All is Lost (All Series, Book 2) Read online

  What Readers are saying about The All Series…

  “Marie has the ability to bring so much more to the romance genre. Hooking even the unromantically inclined readers, making even me beg for more.” ~ Angela Pratt (I Feel the Need the Need to Read)

  “All is Lost demands your attention from the beginning. It will have your heart wrenching and blood bounding at every turn... You will want, no, need the next book more than your next breath.” ~ Author Simone Nicole

  “Another emotional ride that I didn’t want to end! Amazing character development.” Heather Armstrong. (All is Lost beta)

  “I can honestly say that this IS the best book I have read this summer. It covers everything I could as for in a book: thrilling, mystery, drama, and of course, ROMANCE!!!” ~booknerd (review of Be All on Amazon)

  “Well I will not lie that when I started this book I didn't know if I would like it boy I was wrong. This book is filled with suspense, drama, and love.” ~Lisa Petty (review of Be All on Amazon)

  “This book !! This book had me reading at every chance I got. I could not get my head out of the story or the characters. I love a good story that has twists you don't see coming and an angst filled love triangle. This book had that in spades. It was a roller coaster ride for discoveries and mysteries. I couldn't get enough.” ~Novelgrounds (review of Be All on Amazon)

  “I don't know where to begin. This book is amazing the thought and effort put in to this is mind blowing!” ~Rebecca (review of Be All on Amazon)

  “Wow!!! Just absolutely freaking amazing!!! I fell in love with the characters and want to know more. Reading is one of my passions, and when I get into a book, it's like I'm part of it. This book got to me so much.” ~Christina Barajas (review of Be All on Amazon)

  “I really liked this book. The characters are hateable, loveable, frustrating, perfect for each other, yet NOT. It had the right amount of intrigue, thrills, aggravation, honestly, and pain. I fell in love with Marcus and Tristan.” ~Carolyn Isherwood (review of Be All on Amazon)

  ALL is Lost

  (All Series, Book 2)

  A novel

  By

  Marie Wathen

  ALL IS LOST

  Copyright © 2013 Marie Wathen

  All Rights Reserved

  Smashwords Edition

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the owner. Excerpts for reviews – only when stated as such and quoted – are an exception.

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

  Editor: Pamela Snyder (PS Editing) email: [email protected]

  website: http:/pamelasnyder.wix.com/home

  Published by Marie Wathen PO BOX 239 Vincent, AL 35178

  Cover Art Design & Formatting: Covert It! Designs http://www.coveritdesigns.net/

  (Warning: This book is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18 due to explicit language and sexual content.)

  This story is approximately 122,000 words

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  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

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Special Excerpt

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my adoring husband. Barry. You are my life, my love, my best friend, my protector, my accepter, my fun, my every day, my every night and my at last. There could not be a more perfect person for such an imperfect me. I love you, forover ~ Marie

  Prologue

  A luxury water cruiser sits anchored pristinely off the Atlantic coast. Currently it is the largest and fastest vessel on the seas. The owner had the ship customized to his specific needs and desires. He is a tall well-built gentleman with blonde locks trimmed neatly. With a massive chest and perfect physique, he always looks magnificent dressed only in the finest Armani can offer. Having the finest of everything, he didn’t skimp on one detail for the one woman he has loved his entire life. Perfection and opulence is the only way he could keep her happy, and in turn that keeps him happy. There are servants scurrying below deck preparing a luxurious celebratory feast. However, at the moment, the reason for celebrating has yet to happen. It won’t be much longer now.

  “No, you promised that when the brat turned nineteen I would be done with all this scheming bullshit.” An angry red haired beauty demands to her lover, as she stalks across the cabin of the lavish cruiser.

  She has spent a lifetime waiting for the moment that she would finally be reunited with the man she loves and with the son that she was denied a relationship with up until this point. Devious plans, plans that were a must, plans that meant a brighter future for them kept her family apart for far too long. At last, the time has finally arrived and she is not waiting another minute for their journey to continue–together.

  Following the feisty redhead through the door leading out to the deck, a malicious voice spits, “That was the plan, before you fucked up and let your son arrange the hit–that was a failure. I was against killing her from the beginning, I might add. She is still alive and we are no closer to having what we want.” The malicious voice belongs to a beauty more sinister than the redheaded she-devil. This seductive brunette quite literally emulates evil-incarnate and she threatens the long anticipated family reunion. She never intended for the lover’s to reunite. The jealous wench meticulously devised a plan that separated them for nineteen years and she will be damned if this woman thinks she can come in and destroy or take away the one thing she sacrificed it all for.

