“Phillip took his own life. He was a troubled kid.”
Tears formed in Samantha’s eyes.
“They’re going to arrest me as an accessory because I didn’t tell on him.”
“Everything will work out. I know two really good lawyers if it comes to that, and I promise I’ll help you and your mom with the fight.” Sometimes the punishment didn’t fit the crime. Ryley had learned that the hard way.
Chapter 40
One Month Later
The anniversary of when she shot her father had come, and with it, her father had left a note on her car written in a handwriting that made her entire body shake. “One day, you’ll wear a matching scar.”
He was getting bolder with each anniversary.
She pulled the hair net off her head and the gloves off her hands in the back room of the food kitchen. Samantha had just arrived and was stowing her things under a stainless steel counter.
“Do you need help moving, Ryley?” Samantha asked.
They’d become friends since that day Samantha had called the police. Ryley had looked after her like she was a little sister. She’d hired the best attorneys in town in the event the cops charged Samantha with anything. They hadn’t.
It was the first good deed she’d used Wilson’s money for. Sometimes bad stuff in life happened to good people. Ryley had witnessed it firsthand.
That was why she’d agreed to Wilson’s terms. To make the world a less crappy place. She could do that. She’d already started.
“I’ve got movers coming. That’s why I’m cutting out early, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Call me if you need anything.” Samantha hugged Ryley. The unfamiliar action made Ryley freeze.
When was the last time she’d let anyone hug her? Logan, Jake? Her mother? She couldn’t actually recall being touched like this.
“This is a hug. Hug me back,” Samantha said.
Ryley patted the girl’s back.
“You’ll get used to it,” Samantha warned.
Ryley walked through the building toward the front door. She froze at the sight of Felix Wilson standing in the doorway. The smell of alcohol was overwhelming. His thread-bare suit was wrinkled. The stubble of his five-day shadow was growing in.
He stumbled and caught himself on the table next to him—the gun in his hand loosened from his grip and landed with a thud against the table’s surface.
She forgot to breathe and took an unconscious step backward.
He straightened. His words came out with a slur. “You’re a damn thief.”
The door behind him shoved open, and Logan Bane stepped around him, headed in her direction.
“Ryley,” Bane said, not realizing the situation
She didn’t answer. She swallowed hard, afraid to move. Afraid that Felix would open fire on the innocent people in the room.
Anger tore through her and as if sensing the situation, all talking in the room stopped and turned in their direction.
Bane followed her gaze as he turned, finally realizing what he’d walked in to. He drew his gun and had it pointing at Felix. “Put the weapon down.”
Felix didn’t comply.
“Who is he, Ryley?” Bane asked, keeping his eyes on the threat.
“The other Wilson. The one who leaked my name to the media”
“They wanted me to apologize, can you believe that? Apologize to a common thief.” Felix waved his gun around. People at the tables moved farther away. Peter was ushering them into the kitchen area.
She fisted her hands, digging her nails into her palms to defeat the urge to choke him with her bare hands. The creepy spider things appeared on the ceiling. Their whispers grew louder in her ears fighting the sound of her racing heart.
“Felix, I know you're upset, but we can come up with a resolution, just put the gun down.”
“You screwed me out of making millions in that land deal.” Felix’s eyes narrowed to slits. He lifted the gun, and it waved with his unsteady balance.
“You kill me, and it goes to my heirs, not to you. I’ve already signed the paperwork. All you’ll get out of this is spending a lifetime in jail for my murder. You don’t want to do this.”
The door opened again. Felix spun on unsteady feet toward the homeless guy and his ghost as they walked in.
Ryley charged Felix, not giving him another chance to take a shot at anyone. She kicked, knocking the gun from his hand seconds before Bane threw an uppercut, knocking the drunk to the ground.
The homeless guy scuffled back out the door and out of the way as the crawlies followed excitedly behind him.
Peter stepped out of the kitchen with the phone pressed to his ear. “The police are on the way.”
Ryley doubled over and crouched, hugging her knees. The one time she could have used the Taser for anything other than a brick, and it had been packed in her bag.
Bane grabbed a napkin off the table and picked up the gun by the butt and set it on a table out of Felix’s reach before tucking his weapon away beneath the hem of his shirt.
The police showed within fifteen minutes. They took Ryley’s statement, along with everyone that had witnessed the altercation.
Ryley and Bane had been released, and he was walking her to her car.
“Why were you here tonight?” she asked, meeting Bane’s gaze. “My brother still paying you to follow me?”
“No, but I came bearing a surprise. Crews and I wanted to do something nice for you, seeing how you kept me out of jail and saved his mother’s life.”
“Oh?”
He handed her a file like the million she’d seen in his office. “You wanted to know about that little boy in the cemetery.”
“Adam Bell.” She said his name as if it were someone she talked to everyday. She’d been trying, every day. Talking to the trees had been more like it. On good days Adam had shown up and yelled at her to leave. On bad, he ignored her completely.
“Sad story for those that remember. He and his family were killed. What most people don’t know is
