Page 7 of Be Very Quiet

Sherry had sworn an oath to ensure the community’s safety and quality of life, and she’d done the exact opposite. She made him sick.

“The only way you could know about the bunker is if the veterinarian told you,” Swanson realized. “That means you know where Vanessa Lacroix is right now. Tell me, and I’ll let you down so you can go home.”

Swanson must think he was born yesterday. The only way he was leaving was in a body bag. He knew it, and they knew it. He would not betray Vanessa as his last act on earth. “I have no idea.”

“Wrong answer.”Swanson twisted the handle with a rough jerk, heaving Luca into the air.He didn’t feel the pressure around his neck anymore. That couldn’t be good. Darkness pressed in on him until he had no option but to surrender.

Luca gasped awake, the sheets beneath him bunched and covered in sweat. It had been weeks since a nightmare had jolted him from slumber. Something had triggered it. The last time had been when he’d encountered a woman with the same name as his former coworker, Sherry Prichard. If he had to guess, he’d say this time was caused by the news story he’d watched about a man on the New York subway who had been cruelly choked to death. He vividly remembered the feeling of the chain around his neck, cutting off his air supply.

The dream always ended in the same place—when he’d blacked out. Thanks to Quinn Billings, Quinn’s Belgian Malinois Kilo, and his current coworker Gage Monahan, he’d survived the torture. They’d found him after placing a tracker on him when he wasn’t aware. Had he known about the device at the time, he’d have been furious. He was a decorated detective. Being monitored by a private security company should have been infuriating. Instead, it had saved his life. It was hard to be mad after the fact.

Luca had been in the hospital recovering from his injuries when Luke Colton and Logan Bradley, COBRA Securities’ founders, had stopped by his room. He’d liked them both instantly, and the choice to apply for a job had been ridiculously easy. It had been the best decision of his life.

For as long as Luca could remember, he’d wanted to be a major league baseball player. From the first time he picked up a mitt, he’d fallen in love with the game. He had been on track to make his dreams come true, excelling in college as the first pitcher in the rotation. Then an injury had sidelined him, and during the brutal months of rehabilitation, his police officer father had been killed while arresting a domestic abuser. Luca’s focus had changed. His need to put bad guys away, like the one who had ended his dad’s life, had become his new objective. So much so, it had almost developed into an obsession.

Luca’s mom died from breast cancer when he was in grade school. With no siblings, he had been without a family after his dad had passed until he’d joined COBRA Securities. Now, he had a large group of people he could count on and who would always have his back.

He hadn’t known how much his life would change when he met Quinn Billings and Vanessa Lacroix. He’d enjoyed being a detective and had put away many bad people, but he loved his current job with COBRA Securities and every one of his coworkers. They were his family, and he’d give up his life for any of them. They’d accepted him into the fold from the first moment he’d stepped foot inside the compound, and the overwhelming sense of rightness confirmed he’d made the right decision.

Knowing from experience he wouldn’t get more sleep after the disturbing images had plagued his dreams, Luca dressed and headed to the gym to get in a workout. Having been an athlete since he could walk, he always thought he’d been fit. He’d been wrong.Nowhe was in the best shape of his life.

After enduring the turmoil of the torture and upheaving his life by moving several states away from where he’d grown up, everything had finally fallen into place. He was happier than he’d ever been.

Many of his coworkers had met the loves of their lives and were settling into domestic bliss. He’d already attended numerous weddings, including ones forQuinn and Vanessa, Gage Monahan and Brooklyn Fontana, Ryan Marx and Dr. Harper Hillman, Owen Durant and Melanie Delgado, Kaiya Quillen and Chase Corrigan, and Sloan Lorince and John Cruz. Soon, there would be another when Colt Fontaine and Willa Ashfordtied the knot.

Though he was in his early thirties, he was still perfectly happy playing the field and dating incredible women. In fact, the gorgeous owner of a boutique downtown he’d visited to pick up a wedding gift had given him her number. She’d boldly slipped it into the front pocket of his jeans. Maybe he’d give her a call tonight.

Yep, life was good.

Chapter Three

All the breath in Liliana’s lungs seized, and she completely forgot her training.Whoosh.It flew out of her head like a wiper flicking a droplet of water off the windshield. Her mind was a complete blank as fear paralyzed her, rooting her feet to the ground. Muscles started to shake uncontrollably.

As quickly as the arms grabbed her, they were gone, replaced by hands gripping her biceps.

“Hey, Liliana, are you okay? Geez, I was only playing with you.”

It took a minute forDouglas Speke’swords to penetrate. It wasn’t The Mortician, Ted Rader, who’d attacked her, but one of the men she employed to teach martial arts. One of the newer hires.

“Earth to Liliana. Are you in there?”

His tone angered her and snapped her back to the present. “Yes.”

“Look, I didn’t know you were so easily scared.”

“I’m not.” The response was automatic. She hated to appear weak. She’d worked hard to overcome her anxiety and succeeded—for the most part. It was those three dreaded words that had triggered her reaction. Douglas had no idea what they meant to her. They represented the darkest time in her life. She’d lost her best friend, her naivety, everything in that one night. Possibly the chance at true love as well. “I was distracted.”

Douglas eyed her dubiously. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” Liliana lied. She creased her lips in what she hoped passed for a smile. It was hard to tell when her body still felt numb. She wasn’t sure her legs would work when she walked away. Before she left, there was something she needed to know. “Why did you say those words to me?”

Douglas scratched his head. “What words? Easily scared?”

“No.”Jerk.“You told me to be very quiet.”

“I did?” Douglas shrugged. “It was a spur of the moment. I didn’t even realize I said it. You’re always so cool and collected. I saw Rutger grab you, and I asked why he did it. He said he tries to catch you off guard but never manages to do so. I thought I’d give it a go, throwing a little intimidation into the mix. I didn’t know you’d overreact so spectacularly.”

Rutger had been an instructor—her instructor—for a long time, and Liliana had known him for years. It perturbed her that the newbie had the nerve to attempt to test her. He hadn’t earned that right. Plus, she was his boss! Then, to tell her she had overreacted was the last straw. “While you work for me, you don’t go around grabbing unsuspecting women, trying to intimidate them. That’s not how we do things around here.” She held up a hand when he started to argue. “Rutger was my trainer, and he keeps my skills sharp. Period. Do you understand?”

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