Guy tenses and drops his gaze to the desk. He rests his fists against the wood.
“Which is why I’m offering you something else,” he says, his voice tight. Ella holds her breath. “Me.” He lifts his gaze to meet his daughter’s, as if reminding himself why he’s doing this. “Any favor. Any time. Anything I can reasonably do. It’s yours.”
The low rumble of a laugh is as close to evil as I can imagine, and I’ve come across some real motherfuckers in my life. The sound has my blood pumping hot, wanting to put a bullet in this prick’s brain.
“Oh, Chief. You have yourself a deal.”
“But I need to know who cashed in Asher Flynn’s bounty.”
A hum of contemplation. “I’ll give you the name when you give me the hard drive. I’ll contact you with information on where to deliver it,” he says, and I think I hear the sound of a matchstick against a box. “And keep your phone close from here on out, Guy. You’re mine, now.”
He hangs up.
Ella pulls from me and leaves the room. I go to follow, but Guy shakes his head and goes after her.
The room falls quiet. X, Y and Z are gathered on the couch, looking equally concerned. Hunter’s expression is dark, and he’s clearly itching for the kill as much as I am.
“God, I hate that man,” Monty says quietly.
Hunter stands slowly. “We need a backup plan. I don’t trust Ranger not to go back on this, regardless of how bad he wants Guy. We need to be prepared to get you and Ella out of the country.”
I’ve already run over that. Rick Halswater. He owns a small aircraft in Northern California, and he’s who Asher and I trusted to get us out when we were eventually done with this life. Rick is paranoid as fuck, makes sure he is entirely untraceable on his journeys.
The only issue is he won’t discuss it over the phone, and he won’t meet anyone but me, so I have to go to him to arrange everything.
I tell Hunter this, and Z stands. “I’ll go with you to the strip. X and Y can go with Guy.”
I nod, grateful to have them on our side in this. We need all the help we can get.
“Will you stay with Ella?” I ask Hunter, because of everyone in this room, I trust him the most. He won’t let anyone touch her. He’ll protect her for Asher, for me.
Monty sighs and says, “I’ll look after Bambi, too. It’sbeen a while since Hunter and I did a job together.” She grins at him, and he grimaces.
“Why do I need looking after?” Ella is in the doorway, her dad by her side. She hasn’t been crying, but she’s pale, her arms wrapped around her middle.
I approach her. “I need to arrange a way out in case this all goes wrong. You’ll stay here while?—”
“We’re splitting up?” she asks. “That’s the number one thing to not do in moments of impending danger, Gable.”
“You’ll have two babysitters.” I gesture at Hunter and Monty. “And I’ll have Z pissing me off on the drive. We’ll be fine. And it’s temporary, remember?” She gazes up at me, a question in her eyes that she doesn’t voice—what then? Hunter and Guy made good points about our relationship. We can’t be together in public; I can’t even be seen in the city she calls home. Once this is over, things get even more complicated.
Guy’s phone hums on the desk, and Hunter looks at the screen. “Ranger wants you to meet him at a charity event tonight.”
“A public place. That’s good, right?” Ella asks.
Hunter says to Guy, “Yep. It’ll take you a few hours to get there. X and Y are going with you.”
X gives a nonchalant thumbs up, and Y dips his head in acknowledgment.
This is it. It’s really happening.
Months after losing my brother, we’re finally getting answers. We’ll finally find out who pulled the trigger, who started all of this.
Ella takes my hand, her dark blue eyes locked to mine.
There are three ways tonight could end.
Ella is free.
