With You (A Maeve Sharp FBI Suspense Thriller—Book Five)

By Rylie Dark

FBI Special Agent Maeve Sharp, a rising star in the BAU, decides to leave behind a shining career when she transfers to Las Vegas to come back home to her dying mother and incarcerated brother. But Maeve is summoned when victims of a new killer are found, all apparently involved in shotgun weddings. Who is this killer targeting? And why?

“A brilliant book. I couldn’t put it down and I never guessed who the murderer was!”
—Reader review for Only Murder

WITH YOU is book #5 in a new series by #1 bestselling and critically acclaimed mystery and suspense author Rylie Dark, whose books have received over 2,000 five-star reviews and ratings.

FBI Special Agent Maeve Sharp never got over her sister’s disappearance when they were teenagers, the case gone cold, the feeling that just maybe she is still out there, somewhere. It ruined her family and destroyed her father who, once a decorated cop on the LVPD, now sits alone in a dilapidated trailer in the middle of nowhere, refusing to reconcile with her. It wrecked her brother, too, leading to lockup after lockup, as he pleads with Maeve to help get her out. And it wrecked her mom most of all, who in her dying days can think of nothing else.

Maeve though she got away from it all when she transferred to Quantico and made a career for herself.

But the past has a way of calling, of bringing back dark and unresolved memories. And Maeve has stepped right back into, ready, this time, to wrestle her darkest demons while she hunts down new serial killers….

A cat-and-mouse thriller with harrowing twists and turns and filled with heart-pounding suspense, the MAEVE SHARP mystery series offers a fresh twist on the genre as it introduces two brilliant protagonists who will make you fall in love and keep you turning pages late into the night.

Future books in the series will soon be available.

“I loved this thriller, read it in one sitting. Lots of twists and turns and I didn’t guess the
culprit at all… Already pre-ordered the second!”
—Reader review for Only Murder

“This book takes off with a bang… An excellent read, and I'm looking forward to the next book!”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN

“Fantastic book! It was hard to put down. I can’t wait to see what happens next!”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN

“The twists and turns kept coming. Can't wait to read the next book!”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN

“A must-read if you enjoy action-packed stories with good plots!”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN

“I really like this author and this series starts with a bang. It will keep you turning the pages till the end of the book and wanting more.”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN

“I can't say enough about this author! How about ‘out of this world’! This author is going to go far!”
—Reader review for ONLY MURDER

“I really enjoyed this book… The characters were alive, and the twists and turns were great. It will keep you reading till the end and leave you wanting more.”
—Reader review for NO WAY OUT

“This is an author that I highly recommend. Her books will have you begging for more.”
—Reader review for NO WAY OUT

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rylie Dark
• Release date: Nov 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781094379050

Book preview

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W I T H   Y O U

(A Maeve Sharp Mystery—Book 5)

R y l i e   D a r k

Rylie Dark

Bestselling author Rylie Dark is author of the SADIE PRICE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books; of the CARLY SEE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books; of the MIA NORTH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MORGAN STARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books; of the HAILEY ROCK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting); of the TARA STRONG MYSTERY series, comprising six books (and counting); of the ALEX QUINN FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting); of the MAEVE SHARP FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising five books (and counting); and of the KELLY CRUZ FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER, comprising five books (and counting).

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Rylie loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.ryliedark.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2023 by Rylie Dark. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright shutting, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY RYLIE DARK

KELLY CRUZ FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

WHERE YOU GO (Book #1)

WHERE YOU HIDE (Book #2)

WHERE YOU SLEEP (Book #3)

WHERE YOU RUN (Book #4)

WHERE YOU FEAR (Book #5)

MAEVE SHARP FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

WITH MALICE (Book #1)

WITH ENVY (Book #2)

WITH VENGEANCE (Book #3)

WITH RAGE (Book #4)

WITH YOU (Book #5)

ALEX QUINN SUSPENSE THRILLER

FIRST, MURDER (Book #1)

SECOND, DEATH (Book #2)

THIRD, ENVY (Book #3)

FOURTH, LUST (Book #4)

FIFTH, WRATH (Book #5)

TARA STRONG MYSTERY

GIRL WITHOUT A CHANCE (Book #1)

GIRL WITHOUT A HOME (Book #2)

GIRL WITHOUT A TRACE (Book #3)

GIRL WITHOUT A NAME (Book #4)

GIRL WITHOUT A PRAYER (Book #5)

GIRL WITHOUT A PAST (Book #6)

HAILEY ROCK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

BEHIND YOU (Book #1)

BESIDE YOU (Book #2)

AFTER YOU (Book #3)

WATCHING YOU (Book #4)

JUDGING YOU (Book #5)

SADIE PRICE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

ONLY MURDER (Book #1)

