Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
When Ry and Tiny got back to the lodge, everyone was pretty keyed up. The police and fire department were already there. The cabins exploding had been heard—and felt—all the way to Los Alamos and people had called 9-1-1 immediately.
Two hours later, her father’s body had been removed, the evidence of his death scrubbed away, and all the buildings had been searched for additional explosives—with no more found. The bomb squad from the Los Alamos Police Department was working to remove the C4 and the bombs at each of the bunker locations.
“I’m sorry your bunkers are no longer a secret,” Ry told Tiny when they had a moment to themselves in all the chaos.
“It’s okay. They’ve served their purpose. Once upon a time, we needed them for our own peace of mind, but as time has passed, and as we’ve all found our soul mates, I think we’ve outgrown them. ”
“That’s good,” Ry told him, squeezing the hand she still held.
“Yeah. And I’m thinking after today, we’ll probably have them dug out. Maybe sell them. The thought of what could’ve happened to everyone if Wolf wasn’t here to call his friend…” Tiny shuddered.
Ry hugged him. Hard. He returned the embrace just as fiercely. Then he pulled back. “How are you doing? That was a pretty intense scene you went through.”
“I’m fine.”
“Ryleigh, don’t shut me out,” Tiny said with a frown as he looked down at her, his hands clasped at the small of her back as he held her against him.
She shrugged. “My dad used to do that kind of stuff all the time. Tell me I was under a time crunch…which, I might’ve been, because I wasn’t always as good as I am now at hacking, so if someone had caught me mucking around in their files, it could’ve been bad.”
“I didn’t mean the power grid thing, though that was truly awful. But also…you shouldn’t have had to see your father like that.”
“What? Crazy? Money-hungry? Fucking insane?” Ry said, a little harsher than she intended. She took a deep breath. “Sorry. Tiny, any feelings I had for my dad had long since died. He wasn’t a good person. No, that’s an understatement. He was a monster. Absolutely no empathy for anyone other than himself. He didn’t care what anyone else was thinking or feeling.
“What happened today had to happen. You know as well as I do that if he was taken into custody again, it would only be a matter of time before he got free. Here’s the thing…the world revolves around computers. My fa ther might not have been as good as I am at manipulating code, but he was still very knowledgeable. What happened today, him dying, is best for everyone.”
“Still…he was your father.”
Ry shook her head firmly. “No. He stopped being that a long time ago. Now…can we please talk about something else?”
“All right. But Henley is always here if you need to talk, and me too, of course.”
“I appreciate it, but honestly, Tiny, I’m good. Promise.”
“Okay.”
Just then, her cell phone rang. Surprised, because pretty much everyone she cared about or knew was there with her, Ry pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen, only to see the number had been blocked. She was about to ignore it…but something made her answer instead. “Hello?”
“Don’t hang up. It’s Bryce.”
Ry blinked in surprise. Then panic hit.
She hadn’t heard from her brother in… years . She’d known her dad still talked to him very infrequently, and the last thing she needed or wanted was to get rid of one threat, only to find out the relief she felt at her father’s death was premature.
“Ryleigh? That is the name you’re going by these days, right?” her brother asked.
Obviously seeing her distress, Tiny took her arm and pulled her off to the side, out of earshot of everyone else, taking her phone out of her hand. He clicked a button to put it on speaker and asked in a low, harsh tone, “Who is this?”
“Who’s this ?” Bryce countered .
“Ryleigh’s man. And someone who will do whatever it fucking takes to protect her. Now who the hell is this?”
“Bryce. I’m her brother.”
Ry took a deep breath and nodded her head at Tiny. She hoped Tiny remembered her telling him about her brother. How Bryce was older than her and wasn’t around when she was growing up. He’d left the house even before her mom, and didn’t exactly get along with her father. Ry barely knew him…but she could never take the chance that he wouldn’t tell their dad where she was hiding if she’d reached out to him while on the run. From everything her dad had told her, thrown in her face, he was a computer genius…so it wasn’t hard to understand how he’d found her. But she had no idea why he was contacting her now.
“What do you want?” Tiny clipped.
“Ryleigh? Are you still there?”
“I’m here,” she said.
“When we’re done talking, I won’t contact you again, and I’d appreciate if you did the same. We’re free now. Both of us.”
“Both of us?” Ry asked, intrigued.
