Chapter 26
Priest
Istepped into the apartment and frowned. Jenny had called hours ago and asked to bring the girls to the house. I would have thought they’d have been back before me. We had still been hiking back to the truck when she called.
Heading back downstairs, I caught Lockout’s attention. “Did you talk to Taz and the girls before they headed over to the Oro Valley house?”
“She popped her head in my office real quick and let me know they were going.” Realization lit his eyes. “They aren’t back yet?”
“I’m sure it’s fine. One or more of the girls probably just fell asleep after dinner.” Worry coiled in my gut. I hoped that was all it was.
Pulling my phone out, I was about to call her when the phone rang. Irritated, I connected the call. “Yeah?”
“Umm, is this Grant Mitchell?”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“This is Abe Holland.”
The lawyer I’d hired to help with gaining custody of Caitlyn. I’d been too distracted to recognize his voice. “Yeah, sorry. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to let you know I finished filing all the paperwork with the court this afternoon. You should be getting a call about an official court date soon. I also spoke with CPS and other than some home visits to make sure everything is working out satisfactorily you shouldn’t have any trouble officially adopting Caitlyn. ”
“Thanks man. I appreciate that.” I listened as he rambled on about a few other things.
What he said next had the blood icing inside my veins. “If you happen to have a change of address or any contact information, you’ll want to file some paperwork with the court and the CPS office. It’s really simple to do-”
“Wait.” He paused as I interrupted him. “The paperwork you filed today. What was the address on it?” He listed off my Oro Valley house and my eyes closed.
We’d covered our bases with CPS, but it never occurred to any of us that the documents that get filed with the court would be online for everyone to see.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll have to call you back tomorrow to finish going over all this. ”
My hoarse voice must have notified the others standing nearby because they crowded closer as I hung up on the lawyer. Before I had a chance to open my mouth, Lockout’s cell phone rang.
Relief washed over his features as he answered and switched it to speaker phone. The expression vanished and every muscle in my body tensed as I heard my little girls screaming.
“Taz!” I shouted. There was nothing. No answer, but something thumped loudly.
That was all I needed. I was out the door before I’d even realized I’d started moving.
Time passed in a series of flashes as we raced over toward my house.
I didn’t ask my brothers to come, didn’t need to.
I knew they would be following me. The bike vibrated below me.
I saw Lockout pull up beside me as we pushed the limits on our bikes.
Nothing was going to stop me. Not red lights, stop signs, or the flash of red and blue lights that pulled in behind us.
Gritting my teeth, I tried to push for more speed but my bike was maxed out.
We were flying down the road and I didn’t give a single fuck that the Oro Valley Police were hot on our heels.
The house came into view and we all rolled to a stop. I was off my bike before I had a chance to put the kickstand down. Letting it fall to the concrete, I ran across the driveway.
I was only steps away from the front door when someone tackled me from behind. Fury exploded within me and I fought back. “My fucking kids are in trouble, you piece of shit!” I bellowed right in the cop’s face.
We were rolling around on the ground. I knew better than to punch him—though it took every ounce of willpower not to—but I wasn’t about to let him prone me out beneath him and cuff me.
“Let me go! Now!”
I glanced over and saw my brothers being detained by the cops before they could even get off their bikes.
Lockout met my gaze and nodded. That was all I needed.
The cop on top of me had rolled me onto my stomach, so I jerked my head backward.
The feel of his nose breaking against my skull was a small consolation.
Lockout would settle the situation outside.
Darting to my feet, I rushed into the house. I didn’t yell for them. If Chet was still here—because who else would have come after them—I didn’t want him to know I was inside. Pulling my gun out, I ran back and found them in Wendy’s room.
Jenny was standing between Chet and my girls, a shovel gripped in her hands.
There was blood on the end of it. Her eyes widened when she saw me and there was a small amount of relief mixed in with the fear.
Her face was pale and there was a stream of blood running down her face from the split skin between her eyebrows.
Seeing her hurt and bleeding made my own blood boil.
“Get away from my family,” I growled at Chet.
