by Terri Reed
“Seriously? You want me to hide in the house?” Sarah practically shrieked.
Why must she fight him on everything? He turned back to the unexpected guests. Looked as if some of them were setting up to party through the night. Didn’t look as if any of them had come specifically looking for a fight. “Yes. Head to my office, ask Olivia to stay with you and be prepared to call the police. Hopefully this is all just one big misunderstanding.”
A massive one—considering how hard he’d worked for the past few years to protect Sarah from the Leslie crew’s wild parties. Still, most of these guys were actually pretty decent. Even if two of them were now dragging a beer keg onto his lawn.
Lord, whatever’s going on here, help me calm things down and not make things worse. Help me handle it the way You’d want me to.
“Hey! Where do you want the fireworks?” There were two young men at Daniel’s shoulder—Connor and Jeremy. In their early twenties, they were either brothers or best friends—Daniel wasn’t sure—and played in a local baseball league.
Daniel ran his hand over the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you guys have been told or by who, but there’s no party here. I’m actually going to need to ask everyone to leave.”
“Oh. Wow. Sorry, man.” Jeremy frowned. “We brought tents. Heard it was going to go all night and figured we’d want to sleep off the booze somewhere dry before trying to drive back. Should’ve known Kendra got the weekend mixed up when the weather report said it was gonna rain.”
“Kendra?” If Daniel remembered correctly, Kendra was the petite, pixie-haired nineteen-year-old Brian had hired as an intern shortly before he died. Definitely the type to get a bunch of hot-blooded young men driving out to the country for a night of hard partying and drinking.
As someone who loved the country, the fact that so many city dwellers only saw it as a place to drive to so they could party and “get wasted” on the weekend never ceased to drive him nuts.
Connor nodded. “Yeah. She texted. Said she’d heard there was something big going down for Brian. Sorry if we got our wires crossed.”
Oh, there was something going down, all right. But it was probably a whole lot bigger than a teenage intern inviting people to an overnight drinking party.
“No worries,” Daniel said. “But if you can pass the word along to the other guys, I’d appreciate it. There’s a campsite and motel by the highway. I’m sure they’d be happy for you to party there.”
“No problem.” Connor nodded again.
Thank You, God. But something told him not everyone would be that easy to get rid of.
The music was still pounding and the heavy beat seemed to reverberate inside his head. As soon as he figured out which car it was coming from, he was switching it off. He strode down his crowded driveway, through the line of vehicles, nodding at everyone he recognized and politely asking them to leave. He’d start with them first and then move on to the ones who would really cause him trouble. Thankfully a couple of the trucks were already making their way off the property, even though it had taken cutting over his lawn to get around the vehicles parked behind them.
The music seemed to be coming from a small motor home covered in bumper stickers. Someone had set up huge speakers in the open doorway, with their cord running all the way to the cab radio. Daniel reached around the speakers and unplugged them.
“Get off my camper and tell me what you’ve done with my niece!” Rita Ryan was suddenly so up in his face that her work boots might as well have been planted on Daniel’s toes.
Sarah’s so-called auntie Rita wasn’t actually a relation. The spiky-haired woman was Mona’s drinking and drugs buddy since the old days, and the friend that his ex-wife had moved in with when she’d left him. While Daniel knew Mona was to blame for her own bad choices, it didn’t help that Rita had been there, egging her along, every drunken step of the way.
He took a step back and crossed his arms. “Rita, you know you’re not welcome here. Please leave. Don’t make this any harder on Sarah than it already is.”
“You don’t get a say in what Sarah needs!” Rita’s laugh was so harsh and angry that it sounded halfway between a yelp and a snarl. She jabbed a finger in his face. “You’re not Sarah’s real family. You’re nothing but some piece of stupid that Mona hooked up with and used to help her raise her baby for a while. Sarah’s good-for-nothing uncle just died. She’s about to inherit way more money than a kid like her can handle. She needs her auntie Rita.”