“Dad’s been unhinged for a long time, but even more so lately. Bitching about you and that place where you’ve been hiding out. I ignored him, the way I have for years, until he decided to blackmail me into helping him get you back into the fold, so to speak. He figured with my… experience with Army databases, I had connections. Dad didn’t find Archer and Arthur Anderson. I did. They were total morons. They knew about explosives only because they fancied themselves preppers or some such shit. Anti-government, the whole shebang. I recommended them to Dad because I knew they’d do the minimum they could to get paid, and they’d screw up even that much.”
Ry couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you serious?”
“Deadly. And I was right. They only placed half the bombs they were paid for. And those bombs on the bunkers were easy to disarm, weren’t they?”
“Yeah,” Ry said softly.
“Good. Then everything went as it should.”
“You sent those messages, didn’t you? Telling me what parts of the videos to watch?” Ry asked.
“Yes. It would take too long for you to find what you needed to know, so I pointed you exactly to what you needed to see. I knew your SEAL boyfriend and his friends could handle the bombs, and I’d hoped they’d take Dad out as well. We’re both free. He’s been a thorn in my side for years. Blackmailing me, threatening me, basically making my life a living hell. And now it’s done. For both of us.”
Ry had mixed feelings about what she was hearing. She never knew Bryce really, had no idea their dad had been using threats to control him much as he’d done with her. Since he’d never attempted to reach out, had left her to suffer alone for decades, she figured Bryce was probably cut from the same cloth as their father. That he was just as bad. Hearing differently, that he’d done what he could to help her, to rid them both of the black cloud hanging over their heads, was a huge surprise.
“Be well, Ryleigh. Have a good life. I know I will.”
Then the line went silent.
“Bryce?”
But he didn’t answer. He’d hung up .
Ry looked up at Tiny, at a loss as to what to say.
“ Fuck me !” Tiny exclaimed as he pulled Ry into his arms. She snuggled against him, feeling better knowing that her man seemed just as surprised as she was by the entire conversation.
Eventually, she pulled back. “Should we tell the police what we just learned?” she asked.
Tiny sighed. “Probably. But I’m thinking we should let it go. We have no proof that what he said was true. And do you want them tracking your brother down to find out more information?”
“No,” Ry said without hesitation. Bryce had never been a part of her life, merely one more person in the background that may or may not want to do her harm. If he was telling the truth, he’d done her a huge favor. And she wasn’t going to repay that by dragging him into their father’s misdeeds or legal trouble.
“Right. So, I feel as if I need to ask this again. And I’ll probably keep asking you for a while, just to make sure. Are you good?”
Looking up at the man she loved, Ry realized she was more than good. A huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her dad was dead, her brother wasn’t waiting in the wings to take up where he’d left off. She could truly live now. Move on with her life…with Tiny. “I’m good,” she reassured him.
Looking around the room, Ry saw, to her relief, that no one was freaking out. Everyone was talking quietly amongst themselves. It didn’t seem as if anyone had left either. They were all still gathered together, supporting each other. “Everyone else seems to be handling what happened all right too,” she mused .
“The guys are pissed I didn’t tell them what was happening and call them in for backup,” Tiny said with a shrug.
Ry frowned. “It wasn’t as if we had time to casually give them a call and tell them what was going on. Besides, we thought if they’d left the bunkers, they’d set off the bombs.”
“I told them that, but they still aren’t happy.”
“Well, they just need to get over it,” Ry said a little huffily.
Tiny chuckled. “They will. They just need some time. Uh-oh, incoming.”
Ry turned and looked at where he indicated with his head, and saw all the women coming her way. Tiny let go of her. “I’m going to go talk to Wolf, but I’ll be watching. You need me to run interference, let me know and I’ll get you out of here.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” Ry told him, loving that he was both giving her space and keeping watch over her.
He kissed her briefly before heading toward where Wolf was standing with his wife, talking to Woody and Isabella.
Ry braced herself for whatever it was her friends wanted to talk to her about, because it was more than obvious they had something on their minds. But Alaska didn’t give her a chance to say anything, she grabbed Ry and hugged her so hard it almost hurt.
“We’re so glad you’re okay,” Alaska said when she pulled back.
“I’m fine,” Ry reassured her and the others.
“You aren’t leaving,” Reese blurted.
“What?” Ry asked in confusion .
“In case you’re feeling all guilty, or like you’re somehow tainted because of what your dad did…we don’t want you to leave,” Reese said a little more calmly.
“Oh,” Ry said, surprised.
