Iron Cross (COBRA Securities Book 20) Read online

  Iron Cross

  Velvet Vaughn

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2020 VELVET VAUGHN LLC

  ISBN: 978-1-7357807-0-2

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Visit Velvet's website at: www.velvetvaughn.com and her Facebook Fanpage HERE.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to everyone fighting COVID-19, from the brave, devoted doctors and nurses on the front lines, to the researchers working around the clock on a vaccine, to the janitors and cleaning personnel who tirelessly sanitize our spaces, to all the people wearing masks and social distancing. Together we can overcome.

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to sincerely thank the members of my Velvet Vaughn Street Team who help spread the word: Cindi R., Debbie M., Gary A., Karen D., Karen J., Lisa B., Tammy T., Lisa B., Sharon W., Paulyn A., and Shelley C. I’m so thankful for all of you and truly appreciate your support. I would also like to thank my social media guru, Kristy O.

  I also want to sincerely thank my fans. You are the reason I do this, and I’m so thankful for each and every one of you. A special thanks to all who reach out to me—I love hearing from you!

  And as always, a huge thank you to my mom. I couldn’t do this without you!

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Notes

  About the Author

  Prologue

  One Month Ago

  Kayla Hepburn couldn’t keep her eyes off Finnegan Bates. She’d watched him on television and knew he was handsome, but the captain of the Pittsburgh Punishers in the National Hockey League was devastatingly gorgeous in person.

  In any other crowd, he’d tower over everyone, but her male coworkers were just as tall—many taller. He was muscular and fit and looked every bit the professional athlete. With hair as dark as midnight and eyes the color of the waters off Ambergris Caye in Belize, he simply took her breath.

  The wedding of Kayla’s coworker Tyler Redmond to Lyra Kee brought Finn to Indiana as Tyler’s best man. The two had attended high school together, though Finn was a few years older than Tyler, a child genius who skipped several grades.

  The wedding ceremony, held at Duquesne Park in the heart of the COBRA Securities compound, was over. Everyone was celebrating the couple in the large pavilion filled with food and drinks as the sun started setting over the lake. Strings of lights in the trees twinkled, and music wafted through speakers placed strategically around the park. It was magical.

  Kayla grabbed a glass of wine and searched the crowd. Finn was talking to Reed Steele, her best friend Hillary’s husband. She took a step in their direction to introduce herself when someone skidded to a stop beside her.

  “Hey, Kayla. Got a question for you.”

  She turned to Kai Costa, the ten-year-old son of her coworker Dante and everyone’s favorite pint-sized agent-in-training. “Shoot.”

  “I have a new joke. I need you to tell me if it’s good enough to add to the Kai Costa repertoire.”

  Her lips twitched. Repertoire? The kid was only ten and already using big words. And he was the sweetest boy on the planet. He couldn’t stand for anyone to be upset, so he memorized jokes to cheer them up. How he remembered them all, she’d never know. “Okay, let it rip.”

  “On a scale of one to ten, ten being, OMG Kai, that’s hilarious, to one being, stick to your day job, Kai.”

  She was full out smiling now. “Day job?”

  He rolled his eyes so hard, it wouldn’t have surprised her to see them spin around like cherries on a slot machine. “Duh. School.”

  She laughed. “So sorry.”

  He held up his hands. “Now remember, I have to keep them clean since most of my audience is of the younger variety.”

  As was he. “Got it.”

  He took an exaggerated breath and wiggled his arms and fingers like a maestro warming up before a chamber orchestra. “Okay. Kayla, do you know where cows go on Friday nights?”

  “No, I don’t. Where do they go?”

  “The moo-vies!”

  She laughed with Kai. “Totally funny. I’d give it a solid eight.” The other kids would love it.

  “How about this one? What do you get when you cross a bear with a skunk?”

  “What?”

  “Winnie the pew!”

  She laughed again. “That’s a nine.”

  He nodded happily. “Good enough. Thanks.” Then he disappeared as quickly as he arrived.

  When she turned back around, the object of her fantasies was nowhere to be seen. Where could he have gone? Not home to Pittsburgh, she hoped.

  “Hey.”

  She gasped and spun around to see said object smiling down at her. He’d snuck up on her.

  “Finn Bates.” He held out a hand and she clasped it, barely stifling a gasp when skin met skin. It felt like she touched a live wire.

  Gathering her wits, she replied, “I know who you are. I’m Kayla Hepburn.”

  “I know who you are,” he parroted, looking shellshocked as well.

  She lifted a brow. “You do?”

  He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. She was drowning in the sea-green depths. “I asked Tyler about you.”

  She stifled a full-body shudder. “You did? What did he say?”

  “Not to mess with you, that you could take me down without breaking a nail.”

  A smile broke across her face. True, that.

