Stay with Me (The WITSEC series Book 1) Read online

  More than nineteen years ago, ATF special agent, Kane Delancey, witnessed his father’s murder at the hands of an enforcer for the Boston mob. He put his past behind him when he and his family entered the witness protection program. Now, many years later, the murderer he testified against, is about to go free on a technicality. The FBI and US Marshals are asking Delancey to go undercover to help to stop the killer before he has the chance to tap his son as successor.

  Luca Price is a fun-loving young jewelry store manager with a bright future ahead of him. After a robbery, he suddenly comes face to face with a man who takes his breath away. Kane Delancey is big, brawny, and downright alpha male, everything Luca’s ever dreamed of. When their attraction strays from the professional, Luca hopes for so much more but there’s no way he’s going to be forced to live life in the closet for anyone, no matter how perfect the man is.

  Kane has been straight all his life. He can’t imagine a scenario where he’d want to take a guy to bed, much less form an intimate relationship with one. Then he meets Luca Price, stunningly beautiful, smart, and sweet in a charming way that has nothing to do with him being gay. When Luca’s path crosses with the man Kane is chasing, Delancey is suddenly faced with a different challenge… keeping Luca and his own family alive while trying his best to end the murderer’s legacy.

  *NOTE*

  Stay with Me contains an excerpt of Play with Me (Book 2… coming soon)

  Stay with Me

  Copyright 2019 Patricia Logan

  All rights reserved

  Edited by: Liz Bichmann

  Cover Design by: AJ Corza

  Formatting by: JP Adkins

  AuthorPatriciaLogan.com

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  Warning:

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and one of their finest agents, Lincoln Snow, who will hunt you down, and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000!

  Remember:

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places, is purely coincidental. This book contains material that is only suitable for mature readers. It contains scenes of a sexual nature between two consenting men.

  People are saying wonderful things about Patricia Logan:

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Epilogue

  A little Excerpt from Play with Me – Coming Soon!

  Prologue

  Other Books by Patricia Logan:

  About the Author

  People are saying wonderful things about Patricia Logan:

  "Patricia Logan smells of old poo and doesn't wear pants… but her ability to weave perfectly real and sensual love stories into stories full of intrigue, suspense and the trials and tribulations of everyday life, pulls you in and makes you forget her personal hygiene." ~ Lisa Worrall

  "Author Patricia Logan writes from the heart, sucking you into her story from the first page. She pulls no punches, telling gut wrenching heartfelt stories with a reality that makes you feel you are right there. Her kind of emotional honesty is rare and essential to great writing." ~ Jean Joachim

  "Patricia Logan possesses the one key ingredient at her stage of writing that so many authors don't and never will; an editor who can translate her cirque du soleil act of random contortionist word tappings into something presented as popular m4m prose. History will remember her fondly without the fondling, however, when someone eventually revisits her first drafts and realizes she's really written a cookbook titled "How to Serve Me'…. and a Delicious One at That!" ~ Kage Alan

  "Reading a Patricia Logan book is not something to be taken lightly, the hotness contained within combined with multiple piercings can result in sudden breakage of certain adult toys making rapid trips to X rated shops a necessity! AND she will refuse to take responsibility for the added expense!! Oh and despite the hordes of Navy SEAL's, Cowboys, leather, whips, ropes and other convenient methods of restraint, there are never enough firemen in her books. ~ Petronella Bond

  “Patricia Logan is a walking contradiction that may be baking cookies with her grandchildren one moment and writing an e-stim sounding scene the next. Known famous as being a cat lady, she picks up more and more strays as she goes along through life. I am just happy to be one of them. ~JP Adkins

  TRADEMARKS LIST – Stay with Me

  American Express: American Express Company

  Armani: Giorgio Armani S.p.A

  Bentley: Bentley Motors Limited

  Bloomingdale’s: Macy’s, Inc.

  Calvin Klein: Calvin Klein Inc.

  Cheerios: General Mills, Inc.

  Converse: Converse Inc.

  Corona: Grupo Modelo, Anheuser-Busch InBev

  Doc Marten: Dr. Martens

  Dodge Charger: FCA US LLC

  Dolce & Gabbana: Dolce & Gabbana S.R.L.

  Facebook: Facebook, Inc.

  Glock: Glock Ges.m.b.H.

  Grey Goose: Bacardi Limited

  Guinness: Diageo plc

  Haggar Expandomatic Slacks: Haggar Clothing Co.

  Heinz: H. J. Heinz Company

  Honda Civic: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

  Hugo Boss: Hugo Boss AG

  Hungry Man: Pinnacle Foods, Inc.

  In-N-Out: In-N-Out Burgers, Inc.

  Macallan: Edrington Group

  Magnum: Forjas Taurus S.A.