ONLY RAGE (Book #2)

ONLY HIS (Book #3)

ONLY ONCE (Book #4)

ONLY SPITE (Book #5)

ONLY MADNESS (Book #6)

MIA NORTH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

SEE HER RUN (Book #1)

SEE HER HIDE (Book #2)

SEE HER SCREAM (Book #3)

SEE HER VANISH (Book #4)

SEE HER GONE (Book #5)

SEE HER DEAD (Book #6)

CARLY SEE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

NO WAY OUT (Book #1)

NO WAY BACK (Book #2)

NO WAY HOME (Book #3)

NO WAY LEFT (Book #4)

NO WAY UP (Book #5)

NO WAY TO DIE (Book #6)

MORGAN STARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

TOO LATE (Book #1)

TOO CLOSE (Book #2)

TOO FAR GONE (Book #3)

TOO LOST (Book #4)

TOO BROKEN (Book #5)

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

PROLOGUE

Audrey’s head swam as she tried to remember where she was and how she had gotten there. She looked down, she saw that she was wearing what appeared to be a mermaid-fitted wedding dress. She tried to remember putting it on but couldn’t.

She looked up and saw that she was standing opposite a man whose face was blurry, shifting in and out of focus. She tried to place him. He looked familiar, did they know each other somehow? But his face was a hazy blur of indistinguishable features. Her body felt heavy, her mouth was dry as the desert.

She tried to ground herself by looking at the room around her.

There were three rows of white pews and wood paneling on the wall. She saw a man standing nearby in an Elvis impersonating costume, but she wasn’t sure if he was real or not, perhaps just the invention of her confused mind. Next to her, there was a man standing in a long white robe. She thought that he was saying something, but she couldn’t be sure. There were bouquets of fake roses on each empty pew, and an arch above her of fake flowers of every kind.

How had she gotten her?

She tried to rack her mind for the memory, but the memory of what happened just wasn’t there.

If she could just sit down… sit down and close her eyes, then she would feel well enough to figure it out.

She must have been drinking, that much was clear. But she didn’t remember drinking that much. She was pretty good at handling her liquor… it usually just made her feel a little spacy. But now she felt like she was about to topple over if she didn’t sit down. Her eyelids weighed heavy over her eyes. She couldn’t think straight. The world seemed to be slipping in and out of focus.

Why do I feel like this?

She didn't know where the question came from or how she managed to ask it of herself.

The man across from her was smiling, she could tell that much.

The bright lights all around her made everything feel like a dream.

Maybe that’s all this was— a dream. She’d wake up in her own bed with a bad headache and make a promise to herself never to drink again.

The man across from her took his hand in hers, and then a shining ring appeared on her finger.

Even though she could barely think straight, she was impressed by the ring’s beauty. She had never thought much about diamonds, but looking at the sparkling object on her finger, she understood the appeal.

Now, it's your turn, sweetheart, said the man opposite her. There was a gold band in her hand, it had appeared there by magic. He held out his hand to her, and she realized that this was the part where she had to move. She had to put the ring on his finger. But her arms felt like they were made of lead.

She managed to raise her hands to his but couldn’t get the ring to fit over his first knuckle.

"That’s okay, sweetheart, let me help you with that. He wrapped his hand around hers and helped her, sliding the gold band so it sat in the correct place on his left hand.

The reverend kept talking, but Audrey couldn’t tell what he was talking about. His voice was like a distant echo, and Audrey just tried to focus on not falling over.

Your turn, sweetheart, the voice came through, loud and clear. Was he yelling at her?

What?

It’s your turn. Say ‘I do.’

No, a small part of her screamed. This isn’t what I want. This has to stop.

But that part of her was distant, quiet, and couldn’t make itself heard long enough for Audrey to listen. So instead, she just found herself muttering those two words.

I do.

I pronounce you man and wife.

He leaned in for a kiss, but Audrey didn't remember much of that part. She just knew that his face was getting closer and closer to hers, and then she was somewhere else.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in a hotel room, and this time there was a headache hammering at her temples. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her temples, hoping to coax the feeling away.

She looked all around, noticed the grimy walls, covered in old, tacky wallpaper. The curtains were blown open by the AC unit, revealing a smudged window and a dark parking lot on the other side.

There were a thousand things that she could have said in that moment. What the hell probably would have been the most suitable. But in spite of the headache, and the fact that she could feel her own face again and remember who she was there with, the best she could do was, this place isn’t as nice as I thought it would be.

Her tongue was still heavy in her mouth, and the world felt like it was tipping from side to side.

And then all she could ask was, How did we get here? Did we take a cab?

She looked at the man in front of her and wondered dimly what parts of this had been her mistake. Had that moment in the tiny chapel with the Elvis impersonator been real? What about the rings?

