I jerked back. “Please tell me you didn’t kill the bastard,” I said to Duke.
I wouldn’t put it past him if he had. Hell, I probably would do the same thing. I’d always promised him that I would protect his sister if it came down to it.
He raised his hands. “Grace put a bullet in him.”
Andie shuffled up, turning as white as a ghost.
As for me, my jaw, which hadn’t been on the floor yet, was now. “The fuck?”
I shouldn’t have been dumbfounded. Grace Hart had been through hell and back in that sex-trafficking ring she’d gotten tied up in. Her trust factor was nonexistent, and she wasn’t afraid to take care of herself. Duke had always worried that if it wasn’t his enemies hurting Grace to get back at him, then itwould be Grace inflicting pain on anyone who dared to fuck with her.
“He’s not dead,” Grace said with no remorse in her voice.
A phone ringing echoed in the vast space, and Duke excused himself as he hurried over to the front desk near the entrance.
She watched her brother for a long second before she gave me a hug. “It’s good to see you.”
Her vanilla scent mixed with sweat invaded my nostrils and raced through my veins, lighting parts of me that shouldn’t have reacted to her.
Take it down, man.
“What happened?” I asked.
Andie turned ashen at my question and started biting her bottom lip furiously.
Grace’s response was, “So, are you officially in Boston?”
I studied her for a long second, getting the vibe that whatever had happened involved Andie. No sense in pushing the topic. I was sure Duke would fill me in later.
“I have to return to Nashville tomorrow night and close the sale on the restaurant. But by next week, for sure.”
“Grace, I’ll meet you in the women’s locker room,” Andie said. “We have a class in two hours, then we both have a shift at Yvonne’s.”
“I’ll be a second,” Grace said to Andie.
Once Grace and I were alone, I asked, “That boy you shot hurt your friend?”
She bobbed her head. “Roofied her drink, and you can imagine the rest.”
What the fuck? I wasn’t a perfect man. I’d broken the law several times over, but I would never touch a woman without her consent.
A modicum of fear zipped through me at the notion that my daughter would be in college sooner rather than later if shestayed on track to graduate a year early. I would rip the limbs from any guy who touched her without her consent.
Grace waved a hand in front of me. “Brian? It’s okay. I took care of him, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t try to rape again.”
I had no doubt she would. The Harts were notorious for their ruthless protection of those they loved, going to any length necessary. But as much as I admired that trait, it also sparked a deep sense of concern within me. The thought of Grace following in Duke and Denim’s footsteps, facing a stint behind bars, would cripple not only Duke but me as well.
“How much trouble are you in?”
She frowned. “Not sure yet. Enough about this. When I talked to Fran last week, she sounded excited about her upcoming science project on fuel cells.”
“‘Excited’ is an understatement. This project just might open a door for a scholarship to a school of her choice. She’s leaning toward Harvard.”
“She told me. You must be so proud of her.”
I couldn’t even begin to describe the pride I felt about my daughter and her brilliant mind. “Sometimes, I question if she’s my daughter,” I said, teasingly.
There was no doubt Fran was mine by her looks alone. But I’d never been book smart. Hell, I had barely graduated high school. She got her brains from her mother, Shayla, who had been an ER nurse. I met her mother at twenty-one when I was taken to the ER with a stab wound. Shayla and I hit it off, and one thing led to another, and we slept together. One damn night and a mishap with the condom and suddenly my life had changed drastically.