  “Now love,” he croons. “We need to deal with the loose ends and extra baggage that our son left when he failed to capture the girl.” Glancing between the two statuesque women, the man points a finger at the ginger-haired vixen and says with a monotone voice, “Your sister, will continue to monitor the situation with our prisoner.”

  An angry growl from the fiery tart behind him draws his attention away from his intended. Discarding her attitude, he continues. “He won’t last much longer and we need him to survive. You need him to survive just a little longer if we want the new plan to work. Unless something miraculous happens soon, I must go back underground.” Glancing between the two, his voice softens as his eyes scan and appreciates their sexy tan legs, and full curves, but always the masochist he tamps down his carnal desires. “Our informant nailed it correctly when he said that there is a small undercover task unit inve
stigating our business. Fortunately for us, he has their trust and will keep direct contact with me. The little pack of rogue cops have become the girl’s guardian angels, and it seems as though they are not letting her out of their sight.”

  “It was him! He is protecting her. I knew there was something wary with the way he was watching her,” his woman hisses back, completely missing a lascivious glare secretly exchanged between her man and the other woman during her meltdown. “I knew I should not have hired that son of a bitch. The little bug would be dead this very moment, and we could be sailing away with our hearts desires darling.” She croons, approaching her future husband. Accommodating his grand stature, that stands seven powerful inches over her five feet eight, she rises up on her tiptoes and places a sweet kiss against his jaw line. He pulls her body roughly against his.

  A loud huff behind them draws the embracing couple’s attention. The other woman bores an evil glare at the redhead and says, “That was your most recent fuck up. Whether or not your stepdaughter dies, we will have what is rightfully ours.” Her eyes roam the length of the man.

  Flinching at the way the dark hair devil snarls at her before whipping around and storming away, she accesses that her behavior resonates a scorned lover. Although she has considered the brunette her biggest threat to their future happiness, she refuses to believe he would betray her after all that she’s sacrificed for this endeavor.

  “Wait,” While holding his devoted ginger beauty tightly in one arm the man reaches for the other brooding woman, halting her from escaping and bringing her body against his vacant side. The two women stab the other with hate filled eyes. He whispers promises against the other woman’s hair, “With the progress that I’ve made with Ryske I guarantee that we will get the results we are expecting. My investor from Willow is satisfied with the results it offers their specific arrangements, which satisfies the hell out of me since they have been continuously funding our little experiments all this time. Everything is just within our reach ladies and once we have her we will have it all.”

  “Wait one damn minute,” his woman, still pissed with what she is accused of by the bitch, lurches out of his hold and steps within inches of the other woman’s face. “You are the one that fucked up when you doped her up with the Ryske at the damn local goth club. Do not think I–or my son–will take the blame for every damn mistake made in getting rid of her. Your girl at Toxic failed miserably when she couldn’t control herself and overdosed on it. Why didn’t you just inject her with all of it instead of trusting that little junkie with the whole damn vial? If she would have died that night everything would be in my name now.”

  “You stupid woman, I have explained it to you numerous times. Get this through your damn head. I always know what I’m doing and it wasn’t time for her to die!”

  “Dearest.” Fearing a catfight is emanate the man steps between the two ladies and pulls his woman into another intimate embrace. He lovingly caresses her cheek with the back of his hand. “There is no reason for you to get defensive with her. We are all in this together. I need you and I am just as eager to get Willow Island and all that it encompasses behind me so that we can finally have the life we’ve been denied for the past nineteen years. Killing the little one before her birthday was never the plan. Scaring the living shit out of her so that her defenses would stay fragile is how we always intended it.”

  Placing warm lips to her forehead, he smiles as he continues, “You did a fine job keeping everyone away from her most of her life. Now that this little gang has assembled, becoming her protectors, I realize that it only adds to the pleasure we will have taking everything and everyone away from her. Currently all of her friends are being watched. We have one down and only three to go. Once contact is reestablished I anticipate giving the order to finish them all. Unfortunately, we lost one recently, but if I know our girl she will have him in her clutches again soon.” He presses a kiss to her cheek. “I know you don’t want to hear it, anymore than I want to say it, but our plans to disappear into happily ever after must wait a little longer.”

  Still debating the fairness of the situation, she starts, “But what about us…” Her words hang in the air as the love of her life captures her lips. His hot tongue, taunts hers allowing the world to fade away into his need.

  Behind the happy couple, a blustering flurry of long dark hair and designer attire whirls around violently. Knowing that this debate is pointless and if things are to turn out the way she wants them, she must take actions into her own hands. Catching his eye with one last silent order, she leaves them alone in their hypnotic kiss.

