Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Wolfe
I hadn’t expected Rhys to be home when I woke up.
I knew the man had business to take care of this morning.
He’d said as much. However, I damn sure hadn’t expected Rhys to be sitting in the diner with a blonde woman wearing a gun and a badge, either.
The only point in Rhys’s favor was the fact that he didn’t look happy to be there.
My eyes locked on his and I could see something that looked a hell of a lot like panic set in. My gaze snapped to the woman.
Badge.
Gun.
Not from around here.
Fuck.
It didn’t take brains to figure out what the hell was going on. The blonde was staring at Amy, her eyes wide with recognition, which could only mean one thing.
I had royally fucked up this time. Bringing her here.
Son of a bitch.
“Amy?” the woman called out.
I instantly put my arm around Amy and turned to lead her back out the door, my brain working a million miles a second in an attempt to reverse this clusterfuck and get her out of there. Fast.
“Fuck,” I grumbled.
“What’s wrong? Who was that?” Amy asked.
“No idea, but I don’t think this is somethin’ you need to be in the middle of.” I was going to fucking kill Rhys. How the fuck could he do this?
“What? Why?” Amy turned to look behind us, but I continued to usher her toward my truck.
“Amy! Please wait!” the woman called out.
Rhys was right behind her and it was clear we weren’t getting out of there without a confrontation.
My body coiled tight, my need to protect Amy fierce.
“What the fuck is goin’ on?” I questioned, keeping my body positioned in front of Amy when I turned to face the woman. “How do you know her?”
Before she could answer, Rhys intervened. I couldn’t hear what he said to the woman, but after a few words, he moved toward us, keeping his back to the mystery woman.
“What the fuck?” I kept my voice low, but it wasn’t easy.
“Who is that?” Amy’s voice trembled nearly as much as her hands. Clearly she’d figured out what was going on as well.
“She’s…” Rhys took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. “She’s a detective out of Houston.”
Amy blanched, every ounce of color in her face draining away.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I yelled at Rhys. “How could you fuckin’ do this? You brought the bastard right to her goddamn doorstep!” My hands were balled into fists and it took every ounce of my self-control not to punch the man.
“It’s not what you think,” Rhys said, his voice calm.
“The fuck it ain’t,” I snapped. “A goddamn Houston detective? Did he send her here?”
Amy’s fingers dug into my arm and I turned to face her. She was so pale, her hands trembling, her eyes wide.
Before I could get my arm around her, Rhys put his hands on her shoulders and leaned in.
“Breathe, baby,” he whispered softly. “It’s not what you think. She contacted me.”
When Rhys peered up at me, I tried to gauge whether he was lying. After all, the man hadn’t said a fucking word about a detective from Houston contacting him. Nor had he mentioned meeting with her.
“She wanted to talk about a Jane Doe case,” he explained, glancing between us. “I agreed to meet her this mornin’ to hear her out.” He stood tall. “I wasn’t entirely sure it was about you, but yes, I suspected. However, I had no idea you’d show up here.”
“It’s the goddamn diner,” I countered.
Rhys swallowed hard. “I thought I had some time. I thought you’d be at church.”
“Time for what?” I didn’t fucking understand.
“Did he send her?” Amy’s voice trembled.
“No. Not that I can tell,” Rhys admitted.
“From what she says, she’s lookin’ into this case unofficially.
She thought it was too much of a coincidence that Chief Kelly Jackson’s longtime girlfriend up and went back to take care of her ailing grandmother at the same time a Jane Doe was found battered and nearly beaten to death a few hours away. ”
“Kelly Jackson?” I had no idea who that was. “Is that his name?”
We both looked at Amy. It took her a moment, but she finally nodded.
Rhys clarified, “He’s the recently promoted chief of police in Houston.”
Fucker.
“But that’s not the worst part.”
I didn’t know if I could handle hearing anything else.
“She’s concerned because…” Rhys took a deep breath. “She has proof that he’s been here. In Embers Ridge.”
“Oh, my God.” Amy leaned into me, and I instantly put my arm around her, tugging her close to my side. “Why is she here? What does she want?” Her words came out fast and clipped, her panic evident.
“I want to bring that bastard to justice.”
All three of us turned our attention to the woman now standing a few feet behind us.
I had to give her credit. She had balls.
She met my gaze head on, held it. “My name’s Joanna Tannenbaum, and I’m a Houston detective.
I’ve worked under Kelly Jackson for years.
” She looked at Amy. “Your sudden exit from his life made me suspicious. That’s the only reason I’m here.