Daniel felt his teeth set on edge. There was a growl growing in the back of his throat. Sarah needed Rita’s help how, exactly? To help spend her money? To help her run the company? To help get her hooked on drink and drugs?
“Someone like you is the last thing she needs.” He glanced back to the house, hoping Sarah had listened for once and stayed inside. The kitchen door was closed. But the front door was wide-open. A handful of people were crowded on his sagging porch. The crowd shifted just enough for him to see what they were crowding around.
Olivia was standing right in the middle of them, somehow managing to look even tinier than usual compared to the mass of muscle and bulk surrounding her.
“Olivia!” he called out. “Get back in the house and find Sarah!”
But she didn’t give any sign she’d heard him. He started across the lawn. Forget Rita. He had to get Olivia back inside the house. Not that he expected any of the men would lay a violent hand on her, but this wasn’t her fight, and if Olivia got hurt he’d never forgive himself.
A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. Daniel turned back and came face-to-face with Rita’s on-again, off-again boyfriend. A longtime member of Leslie’s construction crew, Reginald Hawkins—better known as Hawk—was a big, bald man with arms full of badly drawn tattoos, including a giant bird of prey on his neck. Not to mention a rap sheet full of both assault and drug charges.
While Hawk wasn’t the kind of man who’d go to the trouble of planning a tailgate party as an excuse to get his crew up here, he was definitely the type to grab any chance to get his own point across.
Hawk shoved his way into Daniel’s chest. “Maybe Rita’s not the only one who wants to see Sarah. Maybe some of us wanna see her, too. Maybe me and some of the guys here, want to congratulate the baby princess on inheritin’ a company, and make sure she knows we’re ready to get back to work.” Hawk chuckled menacingly. A few of the larger louts behind him chuckled, too.
Okay, Lord, something tells me I’m really going to need Your help finding a way out of this.
He glanced back toward the porch, but couldn’t see Olivia anymore.
“Yes, Sarah and I both know Brian died owing all of you a lot of money, and I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re paid back. But you’re going to have to be patient. Things are going to be tied up legally for a while. We’re going to need a lawyer to sit down and help us sort out who’s owed what—”
“I’m done being patient!” Hawk’s voice rose to a bellow. “That rat Brian died owing us weeks of pay! She’s gotta answer for that!”
Daniel stood firm and held his ground. “You’re right. Brian shortchanged your paychecks. But Sarah’s just a kid, and it’s going to take time to sort things out. You’re just going to have to trust the process.”
“Like we trusted Brian to do right by us? Like we trusted the courts to settle this?” Another laugh from Hawk, this one with teeth. “You think we’re stupid? You think we don’t know some lawyer can decide the company is too broke to pay us while pretty little Sarah still walks away inheritin’ plenty of family assets? You think we don’t know suing could take more money and years than we got? Some of us haven’t worked in weeks. We got crew defaultin’ on mortgage payments. We can’t even get unemployment insurance, thanks to how Brian messed with the books.” He leaned his bulk in so close, Daniel almost choked on the stench of his beer breath on his face. Hawk’s lips curled up in an ugly sneer. “We’re not going anywhere until
we’re convinced little Sarah understands just how important it is she makes things right.”
SEVEN
Daniel’s blood ran hot in his veins. Lord, I don’t want to have to fight this man. But I will, if it means keeping someone else from getting hurt.
Another man stepped up behind Hawk. Younger, stronger, with wavy black hair and dangerous eyes. Trent something. Trent was much newer to the team, but seemingly cut from the same cloth as Hawk.
Hawk glanced at Trent and smirked. Two against one. Three, if Rita decided to jump in the fray.
Lord, I could really use some backup.
Hawk stepped forward. His knuckles cracked. Daniel raised his hands in a fighting stance and tensed his body to deflect a blow.
