Empath's Angel by M J Marlow (top novels TXT) 📖

locked the door,and Emilia found herself wondering if they would ever see it again. They arrived at the attorney’s officeand Judge Samuels was waiting for them. He married them, looking at the young couple with a worried smile. The young man had told him why this marriage was neededand he had hesitated. But only until he had learned who the bride was. He would do anything for Dominik’s daughter; his great-niece. Once the wedding was over, they settled down to read Dominik’s will. He had left everything to his daughter, with some minor bequests to Mama Cross to build a community center,and Rachel Simon to help with her training facility for assistance animals,and a few other people from the town. When it was over, Emiliaand Stephen made their way outside; leaving the others to handle things for them in Glenville. They arrived at the jet to find Frankand Jonathan waiting for them. “You’ve been a very, very bad boy, Doc,” Frank snapped as he yanked the man insideand shoved him into a seat. “You were supposed to bring the girl to your father, not marry her.” “He was not at all pleased to hear what you did,” Jonathan added as he kept hold of Emilia. He ran his hand along Emilia’s cheek, smiling. “Although I can see the appeal.” “Take your hands off of my wife, Seldon!” Stephen snarled. He started to get to his feetand Frank slapped him down. “I’ll kill you if you hurt her.” “No one is going to hurt your pretty wife, Doc,” Frank laughed as he pulled out a syringe. He looked over at Jonathan, who was having a hard time keeping Emilia still. “You are going to give her this sedative now.” “No!” Stephen tackled the man, sending the needle flying. “I’ll kill you before I let you take us back!” Emilia watched as Stephen struggled with the other man. Jonathan let her go to help his brotherand Emilia looked around for some means of helping. She found a large, heavy ashtrayand brought it crashing down on the back of Jonathan’s head. He fell to the deck with a cry of pain. Stephen found a roll of duct tape in the supply closet, securing Frankand Jonathan before he dumped them out onto the runway. Then he closedand locked the hatchand went up front. Emilia followed himand took the co-pilot seat, watching in amazement as her husband piloted the jet. Was there anything that he could not do? “He’s just signed his own death warrant,” Frank hissed as Daniel arrived with his officersand took himand Jonathan into custody. “This shotgun wedding doesn’t change a thing!” Daniel watched in shock as the man suddenly began to go into convulsions. As he called 911, the other man joined him. Before the EMTs arrived, the two men were dead. Stephen was now the only one who knew what was going on. Daniel had to hope the man knew what he was doing. He returned to his officeand found a man waiting for him. He bore enough of a resemblance to Dominik that Daniel knew he was related. “Lieutenant Simon,” Adam Jozef Sobieski nodded as he held out his hand. “My name is Adam Sobieski. My younger brother, Dominik, was a friend of yours.” “I knew him as Donald Marks,” Daniel told the man. “How can I help you?” “My brother is not dead, Lieutenant,” Adam told him bluntly. “I need your help to find out where he is being held. I heard his daughter was in town…” “You just missed her,” Daniel told him. “She left town with Stephen Winslow.” He saw the man flinchand knew something was wrong. “What?” “He told her that the only way she would be out of danger,” Adam frowned, “was if she married him?” Daniel noddedand he sighed heavily. “He’s pulled that on other young women before, Lieutenant. He fakes a wedding, has his way with them,and then abandons them.” “Why isn’t he in prison?” “None of the women he’s victimized,” Adam told him, with grudging respect, “will press charges.” “So why would he call in a real judge this time?” Daniel asked the man. He saw Adam’s look of confusion. “Judge Novak is no dupe. The marriage is quite legal.” “That’s highly unusual.” Adam sat down, shocked that his fatherand his uncle would agree to help Stephen. “Something more is going on here than his usual ploy. It doesn’t matter,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone. “Stephen Winslow knows where her father is being held. We need to find them.” He saw Daniel slide an envelope across the desk. “What is this?” “I’m assuming that is the information you need,” Daniel said as he sat back, with a smile, “to find Dominik. Emilia gave it to me before sheand Stephen left town.” “Smart girl, my niece,” Adam smiled. He looked it overand his smile widened. He was on the phone in seconds. “Guthrie, tell the team we’re heading to Colorado. Coordinate the raid with the B-man.” He hung up the phoneand nodded to Daniel. “Emilia is safe for now, it seems. Her father is the one who needs our assistance.” Hawke frowned as he saw the former FBI agent joining the police at the airfield. This was not going at all well. Stephen had moved on the girl himself, rather than wait for her uncle. Something his father’s men had told him had caused Hawke’s usually level-headed friend to stir into action. But did he really have to go so far as to really marry the girl? Hawke had seen the child,and he had to admit that she was exquisite, but marriage? He had to hope Stephen knew what he was doing, because he had just stuck the stick into a very nasty hornets’ nestand people were seriously disturbed. He drove to the hangar where