  His phone beeped a text, which he ignored. When the tone sounded a few minutes later, he said, “Excuse me. I’d better check this.” His brows dipped as he scrolled through the messages.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “I don’t know.” He looked from his screen to her. “I need to return this, but I don’t want to do it out here.” He glanced around the park. “Is there somewhere private where I can make a call?”

  “Sure. Follow me.”

  Winding her way through her coworkers, she led Finn to her golf cart, the preferred method of traversing the compound. Within minutes, she was turning onto a cobblestone driveway that led to her Mediterranean style dwelling.

  When Luke Colton and Logan Bradley, her bosses and the founders of COBRA Securities, purchased the acres adjacent to the lake to construct their compound, they bought enough land for their
employees to build houses next to theirs. She’d been an agent almost from the start of the company, so she’d purchased a premium waterfront lot and had her dream home constructed. It was everything she’d ever wanted and her refuge. Most people who viewed it told her it looked like a designer home, with a terracotta-tiled roof, spacious, open floor plan with Spanish and Italian influences, as well as a focus on indoor-outdoor living. It was her haven, and she loved it. When she needed to calm down and imagine her happy place, this was what she pictured.

  “This is your home?” Finn’s eyes roamed the exterior.

  “It is.”

  She wasn’t the type to care what others thought, but for some reason, she wanted Finn to love it. He was silent as he took in all the architectural details both outside and in. She found herself holding her breath, waiting for his assessment. It didn’t matter, she reminded herself. She loved it, and that was all that counted.

  “It’s spectacular.”

  Air whooshed from her lungs. “Thanks.” She’d poured her heart and soul into the design. Every detail down to the doorknobs reflected her taste and style.

  His hands drifted across the granite countertops as he studied the hand-scraped hardwood floors. The cedar mantle above the fireplace had been carved specifically to fit her house. Every detail was personal.

  She led him to the showpiece of the house: an expansive deck overlooking a sparkling blue pool and the lake beyond. It was where she spent most of her time. “You can make your call out here. I’ll be inside when you’re ready to return to the reception.”

  “Thanks.”

  His warm gaze made her stomach flip. Though she wanted to stay close, she forced herself to retreat to her kitchen and wait for him to finish. She couldn’t keep her gaze from him as he spoke into the phone. Tall and muscular, he was a feast for the eyes. But he was tense and pacing. Something was wrong. He looked equal parts worried and strong for whoever was on the line. When he dropped into a lounge chair as if his legs had given out, she jumped up to go to him before stopping herself. It wasn’t her place to comfort him.

  The call lasted over fifteen minutes, but the time flew as she covertly studied him. When he finally disconnected, he didn’t move for several minutes. He looked lost in thought, his mind worrying over whatever problem he faced. She wanted to ease the stress lines from his forehead, but she didn’t even know him. When he finally stood and turned to enter the house, she fumbled for a magazine and flipped through the pages she hadn’t even tried to read. She didn’t want him to know she’d been cataloging his every feature to cement them in her memory. Glancing up, she was struck again by his male beauty and the troubled look in his eyes.

  “Is everything okay?”

  He shook his head and offered a smile, though it looked forced. “Hopefully. I have an issue I need to deal with when I get home.”

  She wanted to pry for answers, ask him about the call, anything to get him to stay, but his thoughts were elsewhere. She’d lost him before she ever really had him. “We should get back before Tyler panics and sends out a search party. He’s prone to doing that.”

  Finn chuckled. “Yeah, he is.”

  She led him outside and drove him back to the reception. They’d been gone for a good thirty minutes. She caught the knowing looks from several of her coworkers assuming she and Finn had hooked up. She sighed. If only.

  #

  When Finnegan Bates first spotted Kayla Hepburn among the guests at Tyler’s wedding, he’d been rendered speechless. It felt as if someone had landed a solid punch to his gut. Then he wondered if she was married to one of the hulking giants wandering around the park. Lucky bastard. He finally caught a glimpse of her left hand and noticed she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. That didn’t necessarily mean anything. In her profession, it might not be practical to wear one. When curiosity got the best of him, he’d finally asked Tyler about her and was shocked to discover she wasn’t attached. What was wrong with the men around here? Were they blind? More likely, they were intimidated by her beauty.

  There was never a shortage of attractive females around the hockey rink. Puck bunnies were in abundance, and they were notoriously bold. Though he’d dated models, actresses, and heiresses, none could compare to Kayla’s sheer perfection. Granted, he’d just met her, but she seemed sweet and down-to-earth. His breath caught in his throat when she laughed at something a young boy was saying. She didn’t wear a ton of makeup to enhance her features. Tyler warned him that she could take down men three times her size—and had. He didn’t doubt it. There was an air of calm competence about her that was as sexy as her looks. He wanted to get to know every facet of her.

