“Trey’s outside her door,” Charlie stated. “We’ve already had three people try to get up here.”
Didn’t surprise him. Reese knew the news outlets were greedy for a story. Their only goal was to get the information to the public first. Didn’t matter that a woman was lying in a hospital bed after her husband tried to kill her or that that woman was about to learn of her mother’s death, as well as her husband’s. Just because Harrison Rivers was a monster didn’t mean Ava didn’t care what happened to him.
“Does Trey know?” Brantley asked.
“I had to tell him,” she said, her tone reluctant. “But I don’t think he told Magnus yet.”
Reese nodded. “Understandable. We’ll talk to him first, see how he wants to proceed.”
She turned back to her post when Reese and Brantley started down the hall.
Trey’s gaze slammed into them as they were approaching, his expression shifting to one of relief.
“You have a chance to talk to Magnus yet?” Brantley asked as he stopped in front of his brother.
He shook his head. “I didn’t want to pull him away from her until I had to.”
“I think it’d be best if we told him first, let him decide how he wants to relay the information to Ava.”
“It won’t go over well, regardless,” Trey mumbled. “Bad news never does.”
“You wanna grab him?” Brantley prompted, nodding toward the door.
Trey slipped inside, returning a moment later with Magnus beside him. Based on the grimace on his face, Magnus wasn’t too keen on the idea of being pulled out of the room.
“We’ll make this quick,” Reese told him. “But we figured you needed to know before someone leaked the information.”
“What information?” Magnus glanced between the three of them. “Did they arrest that bastard?”
Reese waited, let Brantley take the lead.
“Harrison Rivers is dead, Magnus.”
His dark eyebrows slashed downward over tired eyes. “Dead? How?”
Reese’s gaze dropped to the floor, unable to look at Magnus when Brantley delivered the other news.
“Ava’s mother shot and killed him.”
Magnus’s eyes widened.
Brantley plowed forward. “Then she took her own life.”
Magnus staggered back, but Trey was right there, putting his arm around his shoulders. Reese stepped back out of the way, giving them a moment.
“She’s gonna be devastated,” Magnus whispered, turning into Trey’s arms. “She’s been through enough.”
“She has,” Brantley agreed, his tone somber. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if it makes it easier for you, I can be the one to tell her.”
Magnus shook his head, pulled himself together, and extricated himself from Trey’s arms. “No. I’ll do it. She needs to hear it from me.”
Brantley nodded. “As of right now, you’ve officially contracted the services of Sniper 1 Security. I’m gonna talk to the hospital, let them know that we’ll be stationing agents in the building to ensure no one gets up here. Give the media some time to die down.”
Magnus nodded. “I can’t afford it, but I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Brantley smiled, although there wasn’t any humor in it. “We’re doin’ this free of charge, man.”
“You don’t have—”
