The Alpha Bodyguards Books #4-6

Chapter Seventeen

H is eyes crazed, his chest heaving, his head in the past, Ty turned on his sister. “Rollins is Nash’s father.”

It wasn’t a question, but she answered him anyway. “Yes.” Her voice was quiet, but she didn’t hesitate.

Pain clouded Ty’s expression. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

Tears slid down her cheeks. “It didn’t matter.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Merc, seven years . Of course it mattered. You could’ve gotten money. Survivor benefits, something . You’re raising his kid in practical poverty, and he died in battle for fuck’s sake.” Ty’s hands went through his hair. “I fucking knew it,” he muttered.

Her attitude came out with a vengeance as she swiped at her face. “I don’t need fucking handouts. I’m raising my son, and he doesn’t need a goddamn thing, not from you, not from the government, not from anyone! And this?” She threw her hand behind her, gesturing at the house. “Is not poverty, you dick.” She spun in my direction. “And you had no goddamn right to say shit. None of that mattered. No one knew, and it could’ve stayed that way.”

I wasn’t sorry. It needed to be said. “He looks like him.” Fact was fact.

“He looks like me!” she yelled.

“No, he doesn’t,” Ty and I said in unison.

She threw her hands up. “Yes, he does!”

For the first time in seven years, Ty Asher looked at me without anger. Half incredulous, half sad, he turned toward his sister. “He may have brown hair and eyes, but, Merc, he looks like Rollins.”

“Fuck you.” Tears dripped down her face. “No one needed to know.” Her voice caught, and her next words were barely audible. “They’ll never even meet.”

Ty reached for her. “Come on, don’t cry.”

She pushed him away and steeled herself with a deep breath. “I’m fine. Nash is fine. Everything’s fine,” she bit out before swiping at her face and turning on me with a finger pointed at my chest. “But you’re not fine. You’re on my shit list. It was my decision if I’d wanted to tell anyone about Sam Rollins.”

Nash stepped out on the front porch. Looking from his mother to his uncle to me, his hands moved.

Who is Sam Rollins?

Ty scrubbed a hand over his face and looked away from his nephew.

Mercy swore under her breath, then her hands started moving as she walked toward her son. He was Uncle Ty’s best friend, and one day when you’re older, I will tell you all about him. She picked the pajama-clad boy up and walked into the house, slamming the door behind her.

I glanced at Ty. “I your need help.”

His hands on his hips, Ty stared at the house. “Fuck you.” No force behind his words, he glanced down the street, but I knew he was looking at the past. Remembering. Processing.

“I’ve got a disposal.” He’d know what I meant.

“Do it yourself,” he clipped before turning toward me. “I don’t do that shit anymore. And since when do you off people?”

“I didn’t kill this woman.”

He scoffed. “Right.”

“Switching gears?” I didn’t have much more time. I needed to get rid of the body.

“Fuck.” He exhaled. “Fine. Go.”

“I was at the Ultimate Music Festival. Recon for Luna. Blonde ran past, pursued by two men, they fired, hit her twice, I intervened. Took one down, injured the other then got her out, but she died in my vehicle. I don’t know who was after her or why. I was going to dump the body and wash my hands of it, but all the disposal sites I’m familiar with were compromised tonight. A hospital drop would’ve been risky when I’m not sure what I stepped in.”

Exhaling, Ty ran a hand over his face. “I know you’re not this fucking stupid, but I’m gonna ask anyway.” He leveled me with a look. “You didn’t bring anything to my sister’s doorstep, did you?”

“No.” Except for a body.

Nodding, he glanced at the SUV and asked tiredly, “Who was she?”

“Don’t know.”

“No idea who was after her?”

“Only that after the two foot soldiers, there were three black motorcyclists without plates who followed us.”

Ty’s muscles stiffened, and he went on alert. “What kind of bikes?”

“Ninjas. They followed us until I lost them, then two of them drove to Club Frenzy downtown, parked, went in, and never came out.”

“ Club Frenzy ? Jesus fucking Christ, Vos, those are Estevez’s men.”

I said nothing. I was analyzing everything the blonde had told me.

“Julio Estevez?” Ty asked, incredulous.

I still said nothing.

“Jesus FUCKING Christ, he’s a sex trafficker. A ruthless, play-by-no-rules trafficker. He took over his brother Javier’s business when he was killed last year, and in twelve months has built a reputation that makes me thank God every day that I don’t have a daughter.”

I remained silent. I knew who the Estevez brothers were. I was thinking. If she’d been sold and was escaping, she wouldn’t have had an aversion to the police or the hospital.

“Do you have any fucking idea the kind of scum I’m talking about?”

I had an inkling. “They opened fire at a public event.” Whoever was after her had something on her.

“Considering the shit I’ve heard about them, that’s about the most benign thing they’ve done in months.”

I had no comment. Benign and firing a 9mm into human flesh weren’t meant to be parallel thoughts.

“Christ.” Ty tapped his trigger finger against his leg in a three-tap pattern. “For someone who knows every goddamn detail about his surroundings, you’re ignorant as hell to the kind of shit playing out around you.”

I took offense. “I know the name. I just don’t involve myself with sex traffickers.”

He smirked. “Yeah, well, you sure as fuck did tonight.” He tipped his chin at the SUV. “Where’d they shoot her?”

“At the festival, twenty yards from the north stage, upper arm, lower back.”

“Witnesses?”

“Many. Reliability questionable.”

Pulling his phone out, Ty nodded at the SUV. “This vehicle going to trace back to you?” He scrolled through his contacts.

I watched her house. “No.”

Ty dialed.

The boy’s bedroom light was still on. “Who are you calling?”

He scanned the south end of the street. “The kid.”

I frowned. “Thomas?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?” The light in the boy’s bedroom turned off.

Ty turned his gaze on me. “Because this is what he does.”

I watched the kitchen light turn off. “He’s young, inexperienced and doesn’t hold a rifle properly.”

“Yeah, well, you got two out of three right. He’s experienced as fuck.” Ty scanned the north end of the street.

“At?”

“Turns out there was a reason he didn’t know how to hold a fucking gun.” Ty’s gaze came back to mine. “He wasn’t ever firing one. He was my old boss’s cleaner.” His gaze drifted as he spoke into the phone. “Kid, it’s me. Got a situation.” He rattled off his sister’s address. “Get here ASAP and come prepared to work.” He hung up.

“Is he proficient?”

Ty shoved his phone back in his pocket. “We’re about to find out.”