INFERNO (The HEAT Series Book 4)

  INFERNO

  Part Four of

  The HEAT Series

  New York Times Bestselling Author

  Deborah Bladon

  FIRST ORIGINAL KINDLE EDITION, JUNE 2016

  Copyright © 2016 by Deborah Bladon

  All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written consent from the author.

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

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-926440-39-2

  Book & cover design by Wolf & Eagle Media

  www.deborahbladon.com

  Also by Deborah Bladon

  THE OBSESSED SERIES

  THE EXPOSED SERIES

  THE PULSE SERIES

  THE VAIN SERIES

  THE RUIN SERIES

  IMPULSE

  SOLO

  THE GONE SERIES

  FUSE

  THE TRACE SERIES

  CHANCE

  THE EMBER SERIES

  THE RISE SERIES

  HAZE

  SHIVER

  TORN

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  A Summer Surprise

  Thank You

  Preview of TENSE

  Deborah’s Mailing List

  About the Author

  CHAPTER 1

  I try to speak to tell the uniformed police officer that I found my dad's watch in the debris on the street next to the crumpled black sedan. My lips part but only a strangled sound escapes.

  Sophia's eyes drift to my hand. "What is it? You look like you're about to pass out."

  The police officer starts talking, his voice monotone and emotionless. He says something about removing evidence and criminal charges.

  "My dad," I interrupt him mid-sentence.

  "What about him, Den?" Confusion knits Sophia's brow.

  I look down at my hand and the blood droplets that are now drying on the face of the watch. "My dad always wears this. I gave it to him."

  "Your father?" The policeman's brusque attitude softens immediately. "This belongs to him? Were you notified that he was involved in the accident?"

  "Was I notified?" I repeat back. "He was in the accident?"

  "What's your father's name?" he asks in a somber tone. "I'll need to know his name."

  "It's Sergio Firi." Sophia's fingers lace through mine as she answers. I feel her hand trembling. "Chef Firi. He's on television all the time."

  He looks at Sophia blankly. A trace of hope flutters in my chest. He would know Sergio if he saw him. His face is recognizable. Even if the police officer isn't a fan of cooking shows, he couldn't have missed the billboard in Times Square that was advertising my dad's pasta sauce a few months ago. It was larger than life.

  I saw it once. After that day, I'd walk four blocks out of my way to get to Nova just to avoid it. It did little good. The same picture inundated social media sites. The image of my dad, smiling from ear-to-ear, holding a jar of his branded marinara sauce was everywhere.

  "Maybe the watch fell off his wrist and someone picked it up," I say desperately, my hand fisted tightly around it. "That's why it's here on the street."

  The officer's gaze drops to my hand. "I need the two of you to remain here. I'm going to speak to my lieutenant."

  "We'll stay," I say quickly.

  "You have to surrender the watch." He holds his palm up. "You may be permitted to claim it at some point in the future, Ms. Firi."

  I nod as I gingerly place my dad's watch in his hand. I don't correct his assumption that I share the same last name with my father. There was a brief period of time, when I was a kid, that I wanted that. He didn’t, so it quickly became a moot point.

  "Tyler…Tyler Monroe." My hand leaps to the officer's forearm, halting him in place as he takes a step forward. "He was with Sergio. They were going to a party. Is he okay?"

  He pauses, staring at me. "There were two male passengers in the sedan. I'm sorry. I don't have information on the condition of either of them."

  "That girl," I begin, pointing at the crowd. The small gathering has now swelled. Trying to pick out the face of a woman that I only saw in profile isn't going to happen. I turn to Sophia. "Where's that girl who told you someone died? We need to find out who died. Do you think it's possible she's wrong? It's dark out. It would be hard to see everything from where she was standing."

  I hear the tremor in my voice. I know that my words may not be making sense to the police officer or my best friend. I can't comprehend them either. Sophia squeezes my hand tightly, her touch meant to reassure me but it's not helping. I feel vacant, my entire body numb.

  There's a flood of tears approaching. I swallow hard to chase them back. If I cry it validates what's happening. I won't do it. I can't accept that in the blink of an eye, one of them was stolen forever by a drunk driver.

  "As I said, Ms. Firi, I don't have any information about the condition of either of them." The policeman's head bows. "Stay here. I'll be right back."

  I do as I'm told because right now my world is still in one piece. It's one fragile piece that is teetering on the edge of collapse. When he comes back, I'm afraid everything will shatter.

  ***

  "We're going to be in big trouble for not waiting for that policeman, Den." Sophia trails behind me as we approach the panel of glass doors leading into the Emergency Room.

  After waiting for ten minutes for the police officer to return, I gave up. I'd spent the majority of that time texting Tyler and Sergio, asking each of them to reply as soon as they could. When I got nothing back, I sent messages to both Maribel and Drea. By the time Drea texted me back, my hands were trembling. She wrote that she'd left Nova's soft launch shortly after I did so she had no idea if Tyler's family knew that he'd been in an accident. When I worked with her at Nova, Maribel rarely checked her phone, so it didn't surprise me when there was no response from her either.