I’ve been tracking this for the past nine months.
When I found out he’d visited here, the red flags went off.
I knew it wasn’t a coincidence at that point.
Rather than approach you directly, I wanted to meet with the sheriff. See what we could do to … protect you.”
“So he knows where I am? That I’m alive?” Amy asked, her short fingernails digging into my arm, her hands trembling.
“I’d say it’s highly likely. And if he doesn’t, it’s not because he hasn’t tried to find you,” Joanna explained.
Leaning down, I pressed my mouth close to Amy’s ear, speaking only loud enough for her to hear. “He won’t hurt you, Amy. I swear to you. I won’t let him.”
Her grip on me tightened and I tugged her closer, glancing over at Rhys. “I need to get her somewhere she feels safe. This ain’t it.”
Rhys nodded in agreement.
“Come on.” I ushered Amy into the truck and offered one final look back at Rhys and the detective.
“What if he followed her?” Amy questioned when I climbed in the driver’s seat after helping her in the truck. “What if he’s here?”
Knowing I couldn’t answer her questions, I decided to call in backup. Grabbing my phone, I dialed Lynx’s number first.
“What’s up, hoss?”
“I need you to meet me at Cooter’s. I want you to get my dad, too.”
“Everything cool?”
“No,” I said firmly. “But I’ll explain everything when y’all get there.” I pulled out onto the main road. “Shit. And Lynx, grab Reagan while you’re at it. I want her aware of what’s goin’ on, too. Since she’s stayin’ at Amy’s place, she could be in danger.”
“I don’t like the sound of this one fuckin’ bit. But I’ll corral ’em all and meet you there.”
“Thanks.”
I hung up and dialed Rhys’s number. “All right. Here’s the plan. I’m takin’ her out to Cooter’s place. If you trust that detective, I suggest you grab her and meet us out there. Just make sure you’re not followed.”
“Will do. See you in a few.”
Tossing the phone in the center console, I reached for Amy’s hand. I linked my fingers with her icy-cold ones. I fucking hated that I could do nothing to ease her fears. Nothing yet, anyway.
“Amy?”
“Yeah?”
“No one’s gonna let that bastard get close to you. You hear me?”
She nodded, but I could tell she wasn’t convinced.
Good thing actions spoke louder than words, because I was about to show my girl just what happened when an outsider threatened one of our own.
Amy
It was a good thing I hadn’t eaten anything. I knew for a fact I wouldn’t have been able to keep it down. Not while the icy ribbons of fear were latching onto my insides, clutching painfully tight.
Even now as I sat in Wolfe’s uncle’s house, a solid wall of men between me and the outside world, I couldn’t stop shaking.
It hadn’t helped that I'd had to repeat my story so that the rest of Wolfe’s family understood what they were up against. And just like the first time I'd relayed the details, I watched grown men hover close to the edge of a killing rage.
I'd never felt more protected than I did here, but I knew Kelly. They didn’t.
The man was a monster. A powerful one, at that.
The arrival of the detective had sent my world into a spiral. If Kelly didn’t know where I was before, he definitely did now. Not that I was disillusioned enough to think he hadn’t figured it out long before now. I'd always suspected he was watching me. It seemed like a perverse game he would play.
The question was, when would he show his hand?
“Hey, you okay?”
I jumped when Reagan put her hand on my arm.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
When she tried to pull back, I stopped her. “No. I’m sorry. I’m just a little jumpy.”
Reagan had been great through all of this. She had sat right beside me, holding my hand through the worst of the story just like she had the first time. It was clear she was as angry as the rest of the people filling the small house, but she was hiding it better than they were.
“I’d like to say I’m fine,” I said honestly. “But I’d be lying.”
“You’re safe now,” Reagan assured me, nodding toward the group of men huddling across the room. “Look at them. They’re ready to start a war for you.”
I wanted to believe her regarding my safety. I wanted to think that Kelly couldn’t get to me, but I knew him. He would stop at nothing to protect himself. And unfortunately, I was a liability.
“I’m down. Bring that fucker on!” Lynx growled, drawing everyone’s attention.
I glanced at Reagan, but obviously, she didn’t know what they were talking about.
Rhys and Wolfe both looked directly at me. Then more eyes turned my way.
A sense of foreboding crawled over my skin.
I knew whatever their plan was, I was not going to like it.
Not one bit.
Rhys
My gut churned.
I couldn’t fucking believe how this had escalated so quickly.
What should’ve been a brief informational meeting with a detective out of Houston had turned into an all-out battle between the Caines and the asshole who’d tormented Amy for years.