Chapter 41
Tanner walked into Alec’s office. Nearly everyone was there. All of his brothers and their wives.
And Linc.
“Everything okay?” Alec asked, glancing over at him. Mia sat on his lap, and he was holding her tight, his hand held protectively over her stomach.
Hmm.
“She’s asleep,” Tanner said, leaning against the wall to glare down at Linc.
What was he doing here?
“She still thinks the best idea is for her to sacrifice herself?” Alec asked.
Around him, everyone was quiet, listening. Jaret was leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. Clem was next to him. She had something in her arms. Was that a damn bunny?
Flick, Lara, and Hannah were on the sofa. Raid, Butch, and West were behind them. Mitch was being held against West’s chest as he stood behind Flick. Usually, he liked to stand behind Alec.
But Tanner got it.
He’d always choose Lilac first.
Maddox was on an armchair with Scarlett in his lap while Beau sat in the armchair next to them. He wondered where the twins and Seb were.
Linc was leaning against the wall along from Jaret and Clem.
“I think I’m slowly getting through to her.” He hoped he was. Not that he intended to let her leave the Ranch until Stefan was taken care of. “She seems to think it’s the only way to take Stefan down.”
“She wants to Trojan horse him?” Clem asked.
Tanner grinned at her. “Is Trojan horse a term now?”
“Sure. Only thing is . . . is he smart enough to see that play coming?”
She had a point. Tanner looked over at Alec. He had the best mind for this sort of thing.
Alec looked thoughtful. “Perhaps. Or he might be arrogant enough to believe that no one can take him down, including his sister.”
Tanner straightened. “I will not allow her to go near him.”
Alec waved his hand in the air. “Of course not. She’s yours, therefore she’s under all of our protection. We don’t send our women into danger. I took the liberty of calling Devon and Peggy to let them know she wouldn’t be working for them anymore,” Alec told him.
“And I’ve informed Jake about everything,” Linc stated.
“Okay . . . okay,” Beau said, clapping his hands. “Can we talk about the elephant in the room?”
They all stared at him.
He pointed at Linc. “What the hell is he doing here? And talking to Jake? Since when do we involve the cops in family business?”
“Since this cop wants to feel up our baby sister, apparently,” Tanner said dryly.
Everyone in the room stilled.
Oh. Fuck.
He met Alec’s resigned look with one of surprise. “Uh, I take it you hadn’t told them yet?”
“You guessed correctly. I told them that there was a threat to your woman. That her brother was going to come for her. And that he’s an abusive asshole. That’s why she ran from you six months ago and why she came here now. But I haven’t had a chance to tell them the rest.”
“Then, surprise! We have a sister.” He held his arms up in the air.
Everyone started talking at once. Well, everyone except West and Alec.
“Everyone, quiet!” Alec ordered. He didn’t yell, but he didn’t need to.
Beau was up and pacing.
“A sister?” Jaret asked. “How?”
“Apparently, the old man wasn’t finished after me,” Tanner said. “Hey, there could be dozens more Malones and we wouldn’t know.”
“Shit. That’s a thought,” Clem said.
Not entirely pleasant one. Especially for Alec who was hugely protective of his family.
“Who?” West asked.
“Ryleigh, Lilac’s friend,” Alec explained. “Apparently, she grew up with her mother and our old man used to visit them regularly.”
“She seems to have had a different experience than us with him,” Tanner said. “He was semi-decent to her. At least up until he sold her.”
“He fucking what?” Beau snapped.
“Language,” West snarled.
Beau winced. “Sorry. But, come on, West. He sold our sister?”
“What the hell?” Alec asked in a low voice.
“Yeah, Ryleigh doesn’t know this, but he sold her to Stefan. That’s Lilac’s brother. The old man died of cancer not long after and Stefan moved her in with him. It wasn’t until Ryleigh saw what he’d done to Opal, his mistress, that her rose-colored glasses came off when it came to Stefan.”
“You’re sure she’s our sister?” Maddox asked, rubbing his hand up and down Scarlett’s back.
Alec sighed. “There’s a chance she’s not. But she said the old man told her about us. Also, her son, Kye, looks like Tanner when he was a baby. We can do some tests . . . but yeah, I think she belongs to us.”
“Wow. A sister,” Butch said. “Fuck. Is that asshole the father of her son?”
“I’ll fucking kill him if he raped her,” Raid snapped.
“No. He didn’t touch her,” Tanner said. “Lilac got them all out of there before he could. But they’ve been running a long time from him, and Lilac is worn through.”
“She’s protected them this long. It’s time for her to let someone else take over,” Alec said.
“We’re going to slaughter the bastard,” Maddox said.
“I’m still in the room,” Linc said.
