Chained to their pasts, their passions and each other... until one link snaps

With Victor out of the picture, there's nothing left to focus on but Bill Turner, a man who applies a tight grip and doesn't take no for an answer. The serial killer has his eyes set on getting his ultimate prize- Kate.

With one threat out of the way, Marcus, Kate and Jon face their final hurdle to getting their life back. They have to pull together, learn to trust one another, and continue to foster their odd relationship if they plan to make it out alive and unscathed.

Sacrifice will be made, and we'll finally get our HEA, but at what cost? Don't miss this final installment of the Bad Money Series.

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Cash Money

Bad Money Series, Book 4

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.

First Edition.

Editor:
Nicole Bailey,
Proof Before You Publish

Cover Art:
Kellie Dennis at
Book Cover by Design

Chapter 1

Marcus

"Victor's dead."

Marcus's heart almost stopped in his chest as he stood outside the police station and paced the concrete. Jon was inside talking to his old boss, and though Marcus didn't want to leave the guy for a second, a phone call from Kate trumped everything.

"What? What the fuck happened?" He ran his hand over his bald head and glanced up as a group of cops moved toward the door behind him, their probing stares nothing new. Having been a criminal his whole life, he'd come to terms with being judged a long time ago.

"I don't know. I just lost it and shot him." Her voice was steady, unemotional. It was almost chilling to hear her speak in such a manner. She'd lost part of herself that night, but everyone did when they pulled the trigger and took a life.

"Does Zak know?" Marcus moved back and held the door for two little old ladies, who giggled and blushed as they moved through.

"Yeah. He's here with me. He took out one of the lackeys that came guns blazing after he heard the first shot fired." She let out a tired sigh. "Where is Jon? Is he all right?"

"He's pretty fucked up." Marcus shook his head and tried to digest the fact that Victor was out of the picture. "You sure Victor's dead, Kate? Did you guys check?"

"Yes. Zak checked all of the bodies to make sure that no one was going to be around to tell of our misadventures."

"All of the bodies? How many people did you guys-" He glanced around, noticing too many prying ears to talk freely. A group of boys in blue were smoking just to his left. He grumbled and walked back into the station. "I gotta go. If you're safe and Zak's with you, just go to the club and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Tell Jon that I love him."

A sharp pain raced through the center of his chest, but he ignored it as best he could. "Right. I will."

Kate would always be his girl simply because of situations and circumstances pushing them together, but what if the future looked different? What if he actually moved out of the way and gave Kate and Jon a chance at a normal relationship? The reasons that bound him and Kate together would dissipate, and then he would be left to traverse life alone.

Shaking the thought from his head, Marcus moved down the long hall back toward the captain's office where he'd left Jon. The door was closed, but after a quick knock, Marcus walked in and took the empty seat beside Jon.

The cop had never looked so pale, so sickly.

"I understand where you're at, Jon, but-" The captain leaned forward and pressed his hands to his side of the large desk that sat between them.

"You do? You had your mother and brother murdered in a matter of months? All your fault? You get that, hm? Interesting. We have more in common than I thought." A light pink was sprinkling over Jon's cheeks and up his neck. He was almost ready to blow.

Marcus reached out and put his palm in the middle of Jon's chest, patting hard. "Hey. Get a hold of yourself. We're both here to help you figure this out, but attacking your friend here isn't going to bring back anybody. Lock it up."

Jon jerked his head toward Marcus and narrowed his eyes. A million messages passed between them, one of which was the anger that Jon had to harbor because of Kate loving Marcus too. The situation was difficult, odd, unconventional, and yet it was theirs to figure out.

After holding the hard stare for a few more seconds, Jon let out a long breath and deflated. His fingers dragged down his face as he turned back to Mike.

"I need to be a part of this investigation, Mike. I need to know who did this." Jon moved to the edge of his seat as he seemed to get another wave of angst. "You know that no one is going to look into this as deeply as I am."

"No. That's final. My ass is being crucified for the last time I let you twist my arm on your brother's case." Mike dropped down in his chair and exhaled loudly. "Tell me where you stand with Miss Jarrett, Jon. Who is she to you?"

"She's my girlfriend as best I can tell." Jon stood up and moved behind the two chairs, starting to pace the floor.

"What does Kate's involvement with Jon have to do with anything?" Marcus asked, turning to glance back at Jon and then back to the captain.

