Fatal Scandal

Scotty stopped and took a deep breath. “I’m talking way too much. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I like hearing about your life.”

“Could I ask you something?”

“Sure. Whatever you want.”

“Are you... Do you want to... Are you going to try to take me away from them?” Scotty held his breath while he waited to hear what Tony would say.

“I was really surprised to hear about you. I was shocked. And to be totally honest, I didn’t believe it until you walked in here today and I saw myself at thirteen. I’m not going to take you away from them. I wouldn’t do that to you when it’s obvious you have a life with them that you love.”

“I love them. They’ve given me everything—a home and a family and my own room and an Xbox and posters on the wall and everything.”

“I’m not going to take you away from them, but I would like to know you, if that’s okay with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe we can email or text or talk on the phone once in a while and you can tell me how algebra is going and whether you like Spanish and if you scored a goal in hockey. Would that be possible?”

“If I say yes, would you sign the paper?”

“I’m going to sign the paper no matter what, but I’d really like to talk to you once in a while.”

Hearing that Tony pla

And then Nick was there, his hand on Scotty’s shoulder. “Everything all right?”

Nick sounded scared, and Nick never sounded scared—except for when Sam got herself into some sort of trouble.

Scotty looked up in time to see Tony pass the signed paper to Nick.

Nick took it from him and then shook Tony’s hand. “Thank you so much.” He sounded like he was going to cry, and Scotty could certainly relate.

“Thank you for coming all this way. I appreciate it.”

When Nick squeezed his shoulder again, Scotty stood and reached out to shake Tony’s hand. “Thank you.”

“Sure.”

“I, um, I’ll need your phone number.” Scotty withdrew his phone from his pocket and punched in the number Tony recited. Then he looked across the table at him. “I’ll call you.”

“I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”

Nick led him over to where Sam pretended she wasn’t crying. “Come on, Mom.” Scotty extended a hand to her. “Let’s go home.”

* * * * *

Acknowledgments

Thank you for reading Fatal Scandal. I hope you enjoyed it! I want to extend a special thanks to the readers who have embraced Sam and Nick’s journey and are always asking for the next book. Your excitement and enthusiasm keeps me actively engaged in the Fatal Series, and I look forward to many more adventures with Sam and Nick. This book was especially challenging as Nick, Sam and I adjusted to his new role as vice president. I’m enjoying the addition of new characters to the landscape as well as the way this storyline forces me—and Nick—out of our comfort zones.

Readers will be excited to hear that One Night With You, a novella detailing the first time Sam and Nick met, six years before Fatal Affair, will be out in June of 2015. I’ve been working on this for a while now, and I’m looking forward to getting it out to all of you. Also coming in 2015 are the first seven Fatal books in print with all new covers! Look for Fatal Affair and Fatal Justice in stores in May, Fatal Consequences/Fatal Destiny and Fatal Flaw in June, Fatal Deception in July, Fatal Mistake in August and Fatal Jeopardy in September. Books 8, 9 and 10 will be coming in print in 2016.

As always, an extra-special thanks to Captain Russ Hayes with the Newport, Rhode Island, Police Department, who serves as my consultant and sounding board during the writing of these books. Russ is always quick with an answer or an idea, and I can’t thank him enough for his ongoing help in keeping the police aspects of the Fatal Series as close to reality as I can get them.

Thank you to “Jack’s” team: Julie Cupp, Lisa Cafferty, Holly Sullivan, Isabel Sullivan, Nikki Colquhoun and Cheryl Serra for all your help and encouragement, and to my family, Dan, Emily and Jake, for their never-ending enthusiasm for my career.

Thanks to my agent, Kevan Lyon, my editor, Alissa Davis and Carina Press executive editor Angela James for all their support of the Fatal Series. A special thank-you this time around to Farah Mullick with Harlequin, who has championed the Fatal Series in print with such incredible results. Thank you, Farah, and the entire team at Harlequin and Carina.

If you enjoyed Fatal Scandal, consider leaving a review at Goodreads and/or the retailer of your choice. Your reviews help other readers to discover the Fatal Series, and I appreciate every one of them.

When you finish the book, dish about the details, with spoilers encouraged, in the Fatal Scandal Reader Group at www.facebook.com/groups/FatalScandal/. If you haven’t yet joined the Fatal Series Reader Group, you can find it here: www.facebook.com/groups/FatalSeries/. Also, if you’re not on my newsletter mailing list, you can join at marieforce.com for regular updates about new books and possible appearances in your area.

Thanks so much for reading!

xoxo

Marie

About the Author

Marie Force is the New York Times, USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal bestselling, award-wi

While her husband was in the navy, Marie lived in Spain, Maryland and Florida, and she is now settled in her home state of Rhode Island. She is the mother of two teenagers and two feisty dogs, Brandy and Louie. Visit Marie’s website at marieforce.com. Subscribe to updates from Marie about new books and other news at marieforce.com/subscribe. Follow her on Twitter @marieforce and on Facebook at facebook.com/MarieForceAuthor. Join one of her many reader groups! View the list at marieforce.com/co

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ISBN-13: 9781426898761

Fatal Scandal: Book Eight of The Fatal Series

Copyright © 2015 by Marie Sullivan Force

Edited by Alissa Davis

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.