  As a means to an end of this ancient debate, he offers a final kiss to the mother of his child, realizing that time has been his true adversary against them being a family, but also accepting that eternity was always at stake. Sliding his hand up, he glides his thumb over the pulse point of the throbbing vein in her delicate neck and relishes at the frenzy effects his touch has on this beauty. Her mouth melts into his as he gently guides her backward toward the railing of the upper deck. In his mind, he replays the moment he met her over thirty-five years ago at a small camp site in Willow and how he was drawn, like a ship to a lighthouse during a raging storm, to the innocence she radiated. She fell instantly and he maneuvered his way into her heart quickly, lapping up the devotion she so willingly gave. Never has a conquest been easier.

  She holds to his firm grasp around her throat accepting that even after her existence she will love the man who stole her heart and held it for a lifetime.

  Chapter One

  Breesan

  Soon after sharing a serene sunrise with Marcus the morning after Tristan’s shooting, I dress quickly. My bag is packed and I’m ready to get to the hospital to see Tristan and check on Anna. I still can’t believe everything that happened.

  Thinking back to the past twenty-four hours, I am shocked by the rapid change in my world. Seeing someone I love get shot scares the living hell out of me. Fear of having Tristan taken from me demands that my self-protective wall be patched up, but I fight the urges. Something else happened last night that prevents the wall from rebuilding. I found a way to love. I am in utter disbelief that I have the capacity to love let alone love several people. I’ve been alone and without love for so long that I didn’t know how desperately I needed it until last night’s events unfolded in front of me.

  Celebrating our freedom as independent adults at a graduation party, that was really a disguise for a secret birthday party in my honor, turned into the most horrifying moments of my life. Shots fired, frightened bodies rushed away seeking safety from the scattering bullets and my world collided with my worst fear–losing loved ones. Watching my best friend, Anna cling to Tristan’s lifeless body, I was slapped with a repeat of history. My parents were taken from me while I was a child and no one has loved me since. Now all that I care about is in jeopardy with the possibility of Tristan dying and who knows what this will do to Anna. I’m not sure if my heart can take anymore loss. I'm afraid I may have realized too late how important they are to me.

  Considering myself broken all of my life, I really didn’t know what that meant until I was shattered by this pain; but my ultimate downfall came from Marcus Walker. My impenetrable wall, previously cracked by finally allowing my best friends in, totally disintegrated at the touch of his lips to mine. I’ve never felt anything like it. There’s some curious connection between us that awakens all of my senses and yet numbs my mind simultaneously. I feel more alive now and yet the guilt of what happened to Tristan threatens to repossess me, dragging me back to my prior anguish. This time I refuse to go back to living that way. Loneliness’ sick twisted clutches will have to try harder. Illuminating my world, love is what I’m fighting to hold onto, and this time it is with an unyielding perseverance, more powerful than I had keeping it away.

  A soft throat clearing draws my attention toward the doorway. Smoldering eyes and a sexy as fuck smile greets me. Marcus leans against the door frame
wearing a white tee-shirt displaying several tattoos. I need to get a good look at those soon. His tantalizing presence makes me swallow hard. Trying not to seem affected while the flashbacks of last night seeps into my mind, I quickly scan over the rest of him noting the tattered blue jeans and black combat boots. My thoughts shift again to him being nearly naked in bed with me last night, allowing my embarrassment to follow and I instantly feel my cheeks warm.

  Mygod the man is spectacular.

  I thank creation for gifting the world with such a magnificent creature. Marcus is so damn beautiful, loving and mine.

  He really is all mine, I smile.

  Walking toward me, Marcus takes my bag in one hand and laces our fingers together with the other. The sensation his contact stirs physically and emotionally feels amazing and unlike anything that I've ever known before him. Discovering last night that we are no longer able to stay apart, our feelings were bared and tidbits of our past were shared. Now, we are a couple.

  A couple? I silently question. Damn, that's the craziest shit I've ever thought.

  “Are you ready to go see Tristan?” Marcus asks sweetly.

  “Yes, I feel terrible about not being there before now.” I sigh, burdened with the guilt of staying at Marcus’ all night instead of at the hospital.

  “There was no reason for you to go to the hospital last night. They probably won't let anyone other than his parents in to see him.” I nod hesitantly and he takes a slow breath before adding, “I'm glad we had the time alone. I needed to explain everything about my job without interruptions.” He averts guilty eyes away from me. “Honesty is the most important part of a relationship and I'm sorry ours started with my deception.”

  “No Marcus,” Shaking my head, I counter, “We are both to blame for our rough beginning. I wasn't going to let you get close. The way it worked out between us was for the best,” I offer an encouraging smile. “Or we wouldn't be here now.”