  Mini Cooper: BMW AG

  Mountain Dew: PepsiCo, Inc.

  Movado: Movado Group, Inc.

  Naugahyde: Uniroyal Engineered Products, LLC

  Newsweek: The Washington Post Company

  Patron: The Patrón Spirits Company

  Pearlmaster 39: Rolex SA

  Rolex: Rolex SA

  Rolls Royce: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited

  Salvatore Ferragamo: Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.

  Sig Sauer: Sig Sauer GmbH, L&O Holding

  Stella Artois: Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV

  Uber: Uber Technologies Inc.

  Windex: S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.

  Wonder Bread: Flowers Foods
Corporation

  Yugo: Zastava Automobiles

  “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

  ~Martin Luther King~

  Prologue

  “Special Agent Delancey, we have a problem and we think you can help.”

  Kane Delancey stared at the pudgy deputy marshal who looked like he spent way too much time at the lunch truck. Seated beside him was Lincoln Snow of the FBI and beside him was Kane’s boss, Special Agent in Charge Sarah Connor of the ATF. Lincoln was Sarah’s husband and the father of her baby. Neither one of them were smiling. Kane had the distinct impression that they knew what was coming and resented the hell out of it. Though he’d only been with the ATF’s Los Angeles field office for ten months, he’d grown comfortable and happy in his position as a federal officer. It was rare that Kane was comfortable anywhere but he’d let his guard down and begun to feel almost… settled.

  “Do you know what they want?” Kane asked, ignoring the marshal for a moment.

  Sarah threw him a wary glance and then frowned, nodding slowly as she sat back, crossing her arms over her chest. Lincoln nodded as well.

  The team he worked with were smart, capable professionals, and he got along well with Dev King, his partner. The woman sure knew her way around a gun and Kane appreciated that more than anything. Sarah was a top-notch boss, always standing up to defend her people, putting herself in the gap with her boss when necessary. Lincoln had been the FBI liaison on several past cases the two agencies had worked together. Kane respected the man.

  Respect was hard-earned with Kane. He’d spent eight years in the Marine Corps and six years working as a cop in San Diego before he came to work at the ATF. It was the best decision he’d ever made and SAC Connor was just about as good as they came. Now the marshals had come knocking on his door and he somehow knew he wasn’t going to like what they wanted from him. Sarah and Lincoln sat forward.

  “Kane, they’ve told us what they want from you but they need you to give them permission to fill in… certain gaps in your history. We need to know why the US Marshals can’t talk freely without your say,” Sarah said, turning and glaring at the man who’d introduced himself as Brady.

  Kane watched him shift in his seat, clearly not liking the feeling of being stared down by a much smaller woman who could probably rip his face off. If the situation were different, he would have smiled, but he bit back any words and waited for Brady to tell him exactly what problem the marshals had that Kane could help with. Brady flicked his eyes away from Sarah, clearing his throat as he sat up straighter.

  “She’s right. We can’t speak freely in front of them unless you give us leave to do so.” Before Kane could respond, he went on. “I think you know what we’re talking about here.”

  Kane squirmed in his seat. This had been a long time coming. He was a thirty-two-year-old man now, not the twelve-year-old he’d been when his life had turned to shit. He’d somehow hoped his situation would never come to light; it had been so long ago. Hell, there were some days when he could convince himself it hadn’t happened at all. He stared at the marshal for a minute and then gave a slight nod before glancing back at Sarah and Lincoln.

  “I’ll tell them myself.” His words sounded slightly guttural and he had to force himself to focus on their faces. “My mother, younger sister, and I have been under the protection of the US Marshal’s office for the last nineteen and a half years, so whatever Brady has planned for me, probably requires I disclose that to you beforehand.”

  The expression on Sarah’s face was more than shock. She leaned forward. Clearly, she had expected a number of other scenarios for this meeting but never that.

  “You’re in WITSEC?” Lincoln asked, flabbergasted as well.

  Kane nodded. “At the age of eighteen, I had the choice to come out of the program but since my mother and sister were still in, I stuck with it.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t a problem but…” He glanced at Brady. “I’ll explain all that to them later. Tell me why you’re here.”

  Brady immediately straightened and leaned down, lifting a briefcase and putting it on the table. He extracted a file and then set the briefcase on the floor again. “I believe you know these individuals.” He opened the file folder and pulled out Shawn Manning’s picture, sliding it across the ATF’s conference room table where they sat in the quiet solitude of a Sunday morning. Kane examined the photo and nodded as Sarah and Lincoln also craned their necks to look down at it.

  “That’s Shawn Manning, the scumbag we locked up months ago. He has ties to the Irish mob and he was the one caught trying to facilitate the sale of Mills Lang’s remaining stockpiles of weapons last spring.”