“Excuse me, Mr. Reginald Hawkins!” Olivia appeared behind him. Her voice was strong, professional and crisp enough to cut glass. “Isn’t it true you actually asked Brian Leslie to keep your work off the books to help you avoid child support?”
Daniel’s jaw nearly dropped. Something told him that nobody—not even his grandmother—ever dared to call Hawk “Reginald.” Yet here Olivia was. A tiny, slender little spitfire of a woman, staring down a man three times her weight, who could probably level her in a single blow. Didn’t she realize how dangerous the situation was? He bent his head toward her. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“My job.” Olivia’s eyes glanced at Daniel, but she was making no attempt to lower her voice. “Did you know Hawk and some of the others were complicit in what Brian was up to?”
“No,” he admitted. “Who told you that?”
“Some of the ones who weren’t in on it. It’s amazing what people will tell a sympathetic journalist when you know how to ask.”
True. In all the years he’d worked in war zones he’d seen plenty of reporters risk their lives to simply ask questions. He’d accompanied them behind enemy lines and into the dens of warlords. A good reporter could get to the bottom of situations that seemed impenetrable. But he’d never felt his heart lurch quite the same way with any of them as it did at the sight of Olivia staring down Hawk armed only with a notepad and pen. Daniel’s arm slid around her shoulders. His fingers tapped a Morse code warning on her bare arm, exactly as he’d tapped it out on the table when they were talking in the diner. Olivia froze. For a moment, he hoped she’d recognize his attempt to subtly warn her of danger and run back to the safety of the house. Instead, she just patted his hand.
Hawk looked Olivia over and muttered a swearword that made every muscle in Daniel’s body tense with the urge to deck him in the jaw. “This your girlfriend, Danny boy?”
Olivia stretched her slender hand toward Hawk. He ignored the attempted handshake. “Olivia Brant, Torchlight News. You and your friends were in the courtroom just before Brian Leslie was killed in the parking garage, and you all looked angry enough to kill when the charges were dropped.”
She nodded at Trent. “In fact, you were so upset, you had to be dragged off by police. It’s Trent, right? No one I spoke to seems to even know your last name, as apparently all of the work you did for Brian was off the books. Wouldn’t you all agree that since you gained the benefit of being paid under the table by Mr. Leslie, it’s going to make it harder to determine just how much Leslie Construction actually owes you?”
A pen clicked in her hand, and somehow it managed to sound every bit as loud as the sound of the safety of a gun. Rita’s face paled. Hawk swore under his breath. Both of them looked jittery enough to explode.
Only Trent stood calm. He eyed her for a long moment. Then he chuckled. “You are some gutsy piece of work, Ms. Brant. You know that? If you’re not careful, one of these days you’re gonna get yourself into some real trouble.” Trent turned and sauntered toward a truck. Rita hesitated, then followed after him.
Olivia glanced at Hawk. “How about you? Any comment?” She glanced down at her notepad “I already have confirmation from two other people here that you actually pushed Brian to, and I quote, ‘cheat those government pigs any way he could.’ Certainly sounds as if you were supportive, if not complicit, in his actions, at least until you realized you were going to lose out.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Hawk’s eyes were so wide they were practically bloodshot. “So what if I worked a few jobs off the books or told Brian some little ways he could shave off taxes? Brian was our guy. He was supposed to be on our side and he cheated us!”
Olivia’s pen moved across the page.
“Stop writing things down!” Hawk shouted so hard his voice nearly cracked. “Or I will punch you in your pretty little mouth.”
“Except for the fact that with a rap sheet as thick and full as yours, you wouldn’t want to risk the fallout for beating up a reporter.” Her bright green eyes flashed with determination. That woman was fearless. “Don’t even pretend for one second that everyone else up here would have your back. They just came here to party, not to watch you commit a felony.”
Hawk turned around and only now seemed to notice his backup was gone.
