A minute later, Tech walked in followed by Wild Card and Bridget.
“Did you listen to the call?” I asked.
Wild Card nodded, taking a seat on the other side of the table. “Nice touch dropping Jonathan’s name. Miguel will spend the next twenty minutes reading the news articles online of how you financially and politically ruined Vaughn before you killed him.”
“He’ll know you’re an ex-cop, wealthy, and connected,” Bridget said, leaning against the door. “Just like you planned.”
My personal cell rang, and I looked at the screen and saw Genie’s smiling face. I pressed the accept button. “Where’s he heading?”
Genie giggled. “He was heading to Texas, but he just changed his flight plan to Chicago.”
“Interesting.”
“Is this good or bad?”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it. What’s his ETA?”
“He’ll be in Chicago in less than five hours.”
I looked up at the clock. “That might work.”
“What might work? Wait. Do I even want to know?” Genie asked.
“Probably not.” In the background on Genie’s side of the call, I could hear arguing. One particular voice stood out. “Are you with Charlie?”
“Yeah.” Genie sighed. “I was invited for breakfast, but Kierson and Charlie haven’t stopped fighting long enough for us to eat.”
“Can you put Charlie on the phone?”
A minute later, Charlie was on the line. “What’s up?”
“Jump on a plane. I need you here, but when you arrive, don’t let anyone see you.”
“Whatever. I’ll be there. Anything’s better than this,” Charlie said before hanging up.
I laughed, looking at my phone. Definitely trouble in paradise.
I returned to the window to process my thoughts. Miguel was either heading this way to confront me, or else Santiago was already here and Miguel was coming to stop him. Either way, I could use the information to my advantage. “Tech, can you go through the security videos and see if Sebrina and Shipwreck had any other, not so private, conversations?”
“That’s a lot of video. I’ll need a few people to help.”
“We’ll handle it,” Wild Card said, nodding for Bridget and Tech to follow him to the door. “We’ll work at the house, though. Fewer ears.”
When the door closed, I paced the room, thinking. It wasn’t until my third pass by the window that I noticed Nicholas and Sara playing with Storm in the field. Looking around, I didn’t see any of their security guards with them, but I saw Sebrina who was walking their way.
I ran from the room, down the stairs, and across the gym toward the back doors, cursing the entire way that the building didn’t have a side door exit. I heard several sets of feet pounding the floor behind me as I threw open the door and ran around the outside corner of the building. Sebrina stood in the middle of the field with the kids, smiling toward them, but she was prevented from getting closer to them by the snarling and snapping of Storm’s teeth. Behind Storm, Nicholas stood protectively in front of Sara, holding his arms out and glaring at Sebrina. I slowed to a jog, happy to see that Storm had it handled and my son was showing no fear.
When I reached the kids, I leaned over and whispered to them. “You guys okay?”
“Yup,” Nicholas said in a short-clipped voice that reminded me of Grady. His eyes never swayed from his focus on Sebrina.
“Where’s your security team?”
“My fault,” Nightcrawler said, jogging over. “I told them I brought Storm over, but to give me a few minutes and then I’d bring them out to play with him. I was talking to Wild Card about something.”
I looked back at the kids. “You two were told to wait, and you came outside by yourselves, anyway?”
“Sorry,” Sara sighed, looking down at the ground.
Nicholas didn’t answer, but glanced at me quickly to gauge my anger before looking back at Sebrina.
“Storm, stand down,” I ordered.
Storm stopped growling and sat.
“Nightcrawler, take the kids and Storm back to the house. I want eyes on them until I get there. I should only be a few minutes.”
“No fair,” Sara whined. “We wanted to wait until everyone came back from the scavenger hunt.”
“You should’ve thought of that before you broke the rules and came outside alone,” Anne said, walking up behind me. “You heard Aunt Kelsey,” she said, steering them by the shoulders toward the parking lot. “Both of you, let’s go.”
Nicholas reached for Sara’s hand, pulling her with him as he whistled for Storm to follow. Storm barked once, then took off ahead of them.
Anne and Nightcrawler followed close behind them.
I wasn’t surprised to see Katie, Jerry, and several of the less familiar guards standing around, waiting and watching. An audience wasn’t going to stop me, though.
I turned as if to walk away and threw a sidekick into Sebrina’s lower ribcage. The force of my kick, fueled with rage, tossed her on her ass about five feet back. I slid a switchblade from my boot and hit the release, walking toward her.
“That’s enough!” Donovan yelled, jogging toward me.
I ignored him, leaning over Sebrina, my blade ready if needed. “That was for approaching my kids. You go near them again, and I’ll carve that pretty little face of yours to bits.” I spit at her, stepped back, and closed my blade. As I slid the blade into my boot, Sebrina kicked out, hitting me in the shoulder. The impact knocked me back a few steps, giving her time to stand.
“Now we’re talking,” I said, grinning as we circled each other.
“Sebrina,” Donovan said, now standing at the perimeter of our fight ring. “You don’t want to fight Kelsey.”
“I’m not afraid of this mousy little bitch,” Sebrina hissed before she struck out with a
