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đ±đ The Other Woman's Secret - Now LIVE!! + Exclusive Excerpt He buried the past. She just dug it back up... |
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Amazon UK - here Amazon AU - here Amazon CA - here Exclusive Excerpt: Kyle didnât remember falling asleep. One moment he was staring at the ceiling, listening to the hum of the fridge and the occasional creak of pipes from the apartment aboveâand the next, he was drowning. In the dream, he was back in his childhood home. Not the real oneâthe version his mind had stitched together from old trauma and rotting wallpaper. His fatherâs boots echoed across the warped floorboards. His motherâs voice was nowhere to be heard. And Kyleâfull-grown, in his detectiveâs badge and everythingâwas still too small to fight back. He woke with a start, sheets tangled around his legs like restraints, the phantom pressure of fingers at his throat slowly fading. But that wasnât what kept his heart racing. It was the call. The missed one, to be exact. Mindy. Three hours ago. He sat up fast, grabbing his phone, thumb fumbling to unlock it. A voicemail waited. No name on the screenâjust the alias he'd once used to keep her a secret from Olive. âOfficer Mindy,â a name sheâd never earned. He pressed play. âHi, Kyle... itâs Mindy. I know itâs been a whileâGod, I donât even know if you still have this numberâbut I didnât know who else to call. Somethingâs happening. Itâs not safe here. IâI think Iâm being watched. I need to talk to someone I can trust. I need you. Please. Call me back.â His hand was frozen midair. Her voice was the same. Soft, confident, just a touch too careful. But beneath it? She was terrified. Kyle exhaled slowly, rubbing his face with his palm. She hadnât been in his life in yearsânot since long before Olive. He remembered her laugh. The way she used to make pancakes at midnight. The way she looked the last time she walked away with her final box of things. Heâd thought of her, sure. Late nights. Cold cases. The quiet moments between the noise. But not like this. She wasnât calling for nostalgia. She was calling because she was in danger. And Kyle? He hadnât felt needed by anyoneânot reallyâin longer than he could remember. He played the voicemail again. Then a third time. By morning, heâd already decided: he would help her. He didnât know how yet, and he sure as hell didnât know what he was walking into. But he knew that voice. He knew the difference between someone being dramatic and someone running out of time. That afternoon, they met. Neutral territory. A French bistro tucked into the back corner of a shopping center, where the noise of nearby stores could mask the sound of secrets. Mindy looked⊠incredible. But tired. There was a strain around her eyes, the kind you couldnât conceal with makeup. A haunted expression buried beneath a practiced smile. They talked. Quietly. Cautiously. She gave him just enough to confirm what he suspected: her husband, David Mayflowerâyes, that Mayflower, the artist-slash-millionaire-philanthropist with friends in high placesâwas not the man the public thought he was. And Mindy? She was scared enough to reach into her bag and slide a flash drive across the table. âThis has everything,â she whispered. âOr... enough. Watch it alone. And Kyleâwhatever you do, donât tell anyone I came to you.â Before he could press her for more, she was gone. Now, hours later, Kyle sat in the dark of his apartment, screen glowing, drive plugged in, cursor hovering over the only file inside. No title. No clue. Just a timestamp. He hesitated. His instincts screamed to call Eddie. To loop someone in. But his gut said no. Mindy had reached out to him, not the department. And if what she said about Davidâs reach was true... there was no telling who he had in his pocket. He double-clicked. The video flickered. Blurry at first. It looked like hidden footageâshaky, off-center, captured from a phone partially obscured by a bag or coat. A womanâs voice. Angry. Muffled. Davidâs voice. Calm. Ice cold. Then a sudden scream. The camera whipped sideways. Kyle leaned forward, breath caught in his throat. And thenâ The screen went black. A new file appeared. He hadnât touched anything. And this one? This one had his name on it. âWALLACE.WATCH.MEâ Kyleâs pulse thundered in his ears. He clicked. The video opened to a new image. Grainy. Security cam footage. Of him. Walking into the bistro. Meeting Mindy. Sitting down. Laughing. Reaching for the flash drive. He stared, heart pounding. This wasn't footage from inside the restaurant. This was outside surveillance. A private feed. Someone had been watching him. Watching them. And they wanted him to know it. Read The Other Womanâs Secret - Also in Kindle Unlimited! Amazon UK - here Amazon AU - here Amazon CA - here
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