Chapter Eighteen
“Dead?”
“You’re the reason he was arrested. You’re the one who put him in jail. He knows Ryder talked to you, and I need to make sure he’s okay too.” She gets in her car. “Meet me at the inn. I need to hide my car somewhere.”
“Hide your…” Looking around us and the empty parking lot, I turn back to her. “What the hell is happening? I need you to slow the fuck down.”
Stepping into her space, I turn her in the driver’s seat and face her toward me before leaning in to grasp her face in my hands. “Ryder was the one...”
“No! He wasn’t! Ryder uses iPhones, not flip phones for burners.
Flips are Daddy’s thing. Ryder would have sent it to Aubs, not to you at the police station.
Ryder is careful. He left me and Aubrey with very specific instructions for both of us.
Nothing would make him deviate from those unless he told us first. We have a code.
It’s the only way we survived growing up with Hugh Chiave. ”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. Who the fuck did I talk to? I called the same number I talked to Ryder on before. Then a Damon called me? Said he was the right-hand man for Ryder.” I step back, shaking my head, ready to freak the fuck out.
“D would never call himself the right-hand man. He’s his best friend. They’re in this together. There is no hierarchy with them. I don’t know who you spoke to. I just know it wasn’t my brother. Did you say anything about me?”
I wrack my brain trying to remember what I said. “No. I didn’t. I just said I know everything, and whoever is pretending to be Damon said that the target is secure.”
Her face pales. “Fuck. I don’t know which one of us is the target.”
“What do we do now?” I fucking hate this. I can’t fix it. I don’t know what to do in this situation.
“I need to get rid of my car. Portland airport. That was the plan. Ryder will pick it up when he can. I need you to follow me.”
“Okay. I need to change out the cruiser for my own truck.”
“No. The cruiser is better. Hugh won’t try shit if the cops are following me. But wait. Damn it, that will draw too much attention at the airport. The plan was always for me to go in and book the next flight. Is there someone you can trust at the station?”
“You can’t drive that car. You need to go to the inn with Mom and Pops. I’ll get rid of it. We can trust the chief. What do you need from him?”
She closes the door to the truck, pacing back and forth around her car. “I know. Do you have an impound lot?”
“We don’t, but Winter Harbor would. They’re between all the smaller towns with a little more land, so we use their impound lot for larger evidence storage.” I grip her shoulders. I can’t take the pacing anymore.
“Okay, good. Let’s go.” She takes off toward my cruiser, and I do all I can to run after her. “You have to sit in the back.”
I’m expecting an argument, but I don’t get one. She slips into the back without a word.
Me: I need to talk to you in five minutes. Be in your office. I’m coming through the back with someone, and it needs to be me and you only. No one else.
Chief: I’m here. This sounds serious. Are you sure we can handle it together?
Me: For now we have to. I don’t know who we can trust.
Next I text Cooper.
Me: I need Kane at my house within the hour.
Cooper: What the fuck is going on?
Me: Don’t know. But I know I need Kane and a badass security system upgrade at my house right now. I don’t think mine will cut it.
Cooper: Calling him now. See you in an hour.
“We’ll figure this out,” I say through the shield separating my front and back seats, watching her through the rearview mirror.
“He’s going to find me. I need to leave.” Tears well in her eyes.
“No, he won’t. And you’re not going anywhere. You’re safest here with me and my family. I have someone coming to install a security system at my house right now. You’re moving in with me. I’m going to take a leave of absence. And I’ll be with you all the time.”
“That’s ludicrous, Wy. That doesn’t even make sense. I’ll just go. Unburden everyone here with my mess.”
“Stop,” I say with more aggression than I intended. Softening my voice, I continue. “You’re not going to leave me. You’re safest with me. I’m going to protect you. I’ll take any hit I need to for you.”
I pull into the station and park my cruiser at the intake bay so we can slip in through the back to Chief’s office.
“Come on.” I open the back door and grasp her hands behind her back. “Cover your face with your hair. I don’t know who we can trust in the department.”
She shakes her head until her hair falls over her face, and I lead her by her wrists toward Chief’s office.
Releasing her once we’re inside, I pull the door shut and lock it, lowering my voice when I speak.
“Chief. This is Sophia.”
“Son, why all this mess if you just wanted me to meet your girl?” He tilts his head to the side while smirking at us.
“I’m Sophia Chiave. My father is Hugh Chiave.” She speaks clearly and with authority to him.
“Sit down, Officer Keaton. Seems you need to tell me the full story.”
