KILLER INSTINCT (A Mafia Bad Boy Romance Novel) by Julia Gardener Read Free Book Online Page B

for saving him and his family.”
     
     
    The young woman’s eyes were filled with concern. “Are you well enough to fight?”
     
     
    Right on cue, I winced as a sharp bolt of pain hit the side I had been injured. The wound had healed nicely thanks to Kelly’s medical skills. However, the pain lingered. I couldn’t risk using painkillers as they would dull my reflexes. “I’m strong enough to pull a trigger.”
     
     
    “Are you taking care of yourself, Jackie?” she scolded, sounding like a worried mother. I couldn’t help but straighten myself up as though I was a schoolboy who had been caught in a lie. “Don’t exert yourself or else you’ll reopen the wound.”
     
     
    “It was just a scratch,” I scoffed. “It’s healing well enough.”
     
     
    As much as I hated to admit it, I could’ve used an extra pair of hands. I had been working solo for too long. Kelly was young, inexperienced, and a stranger to the criminal underworld. However, her medical training complemented my skill set. I had some knowledge of battlefield medicine from my days as a marine. Nevertheless, it’s difficult to treat a gunshot wound when you’re the one who needs a bullet pulled out.
     
     
    “Jackie, what do you get out of all of this?” she asked out of the blue. “Why are you helping me?”
     
     
    “You’re the key to everything,” I said with a cynical smile. “When they shot your father, they brought their war to my doorstep. The people I work for have given me a casus belli, a just cause if you will, for investigating, if not eliminating the Black Fang.”
     
     
    Her eyes narrowed. The young woman was too clever for her own good. “It sounds more personal than that.”
     
     
    “It’s got nothing to do with you,” I replied, perhaps a bit more bitterly than I would’ve liked. “What’s more important is that we have a job to do.”
     
     
    Kelly blinked in disbelief. “We?”

 
    “Police are still investigating the murder of Brian Chambers,” the newswoman read off the teleprompter. “He was found shot to death in his apartment. Jill, our local correspondent, is on the scene.”
     
     
    “Thank you, Betty,” said the correspondent, standing out my apartment complex. “Police are investigating what appears to be the murder of a senior security technician at the Atlantic Corporation.”
     
     
    The scene changed to the floor where I used to live. Police tape marked it as a crime scene. I looked away but kept listening to the news report.
     
     
    One of the building managers appeared on screen. “This place is one of the safest buildings in the entire city. We are baffled by what has happened. We’ve offered all residents of that floor to relocate elsewhere as the police investigate the scene.”
     
     
    The correspondent reappeared next to a policeman. “Reports have it that the surveillance footage for the apartment complex was tempered with. Management has neither the video footage nor security key usage information for the events that happened that day. Other residents on the floor reported loud yelling and the appearance of strange men on the night of the incident. Was this a simply a robbery gone wrong or a pre-meditated murder?”
     
     
    “We are still determining the exact chain of events,” he answered plainly. It was clear he was just as confused as anyone else. “We are working with building management and Mr. Chambers’ employer, the Atlantic Corporation to get to the truth.”
     
     
    “The Atlantic Corporation has not commented on these events,” the correspondent added. “Back to you Betty.”
     
     
    “His daughter, Kelly Chambers, is still reported missing,” the newswoman said. A picture of me appeared in the corner. It was the one taken for my high school photo book. “Police are requesting any information about the nineteen year old college student-”
     
     
    The screen went blank. I turned to see Jackie putting down the remote control. “Don’t