Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
“What do you need?”
“Who’s closest to Superheroes & Scones?” I ask. “I need two or three guys over here to watch the entrances and exits while I deal with my dad.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Ian says. “Slow down. Why are you at Superheroes & Scones? I thought you were at the Hale House.”
“Xander didn’t want anyone to know he’s here, including the entire security team. He’s with a girl. So can we keep this between me, you, and whoever shows up? I’m trusting you here.” And if you break this, I will never fucking trust you again. It's unspoken. Unsaid.
“Yeah, of course. I’m not in the area or I’d come down. I can make some calls, and I think I can get Vlad, McKenna—”
“Not the rookies, please. Don’t tell them anything.”
Tension strains the line. “Who do you trust?”
“Anyone else on SFE. Just not them.”
“I think I can get Greer and Cruz Jr. over to you in ten minutes.”
I eye the front door, expecting a knock at any second. “I don’t think that’ll be fast enough. My dad’s a couple blocks away, if that.”
“Don’t answer the door.”
My stomach unsettles, and I’m quiet.
“Donnelly—”
“Yeah, good advice.” I want to tell him to phone Omega, but Ian doesn’t offer them as an option for the same reason I don’t. Sulli had contractions this morning, and doctors said she might go into labor today or tomorrow. Paparazzi have already descended upon Philly General like a cloud of locusts, so Sulli is staying at the hospital until she gives birth. Akara and Banks called all available Omega bodyguards over there.
“Hey,” Ian says. “You did good by calling me.”
Yeah, let’s hope it wasn’t for nothing. We both hang up.
Quickly, I call my dad. “Can’t meet you at Superheroes & Scones. Pick a place nearby. I’ll be there in fifteen.”
“I’m not even twenty feet from the door.”
“I’m taking a shit, and I can’t let you in. Just go grab a beer. It’s on me.”
“Fine. I’ll meet you at Paddy’s.”
“See ya.” As soon as the call drops, my phone buzzes with a text from Ian. He sent me the radio frequency I’ll be using to communicate with only Greer and Cruz Jr. I switch the channel and adjust my earpiece.
“Donnelly to SFE, you read me?” I stride over to a backpack I threw on the vinyl booth, moving farther away from the breakroom.
Comms crackle.
“Loud and clear,” Greer answers. “Where do you want us to come in? Back door or front?”
“Back.” I unearth a black box and click the mic at my collar. “My dad’s at the front. Once you’re inside, I need someone to post outside of the breakroom while I talk to him. It might be an hour. If you could not alert Xander of your presence, that’d be great. I don’t want to freak him out.”
“Copy that.”
With Xander secured, my headspace reroutes to my dad. I pop the black box and fish out a new mic. Hands shaking, I hook the mic under my shirt to my bare chest. I use voice command to call one person on my phone.
“Paul?” Luna’s dad says.
“Dad’s in the area,” I say fast. “Wondering how you feel about moving up the meeting to…like now. At Paddy’s Pub?”
“Take a breath.”
“I’m breathing.” I’m shaking. I can’t get the wire to adhere to my sweaty skin. I mutter a curse, which Luna’s dad hears.
“You can’t postpone?”
“Nah, I can’t. I have to meet him right now even if you don’t come.”
“I’ll be there.” I hear the slam of a car door. “Tell him I’m on the way. And Paul?”
“Yeah?”
“Breathe.”
69
PAUL DONNELLY
Paddy’s is having a slow afternoon. I ushered my dad to a secluded back corner. Choosing a four-seater pub table—we’re not in view of the street windows or even the bar. A few TVs play reruns of last night’s Phillies game. Feels private enough.
“Loren Hale’s coming now?” my dad repeats with arched brows, like I’m pulling his leg.
“He’d been in the area too.” I suck on a cigarette, trying to relax.
“’K, let’s get this out before he shows up.” My dad takes a large gulp from his pint of Guinness and then bows forward. “I told you no one would talk before the hearing. Well, you heard they took the plea deal?”
They were facing three first-degree felony charges. Kidnapping, assault, meth. Racked up to a total of fifty years without parole. It’s a max sentencing for some of the charges, but if they stood trial, they were looking at doing more time. So they took the plea, and now they’re in prison till Luna’s seventy-one. Hell, some of them will die in there.
Which is justice to me.
“Yeah, I heard.” I blow smoke to the side.
“I got Roark to talk. He has nothing really to lose at this point.” He taps ash from his cigarette onto a ceramic tray, cupping the pint with his other hand. “He said the original plan had involved Xander Hale—they thought he’d be in that car going to that putt-putt place or whatever that article said. They knew the Hales’ whereabouts from the media, is what I’m saying.”