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Dominic’s heart pounded. It felt as if it would break through his ribs and beat right out of his chest. Presley was gone, and they had no idea where to look for her. When they found her safe—and they would—he might need to make an appointment with a cardiologist.

Dom had thought the threat was over when Eddie Smith had been killed. Did he have a partner? It couldn’t be his father. Presley’s office verified he was in Wisconsin.

“Seriously, Kayne, where do we start to search?”

Kayne’s phone buzzed. “Hold that thought. It’s my office.” He answered on speaker. “Tyler, what are you doing working this late?”

“When we get a 9-1-1 request, I’m on it. I ran a deep check on Dr. Val Anders, full name Valarie Anders Moran. She was born in Serenity Shores but moved away to go to school and never returned.”

“Wait a minute,” Dominic cut in. “Did you say Moran was her last name?”

“That’s correct.”

“Did she have a brother named Jerrod?”

“She did, yes. He died when he was eighteen.”

“What is it, Dominic?” Kayne asked.

“Jerrod Moran was one of my friends. I remember now that he had a sister named Valarie, but she was much older than us. Jerrod shot himself after the fire that killed Presley’s cousin, Gwen. He thought he was responsible for her death.”

“Dr. Anders is killing the other women who were there,” Kayne deduced. “Why?”

Dominic tried to fit pieces of the puzzle together. “It’s starting to make sense. Presley knew something had driven the group apart. Val Anders must’ve figured out what it was.”

“We need to do that too, but first, where would she go?” Kayne wondered.

“Someone else lives in the house where Jerrod grew up,” Dominic told them.

“Tyler, can you run a search on property she or her family still owns in Serenity Shores and the surrounding area?”

“On it. Give me a second.” The rapid tapping of computer keys sounded, and then Tyler returned to the line. “She has a condo in Duluth . . . hold on. She owns property on Piney Lake.”

Dom slapped the steering wheel. “That’s where the old cabin stood. It’s where Gwen and Jerrod died.”

“Do you need directions?” Tyler asked.

“No. I know where it is.”

“Keep me posted and let me know if you need anything else.”

“Will do. Thanks, Tyler.”

Dominic shifted into drive and floored the accelerator, sending them slamming against the seat and squealing the tires as he peeled out of the King’s driveway.

“You laid down some serious rubber there, un ami ,” Kayne drawled.

“Get used to it. Should we call the cops?”

Kayne thought about it. “Not until we get there. I don’t want them roaring in with sirens wailing and guns blazing. That could get people killed. Besides, we don’t know for sure that’s where they are.”

“Good thought.” Dom was lucky to have Kayne with him because he wasn’t thinking clearly.

Unfortunately, the cabin was out of town, miles away. Dom would have to break several laws to get there quickly. He didn’t care.

“Tell me what you remember about that night,” Kayne prompted.

“I was supposed to be there. I was hit with a seriously violent case of food poisoning that leveled me. We’d been planning the party for weeks. I’d hoped to recover in time to spend at least a couple of days there. I was lying on the bathroom floor in a cold sweat when my cell rang. It was Joel Timms. He was calling from the fire. He told me about Gwen . . .”

“What was your relationship with her?”

“We dated freshman and sophomore years. We stayed friends after the breakup.”

“Why did you split?”

“We were both so busy with extracurricular activities. We couldn’t mesh our schedules.”

“I assume Presley knows you used to see her cousin.”

That brought a smile to Dom’s face. “She accompanied us on several dates.”

Kayne slapped him with the back of his hand. “You’re kidding?”

Dom shook his head. “Dead serious. She was a sweet, shy darling that giggled and hid her face anytime I talked to her.”

“Presley giggling? I can’t picture it.”

Dom could. He could still see her pink cheeks and sparkling blue eyes, but now they were superimposed on the woman he loved. He swallowed heavily. She had to be okay. He couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life without her.

He cleared his throat. “What’s she like at work?”

