Turning Payne Read Online Free PDF Page A

darkened her green eyes. "It was his passion for genetics that made me go into biology. I only wish I'd had the chance to work with him, before…"
    Before I killed him. Turner dragged his fingers through his hair and exhaled a shaky breath. "Do you have any of his work here?" It was a long shot, but he had to ask.
    She shook her head. "There was a fire—an explosion—in the lab he worked at. It destroyed everything."
    "I'm sorry," he said. Not for Boyd's death, of course. The man deserved to die. But he was sorry for the loss Riley experienced. It wasn't her fault that her father had been a psychopathic killer, intent on dissecting and dismembering metamorphs as if they were nothing more than lab rats.
    Neither of them spoke for a long moment. Tension hung in the air, and he could see the questions and uncertainty that raced across her expression.
    "So…" She swallowed hard and wiped her palms on her pants. "You can help Keira? Make her…human again?"
    Shit, right, he'd almost forgotten why he was there. Being around her dulled his brain. "I need to ask you a few questions about your sister."
    "I'll tell you anything if it will help her."
    He was banking on that.
    Turner went through the checklist of questions he was required as a Therian agent to ask a victim's family, but nothing Riley told him gave him any new information.
    "So you can't think of anything unusual, out of the ordinary? No new acquaintances?"
    "No. Kiera's an introvert. When she's not working at the art studio, she's either painting or reading."
    "What about the jackass from earlier?"
    "Marcus DuPoint?" She shrugged. "He's always been around. He was a graduate student under my father—"
    "Wait." Turner growled low in his chest. "You're telling me the asshole who's been stalking your sister used to work with Boyd?"
    She flinched and took a small step away. "Yes, but—"
    He pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Chase. He needed any information the agency had on Marcus DuPoint.
    "You think Marcus has something to do with this?" She stared at him, innocent and wide-eyed.
    He didn't think, he knew. If the man was connected to Boyd, he was sure to be bad news, and it could be the lead he was looking for. "If he is, I'll find out."
    Her bottom lip trembled, and she looked at him as if her entire world had just come crashing down around her. He supposed it had. But if he was right about Marcus, things were only going to get worse. If the man was responsible for turning Kiera, what was stopping him from doing the same to Riley?
    A possessiveness he'd never felt before gripped him, followed by a sense of dread. Was he prepared to destroy everything Riley thought she knew about the man who had raised her?
    He didn't realize how intensely he watched her until she shivered under his gaze, her pupils dilating in either fear or arousal. Maybe both.
    He cursed the universe for fucking with him, once again. It had been months since he'd been laid, and years since the animal within him had stirred.
    Ignoring his unwanted desires, he cleared his throat and pushed himself away from the desk. "I talked to my brother when you were in the shower. He has Kiera in a safe place."
    "Can I see her?"
    Combing his fingers through his hair, he turned his back on her. He needed to get out of there before he did something he would regret. "I've got some business to take care of, but I'll come back this evening and pick you up. You can see her then."
    "Turner?"
    He stopped in the doorway, but didn't turn around. "Yeah?"
    "How did you know my name? Out on the street. You knew who I was. How?"
    He wasn't prepared to tell her the truth, and she sure as hell wasn't prepared to hear it. He sighed and closed his eyes. He was the king of bullshit, but for some reason the thought of lying to her any more than he had to, left a bad taste in his mouth.
    "You were in the local newspaper a few months back. Recognized your face."
    "Oh." Her voice trembled on the single word.
    He looked