JACE (Lane Brothers Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

through with it just to placate Daddy while trying to build an investigation against him, but I know now that I can’t ever go through with it after that kiss and nearly having sex with Jace. It would feel like a betrayal and a direct insult to him and what we shared before.
    I despise the guy, and yet he still has the power to turn me on like no other man ever has. The asshole. The sexy, lying…sexy asshole.
    “Tracy, really, peach as an accent color? How terribly eighties of you, darling,” Ronny drawls, making me clench my teeth in irritation.
    Like I care about her opinion or the fact that poor Mom is still living in the eighties and loves peach. The only freaking reason I’m here at all is to give Jace and his family the impression that I’m still in with this crowd. Plus, I really like Paulie and missed the hell out of her.
    She’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and while we talk on the phone once a month, I’m glad to be here with her today, even if it kills me the way she hangs on Ronny’s every word and seems to worship the snake.
    “What can I say, Ron, Mom adores peach and she’d be devastated if I didn’t agree. At least your dresses will be handcrafted by one of the leading fashion houses in the country,” I say, gritting my teeth when her bottle blond head dips and she huffs out a mournful sigh.
    Poor Paulie just smiles apologetically and starts cooing over the shoe catalogue to distract the asshole while I try not to lose every molar to my annoyance.
    Have I mentioned yet that one of the reasons I agreed to take this case in the first place was because of a rumor I heard about dear Ronny and her plans to have her cousin’s remains tested?
    I know a lot more than Jace or his brothers believe, thanks to my clout in the Bureau, and I know that those remains are not Bolton Conrad’s.
    With the Lanes tied up in an investigation of those remains, the current mission would be sidetracked, and I’d lose the advantage I now have. Which is pretty simple; with this new lead, I can quicken Daddy’s demise, or incarceration, as it may be, and free not only myself from his clutches, but my mom as well.
    That’s the only reason I didn’t just skip out and call it all quits. I want my mom free of this all so that she can finally have some semblance of a life. That’s been my motivation from the start, and one of the key factors in this investigation; I won’t leave my mother behind and watch while my father keeps her under his iron thumb.
    As Ronny and Paulie keep prattling on about shoes and the benefits of matching colors versus the newest trend of accent shoes, I take a minute to scan the sitting room and get a look at the entry points and the security.
    I am not some super ninja agent who can break a security alarm and slide into places undetected, but I am somewhat trained, and it’s engrained in me to take it all in in case I need to make a quick exit.
    Plus, I just like scoping everything out and wondering how the other Lanes afford all this luxury when I know damn good and well that their money dried up a good three years ago and none of them have worked a day in their lives.
    Parasites.
    “So Tracy, darling, how is that handsome devil Timothy?”
    I snap out of my musings and meet Ronny’s cold blue eyes with a calm I do not feel. Like I don’t know that her smug look is due to her having had an affair with Timothy last year when she came to DC with her aunt Cleo.
    I don’t care all that much; I just hate having to sit here and smile back when I want to slap her for being such a bitch and liar. Jesus, I pity poor Paulie for having to endure this nasty piece of work all these years.
    “He’s still screwing his way through the society misses,” I answer, smiling sweetly at her gasp and Paulie’s uncomfortable tittering. “As long as he keeps that dick away from me and pads my bank account, we should do just fine, though.”
    I don’t let on that I know, but I can see that she knows that