  All that silence spurred me to take matters into my own hands. The policeman who had taken Sergio's watch from me stopped briefly to talk to two firemen before he walked over to a group of men, some wearing uniforms identical to his, others dressed more casually. He leaned his leg against the hood of a police car and from my vantage point twenty feet away it looked like he was making small talk.

  If he was seeking out any information about Tyler or my dad it sure as hell wasn't apparent in the leisurely way he checked his phone or the fact that he had a wide ass grin on his face. I was pissed and even Sophia's insistent reminders that we stand in place weren't enough to cement my feet there.

  I'd taken off, knowing she'd follow me. I stopped the first policeman I saw who wasn't a part of the huddle that was taking place by the crushed remnants of the silver car. He couldn’t have been much older than me and when I told him that I needed to know which hospital the ambulance went to, he gave me a canned response about the privacy of the victims.

  That's when the dam broke and my tears started. I was on the verge of tel
ling him about Sergio's watch when a reporter from one of the local news channels approached us. One bat of her long eyelashes and a flash of her flawless smile and he was putty in her hands.

  She wanted to know two things. The first was whether she could get an on air interview with the officer in charge. The second was the name of the hospital the victims had been taken to. Once the policeman spit that information out, I hauled Sophia down the block by her hand, her feet barely keeping up with the pace of mine. I hailed another taxi and we were on our way here.

  "We're not in trouble, Sophia." I scan the area immediately inside the doors of the hospital. There's a shuttered gift shop to the right with balloons touting Get Well Soon messages, magazines and a few wilting flower bouquets. The lights inside are dim but it's enough to lure a few people to gaze through the glass at the merchandise.

  To the left is the waiting room. Some people are sitting, more are standing; all of their voices echoing off the sterile white walls. I look directly in front of me at the reception desk. A dark haired woman wearing a light blue cardigan sits behind it. She's staring right through me, her eyes motionless. I walk steadily toward her, stopping as I reach the high counter that disconnects her from the steady swarm of people who must come here every day.

  "I'm looking for someone." I push the palms of my hands against the edge of the counter, using the pressure to balance myself. I don't trust my trembling legs to keep me upright. "It's two people, actually. There was a car accident."

  "Give me a name," she says with the raise of one brow.

  I glance back to the waiting room. I scan the people gathered there, stopping when I see Tyler's sister, Kayla. She's sitting next to an older woman who has a smile on her face. Their hair color is identical, the shape of their nose too similar for it to be anything but hereditary. That has to be Tyler's mom. Neither of them is in tears. No one's ushered them to a private room to shield their grief.

  I feel awash in relief. Tyler must be okay. I'll see him and talk to him, but first I need to…

  "Who are you looking for?" The woman behind the desk raises her voice, wrenching my attention back to her. "I need a name."

  I feel Sophia's hands on my shoulders as I draw in a deep breath. "Sergio Firi. I'm his daughter."

  CHAPTER 2

  "I'll need you to stand to the left." The woman who asked for my dad's name hangs up the receiver of the phone. She'd made a brief call after making me spell his name. Her eyes were trained to the monitor of her computer screen as she nodded twice before she told whoever was on the other end of the call that she'd take care of something. "A doctor will be here shortly to speak to you."

  "About my dad?" I swallow past a lump in my throat. "Is he okay? Can you at least tell me if he's okay?"

  "There are people waiting." She arches her body out of her chair to look around me. "I need you to move aside to clear a path for them. Dr. Reynolds is on her way. She'll answer your questions."

  "Sadie Reynolds?" I ask aloud even though I was only thinking it. That's Hunter's wife. She works in the ER. I hope she'll be straight with me if I tell her I work for her husband.

  Sophia tugs me to the side by my elbow. "Do you know that doctor, Den?"

  "No," I shake my head. "She's married to my boss. She's Hunter's wife."

  "He's married to a doctor?" There's a lilt in her voice that wasn't there a minute ago. I recognize it. It's always there when she wants to soften my fall after I've suffered a blow. It was there when Tyler decided to feature Maribel's dish on the morning show. I heard it again when I told her I was passed over for the senior chef positions.

  Sophia's thinking exactly the same thing I am. The woman at the accident scene told her someone was taken away in a body bag. If she did see that and Tyler is alive, that means my dad isn't.

  I rub my hands over my temples chasing that thought away. Maybe in all the chaos after the collision, the woman really did misjudge what she was seeing. It would be easy enough to make a mistake. Besides, neither of the policemen we talked to said anything about a person dying.

  "Is it bad news when a doctor comes to talk to you? Why didn't the woman behind the counter just tell me that my dad is okay?"

  Sophia's eyes volley from my face back to the reception desk where a group of people have gathered. Their voices are a jumbled mess, three of them talking over each other. "She has her hands full, Den. The doctor will have answers. She's the one who will help you."

