Jackson Revealed: Caine & Graco Saga, #5

By E.M. Shue

A Moment or Forever?

Morgan swore off love and family after the death of her father and the mental distress her mother endured thereafter. But a chance encounter and a one-night stand with a charming K9 officer changes everything, leaving Morgan to reevaluate her future and what she thought she wanted out of life.

When an unexpected knock on the door delivers a tiny bundle wrapped in pink, Jack's future is flipped upside down. Raising his daughter and returning home to her every night soon becomes Jack's sole focus. But he can't forget the recent encounter with a certain sexy firefighter.

Both Morgan and Jack make the other explode with desire, and they both have challenging and dangerous careers. But when Jack's past returns ready to ignite his future in a blaze of revenge, can he protect his daughter and Morgan from the darkness he barely escaped?

Past and future collide in this action-packed, steamy romantic suspense from award-winning author E.M. Shue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: E.M. Shue
• Release date: Nov 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201091408

Book preview

prologue

I’ll get my revenge on him. He tried to destroy me, but I will be the last one standing. I’ll finish him and everyone associated with him. She was meant to be mine, but he got to her, and together they betrayed me.

I don’t know where he is yet. But thanks to the information I got from the U.S. Marshal, I know exactly where to find her. I’ve been watching her for a few days now, long enough to learn that she doesn’t have contact with him. It doesn’t matter. I know how to lure him out of hiding.

I watch her approach and wait for her to get closer. She’s all alone at the moment. Her agent isn’t following her as she strolls through the park, or what this podunk Kansas town calls a park. This place is a far cry from Central Park. I look up at the night sky and take in all the stars. I’ll give this place credit for that view. You can barely see the stars back in the city from all the lights. I turn back to my prey and take her in. I remember when she was desired by so many men. She looks so plain now dressed in jeans, a flannel shirt, and her once blond hair is now dark, showing her true heritage. She looks around as if she can see me. Maybe she feels me. I was going to claim her. She would have been treated well as my mistress, but she wanted him. He was supposed to be a soldier, but he lied about his identity and caused me to go into hiding. I was about ready to prove we didn’t need the now defunct cartel backing and I could get my own suppliers.

She moves around the corner, and I slowly make my way up behind her. I slip my hand into my pocket and pull out the knife. I hit the button and the blade pops out. She turns at the sound, her eyes flaring wide. I strike and bury my knife deep into her chest, piercing her heart. I pull it out and spin her around in my arms. I lean in close to her ear and bite her lobe viciously, leaving a mark.

I’ll kill her and him before I’m done.

She tries to fight but it’s futile. I slide the blood coated blade across her throat, killing her instantly. Her blood spurts from her body and I smile as I watch it pump out of her. I drop her limp form and step back into the shadows to wait for the man who I know will be along shortly to make sure she makes it home. The fucking U.S. Marshal will be the next to die by my blade. Then I will wait and watch until the others lead me to him. I’ll kill them all, including his spawn.

chapter

one

Ten Days Earlier

Morgan

I stare up at the ceiling not seeing anything in the dark. I’m just going over everything that happened before I got on shift yesterday. I’ve always known she was off her rocker, but to show up at the station my father worked at—where I also used to work—and threaten them with a Molotov cocktail… I can’t believe it. I’m at a loss as to what she was thinking.

My mom lost her mind the day my father died in the North Tower on September 11. She checked out on me and my sister. Madi was only fourteen and I was eleven. My father was a hero who saved many people, but he never came out of the tower when it collapsed, and that was the day we lost both our parents. My mother would stay in her room when she wasn’t trying to find medication to take or going to the hospital for some new disease or pain. The doctors told us she was bipolar, and when she went manic, she would crave pain meds if she was depressed. If she was manic the other way, she would run around the city accusing the FDNY of murder. She never came to our schools for parent-teacher conferences. Madi paid the bills when there was money. When we got my dad’s life insurance, my mom blew it on every infomercial product instead of paying off the house.

But this is the last straw.

I can still hear the phone ringing and see my friend Jericho’s name on the screen.

Hey, Jer, what’s up?

