Page 10 of Grave Kisses (Graveyard of Hearts Collection #1)

Kendra

A warm hand on my face drags me out of my sleep.

I groan and stretch before opening my eyes to see Bellamy looking at me.

He is wearing a sad expression, and that frightens me.

“What?” I ask, shooting up from where I was sleeping in the guest bed.

We worked late into the night sorting and boxing up important items, so we ended up sleeping here.

I see that not only are Bellamy and Marcus sitting with me, but Martin, Noel, Julie, and Jesse are here.

I get off the bed, and tears well up in my eyes.

I don’t like how they are looking at me, like I’m a victim of something horrible.

“Kendra, baby,” Julie says, fighting back tears.

“No,” I sniff. “Whatever it is. No. I don’t want to know. You are going to tell me something bad.”

“Kendra…” Marcus says with more firmness. He stands and corners me as tears roll down my face. I’m melting down, and I don’t even know what’s going on. “Your apartment building caught fire last night.”

“What?” I ask. “My… how? Why is everyone…”

“There was an explosion inside your apartment caused by propane tanks. They said there were at least twenty in there when the fire got to your apartment. They think the explosion came from one area near a closet, so it’s likely they were stacked in there…

Your front door and fire escape were locked from the outside. ”

“Someone… Oh God…” I say, spiraling fast and hard. “I could have died… Someone tried to kill me.”

“It’s being investigated as terrorism right now because the explosion was so big and it took the building down while people were evacuating,” Martin says.

“How many people… died?” I ask hesitantly.

“Fourteen,” Martin tells me.

“They want you to come in for questioning,” Jesse says.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding,” I laugh dryly.

“I have the adoption papers signed and filed. Give them the videos and all the information you found last night.” Jesse says.

“No,” I say. “No, he lived here for years… Call them and let them search this property. I’ll sign whatever I need to. Tell them I’m reporting a crime that is related.”

“Okay,” Jesse says. “I’ll tell them they can do the questioning here then.”

I stand in the guest room and stare at a spot on the wall for what feels like forever.

I am lost deep in my thoughts about where to go from here.

I don’t have a home. I don’t want to move in here, considering what Archer did to me here.

Alan didn’t even want to be here, but it kept the memory of Kimberly and his wife alive.

It was the last piece of them he had left. What do I have left of him?

Nothing…

I lost everything…

I have nowhere to go…

He took… everything from me.

“Kendra!” Marcus says, shaking me. I blink a few times before pulling out of my disconnected state. “There you are. What happened? Where’d you go?”

“I… lost everything,” I say quietly. “He… I have nothing left.”

“Belongings can be replaced,” he says softly. “I’m just glad you weren’t home.”

“There’s… I had my baby blanket from before… I don’t know what happened to my birth parents… But I came with that blanket when my parents died,” I say, my voice quivering with emotion. “It had my name on it.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Noel says.

“I’m homeless,” I say. “I… where the fuck do I go?”

“Will you hit me if I offer for you to stay with me?” Marcus questions. “It even comes with a live-in Bellamy.”

“You two live together?” I ask.

“A storm sent a tree through my house a few months ago, and insurance refuses to pay for it,” Bellamy says. “So I invited myself into his home.”

“I… don’t know,” I say.

“Although you are welcome at our home,” Martin says. “I am going to suggest staying with them, though.”

“Well, fuck you too, Martin,” I laugh.

“Ha ha,” he chuckles. “I just think it would be good for you three to spend some time together.”

“And?” I ask.

“And… I’d feel better knowing you were with two men far more capable of protecting you than my old ass,” Martin says.

“You think he…” I start to ask but stop.

“I think Alan kept Archer away from you for a very good reason,” Martin says.

I am lying on the front porch with my arm draped over my face.

My feet are flat on the wood, so my knees are up.

I want to go home, but I don’t have a home.

I have the clothes on my back and my car.

That’s it. Noel did talk me into letting her and Martin go buy me things I need.

She has a great sense of style and knows my sizes, so I am comfortable with her making those choices.

Also, it takes a huge load of stress off me.

I have the weekend to sort this shit out, and then I will just manage however possible.

Bellamy and Julie are both going to be helping make sure CyberSafe is running smoothly.

I don’t trust that I won’t miss something and get overwhelmed.