Kayne chuckled. “A total badass. She can take down a guy three times her size—and has. She can outshoot anyone on the range. And she makes a killer chicken parmesan.”

Dom gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to think about Presley cooking for Kayne or anyone but him. “She dating anyone there?”

When there was no answer, Dom chanced a look at Kayne.

“She wouldn’t be with you if she was.”

“She’s so damned beautiful, Kayne. And smart, kind, loving. My daughter worships her. I can’t believe I’m that lucky.”

“You are, and don’t you forget it. Everyone adores her. She’s my sister from another mister.”

Dominic took a turn on two wheels. “I don’t plan on letting her go.”

#

Presley was stunned speechless. Too many thoughts zinged through her head, and she couldn’t focus. She knew there was a reason the Cheerios had broken up, but never in her wildest dreams had she conjured up a scenario as twisted and sick as this one.

They had lied. To. Her. Face. They had comforted her during Gwen’s funeral, hugged her, and told her how much they had loved Gwen, calling her a sister.

Lies. It had all been one great, big, disgusting deception.

Gwen’s own friends had killed her. They hadn’t had the decency to own up to it, instead blaming someone else. Jerrod had killed himself under the crushing burden of guilt. Why hadn’t her friends felt the same remorse?

“We didn’t mean for it to happen, Presley,” Tamera implored. “We loved her.”

“Presley, look at me. Please?” Jessie begged, but Presley couldn’t do it. She had adored these women, and they had betrayed her in the worst way.

“We were young and stupid.”

“It was an accident, Jessie.” Presley hated that her voice cracked. “Why didn’t you get help like any decent person? Gwen would still be alive.”

“We panicked! Tamera couldn’t find a pulse.”

Tamera gasped. “What? Don’t you dare blame me. I wasn’t a doctor. How was I supposed to know if there was one or not?”

“Because you said there wasn’t one! We believed you.”

“Well, I didn’t push her, and I sure as hell didn’t set the fire that killed her.”

“Stop!” Val shouted. “What’s done is done.” She stomped over, ripped a strip of duct tape off the roll, and slapped it on Jessie loud enough that the sound echoed in the room. She did the same to Tamera. Then she fiddled with the saline bags.

“You bitches will get everything you deserve. You killed Gwen, and you killed my brother.”

#

Dominic had never driven so fast in his life. Nothing mattered but getting to Presley as quickly as possible. A voice in the back of his brain warned him to be careful because of Gia. He couldn’t make rash decisions that might leave her alone in the world. She’d already lost her mother. He let up on the accelerator.

“What’s our plan when we get there?”

“You need to follow my lead,” Kayne insisted. “I’ll ascertain the situation and decide the course of action. If you can’t abide by that, you can stay in the vehicle, voluntarily or not.”

As much as it chapped Dom’s hide, Kayne was the professional. He would defer to him. “Agreed.”

#

Presley’s mind reeled. Val intimated that they’d killed her brother too. What could’ve happened to make them take another life? “What do you mean?”

“I should introduce myself, Presley. My full name is Valarie Anders Moran.”

Moran. Presley’s mouth gaped. “Jerrod Moran.”

Val nodded. “He was my younger brother, and I adored him, practically raised him. He was the most important person in my life. I knew he wouldn’t have been so careless as to cause Gwen’s death. I was right. Do me a favor, Presley. Look around.”

She did, surveying the room with a feeling of dread. They were in a cottage with wood-paneled walls, a small kitchen, and a stone fireplace, where a blaze roared, heating the already warm room.

“This is my family’s cabin . . . well, a replica. I went to painstaking lengths to make it look exactly the same. This is the last place Gwen saw before she died.” Val tsked. “I’m really going to hate setting it on fire.”

Val had rebuilt the cottage only to torch it with Jessie, Tamera, and possibly Presley inside. Her world was spiraling out of control. Everything she’d believed had blown up in an instant. “What made you suspect something happened other than what the authorities concluded years ago?”

