Branded Read online

  BRANDED

  (Book One in the Retribution Series)

  By Cindy Stark

  AMAZON KDP EDITION

  PUBLISHED BY

  C. Nielsen

  www.cindystark.com

  Branded © 2012 C. Nielsen

  All rights reserved

  Amazon KDP Edition License Notes

  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 to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. The ebook contained herein constitutes a copyrighted work and may not be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or stored in or introduced into an information storage and retrieval system in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This ebook is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  ALSO BY CINDY STARK

  Cowboys and Angels (Aspen Series #3)

  Lawless (Aspen Series #2)

  Relentless (Aspen Series #1)

  Moonlight and Margaritas

  Sweet Vengeance

  DEDICATION

  To all the pups who have made me laugh and smile—I love you all

  Boo, Apollo, Stormy, Charlee, Kai, Cheyenne, Baylee, Misty and Ginger

  To my beautiful daughters who continue to amaze me

  Special thanks to Kerri, Tiffinie, Natalie and Lesli for their invaluable expertise and friendship.

  Table of Contents

  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

  Excerpt from Relentless

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Nicole Camden wound her way through the eerily quiet and mostly empty cubicles on the fifth floor of the First Freedom Financial Company building in downtown Portland, wondering if she’d missed an early morning meeting. As she made her way closer to the opposite side of the floor, the hairs on her arms stiffened.

  Her co-workers had congregated in the vicinity of her cubicle. Her first thought was poor, old Mr. Hadley who sat opposite her must have suffered another heart attack, but as she drew nearer, a hush fell over the crowd as all eyes turned toward her.

  She slowed her steps, some basic instinct telling her she should turn and run.

  Two gentlemen wearing coats with “police” in bright yellow letters on their backs sat in her space, both wearing latex gloves. The dark-haired one was busy emptying her drawers, and the bald one placed her keyboard into a large plastic sack.

  “What’s going on here?” she asked, a silent foreboding seeping into each cell of her body. Julie and Mary from IT wouldn’t meet her gaze. Even Susannah from the first floor had found her way upstairs to watch the commotion.

  The dark-haired man looked at her and stood, his lanky frame towering over her by several inches. “Nicole Camden?”

  She glanced at her fellow co-workers for a clue as to what was going on. She turned back to the man. “Yes?”

  He stepped toward her, his height and demeanor imposing. “You’re wanted for questioning. It’s serious, and believe me, it will be easier if you come with us now…rather than later.”

  “What?” She wanted to think this was some kind of practical joke, but she could tell from his expression he was dead serious. “There must be a mistake.”

  “I’m afraid not, ma’am. We’d like you to come to the station for questioning. You can go willingly or force us to get an arrest warrant.”

  She gripped the edge of her cubicle for support as she searched for someone, anyone who might save her from this madness. Her gaze landed on Riley, the only person on her floor who’d been more friend than co-worker since she’d begun her employment there.

  “What did you do?” He widened his light blue eyes.

  “Nothing. I…I don’t know.” Fear tightened her vocal cords, raising the octave of her words.

  “Shall we?” The detective took her arm and tugged her toward the elevator.

  “Don’t say anything. I’ll call my lawyer,” Riley called as she stumbled her way back through the maze of workstations.

  She nodded over her shoulder, panic stealing her rationality as the dark-haired man led her away. She’d never been anything but upstanding and honest. “I don’t understand any of this.” Someone had made a serious mistake.

  “It’s a good thing you’re coming with us to get it sorted out, then,” the detective replied as they entered the elevator.

  “Can you tell me what I’m being questioned about?”

  “The embezzlement of ten million dollars from your employer.”

  Her brain couldn’t comprehend the idea of it. She glanced at the officer, surveying his uniform. It looked real. “Is this an office joke or something?”

  He returned her searching gaze. “I’m afraid not, ma’am.”

  Events during the next half hour blurred together. Warm October sunshine contrasted with her being deposited in the backseat of a police car. The detective who’d escorted her down to the lobby left her in the custody of another officer who drove her to the precinct.

  Just being in the police station frightened her. Everyone eyed her as though she was guilty even though she’d done nothing wrong.

  Worse still, it dredged up memories of her childhood. Memories of a loud blast and a bright flash of light ripping her from her sleep. Of armed men busting into her home. Of yelling and scuffling that she didn’t understand. She’d hidden from them under her bed and watched as they’d roughed up her father and taken him in the middle of the night.

