BLACK KNIGHT

  Book #4 of the SIN series

  Aleatha Romig

  New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Consequences series, Infidelity series, Sparrow trilogies: Web of Sin, Tangled Web, Web of Desire, and Dangerous Web, and the Devil’s Series Duet

  COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE INFORMATION

  BLACK KNIGHT

  Book 4 of the SIN series

  Copyright @ 2022 Romig Works, LLC

  Published by Romig Works, LLC

  2022 Edition

  ISBN: 978-1-956414-25-7

  Cover art: Letitia Hasser at RBA Designs/ Romantic Book Affairs

  Editing: Lisa Aurello

  Medical Consultant: Sharon Weir, BSN, RN, CIC

  Psychology Consultant: Sarah Nealy, MA, MA, NCC, LPC-R

  Formatting: Romig Works, LLC

  Proofreader: Stacy Zitano Inman

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  * * *

  2022 Edition License

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the appropriate retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  “Somewhere in the world there is a defeat for everyone. Some are destroyed by defeat, and some made small and mean by victory. Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory.” ~ John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights.

  * * *

  When the secrets of Donovan’s past sins are revealed, his and Julia’s snow globe is threatened. With both personal and business endeavors at stake, he and Julia are forced to face the threats and dangers head-on, recognizing that villains don’t always lurk in the shadows and allies come from the most unexpected of places.

  * * *

  Who will be left standing when the final curtain falls?

  Will what started on a dark, snowy night survive the sun’s light?

  * * *

  Don’t miss a second of the much-anticipated conclusion to the Sin series.

  * * *

  From New York Times bestselling author Aleatha Romig comes a brand-new age-gap, family saga, chance meeting, contemporary romantic-suspense novel in the world of high finance, where success is sweet and revenge is sweeter.

  * * *

  Have you been Aleatha’d?

  *BLACK KNIGHT, a full-length novel, is book four, the final novel in the Sin Series. Join the emotional ride along the white ribbon: begin with RED SIN, continue with GREEN ENVY and GOLD LUST, and find the dramatic conclusion in BLACK KNIGHT.

  Prologue

  The end of GOLD LUST

  Julia

  The cape slipped from my fingertips as I blinked. The room around me wobbled, much like the illusion of heat on hot pavement. The temperature began to rise.

  Margaret slouched down on the sofa.

  “Margaret?” Her name from my lips sounded odd. “Vicki,” I yelled her name as her glass of champagne shattered on the edge of the hearth and she reached for the mantel.

  “Don’t drink it…” she mumbled as her knees buckled.

  I’d only had a sip of the champagne, not as much as either of the other ladies. Yet my hands began to tremble as I tried to steady myself.

  “You aren’t wearing the pearls.”

  I turned to the unfamiliar voice. Blinking, I tried to focus. “W-what are you doing here?”

  It was the woman from the consignment shop, the same one at the coffee shop.

  The dress she wore matched mine.

  The exact same.

  In her grasp, she was holding the box with the pearls. “Let me help you.”

  I pushed my way past her to the bathroom. Turning on the faucet, I splashed water to my lips.

  The light-haired woman came around the corner. “You’re very pretty. Of course, you do have youth…that will fade.”

  My stomach cramped as I leaned forward. “Please leave.”

  My thoughts went to my phone, but I couldn’t recall where I’d put it. “My bodyguard….”

  “Oh, I think it’s time for you to rest, Julia.”

  “No. My wedding.”

  She had my champagne flute. “Here. Take another drink.”

  I shook my head, swiping the flute from her grasp. The crystal exploded upon impact. Shards of glass and liquid littered the floor. “Vicki.” I tried to scream, but my voice was merely a whisper. My fingers blanched as I held tight to the vanity. “I…I.”

  The woman smiled as my knees gave out and the cramping increased.

  On my knees, I could see her lips moving and hear her voice, but everything around me was too far away—as if I were watching through a telescope. I flinched as she leaned down, pulling the hairpiece from my hair.

  From my place on the floor, I watched as she added the accessory to her hair. “I need to hurry. It’s my wedding day.”

  “Who…?” I wasn’t sure if the word was audible. “Who are you?”

  Her smile faded as she adjusted a necklace with a large solitary diamond in the reflection. “You know who I am.”

  I shook my head. The pieces weren’t falling into place.

  “I’m the woman Van loves, the only one he’s ever loved.”

  Her smile reminded me of a cartoon—too large and too exaggerated.

  This woman wasn’t real. She was a caricature in my mind.

  “Van…” I could barely form the word. Everything was losing focus. “You’re…?”

  “You know who I am,” she said again. “I’m Madison.”

  Van

  From the end of GOLD LUST onward

  * * *

  A memory came back, one I’d tucked away, an action I’d intended for good. Or maybe it was manipulation. The deed was my way of planting a seed of doubt, offering an escape and a refuge. I’d wanted Madison to have an alternative, an option to leave Phillip and come back to me. What I did occurred so long ago that I’d blocked the memory.