"It has everything to do with everything. Kate has been implicated in murder after murder. We're looking into the latest one, but something tells me it's not the last." Mike pressed his fingers to his lips. "We need to put you on the case to find Billy Turner. That's key to at least slowing the madness that's all around us, Jon."

"Billy's the one behind all of the murders. Surely you know that." Marcus lifted his eyebrow at the captain, trying to keep the man off Jon for a few minutes. Maybe with a short break in attention, Jon might find his center again. The man was highly emotional and had proven himself incapable of keeping his cool in high stakes situations.

He'd never survive in my world. How the fuck is he a cop?

"Of course we do, but is Miss Jarrett involved? Is she helping him? Working alongside him? Sleeping with him?" Mike hit the desk between them.

"She's not sleeping with him." Jon whipped around and glared at his old boss. "She's not involved at all. Not in any of it."

"I call bullshit on that." Mike shook his head. "Look, we'll have Clay start looking into-"

"No." Jon moved up to the desk again and leaned over, pressing his hands to it. "Anyone but the kid. I don't like him. Not in the slightest."

"Well, it's not your call. I know you're hurting, but your decisions lately have been shitty at best. You turning in your badge was the worst of them all." Mike crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fuck you. Fuck all of you." Jon turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving Marcus with the head of the New Orleans Police Department.

"If we figure out who killed his mother, we'll be in touch." Marcus stood up to his full height.

"Don't go looking. This is our job and you and your bartending girlfriend have done plenty enough. Jon was a good man before mingling with the two of you." Mike's glare was angry, his eyes full of judgment.

"Jon still
is
a good man. Too bad you can't see that. Your loss." Marcus turned and walked out the door, his eyes scanning the small waiting room ahead of him and not finding Jon.

He avoided the feeling of the room watching him as he left, and tried to shake off the feeling that he'd be back in the middle of the police station before he could blink twice. Zak might have ensured that everyone was dead at Victor's place, but that didn't mean that the cops wouldn't come knocking. Dead people had a way of talking too, or so it would seem.

"Jon," Marcus called out to the wayward cop as he watched him cross the street and slip into the tiny diner that appeared empty.

Picking up his walk to a jog, he moved toward the restaurant and tried to discern what to tell Jon about Victor and Kate. The poor guy was a little out of his mind with grief and had been nothing more than a zombie as Marcus had worked to get him in the car and down to the station a few hours before.

Jon glanced up as Marcus dropped down in the booth across from him. "Hey. Look, we're going to find the fucker. The cops can suck a nut. You know that."

The laugh that left Jon was empty, flat. "Right. I don't have many more people in my life left for them to take, Marcus. It's you and Kate."

"No one is going to touch either of us." The urge to reach out and squeeze Jon's shoulder was almost overwhelming, but Marcus had never allowed himself to get close to anyone but Kate. With the way the future was shaping up, that was a good thing. He'd be headed out of town before too long, and caring about Jon like a brother would only make his parting more painful.

Fuck that shit.

"Have you heard from Kate?" Jon pushed the dirty, plastic menu toward Marcus before leaning back.

"Yeah. She's good. She said to tell you that she loved you and she'll see you later if you're going back to the club." Marcus picked up the menu and ordered for both of them when the waitress finally appeared. The glossy, faraway look in Jon's eyes said that he wasn't up for talking to anyone.

"I think I just need to process this shit on my own tonight. If you see her, just tell her that I'll be in touch when I can. I need some time." Jon ran his fingers through his dark hair and shook his head. "I was just starting to think that my mother and I were going to work through some of our old differences. That there was a chance of resurrecting the healthy relationship we had before she became a zealot, and I became a killer."

"And the last time you saw her, you guys got along?" Marcus thanked the waitress and took his beer, drinking half of it in two large gulps.

"Yeah. Really well. She told me that if I loved Kate that I had to get off the fence. That I needed to go after her and make her mine." He snorted. "It's not that easy, but her advice helped me stop dicking around the edges of what you guys were up to and work more to jump into the middle of it."

"And you do love Kate?" It stung like a bitch to ask. Where Jon was growing on him, Marcus still had some semblance of hope that things would go back to the way they used to be, that they could, but it was a pipe dream. Kate needed a different future and Jon was the best candidate to give it to her.

"With all of my heart." Jon glanced up, his expression filled with an odd innocence that didn't belong to the guy.

"Good. That's all I needed to know."

BOOK: Cash Money (Bad Money #4)

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