Mateo suddenly rounded the corner with his phone and gave me a thumbs up. “I got it. I, uh, cut out the part where you punched him. All I saw was him falling.”
“I’m pressing charges,” Phil roared from the ground, blood gushing from his face.
Mateo shook his head, glowering at him. “Buddy, you’re gonna be the one with charges.”
I turned the phone toward Mateo, showing him all the photos. His eyes went wide with fury. He started to lunge for Phil, but I pulled him back, shaking my head.
“Avery’s pregnant, she does not need to worry about you fighting this leech,” I said. “And neither does Levi. I think that man has grayed overnight.”
Mateo let out a string of curses and shook his head. “I’m glad you texted me. For help.”
I smiled to myself. “Me too.”
I wasn’t sure if it was better or worse now that Phil had been caught.
Once the police showed up, they took him and his phone full of evidence. What they discovered was far worse than I could have imagined.
Phil, Tom, David, Bill—he had a lot of names and he was a scam artist. It seemed like he targeted families after the death of a loved one, and especially folks in this area. Our family wasn’t his first target and wouldn’t have been his last if we hadn’t caught on.
Matthew bandaged up my knuckles then pressed a kiss to them. All of us had shown up at Avery’s house for anemergency meeting.Bandit and Bonnie were sprawled out on the floor with Levi, and he was distracting them from jumping all over me while Matthew did his thing.
I sighed in relief, listening to everyone talk around us. Avery was talking a thousand miles per hour, only ever slowed by Evie, June, Madi, or sometimes Nick.
Dallas sat down on the couch next to me and I leaned back. His head leaned against my shoulder and I relaxed, grateful to have a brother like him.
“You should have texted me,” he mumbled.
“Mateo was closer,” I said softly. “I didn’t want everyone rushing this guy. Mateo is also the only fully certified firefighter in this group.”
Dallas sighed and straightened up. “I know you’re right. I just wish I could have punched him too.”
“It was a damn good punch,” Mateo said. “He got him for all of us.”
“Sure did,” I said.
Madi leaned over the couch, rubbing Dallas’s shoulders, and he leaned into her, his frown immediately turning into a smile.
“I’m just glad everyone is okay,” she said. “This shit is scary. There were so many photos. I don’t know how we didn’t notice him.”
“It’s not exactly like you’d expect to be stalked in Whynot,” Matthew said. “Although . . . there was a night where I was in my car, and I swear I was being watched. And one of those photos was from that night, so . . .”
“Was that the night we . . .” I trailed off, but Matthew nodded solemnly.
“I feel like we need margaritas and cake or something,” Nick said. “Well, maybe not a margarita for Avery. Sorry.”
Avery snorted. “I like where your head is at.” She studied him thoughtfully. “You know, I swore up and down when Austin fell in love, I’d give him hell like he did to me.”
Nick grinned. “I mean, you can give me hell. Just leave Matthew and Evie out of it.”
“He’s being chivalrous,” Evie said. “He’s the softest out of us all.”
“Hey now,” Nick chuckled, pulling her against his side.
“I didn’t hear any sort of defense for me there,” I said.
“Avery can pick on you all she wants,” Mateo chuckled. “Even Nick knows that.”
I chuckled and reached for Matthew, pulling him onto the cushion to my left. We really needed a couch like this, I decided. Maybe we could fit one in Nick’s place . . .Oh god.I wanted that, I realized. I really wanted that.