“Call it sisterly intuition. I worked hard to get the job in Duluth to be close to the women. It took years. When the prior medical examiner had an unfortunate accident, it was my time. Besides, revenge is a dish best served cold, no?”

“Did you have something to do with that accident?”

Val smiled. Presley took that as a yes.

“Margy was a font of information.”

“How did you know to target her?”

“I’m very smart, Presley. I researched the people who were there that night. Then I discovered the girls lived in the area but hadn’t stayed in touch. I thought that was strange.”

So had Presley.

“During my investigation, I learned Margy was a lesbian. Since I am, too, targeting her was child’s play.”

Presley recalled the conversation with Margy’s former girlfriend at the wake. Val had been the woman who had broken Margy and Janice up.

“Some wining, dining, sex, a little shot of sodium pentothal, and she spilled all her secrets. Because of those vile girls, my brother ended his life.”

Presley was disgusted. Revenge was never the answer. Val should’ve let the courts handle the situation. “How did you pull it off? Nancy and her husband, Charmaine, Margy. There was nothing in—” It was as if a lightbulb snapped on in Presley’s head. “They didn’t die from smoke inhalation. You are the medical examiner. You manipulated the findings.”

Val smiled deviously. “Now, that’s not true. Sure, I drugged them, but not enough to kill them. They were breathing when the fires broke out.”

“So you could claim smoke inhalation.”

“Exactly.”

“What about the samples my office requested?”

“There is no shortage of bodily fluids around the morgue.”

The woman was pure evil. Presley had to keep Val talking until she could figure out a way out of the situation. Dominic and Kayne would have no idea where she was. Her purse was gone with her phone and watch. There was no way to track her. She was on her own. “How did you make them look like accidents?”

“I had help from my girlfriend. She’s a firefighter, so she helped remove the batteries from the smoke detectors, as well as with the flammable details.”

“A firefighter?” She prayed it wasn’t—

“Come say hi, Rena.”

Presley closed her eyes. It was her.

“Hey, Presley.” Rena waved. “I enjoyed spending the evening with you the other night.”

Presley flinched. They’d worked on a puzzle together. Good God, with Gia! She couldn’t return the sentiment, so she remained quiet. Then a memory surfaced of Dominic telling her a story. “Two firefighters died in an accident.”

Val smiled again. “There were no openings, and my significant other needed a job.”

Lord have mercy. “All this death to avenge your brother? Val, innocent people lost their lives.”

Val shrugged. “Nobody’s innocent.”

Presley had no words. Val wasn’t a vigilante; she was a mass murderer.

“Was that you at Margy and Nancy’s funerals, watching from afar?”

“I had to pay my respects,” Val murmured. “It would be rude not to, don’t you think?”

Was Presley supposed to believe she was the least bit worried about propriety after she was responsible for ending their lives?

She had to figure a way out of this. She’d worked on the binds around her wrists and was nearly free. It was hard to do with Rena behind her. She had to be stealthy about her actions. She flexed her gracilis muscles, feeling the gun strapped to her inner thigh. If she could get a hand loose, she could take out Val and Rena before too much poison dripped into Jessie’s and Tamera’s veins or Val torched the place. She hoped.

“We’re kindred spirits, you and I, Presley. Those girls took one of your family members, just as they did mine. Then they lied. They lied!”

She played along. “We are, Val. We’ve both been betrayed. There’s no reason to keep me here now that I know what really happened. Thank you for giving me that closure. Please let me go so I can grieve.”

Val sighed. “Oh, sweetie, I want to. Believe me, I do. But I can’t. You must know how much that hurts me. I never planned on including you. I feel no remorse for killing the others, but your death will haunt me.”

If Presley had to, she could tug her hand free. All she needed was an opening. A quick glance told her that the saline bags were dripping much faster after Dr. Anders had manipulated them. Presley had to make a move soon.

“Hold the love fest,” Rena remarked. “I need to take a leak.”

Classy. But that might be the break she needed. If she could—

“What do you think you’re doing, Dr. Anders?”