Zachary Winslow was waiting aboard his private jet. “My brother has become enamored with his role of knight protector,” Zachary said coldly as he offered Hawke a drink. “He’ll take her someplace he believes is safe.” He took a sip of his own drink. “He knows there is no such place.” “He’s taking a big risk,” Hawke noted as he sat down, “choosing to protect this child, instead of doing what he was told. She must be something quite special.” “She’s certainly pretty enough,” Zachary shrugged as he took a seatand picked up the photo in the file he’d been given. “My father has told me that she is going to be my wife once he finds Stephenand the girl.” “What do you need with a wife?” Hawke asked his ‘friend’ bluntly. “I have no intention of making her a wife,” Zachary told him with equal candor. “The pretty child is going to become my pet.” He smiled as he laid out his plans. “I will have Bridget help me. Emilia is just the kind of bait I need to help with my blackmail schemes.” “You really think she’s going to help you willingly?” Hawke asked, hiding his frown of uneaseand disgust. “By the time Bridgetand I are through ‘training’ her,” Zachary smiled, quite pleased with himself, “this child will do anything we ask her to do.” He turned to the pretty blonde by his side. “We can leave now, Marta.” Hawke settled backand wondered how he had gotten himself involved with such callous people as the Winslow family. When he had been approached by Alpha, it had seemed like an easy enough job. Keep an eye on the Winslowsand try to undo as much of the damage they did without being caught. But this obsession with a mere child was beginning to make the Winslow men unravel. Their behavior had caught the attention of his uncle, Hamilton Snow, the real head of the organization;and he was not at all pleased. * Samuel Winslow turned from the view out his office window as the door opened. Dominik was shoved insideand forced into a chair by a guard. His face was bruised, so he hadn’t come willingly. Samuel frowned. The man had become increasingly belligerent since word of Stephen’s defection had spread through the complex. It wouldn’t do him any good, Samuel thought, as he came around the deskand leaned against it. The man was his puppet once more,and he would perform the task Samuel assigned him. He looked over at Dominik as he felt an apology welling up in his throat for the rough handling. He clamped it down; the man was his employee. He was meant to be here. “My men will find them, Dominik,” Winslow told the man. “And your pretty daughter will be here with us where she belongs.” “You are insane, Samuel,” Dominik told him. “You have to let this go. My daughter is married to your son now.” He had to find some way to get this man to see reason. “She is just as much under your control married to him, as to you.” “No, Dominik,” the man replied, “she is not. He knew she was to return here for testingand training,and he deliberately took her from us.” He went to pour himself a drink. “I could have forgiven him if he had lost his headand bedded her, but he has gone too far.” “You’d kill your own son?” Dominik asked him, stunned. “He ceased to be my son when he betrayed my wishes,” Samuel told him. He held his hand up as Dominik began to speak. “I know this is my fault. If I had stayed out of your life, then your pretty child would not be in danger. But then I would never have met her, Dominik,and as I said, she is going to become the tool we designed her to be.” “Do you even care that Emilia had plans for her life that did not include being abused by you?” Dominik shot back at him. “After everything she has already suffered, she deserves a life of her own choosing.” “And I will help her have that, Dominik,” Samuel told him. “She will have whatever she wants, except my treacherous son. Once he has impregnated her, he will die;and I will marry her off to Zachary. He’ll teach her how to obey.” “My daughter is not going to be your son’s pet, Samuel!” Dominik snapped at him. The guard had to hold him down in the chair as he tried to get at the man. “I won’t let your son do to her what you did to my sister!” “Ancient history, Dominik,” Samuel replied. “Karolina was a very pleasant diversion until the proper woman came along to bear me sons.” He laughed as Dominik went ballisticand had to be restrained. “I understand she is quite happy now; so where’s the harm?” He looked at the clock. “We’ve spent enough time on this. You will return to your work now.” He waited until Dominik was out of the officeand then he made a phone call. “Bravo,” he said simply. “I want you to find my sonand his wife. I am going to deliver their wedding present personally.” He hung upand returned to his drink, knowing he would be obeyed. “And then arrange a little funeral.” “So decisive, my dear,” a woman’s warm voice purred from the doorway. Samuel watched as a tall woman with hair the color of polished mahogany walked in. Vanessa Stanford, he smiled. He waved her to a seat. “How do I fit into all of this?” “Timmons,” he said to the man on the other end of the line, as he motioned her to wait for an answer. “I need you to draw up commitment papers for my daughter-in-law.” He smiled over at Vanessaand she began to smile as she realized what he was up to. “She is to be committed to Faringdale under the care of Doctor Vanessa Stanford.” He hung upand watched the woman move to the liquor cabinet like the jungle cat she reminded him of. “Do you have