His Word...Doubt ~ Book Two in the Trusted Saga (excerpt)

Title : His Word...Doubt

Book Two in the Trusted Saga

Release Date : Available now (purchasing link under Book section)

~ Samantha Barnes ~

The only thing echoing through my mind was Nathan’s smarmy voice, while I clutched Levi’s jacket in a two-handed death grip as he strode through the crowd in the ballroom.

Panic consumed me, and I was conscious of little else.

He’s found me---oh, my God---Nathan’s found me.

I was only vaguely aware of Levi’s friend, Sebastian, holding the door of the limousine open, when Levi ducked his head, stooped down, and pushed me through the opening.

He sat, and cradled me in his lap, holding me tightly when the door was thrown closed with a loud thud.

The sleek black limousine moved slowly away from the entrance of the Hamilton Estate---and away from the evil that was Nathan Buchanan.

“Samantha---are you okay?” Levi asked tensely.

I couldn’t stop the uncontrollable shaking that had taken over me, although my tears were beginning to dry up. Instead of the fast-flowing river that was cascading down over my cheeks, there was now only a trickle meandering down onto Levi’s broad chest.

“Levi---please…just get me away from here!”

“We’re leaving, Sweetheart, everything’s okay, now,” he said calmly.

No, everything’s not okay---it’s as far from being okay, as it can be. Oh, God.

I shuddered when the sense of having Nathan’s arms around me materialized in my mind, evoking the terror I’d experienced, and Levi’s arms tightened solidly around me.

He was content to hold me securely in his lap, offering me some time to compose myself, while I clung to him. We traveled

for several minutes in silence, until Levi spoke.

“Who’s found you, Samantha?” he asked concernedly.

His deep voice resonated through his chest, and rumbled against my ear. What the hell am I going to tell him? I’ve tried so hard to keep this from everyone---what the hell am I going to do?

“Samantha,” he prodded gently. “Who is it that you’re talking about?”

I buried my face in his chest.

“Someone I wasn’t prepared to see.” Or ever wanted to see again, as long as I lived.

Levi’s chest rose, and fell with a patient sigh.

“Samantha,” his hand lifted, and he placed a finger beneath my chin, tilting my head up so I had to look him in the eye. “I need a name---who found you?”

Before I could decide if, or how, I was going to answer his question, Levi cursed under his breath, and shifted me on his lap.

Leaning to one side, he reached in, and extracted his vibrating phone from the pocket of his pants. Glancing at the screen, he tapped it with his thumb, and accepted the call.

“What is it, Seb?”

He listened quietly to whatever it was Sebastian was telling him. I made a move to slide off his lap while he was listening, but his steely arm tightened around me.

“Thank you, Seb.”

He dropped the phone on the seat beside him, and stared at me in thoughtful contemplation.

“Care to explain to me how it is you know Nathan Buchanan?”

His expression was bland, but his piercing, almost black eyes, seemed to burn right through me, and all of a sudden, I found it hard to swallow. My heart rate started climbing. Fuck.

“I---um---know him from a hospital—he—was a patient.”

I was hoping like hell that small explanation was going to be enough, but something told me my brief answer wasn’t going to go anywhere near to satisfying Levi. And I was right.

“A hospital, huh?” Levi lifted one brow incredulously, clearly indicating he didn’t really believe me. “And how long ago was this---meeting, Samantha?”

A feeling of foreboding nudged at my anxiety. Something in his tone was putting me on edge. I tried to sound casual.

“Oh---um---I don’t know---around four, or five years ago,” I answered quietly.

“Were you also a patient?”

“No---no, I was working there,” I said, without thinking.

Levi’s brow rose expectantly, and I felt an unusual urge to explain further.

“I was a kitchen hand. I delivered the meal trolleys to the wards---things like that,” my voice trailed off.

“Hmmm.”

Levi’s thumb began to graze faintly back, and forth, over the material of my costume, across the edge of my exposed thigh. That simple movement temporarily distracted my thoughts, but he still had me pinned with his piercing gaze.

“You just happened to meet Buchanan while you were delivering meals?”

“Yes,” I confirmed in a low, but shaky voice.

My anxiety started growing. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was leading to something with his questions.

“So---was it Samantha Barnes---or Angelica Williams, who met him?” he asked sternly.

My eyes widened, and I stiffened on his lap.

How in the fuck does he know my full name? My heart was thumping loudly inside my chest, and I felt the iciness creep through my veins, chilling me to the bone.

From his penetrative stare, it was suddenly apparent that he was expecting me to reply with an answer he already knew. I recoiled---pushing against his hard chest with my hands to move myself as far back from his grim expression as I could, while his arms trapped me on his lap.

Feeling the blood drain from my face, my head began to spin in turmoil.

“Let me go,” I said hoarsely.

He immediately released me. I quickly slid off his lap, and away from him on the seat, still in shock.

I tried to think, tried to recall who knew the name Williams. I mentally counted them. There were five people in total who knew that name.

My thoughts promptly became crystal clear. There were only two possible choices. And there was only one I was putting my money on. Kiara. I propelled myself slowly along the seat, until I was in the opposite corner, away from Levi.

“Where did you hear the name, Williams?” I asked tensely.

I’m sure I saw a glint of regret flash through his eyes, before he sighed.

“I heard it from Kiara,” he exclaimed.

It was like I was hit in the stomach with the butt end of Toni’s baseball bat. I was right.

I felt betrayed. And sick to my stomach. Kiara knew too many details about my past. Oh, fuck---what else has she told him?