I do as he says. “Sophia moved here under a false name. Aubrey brought her here after her fiancé beat her almost to death. Her brother Ryder helped her fake her death so that James and Hugh couldn’t find her.
Since Aubrey knew I’d rent to her best friend without much question, and don’t get on me for that, she came here. ”
“And we have a problem because Hugh and this James know where she is?” His gaze bounces between both of us.
“Not quite. As far as we know, they still think I’m dead.
But Hugh knows Wyatt was the one who got the intel from my brother for his arrest. So he sent one of his guys to deliver a package for him.
A burner phone that was supposedly from my brother.
But it’s not.” She finishes telling Chief about the differences and how she knows it wasn’t Ryder.
“Well. What’s our plan? We can’t let them know you’re on to them. We need to let them continue with their plan as usual so we can catch them.”
“I need to be home with Sophia. She can’t be left without protection.” I put my hand on her thigh.
“Well. Let’s think.” He leans back in his chair, tapping his fingers on his desk.
“I’ll get your doctor to fax over some paperwork that you can’t return to work.
PTSD or anxiety because of the situation will buy you some time without alerting anyone as to why you’re not here.
Then you can be with her on detail. We’ll keep everything need-to-know for now until someone else needs to be brought in. What is your plan for security?”
“I have Kane Pierson on his way. And we need to get Sophia’s car from Rebels to the impound,” I say.
“Good. He’s good. Try to get him to look into the Chiave operation. Give him my permission. I’ll move the car personally with my wife tomorrow. Just leave the keys on my desk.”
I nod at his direction, and then look over to see Sophia’s confused look.
“Get home. I’ll go to Adam’s office to distract him. Give this old man two minutes, then you leave out the back.” He stands, leaving us in his office.
“What the fuck is this plan? Who is Kane?” She’s fuming.
“Kane is Cooper’s friend that helped me with the Jack situation. He’s an insanely talented hacker, and he’s able to set up security systems that no one can break into.” I grab her hand and tug her down the hallway with me out to my cruiser.
“Wyatt, I don’t know about this.”
“I do. We can trust Kane. He’s good friends with Coop.” I kiss her forehead and hold her hand while she slips into the backseat of my cruiser.
She sucks in a deep breath, giving me a slight nod.
Everything has to be okay.
Pulling into my driveway, I don’t see Coop or Kane. I see some big asshole with a cowboy hat on.
“Who is that?”
Sophia looks out the front. “He’s good.” A smile spreads on her face.
Parking next to him, I open her door, and she takes off running. “Ripp! What are you doing here? How’d you get here so quick?”
“Hopped a plane from JFK. I was in New York for something else. And when Ryder called me to tell me that Hugh got out and won the appeal, I got here as soon as I could. Sorry it took me so long to introduce myself.” He hugs her back, tight, and too fucking close to touching her ass.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so glad you’re here. Hugh found Wyatt. I don’t think he knows I’m here, but he definitely put a hit on Wyatt.”
She reaches for me, and when I step forward, she wraps her arms around my middle.
“I see you’ve found yourself more than a landlord then?” he jokes. “Too bad I got sent here to find him from Hugh.”
I tense at his words.
“What? Hugh sent you?” she asks him.
“Can we pause this little shindig, and can someone please tell me who this is?” I ask her, finally interrupting.
“This is Ripp Colson. He’s with Ryder and Damon, but no one knows that. As far as everyone knows, he’s still on Daddy’s side. One of his assassins.”
“Assassins?” I swallow hard. “And you’re here for me?”
He fucking chuckles. “Well, as far as Hugh knows, I’m in NYC, looking for leads on James, but I was told to make my way out here to find you. I’m guessin’ they found you first?”
“Guillermo found him. Dropped a burner at the station for him,” she says.
“Yeah. Heard that. Wyatt here called Ryder. But Hugh took Ryder’s phone after he got out of prison.”
Cars come barrelling down the driveway. One is Cooper, and the other must be Kane. Big man pulls his gun out, and if I didn’t have a sensitivity to guns aimed at my family right now, I’d be a little more grateful for his reaction time.
“Whoa, whoa. That’s my brother and the guy coming to do security.” I place my hand on top of the gun, pushing the muzzle down.
“Didn’t know you were planning a welcome party for me, Wyatt,” Kane jokes as he steps from his car.
“Didn’t know I was either.” I look back at the cowboy. “Guns. Away.”
Reluctantly, he slips it into the back of his Wranglers.
“Where we starting?” Kane asks, pulling bags upon bags out of his truck.
“Perimeter first. I want to know the second someone steps a toe over the line of my property.”