  She led him inside her open and airy home, featuring a profusion of natural light. He was drawn to the wall of windows overlooking the lake. Her house was an extension of her personality: sleek, sophisticated, and stunning. He’d have loved to explore every inch, but worry had him clutching his phone. He hadn’t meant to use her to escape the reception, but the flurry of texts marked urgent from Brenda Holt altered his plans.

  “You can make your call out here.” She opened large sliders leading to a spacious deck. “I’ll be inside when you’re ready to return.”

  “Thanks.”

  He stepped out, and she slid the door closed. Her house was nestled in trees with an open view of the water. So damn peaceful. He walked to the railing and dialed the number for Brenda, Nina Ortega’s roommate. He’d dated Nina for over a month until he broke it off three weeks ago. She wanted a commitment. He didn’t.

  He’d been honest going into the relationship that he wasn’t looking for anything serious. She agreed, but somewhere along the line, her opinion changed. That’s when he knew he needed to end it. Nina didn’t take the break-up well. She showed up at the arena, the grocery store, even finagling invitations to his friends’ homes when she knew he’d be there. She became a borderline stalker, and he already had one of those. He certainly didn’t want another.

  Nina was a bonafide diva, and she owned up to the moniker. As an anchor on one of the local Pittsburgh television news programs, she was obsessed with her looks. She barely ate, went nowhere without full makeup, and visited the salon once a week to keep her blond hair perfectly coiffed. Her trainer was number one on her speed dial. He was number two.

  Being a local celebrity, she had a rabid following. When she waited for him at the arena after a game, there were plenty of people with cell phones ready to document the encounters. She loved the attention. Thrived on it. If he yelled at her or insisted she leave him alone, the video would hit social media seconds later. She knew it, and it was why she picked public places to ambush him. When they dated, they couldn’t go out without someone snapping pictures or shooting videos. While he preferred to stay low key, she lived for the limelight. It was one of several reasons why he knew they would never have a future together.

  “Finn, thank goodness you finally called me back. Is Nina with you?”

  “No, she isn’t. And I’m sorry I couldn’t call sooner. I’m out of town at a friend’s wedding.”

  “Oh, God. Something’s wrong. I just know it. Oh, God,” she wailed.

  “Calm down, Brenda. Tell me what happened.”

  “Nina’s car is in the parking lot, and her purse and cell phone are in her room, but I can’t find her anywhere. That’s why I hoped she was with you. I thought maybe you got back together.”

  A sense of unease washed over him. Nina’s phone was practically glued to her hand. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her without it. She’d even kept it on the bed while they had sex. “How long has she been gone?”

  “I saw her yesterday when I left for work.”

  “Maybe she met someone else, and she’s with him.” She could be burning up the sheets in a motel outside of town. It was troubling that she hadn’t taken her phone with her. If she had met someone, she would no doubt send him pictures of them together. She tried that a week after their breakup. She went on a date and sent him
a flurry of photos, hoping to make him jealous. It didn’t work. He felt sorry for the man she was using to get back at him.

  “She would’ve texted me if she wasn’t coming home for a whole day. She’s been so depressed. I’m just worried…”

  “You don’t think she’d harm herself?” He had no idea she’d been unhappy. She didn’t show it on the air during her newscasts. Guilt ate at him. Surely, she wasn’t that distraught over the breakup.

  “I don’t know. She’d kill me for telling you this, but she thought she might be pregnant.”

  Finn stumbled to a lounge chair and dropped. “Pregnant?” How was that possible? They always used condoms. Sure, they worked ninety-eight percent of the time, but there was still that two percent chance. A thought struck. What if she tampered with one to keep them together? “Did she take a test?”

  “No, she said she had a feeling. One minute she was deliriously happy, the next she wholly freaked at what would happen to her body.”

  If she were carrying his child, he would support her through the pregnancy and take care of the baby, even full custody if she didn’t want the responsibility. His dad would probably slap him upside the head for not proposing, but he didn’t think it was fair to the child or either of them to marry when he didn’t love her and never would. She deserved better.

  “Have you called the police?”

  “Not yet. I hoped you’d gotten back together. I didn’t want to overreact.”

  “I think you better call and file the report, Brenda. It doesn’t sound good. I’ll let you know when I’m back in town.”

  Though he didn’t love Nina—never had—he cared for her and didn’t want anything to happen to her, even if she’d made the last three weeks of his life miserable. Now he had the added worry that she was possibly carrying his child. If she harmed the baby, he’d never forgive her.

  He wasn’t sure how long he sat staring at the lake, his thoughts a jumbled mess. Shaking his head to clear it, he rose. It wasn’t fair of him to keep Kayla away from the reception. He’d intruded on her hospitality long enough.