Honestly, between all of us, we can keep all aspects of Vanderbilt running just fine.

Marcus and Bellamy are sitting on the white wicker couch, and I can feel them watching me. “What?” I say. “I can feel you two looking at me.

“Just looking,” Bellamy says.

“Liar. What is it?” I ask.

“It’s nice to see you relaxed, is all,” Marcus says.

“Also, your tits look great from this angle,” Bellamy adds.

“There it is,” I laugh. “Bunch of dirty boys.”

“Dirty men , thank you,” Marcus teases.

I hear someone pull into the driveway, and I groan. One of them nudges my foot, and I put my hands out for them only to see it’s Marcus as he pulls me up to stand. “Thanks,” I sigh.

A man steps out of a blacked-out SUV right as a pack of other similar vehicles floods the driveway, front yard, and the road. “What the fuck?” I ask. I turn and go to the door, and one of the dozens of men yells at me.

“Stay where you are!” He barks, drawing his pistol but not raising it. I already have my hands up, so I hit the front door a few times, and Jesse comes out. “Hands where I can see them.”

“What in the hell is this?” Jesse snaps at the man.

“I called on behalf of my client, who was more than willing to talk, but she wanted to provide information about who she is confident the suspect is. So, unless you want me to make you get a search warrant, I’d advise you to put that fucking gun away right now. ”

“What the fuck?” I say, looking at Marcus and Bellamy.

“Just poorly trained, trigger-happy newbies,” Marcus says, rolling his eyes.

“You’ve got a point, Marcus,” Jesse says. “I want the detective I spoke to up here. You have five minutes, or you can get off this property.”

“Why the fuck… I didn’t do anything?” I say to Jesse. “A fucking psychopath blows up my goddamn apartment, and I am the one who is treated like a criminal?”

“I understand they’re cautious, but none of that was necessary. He had no reason to draw his weapon,” Bellamy says, hugging me.

“You must be Jesse Huber,” a man says as we walk up. He is middle-aged and wearing a tailored suit.

“I am. What the fuck is wrong with your detectives?” Jesse demands.

“I apologize for that. I will speak with them about their conduct,” he says. “I am Detective Jeff Collier. I am leading the investigation into the explosion at Blossom Terrace Apartments.”

“Can we go in?” I ask Jesse.

“Yeah. Come on, and we will explain more,” Jesse says to Collier.

When we step in, Collier raises an eyebrow. “No living room furniture?” he remarks.

“Well, someone died on the couch,” I say. “My father, I should add. Well, foster father, and then adoptive, but now dead… Sorry, I’m rambling.”

“Her father passed away last week. This is his home,” Marcus says. “His name was Alan Barnes.“

“So…” I say to Jesse.

“Go ahead,” she nods. We walk to the dining room, and I sit where I have everything to give the cops.

“So, I’m just going to dump all of this out, and then we can sort through it, okay?”

“Okay,” Collier says simply.

“When I was fifteen, I was lured here by Archer Barnes and his two friends, Kyle Jefferson and Daniel Delmar. They were eighteen at the time. They raped and tortured me. The other two ended up leaving, but Archer kept me tied up and brutalized me. The next day, Alan found me when he returned from a work trip. He took me to the hospital to be checked out and treated. Come to find out now through a letter that I found last night, he had done the same thing to his sister, who died six months prior. Apparently no one could prove it, but he admitted to it to Alan. Archer raping me was the last straw, and Alan completely cut him off and disowned him… Now, Alan left me a box of things in his safe and it’s flash drives of all the camera angles in the house when Archer raped me.

We verified the video… He also left a spreadsheet of names of people that he thinks Archer killed…

Alan left me literally everything… A multimillion dollar company that operated under Vanderbilt Technologies.

I own thirty percent of Vanderbilt also.

Plus the house, cars, and so on… He is apparently going to try and sue me for it, but we have signed adult adoption papers prior to his death that haven't been re-filed yet after getting lost the first time, so he doesn’t have a case.

I was afraid he would come after me, but then I woke up and found out my fucking apartment exploded because of a bunch of propane tanks in there.

First, who the fuck would have that much?

Either way, I am positive that Archer set the fire intending to kill me.

I have proof of my rape, plus all of the other names…

. So… yeah. If he was raping and killing people while living here before I came along, there might still be proof. ”

“And we have your permission to search?” Collier asks me.