I had my gun trained on him, but there was no way I could shoot.
Not in front of my girls. Not in front of Caitlyn.
I would try to spare them seeing that. Not to mention, at this distance, if I missed or if the round went through him, I’d hit one of my girls.
Chet had turned to face me and an evil grin split his face.
There was blood trickling across his right eye from where Jenny must have hit him with the shovel.
He was a maniac. “I don’t think you’re going to take the chance of shooting and missing,” he taunted.
The man wasn’t completely stupid and it meant I was going to have to disarm him another way.
“Let them go.”
“Fuck you! That’s my daughter. I’ll do whatever the fuck I want with her.” Spit flew from his mouth as he hissed at me.
“You’re a fucking idiot if you think I’m going to let you hurt her,” I told him, my rage settling down and allowing the calm demeanor I adopted whenever I had to kill to take over.
“You can take the woman and the other kids,” Chet said. “I won’t stop you, but Caitlyn is mine.”
My gaze met wide brown eyes. Tears were flowing down Caitlyn’s face. She started to stand and Gabby grabbed a hold of her, forcing her down next to her. None of us were going to give that little girl up to this asshole.
I tilted my head as I holstered my gun. I stepped forward as I spoke. “I can take the woman and other kids?” I repeated back to him. “As in, you’ll allow me? Motherfucker, you don’t understand. They’re mine. Including Caitlyn. You won’t do to her what you did to Sherry.”
The color leached out of Chet’s face as he stepped back. This wasn’t playing out the way he thought it would. Despite putting my gun away, he was even more terrified now, as he should be. “How do you know about-” He shook his head as though to clear it. “Sherry’s dead?”
“You killed her,” I insisted. I brought my hand up, pointing right at him as emphasis.
“I thought I had,” he muttered. He was trying to back his way to the door.
I started to sidestep, trying to put myself between him and the girls.
We were halfway there when he started blubbering.
“She wasn’t there.” His eyes narrowed and I saw a spark of madness there. “Caitlyn’s all that’s left of her.”
I knew then that he wasn’t going to let his daughter go. Every day that he lived, her life would be in danger. Chet’s gun hand had dropped as he realized his wife was dead. I couldn’t be sure whether he was sorry about that or happy.
Everything happened quickly. I ran forward intent on getting my hands on Chet.
He turned and raised the gun. I didn’t care if he ended up shooting me, as long as he wasn’t going after my family.
My hands were outstretched, ready to grab the weapon from him.
We both watched with wide eyes as the head of the shovel smacked directly into his skull.
The wet thud preceded Chet dropping to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Jenny raised the shovel over her head and was about to bring it down on Chet’s head again.
“Freeze!”
I slammed into her, preventing her from braining the dickhead on the ground a second time.
She let out a groan of pain when I did, but there wasn’t time to check where she was injured.
Wrapping her in my arms, I covered her body in case the cops behind us got trigger-happy.
They weren’t going to shoot a group of little girls, but Jenny and I both had weapons on us.
My body stilled, and I kept Jenny pinned against my chest. “Just hold still,” I whispered to her. “Everything will be okay.”
“Drop your weapons!”
I took the shovel from her and, slowly and rather dramatically, squatted down, setting the shovel and my gun on the ground before I stood up again.
“Move away from them.”
Pushing her backward a few steps, I turned and faced them, arms up, with her safely behind my body.
“Step to the side,” the cop ordered. There were three of them inside the crowded room. “Keep your hands up.” Two of their guns were pointed at us as one of them checked Chet’s pulse.
“He broke in here and tried to hurt us,” Jenny told them. Her voice shook and her voice was tight with unshed tears. “Grant came here to protect us.”
Uncertainty filled their eyes as they listened to her. They glanced over at the girls. “We have to take you in to figure all this out,” the lead cop told her. “Both of you turn around, slowly.”
“Listen to them,” I told her and did as he asked. “We’re not in danger anymore. Just listen to the cops and we’ll get this fucking mess all sorted out.”
“Down on your knees.”