  Sarah met his eyes and nodded before Kane pushed the photo back to Brady. He picked it up and put it back into the file folder before flipping to a second photo. This picture was of a man who was slightly older than Kane. The man had dirty-blond hair, blue eyes, and ruddy skin. Brady tapped the picture with one finger and looked hard at Kane.

  “Do you know this man?”

  Kane studied the photo closely and then shook his head before glancing back up at Brady. “No. I’ve never seen him before.”

  Brady nodded and pulled another picture out of the folder, sliding it across the table. The photo was of a man with gray hair who was at least sixty, perhaps older. Kane leaned in to look hard and when recognition hit him, he jerked back as if struck by lightning. The face in the photo was one he’d thought he’d never see again and he glanced hard at Brady.

  “I see you recognize him,” Brady said flatly.

  Kane shook his head. “It’s impossible. He’s dead. He died in prison.” Even as he said it, he realized he’d been wrong. The man who’d killed his father… the man whom Kane testified against all those years ago, wasn’t dead at all. Here he was in what Kane guessed was a recent photo. The man he’d testified against would have been about forty at the time. This man was much older. Rage flooded his body as he leaned forward, feeling his face heat. “He’s alive?”

  Brady nodded, opening his mouth to say something when Kane cut him off.

  “Does she know?”

  “I—I…”

  “She told me he died in prison. Does my mother know Enoch Moore is still alive?”

  “Yes.”

  Kane felt all the color drain out of his face. His stomach rolled and he actually had to push his chair back and bend over to keep from throwing up. He heard Brady talking but the buzzing sound in his ears was so loud, he couldn’t comprehend any of it. He opened his mouth and sucked in a gasp of air, only then realizing he felt as though he was going to faint. A small hand touched his back and he lifted his head. Sarah had gotten up and come around the table to stand beside him. As he looked up at her, she sat in the chair beside him, leaving her warm hand on his back as she locked eyes with him. Inexplicably, he felt like he wanted to cry. His mother told him Enoch Moore died years ago.

  Why did she lie?

  “Kane, who is Enoch Moore and how is he related to Shawn Manning?” Sarah asked quietly.

  Kane stared at her for a second and then gathered his thoughts. When he began to speak, his words shook with emotion. “Enoch Moore killed my father. I witnessed it back in Boston where I lived for the first twelve years of my life. My father and mother ran a small pub that had been in my family for generations. After my father’s murder, my family was sent to San Diego when we entered the program.” He shook his head and then glanced at Brady. “I have no idea what any of it has to do with Shawn Manning.”

  The marshal cleared his throat again, looking aside to Lincoln who was glowering at him. He glanced back at Kane and swallowed hard. “I’m going to tell you if you’ll indulge me one more minute,” Brady said, appearing shaken.

  Kane nodded and looked back at Sarah, reaching out and taking her small hand in his. She squeezed back gently. “Thank you. I’m okay. It was a… shock… that’s all.” A small marching band was playing in his stomach but he sat back
and blew out a slow breath, resorting to the meditation he practiced whenever things in his life got a little crazy. He gave Sarah’s hand one more squeeze before he let go. She stayed in her chair, making no move to go back around the table and take her original seat beside her husband. They both faced Brady.

  “This man is Moore’s son, Brandon,” Brady said, pointing to the picture of the younger blond man. “The FBI has been working to build a RICO case against the Irish mob out of Boston and they are convinced he’s running the West Coast operation out of a bar and grill that he owns in Hollywood. Manning was photographed several times coming and going at the bar before the arms deal that landed him in jail. In fact, as best the FBI has been able to tell, he was Moore’s second in charge until he was locked up.” He glanced at Lincoln. “I—I’ve asked Snow here to speak to that even though he had no knowledge until just now, why I asked that you be involved in this discussion.” Brady looked only happy to pass the next bit off to Lincoln as he turned and nodded at the man.

  Lincoln grunted an unintelligible reply before turning to Kane and explaining the story from the FBI’s point of view. “Brandon Moore took over the West Coast operation of the Irish mob once his father went away twenty years ago. But so far, we haven’t been able to pin anything on him directly. They ran guns which we now know were supplied by Mills Lang and we’ve closed down a couple of brothels that we know tied back to Shawn Manning but so far, we haven’t been able to pin any murders on anyone else involved with Moore.”

  “It seems that Manning was their fall guy until the bitter end. Moore has done nothing illegal since Manning’s arrest and even though we went and searched the bar from top to bottom to help prove our RICO case afterward, we found nothing but a small handgun which was registered to Brandon Moore. He might have suspected Manning would fuck things up and destroyed everything before we ever got there… probably even before Manning’s arrest.”