  I take a shaky breath. "She'll tell me that he's going to be fine. She has to. I haven't given him the new watch yet and the old one is cracked. He can't wear that."

  "You'll have a chance to give it to him." Her tone is brisk. "He'll love it. Dads love gifts like that."

  "Tyler's family is here," I say quietly, waving my hand at the waiting room. "His sister is over there. I think that's his mom sitting next to her."

  She looks toward the overcrowded room even though she has no idea what either woman looks like. "Maribel's in there. Why is she here?"

  "Maribel is here?" I gape. "Where?"

  "Look straight ahead." Her hand rises in the air as if she's about to point, but then it drops. "Never mind. I think she spotted us. She's on her way over."

  I groan. "I see her and she's not alone. I thought I'd never have to see Neela Norman again. I guess I was wrong."

  ***

  I bought myself approximately a minute and a half when I sent my mom a text message to tell her that my dad and Tyler were in an accident. No one has officially told me that yet, but there's no point in trying to deny that they were in that sedan when it was hit.

  My mom has never met Tyler, and her relationship with my dad has been over for as long as I've been alive, but I'm going to need her. When Dr. Reynolds tells me my dad's condition I'll have to accept it, whatever it is.

  I need to face Tyler too and the fact that his ex-fiancée, and second-in-charge at Nova, is now standing next to me, doesn't matter. I need to see him and talk to him. I want him to tell me why Neela is back in his life.

  "How did you hear about the accident, Cadence?" Maribel's gaze zeroes in on my face. "You left Nova before Kayla got the call that Tyler was here."

  "How's Tyler?" I ask, giving Neela a brief glance. She's been crying. Her make-up is smudged, her eyes puffy and swollen. She's fidgeting in place, her fingers playing with a gold ring attached to a simple chain around her neck.

  "His brother-in-law is in with him now," Maribel answers calmly. "I heard his sister say that he was alert when they brought him in. He's going to be fine."

  I stare at her blankly, my heart fluttering in my chest. It felt as though it had stalled on the street when I picked up that watch.

  "His brother-in-law is a doctor," Maribel clarifies without any prompting from me. "His name is Dr. Ben Foster. He helped Neela when she cut her hand before she left for Boston. Tyler insisted that she only see Ben. He didn't trust anyone else to take care of her."

  Thanks for bringing that up right now, Maribel. Thanks a hell of a lot.

  "We're waiting to see Dr. Reynolds. She's coming to talk to Cadence," Sophia says on a sigh.

  "I just told you that Dr. Foster is in charge of Tyler's care." There's a note of frustration in Maribel's tone. "Besides, they won't give out any information unless you're a member of the family."

  I look down at my hands. There's a faint red spot on the index finger of my right hand. I rub at it. It's dried blood. "It's not about Tyler. It's about my dad. Dr. Reynolds is coming to talk to me about him."

  "Your dad is in the hospital?" Maribel looks at Neela before she turns her attention back to me. "What's wrong with him, Den?"

  "He was in the accident," Sophia interjects, her hand settling on my forearm. "Den's dad was in the car with Tyler."

  Maribel cocks her head. "Tyler hired your dad to be his driver? I'm not surprised. Before you started at Nova he hired Darrell's wife as a temp hostess for a few weeks. She was between jobs and he wanted to help them out."

&n
bsp; "No." I brush my hand across my forehead. "My dad was in the backseat with Tyler. He was going to Nova with him."

  She laughs nervously, her gaze darting from my face to Neela's and then back again. "I heard someone in the waiting room say that Sergio Firi was in the car with Tyler. Was your dad with them?"

  I let out a deep breath. "Chef Firi is my father and if you'll both excuse us, Soph and I are going to go find someone who can tell me how he is."

  I don't wait for the shocked look on Maribel's face. Instead, I tug Sophia's hand into mine and turn. As I glance toward the reception desk, I see a woman in a white lab coat with a stethoscope slung around her neck. Dr. Reynolds is petite, her long brown hair woven into a side braid. As our eyes meet, the grim expression on her face pulls all the air from my lungs.

  CHAPTER 3

  "I'll need you to follow me, Cadence," Dr. Reynolds says as she looks at the bustling waiting room. "I'd prefer if we speak in private."

  I don't move. I can't. I haven't spent a lot of time in hospitals but I know that when a doctor wants to take you away from a public place, the news isn't good. The fact that she didn't look me in the eye when she first approached me and introduced herself isn't promising either.

  "You…you can…please just say it," I stammer. "I just need you to tell me."

  She eyes the waiting room again before she turns back to face me. "The paparazzi are swarming. There are two over there already. Word must have gotten out about your father."

  I glance over to where they are. I spot the two men immediately. Both have cameras with long lenses in their hands. Both of those are pointed in my direction.

  "I heard that they record celebrities and then someone who lip reads decodes what they were saying." Sophia moves to stand next to me. I know she's trying to shield my face from the predatory glare of the cameras, but she's too short for it to do any good.