Inexplicable Fate: Fate Series, #2

By Hanleigh Bradley

I can't protect her and what's more, she doesn't want me to.

The tables have turned and DS Georgia Kentley has knowingly walked right into a trap in Internationally Bestselling Author, Hanleigh Bradley's romantic suspense novel, Inexplicable Fate.

Detective Sergeant Georgia Kentley is walking right into a trap and she knows it.

That won't stop her. Not when she knows there's a life on the line.

Walker Trent, boyfriend and boss, doesn't understand why she can't just do as she's damn well told and stay put. With Georgia's life on the line, DCI Trent is coming after her. Whether she wants rescuing or not, he's on a mission to save her life and destroy anyone trying to hurt her.

She's convinced she doesn't need saving and he's scared that this time he'll be too late.

Inexplicable Fate is the second book in the FATE series, a complete Police Romantic Suspense series.

Nothing is wrong with being saved except, usually someone has to risk themselves to save you. Being rescued is Georgia's worst fear.

"The action continues in this book the second in the series. Georgia is feisty and committed to do the right thing even if it kills her. Their relationship is evolving even as the hunt for the serial killer escalates."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hanleigh Bradley
• Release date: Sep 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393867333

Hanleigh Bradley

British Author Hanleigh Bradley writes Contemporary Romance about British twenty somethings in London.

Book preview

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Hanleigh’s London Saga

All the books in this Contemporary British Saga have interwoven plotlines, returning characters and places. These books are best read in order to avoid spoilers.

The Rules Series

Broken Rules

Enforced Rules

Revised Rules

A Secret Melody

The History Series

Repeating History

Deleting History

Forging History

A History In Paris

The Intimacy Series

Damaged Intimacy

Entangled Intimacy

Forceful Intimacy

Call Me Doctor

The Fate Series

Inescapable Fate

Inexplicable Fate

Irreversible Fate

A Bleak December

Hanleigh’s London Standalone

Dr. Xmas

Hanleigh’s London Boxsets

RULES

HISTORY

INTIMACY

FATE

Find out more about Hanleigh’s Books on her website.

Hanleigh’s London Saga

CHAPTER ONE Walker

CHAPTER TWO Georgia

CHAPTER THREE Walker

CHAPTER FOUR Georgia

CHAPTER FIVE Walker

CHAPTER SIX Georgia

CHAPTER SEVEN Walker

CHAPTER EIGHT Georgia

CHAPTER NINE Walker

CHAPTER TEN Georgia

CHAPTER ELEVEN Walker

CHAPTER TWELVE Georgia

Preview of Irreversible Fate

Preview of Cursed by the Crown

THANK YOU!

Hanleigh Bradley’s Newsletter

About Hanleigh

Hanleigh’s London Saga

Dear Reader,

Do you believe in fate? Do you believe that one action leads to another?

Where you believe in fate or you believe in the power of your own choices, it’s a nice idea to think you’re fated for someone.

I hope you all find your fated someone.

Hanleigh

He promised to rescue me.

He promised to come after me, and that is the only incentive I need to save myself.

I have to save myself, if only to save him.

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CHAPTER ONE

Walker

S

omethings just plain don’t make sense. They’re unexplainable, completely fucking bonkers, out of this bloody world.

Georgia Kentley fits into that category.

What she’s doing right now, chasing down a fucking serial killer single bloody handed… There are no words for how fucking dense that little lioness is being.

If she hadn’t hung up, I’d be shouting down the line that he’s a fucking serial killer – a murderer with a personal vendetta against her and she’s walking straight into his trap. Worst of all she bloody well knows it.

This is perhaps – no, this is definitely – the stupidest thing she’s ever done.

I’m watching her drive off in my fucking car and there’s nothing I can do to stop her. She’s on a hero’s mission, desperate to save the current victim.

For me, they’re all rolled into one. Victim number one, two, three… That’s how I deal. They’re all dead, all the ones before and all the ones after her if I don’t catch the bastard, Mick Jacobson.

Georgia’s different though.

She refers to them all by name. She knows details of their lives – not just the ones that are relevant to the case but the stuff I usually ignore. The quirks that make the victims human. The traits that make you care.

She cares about them all on a personal level.