  When the commotion had settled and the men had gathered in the front room, she’d slipped from her window and down the fire escape to hide across the street. Hours had passed before they’d left and she could sneak back inside.

  It was years later that she’d realized it had been the police conducting a raid. At the tender age of nine, she’d spent five days alone, waiting and wondering if her father would return. When he did, he’d been so proud that she’d evaded the police. Told her she was just like him.

  He’d been wrong. So wrong. She’d never been anything like him, never would be. He’d been guilty. Guilty of too many physical and emotional crimes.

  But that was the past. Her future concerned her now. If they learned who her father was, would they consider her guilty, too? Was that why she was there? And good Lord, ten million dollars? The thought made her sick.

  The officer guided her to a small, nondescript room with a marred wooden table and four chairs. He left her there with nothing but the furniture and an intimidating one-way mirror. She glanced at the reflective glass, wondering if anyone was behind it watching her. The thought freaked her out, and she quickly looked away.

  A few minut
es later, a man not much older than her wearing a buttoned-down shirt, loosened tie and dark blond hair entered the room. A friendly smile settled on his face as he sat opposite her, but she could tell his intense brown eyes studied and assessed everything about her. “Ms. Camden, I’m Detective Sam Holden. I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”

  She twisted her fingers in front of her. “Okay.” If he wasn’t questioning her integrity, she might have thought him attractive.

  He glanced at his yellow notepad. “I show that you’ve been an employee at First Freedom Financial Company for the past six months. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.” Or it was. If her bosses seriously thought she’d stolen money from them, she doubted she’d still have a job even if she was innocent.

  “And you have access to their financial computer system?”

  Instinct put her on alert. She might be innocent, but she was also smart enough to not say anything without representation. “Shouldn’t we wait for my attorney?” She hadn’t been formally charged or read her rights, but she didn’t think he could deny her.

  His smile disappeared. “I wasn’t aware you’d called a lawyer.”

  She swallowed a healthy dose of nerves. She really didn’t want to piss off this man, but she had to protect herself. “A friend at my office called for me.”

  “I see.” He stood and picked up his notepad. “We’ll wait for your lawyer then.” The sound of the door closing echoed through the isolated room.

  Embezzlement of millions of dollars? That was grand larceny. The irony of it mocked her. Grand larceny was the one indictment that had finally stuck and landed her father in prison. Interesting and unnerving that the amount was the same as his last heist. Not the crime he’d been convicted for, but the authorities had been certain he’d been behind the theft.

  A massive shudder rippled through her. Now, she had the same accusation hovering over her head. She didn’t need anyone to tell her she’d somehow become entangled in a serious mess.

  She laid her head on the cool table and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to breathe in a normal pattern.

  Another hour passed before an older gentleman entered the room. She’d guess him to be about her father’s age, if her father had still been alive. There was enough gray in his hair that he could no longer call it black, but the close-cropped cut gave him a suave, smart appearance.

  He approached the table and held out his hand. “Cecil Barton. Riley called me.”

  She stood and shook his hand, appreciating the warmth and strength she found there. “Nicole Camden.” She resumed her seat, and he followed suit before pulling a legal pad and pen from a leather case.

  “Ms. Camden, or may I call you, Nicole?”

  She released a breath, feeling a tad less vulnerable. “Please, call me Nicole.”

  “Well, Nicole, these are some pretty serious charges they want to question you about. What can you tell me?”

  “Honestly, not much.” At his raised brows, she continued. “I don’t know why they think I would steal ten million dollars, but they have to be lying or mistaken or something. I would never do that. Ever.” She didn’t know what else she could say to convince him.

  Mr. Barton went through a few hasty preliminaries with her, but he seemed to realize quickly that she truly had no further information she could possibly provide. The whole thing had been such a whirlwind, and she was basically as clueless as he was.

  The door opened, and Detective Holden walked in, an air of confidence surrounding him. “It appears your counsel has arrived, Ms. Camden.” He exchanged polite greetings with Mr. Barton.

  “Let’s get down to business, shall we?” Detective Holden took a seat and glanced at his notepad before targeting Nicole again with his gaze.

  Her attorney cleared his throat. “I’d like the specifics on why you’ve brought my client in for questioning.”

  The detective shifted his eyes toward Mr. Barton. “Of course. Late last night, we were contacted by the CFO of First Freedom Financial Company. He reported that he’d received notification of a ten million dollar transaction that took place a few hours earlier in the evening. Normally, he is made aware of large transfers beforehand, and he was suspicious because protocol hadn’t been followed in this case. He did some research, found it to be an unauthorized transaction and immediately called us. We reviewed the surveillance video which places Ms. Camden at the scene of the crime during the suspected time period.”

