Drawn

By Desiree Scott

Connie Meyer, with her dreams shattered, wants to be left alone to live her life in peace. She finds that difficult to do when her estranged husband's mother insists that she return to her son and a marriage she no longer wants-a marriage that does more harm than good. Desperate to escape, Connie returns to Vail Mountain, the one place she had t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kingston Publishing Company
• Release date: Jun 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781645334507

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Copyright

Drawn is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DRAWN: A NOVEL

Copyright © 2021 by Desiree Scott

All rights reserved.

Editing by Kathy Moczerniak

Cover Design by KP Designs

- www.kpdesignshop.com

Published by Kingston Publishing Company

- www.kingstonpublishing.com

The uploading, scanning, and distribution of this book in any form or by any means—including but not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions of this work, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Table of 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

Epilogue

Extras

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Publisher

Chapter 1

I can't talk you out of it?

Jacob Tanner shook his head, his right arm in a sling, complements of the last drug raid he had been on. He was still technically on leave with two weeks to go, but he was done. Ever since returning from the mountain a little over a year ago, the thoughts of a quieter and slow-paced life had stuck with him. He was thirty-four years old and tired of the city life, the scum that littered the streets. It was never ending, full of cockroaches coming out of the concrete slabs of the decaying darkness. He now knew how his friend Nina had felt before she had moved to the mountains, and like her, he wanted something different. It was about time he made it happen.

This is a bad time, Tanner. The case isn't over.

Jacob sighed, hating to leave his chief in the lurch, but he couldn't take anymore. He couldn't take the helpless feeling of not being able to save everyone, to get the bastards off the street. When he put one away, three more took its place, and it was beyond frustrating. The case wasn't over. The chief had that right. The bastards behind the drug ring, the drug lords, had evaded the police for over a year, ever since Nina’s father had been murdered and the two bastards who had killed him died trying to kill Nina and her daughter, the only witnesses. It had all started with Nina's father, and yet he didn't seem to be any closer to finding out the connection and pulling the plug on the assholes.

They are going to have to find a way to work the case without me, Jacob thought.

He was getting out while he could still walk out with pride of a career well done. Ten years in was enough for him. With some of the stunts he had pulled in his early years, he was lucky to be alive, and he didn’t take that blessing lightly.

He didn't answer his chief, but his eyes spoke volumes, and the other man sighed, running a hand through his gray hair as he leaned back in his squeaky chair.

Can't say I blame you, he muttered, glaring down at his scarred desk.

Jacob looked over at his chief, a man who had been on the force for over thirty years, and saw the exhaustion, the weariness that created the dark bags beneath his brown eyes. He spied the slumped shoulders and vowed that the other man wouldn't be him in twenty years. Jacob was determined to change the outcome now before it was too late.

They heard a knock on the door, and it couldn’t have come soon enough. He was having a hard time turning his chief down. Not many went against the older man and came out unscathed.

Come in, the chief barked, still glaring over at Jacob.

Yup, right on time.

The chief had already spent hours trying to talk Jacob out of throwing in his hat and had finally concluded that he couldn't. And that just pissed the older man off worse.

Pete Danvers entered, a cup of coffee in his hand, the steam billowing forth giving the illusion that it was good. The coffee was one of the many things Jacob wouldn't miss. It was black sludge on good days and cement on bad days, and from the grimace on Pete's face, it was a bad day. Jacob took a sip from his Starbucks cup and grinned.

Pete rolled his eyes and chuckled. Asshole.

Always.

So, from the looks of the chief, he couldn't change your mind, Pete said with a raised eyebrow.

It wasn't a question, but the chief growled, answering him anyway. Don't get smart, Danvers. Your workload just doubled, he snapped.

Pete didn't answer him but just stared at Jacob with that eyebrow still raised, a silent question that Jacob didn't know yet.

He shrugged. I don't know what's next, man. I'm just done. Thinking about visiting Vail Mountain again but I’m not sure.

He turned to his chief. It was a pleasure working for you, sir, he said quietly.

The chief stared at him, his eyes hard, but Jacob noticed the softening in the brown depths.

Get out of here, he growled, his deep voice harsh, but Jacob wasn’t fooled. The gruffness hid the emotion, but that was just how the old man dealt with life.

Jacob nodded and within thirty minutes, had his desk cleaned out and any personal items within a small box. The job had been his whole life. After so many years of breathing his career, he was shocked he didn’t have more shit to lug home. He was going to miss the place if he was honest with himself. Jacob hadn't thought of doing anything else but working in the police force and would never have thought he would have been burnt out, but that's exactly what he was. It was more than getting injured on the raid. It was facing his mortality with nothing to show for it. It was facing that bullet and wondering if what he had done with his life was enough. The answer had been swift as he had stared down the barrel of the gun.

Hell no.

He was alone and often worked sixteen-hour days. He had money saved on his low salary because he never spent it. He wasn't a tightwad; he just never had the time to go shopping or splurge, not that there was much he needed beyond the essentials. His fridge was often bare, and he was lucky if he remembered to pay his rent and utilities. He never even had time for a dog, and he had always wanted one.

Sighing, he juggled the box in his one good arm and unlocked his front door just as his cell rang.

Cursing, he dropped the box on the floor and heard porcelain shatter, his favorite coffee mug toast, which brought more curses.

He answered the call on the fourth ring without glancing at the caller ID.

What? he barked.

He rolled his eyes at the lack of politeness, sounding like his chief, and that made him chuckle. He was going to miss the bastard, that was for sure. And if his mother would've been alive, she would've washed his mouth out with soap after a slap in the face, causing him to chuckle again.

Is that any way to greet someone calling? And why are you laughing?

At the brisk demand from his friend, Jacob chuckled again, loving that the peace of his decision was slowly working its way through him. He was going to be okay, and that fact made him sigh again, this time with a smile.

Hey, Nina. How are you?

I'm calling to ask you that! I’m not the one who was shot!

Jacob laughed again and sat down on his sagging couch, one of the few pieces of furniture he owned, and he wasn’t going to miss the uncomfortable piece of shit either.

Tingles of pain erupted from his left arm, and he bit down on the curse that threatened to explode, tasting the iron flavor of blood from his tongue. I'm fine, Nina. He had only been out of the hospital for a few weeks, but his arm still hurt like hell. The damn shot had nicked his collarbone, and the second shot had sliced through the muscle of his left arm. Thankfully, he had missed his bone, but it still hurt like a bitch, and Nina called him out on it.

Liar.

Jacob smiled. He missed his friend. Nina had moved to the mountain after falling in love with the resort owner on Vail Mountain. Her father’s murder a year ago had opened the can of worms concerning the drug ring plaguing New York.