Um, Greenie, you’re going to want to come down here. His voice is tight. I hear someone yelling in the background, but I can’t make out what the person is saying.

Jericho, what is going on?

It’s your mom, Morgan. She’s here and threatening to burn down the station. She’s calling all firefighters murderers.

What? She says that to me whenever I go see her, but this is the first time she’s embarrassed me publicly in a long time.

I grab my backpack and run out my apartment to hail a cab. I’m shocked when we pull up to the station.

Mother, what are you doing? I push past the onlookers and the cops trying to keep a perimeter. My mom looks awful. Her skin is sallow, her hair limp and greasy hangs over her shoulders. She turns at my voice, and I see the wild look in her sunken eyes. She’s holding a bottle of whiskey with a cloth hanging out of it in one hand and a lighter in the other. I won’t be able to stop what happens to her this time.

Madison and I have managed to keep her from being placed under a psych hold in the past. Well, mostly me since Madi was deployed until nine months ago. She came home injured and that has been Mom’s latest rant. That the U.S. government has it out for her family. First my father and now my sister, she says. And I’m the spawn of evil because I’m one of them.

You betrayer, she slurs, and I imagine she drank some of that bottle before she stuffed the cloth in it. You joined the enemy.

A set of tires squeal to a stop, and I look over to see my sister climb out of her car. She is in all black—jeans, sweater, coat, and combat style boots. Her arm is covered so no one knows about her injury. She moves close from the opposite side.

Mother, put the fucking bottle down. You’re a crazy bag, Madison yells.

Mom, Madi is right. Put it down and let’s leave. I can’t stop my eyes from moving to the faces of the people I work with and them seeing what my mother has become. My stomach burns with acid. I push it down because it’s the only way to get through this. Be in control. I tighten my fists after I toss my bag toward Jericho. He catches it, and I turn back to see my sister advancing from the other side. We’ve had to tackle her before. I hate it and don’t want to do it, but if we let the cops do it, she could be hurt.

I nod at Madison, and she moves closer.

Mom, you look like shit. When was the last time you showered? Madison asks, distracting her.

I-I don’t remember. Her hand with the lighter moves to her hair to smooth it down.

Don’t waste that whiskey like that. We could use a drink, Madi continues. I move closer, ready to strike.

No, baby, we need to eject these murderers from the city. Look at you. You are less of a woman because of these liars. Mom waves her hand at my sister, and I watch as Madison’s jaw locks tight. She isn’t less of anything. She’s a beautiful, amazing woman, and for our mother to say that cuts deep.

I dive for my mom and grab her arms and yank them behind her. She screams as the bottle hits the ground, shattering between us.

Motherfucker, I exclaim as I feel the splash of whiskey against my legs. She continues to scream and yell at me, calling me names and telling me how much she hates me. My eyes burn with unshed tears as I hold her until the police cuff her. She isn’t less of a woman. You are, I yell back at her as I push her away as soon as I can.

Madi wraps her right arm around my shoulder. It doesn’t hurt anymore. I know she’s lying. This is why she suffers more from PTSD, because she hears shit like this from our mother.

We are going to have to take her in, one of the cops says, and I turn to look at Madison. She nods and so do I.

Take her. She needs help, I tell him as she continues to spit and insult the cops and me. She begs Madison to help her, but we turn our back on her.

Now that I’m lying here in the dark, I let the tears roll. I always maintain control unless I’m alone, and right now in this dark room off of where my team is sleeping, I let them go. I put the pillow over my head when the sobs start. I can’t let my team hear me be a girl. I always must be tough. Tougher than them. Stronger. More capable.

The alarm sounds through the station, and I wipe my face quickly before I run for the pole. I slide down and run to my cubby to get my gear on. After jumping into my bunker boots and pulling up my pants, I grab my Nomex hood and slip it over my head. I get my jacket on and run for the back of the rescue truck. I’m entering it right behind TNT and Red. Bigfoot is climbing into the front with LT. The Kid climbs in behind me.

Gotta be faster than that, slowpoke, TNT teases him but stops when LT clears his throat.

We are pulling out when Marco Graco, our LT, turns around to look at all of us.

"Okay, team, this is a rescue. Three guys are trapped in