rodney. He didn’t get to see the kids off to bed, and Brandi was usually asleep when he got home.

He’d have to wait until morning to get some more of her sweet pussy.

“Man, next month can’t get here fast enough. We’re going on the Walt Disney cruise. The kids have been talking about it for a long time.” He sighed.

“Doesn’t sound like much fun for you and Brandi,” Rodney commented, his eyes glued to the window.

“Oh, it will be. They have a lot of activities for adults, and with the kids so busy, maybe we’ll make them another sibling.” He grinned, thinking about his wife again. He loved her so much that it hurt sometimes.

Damon shot a questioning look at his partner who’d let out a random curse.

Before he could ask about it, Dispatch announced a domestic disturbance two blocks away. They saw these types of cases all the time, so it would probably be routine.

As he knocked on the door, however, a woman screamed, and a gunshot rang out from inside the house. Rodney called for backup while Damon kicked the door in, fearing that someone had been injured.

“This is the police! Come downstairs with your hands up!” he shouted. Rodney covered the backdoor to make sure no one escaped that way. Just then, from upstairs a large grizzly bear of a man appeared on the landing. He held a little girl who was crying and didn’t look to be more than four or five years old. He held a gun against the child’s head.

“I swear, I’ll fuckin’ kill her, just like I did that bitch wife of mine if you don’t let me out of here,” the man threatened. A gleam of savagery lit his eyes.

Damon’s gun was firmly trained in his direction, adrenaline flowing through his veins. He knew he couldn’t shoot in case he harmed the child. The man seemed drunk or high and looked desperate enough to take anyone and everyone out.

Suddenly, there was another shot; a bullet caught the man’s head. His gun and the child dropped to the floor, the girl screaming hysterically. The perp was dead before he even hit the floor.

Damon turned angrily on his partner. “Rodney! You could have shot the girl. That was reckless, man.”

Rodney walked past him, ignoring Damon and the crying child.

“Did you hear me? You could have killed the kid. LT is going to flip her lid when she gets wind of this.” Damon followed his seemingly unconcerned partner up the stairs and watched, stunned, as Rodney crouched and used the dead man’s hand to lift the perp’s gun. In an instant, his partner turned toward him with a strange look in his eyes.

“What was I supposed to do? He shot my partner.” A chilling smile spread across Rodney’s face.

It was a moment before understanding dawned on Damon. “No!” He dodged to the side of the stairs, but it was too late. The gun fired before he could avoid it and the force of the bullet ripping through his flesh sent him reeling down the stairs. Rodney, his partner for seven years and the man he’d thought was his best friend, turned on him.

Backup arrived just as Rodney stalked toward him, probably to finish the job. Damon could only lay helplessly as the life slowly drained out of him. His throat was clogged, rendering him speechless. There was so much blood. He could feel someone trying to stop the flow of blood gushing from him.

Rodney was yelling, “He shot Damon. I had to take him out. Someone save him! Please!” The piece of shit gave the performance of a lifetime. Then Rodney knelt next to him. “Hang in there, buddy,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Damon glared up at him and saw the face of true evil. The triumphant look in Rodney’s gaze chilled him further. He wished more than anything that he could erase the satisfied expression on Rodney’s face.

“Don’t worry, friend, I will take very good care of Brandi and the kids for you.” As the paramedics loaded him onto the stretcher, once again his partner leaned over him, but this time he made sure no one heard what he said. “Too bad you’re going to miss out on that family vacation.” He paused. “Brandi Mitchell has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” Damon suspected his partner had a crush on his wife, but he’d never thought the man was obsessed to the point of murder!

No! He couldn’t let that bastard get to Brandi and the kids! Damon tried to speak, but he could barely breathe, and his body was so numb that he realized death was close. Paramedics worked to revive him, but it was of no use.

The next thing he remembered was looking down on himself from above. He would never hold his wife again, and he wouldn’t be there to see his children grow up. An ache, stronger than any physical pain he’d ever experienced, gripped him.

Then Brandi burst into the ER in hysterics. One of the nurses turned to escort her out of the room. He followed them to the lobby where Rodney was waiting. Damon watched helplessly as his former friend comforted his wife.

“Brandi! Stay away from him,” he shouted, but she couldn’t hear him. He swung at his enemy, but his blows would not connect.

Then Damon found himself engulfed in a bright light.

CHAPTER ONE

Two years later…

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