Where I want to take the killer down before too many people die, she wants to prevent his victims suffering even a fraction of what she’s suffered. That’s why she’s rushing in there as if she’s completely fearless.

She’s been his captive before. She knows the drill.

She’s been kidnapped twice in fact; once as a child and then later as an adult. She’s the unluckiest woman I’ve ever met. If anyone has the right to be reckless it’s her but I damn well wish she wouldn’t.

My mind is whizzing all over the place as I picture all the things I’ve seen, every gruesome crime scene, every bloody case file, except instead of victims that for the most part remain nameless and faceless in my mind, now all I see is Georgia. My Georgia.

I’m barking out orders as if I know what I’m doing, as if I’m still in charge but the only thing I know is that I’m not in control.

She’s in danger.

This is the scenario where a better man, a better cop would tell his commanding officer that he can’t handle the case. The correct thing to do – procedure – would be to step down. Except Georgia Kentley, the woman stopping me from thinking straight is also his daughter.

My girlfriend.

His daughter.

Their colleague… friend…

There’s not a single bloody person here who’s not invested in her safety. We all care too much and that could be what kills her.

The firearm lads are jumping into their van, preparing to head to the address Kentley gave me not minutes ago. The DCS and I are making a quick dart across the street to climb into John’s car, now that Kentley robbed me of my own, leaving both me and her dad stranded.

She’s running into god knows what, and for what? DCS Kentley asks angrily. The girl might already be dead.

He’s not wrong.

Logic says why keep the sub on the pitch when the real thing, the premier league player is coming into the game. He’s been playing us from the beginning, covering his tracks perfectly, only revealing his identity when it suited him. We’ve been nothing but pawns on his chest board since day one.

Fear grips me. My palms begin to sweat, and I grow impatient.

He’ll expect this. He’ll expect us to follow her. It’s inevitable. They won’t be there when we arrive. I’m 100% certain, although I wish I wasn’t. If we’re lucky we’ll be able to rescue his last victim, but Georgia will be long gone.

The words I said to her, the promise I made her is an anthem running through my mind, I’ll come for you.

Fucking step on it, I bark at John from where I’m sitting in the back of the police car. It doesn’t matter that we’re in the middle of the London traffic. All those other cars can just move aside for all I care.

Yes sir, John says.

He’s already driving well above the speed limit, the siren blaring, lights flashing, but it won’t be quick enough.

The dread I feel makes me want to puke, my stomach twisting in on itself.

Are you up to this, Trent? DCS asks.

Are you? I ask rebelliously. He might be my boss but right now I don’t care. I don’t care about anything except getting my girl back.

He’s watching me, turning in his seat to face me.

It’s okay to hand it over.

I promised her.

There is no way in hell I’m not going in there.

Son.

That’s the second time he’s called me son. The first time was just a day or so ago. I don’t look at him as I tap my foot on the floor, anxious to get there.

Son, I know you want to protect her. Shit, I want to save her too, but we need to remember the other victim. Saving Georgia cannot be done at her expense and if you can’t remember that, if we can’t remember that, we have no business working this case.

I nod my head because I know he’s right.

It’s the job.

It’s the same job that has caused me to leave Georgia a broken mess on the ground not once, but twice already, so I could chase the arsehole responsible.

It’s the job. I get it.

Before I met Georgia, this scenario was practically impossible. My ex wasn’t a cop. She had been safely kept separate from this part of my life but with Georgia the lines between personal and professional are blurred, the lines between the job and my life are too faint.

She encompasses all of it and that’s dangerous because I can’t protect her and what’s more, she doesn’t want me to.

Me coming to her rescue is her worst nightmare. My little lioness doesn’t like to put the people she loves in danger. My safety, in her mind, trumps her own.

We pull up outside the house and the first thing I notice is my car is missing and my worst fears seem more likely. The house won’t be empty. There will be a brunette girl who looks just like Georgia in there. Except she won’t be Georgia. Her name will be Sherry, the latest in the line of Mick Jacobson’s victims. If we’re lucky she’ll be alive.

The armed officers enter the building and I watch from a short distance away with the DCS.

My hands are clammy, and I can hear my pulse thrashing in my ear, sharp, too quick as fear overwhelms me. I’m cold all over, filled with a dread that I can’t push away. I’m supposed to be in charge here but I can barely process what is happening around me.

I can’t stand still and wait for something