Chapter 41 A Bitter Laugh
A BITTER LAUGH
Ember
It had been two days since the nightmare we called dinner, and today we were going to Abby’s house for dinner. Going to the Carragan’s place on Sundays was quickly becoming one of my favorite times of the week, especially now that I wasn’t working.
I’d grown used to waking up at the crack of dawn and not stopping until well into the night.
Now all I could do was sit and wait for the investigation and red tape, so to speak, to be cleared to get back into my building.
I was essentially an unemployed homeless woman right now, and it wasn’t doing good shit to my ego.
“You look deep in thought over there, little flame,” Wyatt said as he sat down behind me and ran his hands down my arms and then back up along my waist.
“Just thinking about life, I guess.”
Wyatt Carragan had easily been the thing holding me together over the last week.
He’d moved all of his projects to his home office, he’d spent any free time with me, gave me free rein of his house—and especially his kitchen, and when life just felt too damn heavy, he helped me find a sense of bliss in a headspace where thinking wasn’t required.
Not to mention Ivy and Aspen had been over almost every single night to spend time with me and keep my mind busy when he had to get work done.
Even Payton had tagged along a few times, and while I didn’t know her all that well yet, I had a feeling we’d be fast friends given the less life-altering circumstances.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He leaned down, kissing my shoulder and then my neck.
“Mm, I could be persuaded,” I replied.
Just as his hand found its way beneath my shirt, his warmth seeping into my bare skin, my phone started ringing.
“Ignore it,” he whispered as his lips grazed against my collarbone.
“I can’t. It could be the inspector or the insurance guy or the detective,” I groaned just thinking about it as I reached for my phone on the side table. “It’s Evan.”
Wyatt looked at me, his brows drawn together. “Answer it.”
I tapped the green button and put it on speaker phone. “Hey Evan.”
“Ember? Is Wyatt with you?” He sounded nervous, his words half mumbled.
“Yeah, Evan. We’re home. Is everything okay?”
“Can I come over?”
I glanced back at Wyatt, and he shrugged. “Your call, little flame,” he whispered.
I typed out the address and sent it to him. “Sent. I’ll see you soon?”
Evan was quiet for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll be there in ten. I’m at the ranch.”
I nodded. “See you soon.”
Evan hung up, and I stared at Wyatt.
“What do you think he wants to talk about?” I questioned.
Wyatt laid back on the bed and sighed. “I have a feeling we’re about to get some pieces we’ve been looking for in the puzzle.”
I found myself falling back next to him across the bed. “What if I don’t want them?”
He rolled over and pulled me in for a gentle kiss before pulling back and smiling—though the gesture didn’t reach his eyes. “I don’t think you have much of a choice, Ember.”
Wyatt and I were sitting on the couch watching Evan pace back and forth across the floor, his hands dragging through his hair, his boots still muddy, and his clothes dirty from work.
“Want a drink, Evan?” Wyatt asked, trying to break the silence.
Evan nodded, still pacing until Wyatt handed him a glass filled with some sort of dark liquor.
“Bottoms up man, you look like you could use it.”
Evan stared at it for a moment, the dark liquid in a short crystal glass, before he threw the whole thing back. He cringed and shook his head as it went down, letting out a deep breath through his mouth and setting the glass on the table.
“Do you guys think I could stay here for a couple of days?”
“Evan, yes of course, but tell us what the fuck is going on.” I didn’t yell, but it was clear in my tone that I was done with whatever this pacing game was he was playing.
“Elliot and Dad are moving drugs through the Dunagan Ranch. Uncle Howie doesn’t know.
” He shook his head, his hands on his hips.
“Fuck!” he yelled. “I didn’t even know. Not until yesterday.
I went looking…the name you said Wyatt? It sounded so familiar, and I know he saw you a couple of weeks ago?
I kept asking what he was doing on the line like that.
Why he was anywhere near your property and the fences and shit.
He wouldn’t answer me.” He trailed off, lost in thought, and Wyatt got up, pouring him another shot of whatever liquor he was feeding him.
Evan tossed it back again, this time with less of a full-body shudder.
“He’s been so fucking weird lately, so closed off.
He’s my best friend, but I have no idea what he does half the day, and I tried talking to Dad about it.
He told me to grow the fuck up and worry about myself.
I wanted to bring it up to Uncle Howie, but I didn’t want him to get fired, ya know?
This is the longest he’s had a job in…well, his entire life, and I don’t want to leave the ranch. I love it there.”
I watched as he started pacing again. “Evan, just tell us what happened,” I said gently. “You can stay here as long as you need, but I need to know what’s going on.”
He sat down in one of the chairs across from us and let out a bitter laugh.
“I don’t know anything really, Em. They’ve been going through some old ATV roads to transfer drugs from the city.
