Ultimate Sins by Lora Leigh Page B

in her bed,” Crowe promised him. “He teased me with her for seven years. Had I suspected for a second who he was, John, just for a second, then I would have taken her and dared him to come after her,” he added softly, dangerously. “Now Sorenson is no longer here to hold her from me, or to threaten her. Don’t doubt this: I will have her now.”
    John drew himself stiffly erect as Crowe let a hard, confident smile curl his lips. “You think I won’t warn her about how you feel?”
    Crowe smiled. “Why bother? You and I both know she just heard every word I said.”
    Reaching up, Crowe tugged at the digital audio-video line only barely visible in the small gap between the overhead ceiling tiles and the wall.
    â€œNext time, try using less wire. That way it doesn’t end up revealing itself,” Crowe suggested before tipping two fingers to his forehead and striding past John and leaving the basement.
    Crowe ignored the somber regret that filled the deputy’s gaze.
    He ignored the jagged, unexplained strike of pain deep in his own chest at the knowledge that Amelia wouldn’t have been able to resist listening, watching, any more than he could have resisted if the roles were reversed—and just how angry he would have been.
    *   *   *
    Amelia stared at the video screen John had wired into her room when he had installed the more advanced security system. When he’d wired in the audio she’d rolled her eyes at him.
    He had grinned and told her it would eventually come in handy. It always did.
    Now part of her wished she’d never let him do it. At the very least, she wished she hadn’t turned it on to see Crowe one last time. Watching him leave, seeing his icy expression, the hardness in his eyes made her wish she’d just seen him out herself instead of giving in to the need to run and hide.
    This was what she got for being so hungry for him that she had to see him.
    This is what she got for loving him.
    But all she was to him was the final snub at the man who had destroyed Crowe’s entire family’s life.
    Wayne had murdered Crowe’s grandparents and parents, and had tried to see him and his cousins imprisoned since they were teenagers.
    Having her in his bed, and breaking her heart, again, would be the ultimate prize because evidently he didn’t consider shattering her soul seven years ago to be enough.
    She had six weeks before he would be back, roughly the same amount of time before the DNA results on the body believed to be Wayne’s would be in.
    And if Wayne was dead, it was six more weeks before Amelia could have her life back.
    If.
    God, she prayed it was over. Only then could she have more than just her life back. Only then could she have the one dream that had sustained her after losing Crowe. The only thing that had held her here, that had kept her fighting, breathing, living.
    The chance to finally be free …

 
    CHAPTER 5
    Six weeks later
    Crowe stared at his copy of the DNA results, just as his cousins Logan and Rafer stared at theirs—with a sense of pure, unadulterated rage and disbelief.
    He was aware of the others in the room as well. His uncle, Ryan Calvert; Archer Tobias; the FBI special agents assigned to the Slasher case, Elliot Weston and Jake Donovan; as well as the forensic experts Nash Callum and Dr. Joseph Edger.
    â€œThe clue that tipped us off was the remnants of the latex mask.” Nash spoke into the silence as Crowe slowly closed the file and looked up. “It was made with a special polymer that should have disintegrated completely, but they didn’t get the mix just right. The amount of latex used allowed just enough of it to adhere to part of the skull for testing. From there, we began running the DNA against all known databases, and we got damned lucky. Jimmy Bowers actually sold DNA samples to a testing facility over twenty years ago and allowed the DNA to