“We know you. You’re probably feeling as if maybe we don’t trust you because of what Harold did. Or we might hold a grudge, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Henley said gently.
“We need you,” Cora told her.
“Yeah, who else will fix the Wi-Fi when it goes out?” Maisy asked.
“Or get rid of the viruses on our computers?” Reese added.
“Or give me the Christmas Tree Cakes Robert slips you because you’re his favorite?” Lara said with a smile.
Ry felt so blessed to have these women as friends. She suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion. “You all could’ve died. Your kids, husbands, friends and family…” She couldn’t continue.
Alaska pulled her into another hug. Ry felt Henley hug her from behind, then the other women joined the group squeeze. Ry was in the middle of all her friends, and she’d never felt so content, so loved.
“We didn’t,” Alaska said. “Besides, we didn’t even know we were in any danger, so if you’re thinking us being in those bunkers was traumatic, you’re wrong. You were the one who had the horrible experience, not us. And you saved us.”
Ry shook her head. “No, I didn’t. Wolf’s friend Dude did.”
But Alaska pressed her lips together stubbornly. “No, you did. I don’t know everything that happened, but I’m positive that you and your super computer skills figured out exactly what information the guys needed to do their thing. Us women, we’re stronger than society gives us credit for. We somehow form tiny humans in our bodies then squeeze them out our vaginas. We feed them, raise them, manage our husbands, work, and maintain friendships. We’re awesome . And you…Ry, you’ve overcome so much. And you’re so smart . I’m sure you could go anywhere, work for anyone, but we want you to stay. With us. Here. Please tell us you won’t leave.”
“Leave?” Ry said, a little overwhelmed. “Why would I want to leave the only family I’ve ever known? The only friends I’ve ever had? Besides, there’s a lot of work to do around here with rebuilding the cabins, the bunkers have to come out, and so much more.”
Everyone cried out in glee, then they were in a huge group hug once more.
“Do you think we can get the party going again?” Henley asked with a smile. “I don’t know about you guys, but I think we need to relieve some of the tension still hanging over everyone. Maybe with some more dancing.”
“Yes!” everyone said, almost in unison.
When everyone had wandered away, Alaska hung back.
“I’m sorry my father ruined your wedding day,” Ry told her.
But the other woman shook her head. “Made it a little more memorable, maybe, but ruin it? Nothing would ruin the day Drake finally made me his, officially. I feel as if I’ve waited my entire life for this day, and nothing, no one , can ruin it.” She put her hand on Ry’s arm. “Seriously, thank you for saving all our lives.”
Ry felt herself blushing. “As I said before, I didn’t. ”
“You can go on thinking that if you want, but everyone here knows differently. You’re a vital part of The Refuge, Ry. Don’t ever think otherwise. And it’s not because of your amazing computer skills. It’s because you’re you . Your kindness, the way you’re always there when someone needs you. How down-to-earth and practical you can be. The Refuge needs you as much as you need it.”
“Thanks,” Ry murmured.
“You’re welcome.”
The music started, a little softer than it had been before everything happened, but Alaska beamed. “Come on! It’s the electric slide, we have to do it!”
“Are you kidding me? The electric slide?” Ry asked with a laugh.
“Yup. It’s mandatory, and it’s my wedding day, so you have to do what I want.”
“You’re going to go all bridezilla on me now ?” she joked.
“Yes!” Alaska said, pulling her toward where the other women had lined up in the middle of the floor.
Ry let herself be led to the makeshift dance floor, but she caught Tiny’s gaze as she went. He lifted a brow at her, clearly wanting to make sure she was okay. Ry smiled at him, and she actually saw his muscles relax at seeing she was all right.
This might be a celebration of Alaska and Brick’s marriage, but Ry felt as if it was somehow her own party. A culmination of years of heartache and terror. Her reward for not having to run and hide anymore. Her father would never threaten her or the people she loved ever again. And while she couldn’t erase anything she’d been through, Ry was determined not to let her past rule her life. She was responsible for her future, and from what she could tell right now, surrounded by friends and so much love she could feel the air vibrating with it, she was going to have an amazing life. Here. At The Refuge. A place where broken people came to heal. To be themselves. To not be judged.
The Refuge was a miracle. It had brought Ry everything she’d ever wanted. She had no idea what the future might hold, but she had no doubt whatever it was, it would be chaotic, messy, and full of enough love for anyone who stepped foot on the property.