  I’d moved on.

  My heart raced with the memory.

  Despite my efforts to keep Julia safe, I’d promised Madison a haven, a place to go if she and Brooklyn needed to escape. I’d given her access.

  If Madison was on my property, there was only one option.

  I put the truck in gear and turned the wheel. “I have to go, Lena. I need to call my security.”

  “Van, where do you think she is?”

  The racing of my circulation buzzed in my ears as I came to grips with the answer to Lena’s question. “Fuck, she’s in the house with Julia.”

  “I don’t believe my sister is dangerous.”

  “I don’t know what to believe.”

  “Shit,” she said. “Hurry.”

  I hit the disconnect button and called Julia’s cell phone. It went immediately to voicemail. My tires screeched as I accelerated on the main road. Trees whizzed by in a blur as other cars appeared to be standing still.

  Hitting the screen on the dashboard, I called Albert’s number.

  My breath caught as he answered. “Albert, is Ms. McGrath okay?”

  “She’s upstairs. Margaret said they needed a few more minutes.”

  “Go up there. I’m on my way.”

  “Your brother?” Albert asked.

  “No, his wife. His ex-wife. Fuck, it’s a woman.”

  “A
woman…the DNA…”

  He didn’t need to finish. The ache in my chest told me I was right.

  “Albert, open the front gate. I’m not slowing down.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The call disconnected as memories flashed in my mind’s eye and my heart raced.

  The dream I’d wanted for so long had come true—Madison had come back.

  That fruition was no longer a dream.

  It was a nightmare.

  Banging my hand against the steering wheel, I muttered, “Fuck, Madison. Why now?”

  Lena said Madison had been out of the hospital for a month. And all that time, she’d been here, living on my land, in the cabin and the guesthouse. She’d waited for our return. The knowledge caused acid to bubble in my gut.

  Gripping the steering wheel tighter, my knuckles blanched as I pushed the accelerator to the floor. The gate moved as I approached, opening enough for me to pass through.

  The truck’s tires sent loose snow and ice in a rooster tail as I sped up the private driveway. The only vehicle in front of the house was Albert’s. “Please don’t let me be too late.”

  I screamed for Albert as I jumped out of the truck and ran up the front steps to the house. There was only a slight hesitation as I laid my palm over the sensor and the locks disengaged.

  “Ms. McGrath.” Albert’s voice could be heard from the front French doors as I barreled into the house.

  Taking the staircase two or three steps at a time, I ran to the second-floor landing and down the hallway toward the master bedroom suite.

  “Sir?” Albert turned my way. “The suite is locked. I don’t hear anyone.”

  “Break down the fucking doors.”

  He pulled a pistol from beneath his coat, his gaze coming to mine as he pointed it at the ornate doorknobs and lock.

  “Fucking do it,” I said, taking a half step back. Raising my volume, I yelled to Julia, “Stand back.”

  The gun’s blast reverberated throughout the hallway as the metal and wood splintered. Barely a second later, Albert cleared the way, pushing the broken doors inward with his shoulder.

  My breathing stopped and my feet forgot to move as I took in the front room of our suite.

  “Fuck,” I growled as my eyes scanned.

  Prepared for the wedding, wearing a green dress, Vicki lay crumpled on the floor near the fireplace. Broken glass littered the hearth. Upon the sofa, slouched against the cushions, Margaret appeared to be sleeping, a crystal flute lying on the carpet by her hand.

  Albert hurried to Margaret and I to Vicki.

  “She has a pulse,” Albert said.

  With two fingers, I pressed against Vicki’s neck. “I think she has one.” Fuck it could be my own. “Call for an ambulance.”

  Vicki’s eyelids fluttered. “Julia.”

  “Vicki, I’m here,” I said, staring down at her and lifting her head. “Where is she? Where’s Julia?”

  “Help her…”

  “Fuck.” I shook Julia’s best friend, but her eyes were again closed. I shouted to Albert, “Get an ambulance here now.”

  As I gently laid Vicki’s head down on the carpet, I saw the bottle of champagne on the table. I’d seen the bottle in the kitchen earlier and assumed it was for our later celebration. The pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

  The bottle was opened.

  Dropped crystal flute.

  Broken crystal on the hearth.

  Fuck.

  “Poison.” I looked at Albert. “I think they’ve been poisoned.” My teeth clenched at the possibility.

  What kind of poison?

  Surely Madison wasn’t homicidal…was she?

  Standing, I looked around the front room, my fingers clenching into fists at my side. “Where the fuck is Julia?”

  With my pulse drumming in triple time, I rushed from room to room, opening doors—the office, the exercise room, the bedroom. Lastly, I hurried to the bathroom.

  Crystal shards glistened on the tile floor.

  No Julia.

  Albert was speaking on his phone in the front room as I hurried back into the bedroom to search the one spot I’d missed. Holding my breath, I opened the large closet. The presence of Julia’s clothes and personal items was a kick to my heart.