  She stared at him, disbelief thrumming through her veins. “I work there. Of course I was at the scene of the crime.” Her anxiety shot back to acute.

  “After hours.” Detective Holden tapped his pen on the yellow pad in front of him.

  Nicole started to shake her head in denial and then stopped. “I went back last night after I’d left, but that was only to retrieve my TriMet pass. I’d shown it to a co-worker earlier in the day when she’d asked about using mass transportation. I’d forgotten to put it back in my purse, and I can’t get home without it. I was in the office maybe one minute.”

  “Four minutes and fifty seconds to be exact.”

  “That would be counting the time it took me to get to my desk and back outside.”

  “If enough planning were put into place beforehand, that amount of time is sufficient to complete a transaction.”

  “Are you saying I’m under suspicion just because I went back into the office? In a building that large, I can’t imagine I was the only one there at that time.” Although she hadn’t seen anyone else while she’d been there. “The cameras must have seen someone else go in then, too.”

  “You were the only one caught on video.” Detective Holden pinned her with a questioning look.

  “This does have the appearance of a witch hunt, detective,” her attorney interjected.

  The younger man regarded her lawyer for a brief second before turning back to her. “The transaction moving the funds into an offshore account was made from your computer at the time you were in the building. There is only one set of prints on your keyboard which we are assuming are yours. We will need to take your prints before you go. You can give them willingly, or we can arrest you.”

  A dark chill slithered across her skin. Cold hands of fear gripped her neck, robbing her of her ability to breathe properly. Her gaze darted toward the closed door. Freedom lay not far beyond it. Freedom she wanted. Freedom she deserved. “This whole thing is ridiculous. I shouldn’t even be here.” She stood, no longer agreeing to be a pawn in this sick game.

  The detective stood as well. “Leaving is not an option at this point.”

  She walked toward the door, but her attorney met her before she could reach for the handle, taking her by the forearm.

  “Ms. Camden. Nicole. They’re not going to let you walk out of here without answering a few questions first.”

  She shook off his hand, her fears liquefying, flooding the corners of her eyes. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, her voice quivering.

  “I understand. This can be an intimidating process.” He put a warm arm around her shoulders and led her back to the table. “But it is a process. You haven’t been charged yet, but they can legally detain you for a period of time. The best thing we can do is go forward.”

  “I’m innocent.” How could she make everyone understand that?

  “It doesn’t matter at this point.” He waited for her to sit before resuming his seat.

  “How can it not matter? I didn’t do it. I don’t know how to steal money by using a computer. I’m lucky if I get my word program to work like it should.” If her panic would take a backseat for a moment, she might be able to figure a way out of this mess.

  Detective Holden cleared his throat. “Ms. Camden, do you have access to the company’s financial records?”

  She dropped her head in her hands. “Of course I do. I work in their finance division. But it’s not like I can go anywhere in that system and do whatever I want. My logon only allows me to go
into certain areas.”

  “And you’ve never been given access to any other parts of it?”

  Her insides crumbled. She tried to speak, but it took her a minute to get her voice to cooperate. “My boss did give me her password once about…four months ago. She was headed out of town and needed me to finalize a client’s transaction. She had everything ready to go. I just had to login and hit send after the client gave his verbal agreement over the phone. That’s all I did. I assumed she would have changed her password after that.”

  “What else does your boss have access to?”

  “I don’t know.” Nicole’s voice rose with hysteria. “I didn’t look. I did what she asked and then logged out.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I’m an honest person, Detective Holden. I don’t snoop into other people’s business, and I certainly don’t steal other people’s money.”

  “I believe my client has answered enough questions, detective. She’s denied being involved, and everything you have up to this point is circumstantial. If you’re not going to charge her, then I think we’re finished here.”

  A frown settled on the detective’s face. He glanced between his notepad and Nicole. “Fine. She can leave. For now.” He stood, focusing on her attorney. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Mr. Barton stayed seated after the detective left. He steepled his fingers, staring intently at her. A large diamond ring glittered on his right hand. He probably cost a fortune to retain. How would she ever pay his bill?

  “How much are you charging me for this?”

  “We’ll consider this your first, free consultation. After that, my usual rates are two hundred dollars an hour.”

  “Oh, my God.” She blinked, waiting for him to say he was joking. He didn’t. “I don’t make much money. Despite what the police are claiming, I live on my salary and nothing else.”