Read Sins (Vance Davis Dossier #2) for Free Online Page A

never find you. You’ll be protected.”
    She thought about his words for a moment before slowly sitting up. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, the nightmare is over if you want it to be.”
    She shook her head. He could see in her eyes that it was out of disbelief. She wasn’t rejecting the notion of freedom; she was overwhelmed by it.
    “I don’t know. It’s my home. They’re my family.”
    “Is it really home, or just the only home you know?”
    She frowned at him in response.
    “A real home is a safe place, and the people there love you, and nobody hurts you. You deserve that kind of home, Valentine.”
    She blinked, angrily wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Vance’s phone rang, interrupting whatever she might have said next. He would have ignored it, but it was Allie and she was probably worried sick about him by now. He grudgingly answered it.
    “Vance, where the hell are you?” There was a shrillness to her tone that made Vance wince.
    “Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear, mama bear.”
    “Don’t make fun of me. I’ve been up all night worried sick about you.”
    He glanced at Valentine, not sure how to explain. “I, uh, had a bit of a new development.”
    Valentine raised her eyebrows at him and he shrugged helplessly in response.
    “Are you okay?” Irritation gave way to worry.
    “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. And I found Little Z last night. But there’s something else I need to take care of today. Will you be okay by yourself there today? I promise I’ll be back by dinnertime.”
    “You seriously dragged me all the way to St. Louis to leave me sitting in a hotel room all day?” And the irritation was back.
    “I’m sorry, mama bear, but this is really important.”
    “Stop calling me mama bear. Forget it. I’ll rent a car and drive myself home.”
    Vance frowned at the phone, suddenly remembering the benefit of being a lone wolf. “You don’t want to say goodbye to Susie? Just give me one day. I’ll take you back tomorrow.”
    “You’re an ass, Vance Davis.”
    “That’s two swear words in one conversation. I don’t know who you are anymore.”
    “An ass.” She drew out the words, letting them linger on her tongue for emphasis.
    “Sadly, I’ve been called worse. If you’re still here tonight, I’ll take you to say goodbye to Susie and then we’ll grab a nice dinner. If not, well, then, I guess I’ll see you when I see you.”
    “I hate you. I really, truly hate you.”
    Vance listened to the silence for a moment before admitting to himself that she’d hung up on him. He supposed he was happy she no longer wanted to love him, though he hadn’t meant for the pendulum to swing quite so far in the other direction.
    “Girlfriend?” Valentine watched him curiously.
    “No, but she wanted to be.”
    “Wanted?”
    “She’s pretty pissed.”
    The hint of a smile tugged at Valentine’s lip. “I kinda figured. Does she know what you do?”
    “A bit of it. She’s not really part of that world. I made a mistake bringing her up here. I thought she could help me with some homeless friends I’ve made, but she thought it was going to be something else.”
    Valentine nodded knowingly. “She thought you guys were gonna…”
    “Yeah, I think she thought we were gonna.” Vance sighed with defeat. He’d mucked up any chance of friendship with Allie by ever getting her involved. If not friendship, a truce.
     “Can you really give me all that crap you talked about?”
    “You make it sound so lovely.” Vance’s response was dry.
    “I mean it—can you really do that, give me a place that’s safe, that has all that stuff you were talking about?”
    He looked her dead in the eye and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I can. If you’ll let me, I’ll take you there right now. We’ll get breakfast on the way and be there by lunch.”
    “But you won’t stay with me, will you?”
    “I don’t live there, no. And I have to finish my job here. But the couple you’d be