Down through Pine Shallows, Raven Creek, and into Sapphire Cove.
I guess where the roads are, if they go through some of the ranches, it saves them a lot of area where the cops look out for them.
Dad’s been on the payroll a while now, in charge of transferring shit and getting it there safer. That’s all I know.”
Wyatt and I traded glances, but he nodded. Clearly, he and I needed to have a conversation.
“Have you told Uncle Howie yet?” I asked softly.
He shook his head. “I couldn’t…he loves that ranch so much, Em. For him to know his own flesh and blood are putting all our family’s hard work in jeopardy? It isn’t fair to him. He took us in, Elliot and I. I wanted him to be proud like Grandpa was of you.”
“We’ll take care of it, Evan. Don’t worry,” Wyatt reassured him, but Evan just nodded.
“There’s a guest room upstairs as well as a guest bath attached.
Why don’t you go shower? I’ll toss some of my clean clothes on the bed for you.
Get some sleep tonight, tomorrow we’ll get your uncle and get this taken care of. ”
Evan nodded, and I got up to show him where everything was while Wyatt found him some clean clothes.
When he was finally showered and settled for the night, I dragged Wyatt to our bedroom and closed the door behind us.
“You and I need to have a chat,” I said quietly, refusing to yell and hit this man in the nose like I wanted to with my baby brother across the hall.
He sighed. “I should probably sit down for this.”
I watched as he sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes returning to mine.
“Tell me what you know and what you haven’t been telling me.”
He cleared his throat. “I received a call from Julian a few days ago, like I mentioned. I’d asked him if he knew anything about the guy who showed up and threatened you, who he worked for, if he was legit, that type of thing.
Well, he did some digging, and that’s how I found out about the family your father had gotten involved in.
The rest have just been…educated deductions based on what I’d already found. ”
I stood there, staring. “I’m waiting, Wyatt.”
“I think your father took some shit on the side that didn’t belong to him, and he didn’t think anyone would notice, but these guys, Ember?
They notice and they don’t take kindly to being stolen from.
Do you understand what I’m telling you?” His deep blue eyes stared at me from across the room, and I found myself nodding.
“Yeah, I get it. They’ll kill us all if they think it’ll hurt him.
” I cleared my throat and pulled my shirt off to get ready for bed.
“I want to go to Detective Montague tomorrow. First thing in the morning. I want Evan to come with us and give him everything we have. I don’t want to do this anymore, Wyatt.
I can’t. I just…I want to let the cops handle it, okay? ”
He nodded. “You’ve got it, little flame.”
We got undressed and curled up together in his bed as I hoped to any of the fates listening that tomorrow would be better.
We were sitting in front of Detective Montague, rehashing everything all three of us knew—minus the parts Julian had helped with.
Wyatt wasn’t comfortable bringing his boss into this, and I got it.
I wasn’t completely sure everything Julian did was above board, so to speak, so bringing him in probably wasn’t the best idea anyway.
“So your father was behind your stolen identity, and you believe him and your brother are trafficking drugs through your uncle’s ranch?” Detective Montague questioned as he looked over the folder and the details we’d given him.
The three of us nodded.
“Do you know how hard we’ve been working with the FBI to bring down the Broderick family?” He raised an eyebrow and then pulled out his phone, dialing a number. It rang before a man answered. “Fields, got a break in the Broderick case. Get over here.”
He clicked the phone off and set it on top of the table, just staring at us, shaking his head. “Insane,” he muttered under his breath.
“Did you need us for anything else?” Wyatt asked.
Montague nodded. “Formal interviews and witness statements with Fields. He’s the FBI agent in charge of the Broderick case, and then you’re all free to go. Does your uncle know?”
Evan shook his head. “He’s a rather explosive man, Detective. I didn’t want him blowing up and ruining any chance you guys had at getting proof. I wanted my sisters’ shit cleared, and I need my father alive for that.”
I glanced over at him, my eyes wide at how much thought my brother had put into this. How much he was looking out for me. Reaching over, I took his hand and squeezed it gently. “Thank you,” I mouthed, and he just nodded.
“Smart move, kid,” Montague nodded.
The next several hours were spent with us going over our stories over and over again. Written out, recorded on tape and video, so much paperwork and repeating the same shit over and over, but if it would get everyone off my back? I didn’t even care.
By the time we got back in the SUV, I looked at Wyatt and named the elephant in the room.
“How is this going to get what is essentially the mob off my back?”
Wyatt chuckled. “Why don’t you let me handle that, little flame? Evan was right, we need your father alive to get rid of the shit piling up against you, but the rest? Hm, I’ve got that covered.”
I watched him as he put the vehicle in reverse and sang along to the radio. For the first time in my life, I decided I was going to do exactly that.
Trust someone else to handle it.