She looked down at her hand and saw that it was still there, glistening on her finger. She hadn't imagined it.

What did you do? she asked. The small voice came back, and it told her to run. She had to get out of there before it was too late.

But his back was turned to her so that she could see the place where his hair was thinning at the back of his head. He sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.

Get out, a part of her dimly whispered. You have to get out of here.

But she couldn’t remember why she thought that. She felt confused, uncertain what was actually happening, not sure how to keep moving.

She looked behind her at the door.

Maybe she should go outside and ask for help. Someone would know what to do.

You don’t like the motel? he said. His voice low, growling, a dangerous tone to it.

No, I didn’t say that, she said. The headache got worse. For the first time, she recognized him, remembered how they met.

You didn’t have to say it. He was speaking at almost a whisper now. She didn’t know what to do. The door behind her was so close, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave.

What is going on? she asked. Why won’t you tell me what is going on?

Do you just love me for my money?

Of course not! She knew that she would have to go along with anything that he said and play the part until she could make a break for it.

You do, don’t you. I buy you nice dinners. I take you to the best clubs. And now that we’re married…

He stood up and loomed closer. She had never really paid much attention to how much taller than her he was. With one step, he closed the space between them, and all of the sudden his face was in her face again, except this time he was yelling, a long string of half-distinguishable words.

I’m just going to go downstairs for a little bit, she said. She was still too foggy minded to realize that announcing her escape wouldn’t help her. Just a little space, okay, baby?

And she stepped back for the door, but it was too late. He already had her neck gripped in his hand, his fist compressed on her throat.

She choked for a short moment, and then the world went black again.

CHAPTER ONE

Early in the morning on a Saturday, Maeve Sharp was the only one in the Las Vegas’s FBI field office. She almost fell asleep at her desk yet again, her eyelids drooping as she scanned a list of phone numbers on her computer screen.

Everything that happened over the events of the last two weeks had occurred at a break-neck speed, and Maeve wasn’t one to be left behind.

A few weeks ago, everything had been different.

Maeve was just another person who moved home to take care of her family. Her sick mother, whose condition was always worsening, was confined to the hospital, and her brother had just gotten out of jail.

Finding out what happened to her missing sister wasn’t her number one priority.

Veronica vanished from the strip years ago, leaving nothing behind to indicate where she had gone or what happened to her. She snuck out of the house to secretly meet friends at a casino, but never showed up. In the almost decade since then, there had been no trace of her.

Her family was forced to assume the worst.

Maeve thought that any chance of finding her again was gone forever, until she found out about Derrek Grimshaw, a secret boyfriend of her sister’s who had lured Veronica away from her family.

It had taken her weeks to track down Derrek Grimshaw to the trailer in the middle of nowhere that served as a hideout. When Maeve found it and questioned him, the man had fled into the desert before she could find out more.

The whole thing had been disheartening, and Maeve had almost given up hope that she would ever find her sister. Grimshaw appeared to be gone forever, disappeared into the wilderness. She believed that she had missed her one chance of finding the truth.

But for her ex-cop father, it had been a different story. He knew all of the hideouts in the desert from his years on the force, and he had known just where to look for Grimshaw. And he was willing to go outside the law to apprehend him.

She only learned this when she showed up to her dad’s house late at night, and found Grimshaw with his wrists duct taped together, sitting at her father’s kitchen table.

He refused to answer her father’s questions. Maeve shuddered as she thought of the defiant way that Grimshaw had looked at them, refusing to comply.

Maeve was a rule follower to the end, but things had been different when confronted with the man who took her sister and destroyed her family.

Maeve had made a choice that night.

She chose to get the truth from him, not fully knowing the cost.

She had been willing to sacrifice anything to find out what happened to Veronica. Now, for the first time in what felt like forever, the investigation was picking up steam. Grimshaw was apprehended. Maeve allowed herself to hope.

What if her sister was still out there?

Still, she didn't allow herself to get too carried away with the idea. She was an FBI, and as such, she knew that, statistically speaking, her sister was gone for good.

But that wouldn’t stop her from bringing those responsible to justice. The truth would give her family a newfound closure that they had longed for.

She questioned Grimshaw for hours that night. In her father’s rusted trailer in the desert, long after dark, knowing that she was breaking the law. She didn’t have any other choice. She used every trick in the book. He had been cocky, reluctant to speak. But Maeve got in his face, laid out the argument she was building against him.

And he finally cracked.

He told her everything.

As Maeve had feared, the man had groomed her sister. He pretended to be interested in Veronica, gave her a fake name, took her on nice dates, and told her not to tell her family. She believed that he cared for her and was just waiting for the right moment to make their relationship official. But instead, he used this angle to take advantage of her