“Then leave.” Beau shot him a grin.
“I’m not the enemy,” Linc said. “You guys have known me a while. I consider some of you friends.”
“That was before you started putting your filthy hands on our sister,” Maddox said darkly.
Linc put his hands in the air. “I didn’t know she was your sister! You didn’t know she was your sister. And I haven’t put my hands on her.”
“Good. Keep it that way if you want to keep your hands,” West told him.
Linc was fucked. He actually found himself feeling sorry for the big guy.
“Back to Stefan,” Jaret said. “Do we have a last name? Details? Who are we up against?”
“I managed to get some details from Lilac,” Alec said. “Her brother’s name is Stefan Weber. His father was Anselm Weber. Anselm owned an import business in San Diego. Stefan took over from his father when he died. That’s as far as I’ve got.”
“What are they importing?” Tanner asked.
“I’ve heard of them,” Linc said with a frown. “No one has found anything dirty on them, but it’s widely believed to be guns and women.”
“And our father sold our sister to this guy?” Butch asked. “Fuck.”
“Lilac has lived with him her entire life,” Tanner said. “She’s been emotionally and physically abused by him, and it got worse after her father died.”
“Opal was his mistress,” Alec added. “Seems it wasn’t by choice.”
“I have a question,” Lara said.
“Go for it.” Alec nodded to her.
“Wouldn’t Stefan know that Ryleigh might come here? Didn’t she have your last name? Would your dad have told him about all of you?”
There was silence.
“Fuck,” Linc said, ignoring West’s glare at his language. “But that would mean he could know where they are. If he did . . . wouldn’t he have grabbed them already?”
“It’s possible that he knows our last name,” Alec said. “But Ryleigh said the old man used the last name, Sanders. And even if Stefan did think that they’d come here, he’d have to have some way of knowing when they arrived here. We would have noticed a stranger hanging around.”
Linc nodded. “That’s true, and it’s been what . . . ten months since they ran? Even if he’d had someone here to begin with, he probably had to pull them back.”
Alec rubbed at his head. “If he comes for them, then we need to be prepared. We have to protect them.”
They all nodded.
“We need to talk to Ryleigh,” Alec said.
Linc tensed. “I won’t have you all intimidating her.”
“You think we’d scare our own sister?” Butch snarled.
“Calm down,” Alec ordered. “Tanner, would you go find Ryleigh?”
“This might be too much for her,” Mia said, climbing off Alec’s lap. “I need to check on the kids anyway. I don’t know how much experience Opal has with kids.”
Oh, so that’s who had the boys.
“And I’m in the mood to bake cookies,” she added. “Everyone needs cookies.”
“I’m coming too,” Flick said. West rushed around to hold his hand out to her and help her up. The guy acted like she was still pregnant. She smiled up at him in thanks. He handed her Mitch, and she followed Mia out. Hannah and Lara followed.
Scarlett stood and turned to Clem. “Want to come?”
“I guess so. Carrots likes the idea of cookies, don’t you, Carrot?”
“Do not feed that rabbit any cookies,” Jaret ordered.
“So bossy,” Clem whispered.
Tanner left to go find Ryleigh, discovering her outside on the back porch. “Hey, you all right?”
She glanced over at him. “Kind of overwhelmed. I . . . I always wondered how this moment would go, and now that it’s here . . . it’s a lot.”
“I get it. My brothers can be overwhelming. They’re a lot. But they’re also the best people you’ll ever meet. We will protect you, Ryleigh.”
She bit her lip. “And Kye? Opal? Lilac?”
“They’ll be protected too. Nothing will happen to them.”
Especially Lilac.
“Lilac’s always sacrificing for us,” Ryleigh said. “I always felt so bad. Like a burden.”
“She never felt that way about you, I’m sure,” he said.
“I know she didn’t. I think she shows her love through sacrifice. Through doing. She isn’t like me . . . she never had any happiness. Any normalcy. She only ever had terror and fear. I don’t know much about her life with Stefan. But I imagine it’s hard to learn how to stop living in fear, to go from always being stressed to being happy. I think she’s probably scared to be happy, Tanner. For fear it will all get ripped away from her. Like it always has before.”
“I know. I’m going to show her how to be happy. That she doesn’t have to do anything to earn my love because she already has it.”
“You’re a good man. I’m glad you’re my brother.”
Tanner drew her against him, holding her close. “Ready to meet the rest of them? Just don’t be shocked.”
“By what?” she asked.
“Well, I am the most handsome and intelligent of the bunch. Just didn’t want you to get a fright when you see their ugly mugs.”
She started giggling.
Tanner knew that Stefan didn’t have a chance in hell of hurting these girls again. Not with his family to protect them.