55. Luca
Luca
Craig sidles up to the fence ringing the property, and if I didn't already know that we have him dead to rights, I'd be tempted to beat that smug look right off his face.
He thinks he's here to sign for rights to the property so that he can sell it for a profit.
He isn't. The moment he steps out of the car, federal officers descend upon him.
Our lawyers found a hell of a lot more than just privacy violations when his finances got subpoenaed.
There was fraud, embezzlement, and a whole host of other financial crimes that will send him, his parents, his siblings, and anyone else in his immediate orbit to jail for a very long time.
He has a lot more to worry about now than Sunny and her farm.
She watches at my side. Her scent is fresh tea leaves.
Relief. I squeeze her close, and she rests her head on my chest. Her part of the bond shines with contentment.
Cole's part of the bond is hard satisfaction.
Hunt and Jess's bond is closed off. We've been testing that lately.
We can't completely disconnect from each other, but we can dampen it so that the others in the pack can't quite make out what's going on.
Sunny never minds. She respects our privacy, but we rarely do it, only for certain things we want to keep secret.
Like the surprise Jess and Hunt are working on while we take care of the Craig business.
Once everyone's cleared away, I offer to drive Sunny to brunch with the girls. It's supposed to be at the Evergreen Café. Cole climbs into the car with us, saying that he'll go with me after we drop off Sunny to check on the construction site. But we immediately detour away from the Café.
"Hey, guys? You're going the wrong way," Sunny informs me.
"You sure?" I ask. I can't even keep the grin off my face.
Cole smirks. She glares at both of us. We pull down a narrow dirt lane in the woods that opens up to clearing with a colonial style house at the center.
It's the Evergreen packs house. All of Sunny's friends are in the front yard.
There's a banner hooked across the front of the house.
"Oh my god!" Sunny says from the back seat next to Cole. She looks at him and then at me, a wide grin on her face.
I smile, take her hand, and kiss the back of it. "Happy birthday, Pretty Girl."