  Her things were present.

  Not her.

  “The ambulance is coming,” Albert said, sticking his head into the bedroom. “Ms. McGrath?”

  I shook my head.

  The new security system came to mind.

  I pulled my phone from my coat pocket and pulled up the screen with the heat sensors. The schematic of the floor plan appeared. On the second floor, I saw our four circles of light. It was on the first floor that I saw one. “Shit, she’s downstairs.”

  As we started to leave, Margaret began coughing and choking. “Stay and help her.”

  A cold breeze blew from the first floor as I made my way out of the suite and onto the landing. The French doors and the large front door beyond were open wide. Standing at the railing, I peered down at the solitary figure in a cream cape standing in the open doorway with her back to the house.

  Déjà vu.

  Years ago, I stood a story above, calling out to Madison and my brother. I’d been distraught that Madison was leaving, that she was doing what she’d promised, and that I wasn’t her first choice. My fingers gripped the railing, knowing that despite the way the person below was dressed, it wasn’t Julia.

  I’d wasted too many years on a dream that wasn’t meant to be.

  The fates dropped my perfect woman into my world when I least expected her.

  Now it was up to me to save her, save her from my past sins.

  Despite my belief, I called out the name of the woman I loved. “Julia.”

  The figure squared her shoulders, becoming perfectly still.

  I tried one more time. “Julia?”

  Silence was my answer.

  The cold January breeze fanned the velvet cape as the figure moved, stepping toward the open doorway. Hurrying down the stairs, I saw her silhouetted by the glare of the afternoon sunshine. In the bright light with the snow as a backdrop, she appeared to be a ghost or an illusion, dressed all in white.

  “Stop.”

  It was as I reached the first floor that she turned, her green orbs staring from beneath the faux fur. They were the eyes in my dreams and now my nightmare.

  Everything within me said to charge after Madison, to demand that she tell me what she’d done with Julia. The urge fueled my forward progress, yet it was her stance and the way she shuddered that sent cold over my skin.

  She blinked as her head tilted. “How are you here?”

  “I live here, Madison.”

  She sighed in relief. “Van.” A grin curled her lips seconds before she spoke. “I see you.” There was a soft melody to her tone, as if she were singing.

  Julia

  Minutes earlier

  Looking up from where I sat on the floor, my lips moved slowly, trying to form the name. “Mad-i-son.”

  I knew that name, yet my thoughts were easily distracted. With each blink of my eyelids, colors glistened from the bathroom lights.

  A prism cast from each bulb with all the colors of the rainbow. Such as the aurora borealis dancing across the night sky, these colors danced over the walls, reflecting from the mirrors, glass, and fixtures.

  The light show was stunningly mesmerizing, a kaleidoscope and I was within it.

  My palms ran over my stomach.

  Lace.

  My dress was inside the light show.

  No, this wasn’t real.

  I needed to stand.

  Reaching for the vanity, I willed myself to rise. Before I could stand fully erect, pain twisted my stomach with agony. The colors surrounding me intensified, becoming harsher—more vivid reds. Vibrant blues. “Help.”

  Did my word leave me or was it inside my head?

  My stomach lurched as I collapsed, my hands and knees once agai
n back to the floor. Acid and bile bubbled within me, their sour toxins threatening my gag reflex. Crawling, I made my way toward the toilet. In a small room by itself, I pushed forward, lifting my face to the basin milliseconds before the contents of my stomach came up. Perspiration coated my skin as heave after heave racked my body. Bile and vomit left my tongue and mouth bitter as I coughed and spit.

  “Poor Julia.”

  My hands trembled as I turned toward the woman. She’d told me her name, but I couldn’t remember. Oh yes. That’s right, she was from the store. “Help me.”

  From the store…

  I looked around.

  This was Van’s bathroom—our bathroom within our house.

  Why is the lady from the store here?

  When she bent down, I saw her diamond necklace and noticed the lace of her dress. It was the same as mine.

  I looked toward my lap.

  Am I still wearing the dress?

  I was.

  In her hand, she had a cup. “Take this. Drink. You’ll feel better.”

  The liquid swished as I tried to hold the glass in my shaking grasp.

  Moving her head from side to side, she took the cup and lifted it to my lips. “Here.”

  The cool liquid coated my tongue as I began to drink.

  No.

  This tasted wrong.

  It was more of the champagne.

  The contents spewed as I spit into the toilet. “I need water.”

  “You have to drink this. You can’t ruin all my plans.” Grasping my hair, she pulled, tugging back my head. I cried out at the pain in my scalp as she tipped my face up and again brought the rim of the cup to my mouth.

  Fighting, I sealed my lips together.

  “Stop being difficult.” She held my nose between her fingers. It was as I gasped for air that she poured more liquid between my lips and held my chin high. Despite my efforts, to move, she held her hand over my mouth. Falling to my bottom on the tile floor, I swallowed as some of the contents dribbled down my chin and onto my dress.