Cornered (Kira Brightwell, Book 6)

Series: The Kira Brightwell Mysteries

Kira Brightwell knows where to find the Procurer.

Finally, after four long years, a level playing field. But the serial abductor knows how to cover his tracks. And any animal can become even more dangerous when cornered. Kira’s hard-won window of opportunity to capture the Procurer remains narrow in a race against the clock.

Kira’s other problem?

Someone else wants to find him first.

The ongoing battle of wits between Kira and the Procurer comes to a head in this tense sixth novel in the Kira Brightwell mystery series by Jacquelyn Smith.

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This title is also available as part of the Six Stitches Kira Brightwell Collection.

Ginette Waters paced the length of her bedroom on silent feet. The plush carpet gave way beneath her slippers, muffling her light footsteps. She was surprised she hadn’t worn all the way down to the underpad by now, with her constant stalking across the well-appointed room.

She gave her silk ivory dressing gown an absent tug around her slender shoulder and tossed back her long, dark hair. She took a deep breath, inhaling the traces of her own subtle fragrance that lingered in the air in an effort to soothe herself.

Surely her men must have completed their mission by now…

Only the lamp on the bedside table was lit, illuminating a turned-down bed of fine, linen sheets that showed no sign of being slept in. Heavy, velvet curtains had been drawn across the large windows that overlooked the sprawling backyard of the Waters’ estate. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but morning wasn’t far off.

Ginette caught sight of her own reflection in the mirror of her dressing table. Between her flawless, dark skin and the ivory dressing gown, she looked like an apparition in the pale light. Her full lips twitched in wry amusement.

The Pale Lady.

Men and women whispered the name in hushed voices, unsure of whom to trust—blissfully unaware of the enemy that walked in their midst. No one had guessed her alter ego. And why should they?

The Pale Lady was an infamous blackmailer who took advantage of the dirty scandals of La Valentia’s wealthiest and leveraged them to help support those who were less fortunate. In her victims’ minds, she was a ruling member of the criminal class—surely not one of ‘their kind’. To her employees and the causes she quietly supported, the Pale Lady was a hero.

Meanwhile, Ginette Waters was the adopted daughter of wealthy gentleman scholar Walter Waters. She rubbed elbows with La Valentia’s elite and had an impeccable reputation. Her charity functions were always the talk of the town.

Ginette had been careful. Not even Walter knew her secret, and Wally knew everything. No one aside from the Pale Lady’s employees had any reason to associate her with Ginette Waters.

No one, except Kira Brightwell.

Kira had even made the connection on her own, which only made her more interesting. Despite the risk it posed, Ginette had been both delighted and impressed.

She had found herself drawn to Kira the more she had learned of the other woman’s story through the local press and her own private investigations over the past few years since Kira’s abduction and infamous escape. It was only natural, really. They were two sides of the same coin. Both of their lives had been changed by the Procurer. Both of them worked to make the world a better place.

Both of them wanted to take the Procurer down.

Ginette knew Kira wouldn’t agree with her methods. Despite their similarities, both women had a very different moral compass. While Kira played by her own rules, she didn’t consider herself above the law. She merely worked around it to help things along.

Ginette was another story.

Ginette would do anything—anything—to get vengeance for what she had suffered. She had no interest in seeing the Procurer rot behind bars.

Yes, it had been the Procurer’s uncle who had been mainly responsible for her childhood abduction and sale to child rapist, Xavier Waters. But according to Kira, Russell Harrow had been killed long ago—most likely by his own nephew. None of that mattered to Ginette.

Someone had to pay.

The Procurer—Kurt Harrow, she reminded herself—had been the one to lure her off into an alley where his uncle had grabbed her. Yes, Kurt had been a child himself at the time, but he had known what he was doing. The way he and his uncle had acted in the van as they had driven her off to her new home convinced her it wasn’t Kurt’s first time.

And it wasn’t exactly as if he had gone on to do great things since bumping off his uncle. How many others had he abducted since going into business on his own?

No one knew.

No, Kurt Harrow was a feral animal that needed to be put down. Kira would be able to see that once the deed was done. She would probably even be relieved.

After all, what prison could hold someone like the Procurer? The man had been active for years, and the police knew practically nothing about him, but it was clear his contact list was both deep and extensive. He had been able to reach inside the jail at the LVPD to kill Peter Croft. Ginette wasn’t prepared to allow the police to underestimate him.

Kira would thank her for it later.

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This title is also available as part of the Six Stitches Kira Brightwell Collection.

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