A Kiss of Revenge (Entangled Ignite) by Natalie Damschroder Read Free Book Online Page A

between the door and her hand. She cried out at the shock and jumped back, bumping into someone behind her.
    “Holy—!”
    She whirled. Dr. Langstrom had chased her to the parking lot. She caught Reese’s hand and flipped it back and forth. “Are you all right?” No marks marred her skin, and Langstrom narrowed her eyes at the car. “What was that?”
    Reese had to distract her. “I’m so sorry, doctor.” She drew in an extra-shaky breath and tried to pull herself together. “You surprised me. I reconciled myself to Brian’s death long ago, and your ideas just…shocked me. I wasn’t ready for them.”
    “I understand.” She released Reese’s hand and stepped back, pulling out a folder and handing it to her. “Why don’t you read this over, then come inside and talk to me? I’ll go over data on the procedure and explain what we can and can’t do, based on Brian’s trauma and the limits of the new procedure.”
    Reese hesitated. After the way she’d just acted, she really should do as the doctor suggested and counter that awful first impression. “Of course.” She felt the thickness of the folder and its contents. “Is half an hour okay?”
    “Perfect. I’ll see you inside.”
    Reese thanked her and slid into the car, glancing in the rear view mirror to watch the doctor go back into the building. As soon as the woman was out of sight, Reese slumped in her seat and tilted her head forward against her hands on the steering wheel. The electricity drained away with her tension, seeping out of her and going—wherever. The hair on her arms and back of her neck settled, and she could finally breathe normally.
    The procedure the doctor proposed was a game changer. Reese had resigned herself to losing Brian. This whole vengeance quest helped keep the limbo of his condition from driving her insane. As she’d said to him, she’d grown so used to her life having definitive markers. It wasn’t hard to change things when nothing was the same. But she couldn’t move on from him as long as he was alive, and if pressed, she’d probably admit that deep down, she thought once she found their attempted killer and ended this, Brian would end, too. That he was lingering only because he wanted to see justice done.
    In that same deep, dark well, she knew “ended” had only one meaning. The preliminary investigation had focused harder on her than any other theories. After all, she had two dead husbands already, and Brian’s survival was miraculous. But so was hers. Even if she wasn’t supposed to be on the plane, she had been, and they’d been unable to prove infidelity or other motive for her to tamper with the controls. She doubted she’d be able to find definitive evidence of Brian’s partner’s involvement in the crimes, never mind his intent to kill them, but she was afraid he had enough to frame her if investigators got too close. If she thought that was a viable backup plan, why wouldn’t he? Or he might just decide to kill her outright, forget trying to make it look like an accident. As long as the possibility was out there, anything she tried to do with her life would feel tenuous. So she needed to confront her enemy, and how it finished would be how it finished.
    Except…what if Brian had this surgery and it worked? Then there would be no ending. She’d be married to a man who’d lost her trust and most of her love, and any remaining relationship would be based on duty and obligation. She didn’t want that. She never had.
    She skimmed the literature the doctor had provided, then went back and read it more carefully, but it was full of sales talk that didn’t tell her much. She stared at the building, half considering driving away so she didn’t have to face making a decision today. But that was childish and would serve no purpose in the long run.
    She went inside and asked at the desk for directions to Langstrom’s office, where she found the door open and the doctor just hanging up her