Scattered raindrops hit Olivia’s notepad, smudging the ink. Daniel pulled her closer into his side. He leaned his head toward hers. “Looks as if you’ve got some good stuff there. But now I’d feel a whole lot better if you’d go into the house and make sure Sarah’s okay. This is a lousy place and time for you to go around trying to be a reporter.”
She bristled and slipped out from under his arm. “I am a reporter.”
“But you’re not just a reporter, are you? You’re also a…” His voice faded as he couldn’t find the right word to finish the sentence.
“I’m a what, Daniel?”
You’re a person I feel responsible for. You’re someone I don’t want to see get hurt. “You’re a guest in my home and on my property. Please at least go check on Sarah and make sure she’s safe.”
She stepped back. A pair of taillights illuminated her face for a second. Her mouth opened as if to argue. Then she closed it again. “Fine.”
She started back toward the house.
“Hey, Hawk!” Trent hopped up on the tailgate of a truck. His hands cupped around his mouth. “A bunch of people are going to head back to that campsite and motel place. Come on, man. It’s got clowns. This place is the pits!”
“Yeah sure. I’m in,” Hawk called. “Just as soon as I teach this guy a lesson.”
Hawk turned, raised his fist and charged toward Daniel.
EIGHT
Olivia froze just outside the kitchen door. Hawk charged toward Daniel, stumbling and bellowing like a drunken rhino. Daniel stood firm as though he was bracing to take the blow.
Dear Lord, please don’t let Daniel get hurt—
Hawk swung. Daniel stepped sideways. He ducked under Hawk’s fist, grabbed the bigger man’s outstretched arm and twisted it, using the man’s own momentum to throw him flat on his back. Hawk yelped, his arm now wrenched and trapped in Daniel’s grasp.
Daniel stood over him. The night was eerily silent for a beat. Then Daniel’s voice floated calm and clear through the muggy night air. “Now please get off my property.”
Her heart skipped in her chest. His self-control was incredible. Impressive. Maybe even rather attractive. He glanced up her way for a moment, still standing there in the driveway with the thug who’d just tried to attack him pinned on the ground at his feet. Daniel’s eyes met hers for barely a second with a look so raw and unguarded she could feel her already shaken heart speed even faster.
She pushed through the door to his kitchen. It was empty. She leaned her back against the door frame and pressed her palm into her chest. What was it with him? One moment he was capable of giving her a look that took her breath away. But just moments before, she had been absolutely infuriated with how deeply he seemed to need to control everything around him—including her. If she hadn’t been out there “acting like a reporter” and asking questions, they might never have known that a handful of Brian’s construction crew were complicit with
his cheating scheme.
There was a heavy thud, followed by the sound of a muffled cry coming from behind the bedroom door.
She yanked it open. Sarah was pressed with her back up against a wooden dresser. A young man’s hands were on her shoulders. For half a second, Olivia froze, thinking she’d interrupted a stolen romantic moment. But then Sarah’s eyes, wide with a fear bordering on panic, met hers over his shoulder.
“Help me!” Sarah gasped, struggling to push him back. “Get him out of here!”
In three steps Olivia had crossed the tiny bedroom floor. “Back off and let her go.”
“Drop dead,” the young man replied with a snicker. “This doesn’t concern you.”
But Sarah’s panicked eyes said differently. “Please, Jesse. Just leave.”
“No.”
Right. With one hand Olivia grabbed a fistful of Jesse’s scarecrow-blond hair. With the other, she cuffed him hard in the side of the head, just enough to send his ears ringing. Then before he could react, she grabbed his ear like an errant child and yanked him backward. “Sarah says she wants you to go!”
Jesse stumbled backward and nearly fell into Olivia. A good, hard blow to the eardrum could knock even the toughest man’s sense of balance into chaos.
“Let go of me, you stupid cow, or I’ll beat you into the floor!” Jesse’s hand raised to slap her. But before the blow could even land, Olivia kneed him in the gut, knocking him back just enough to lessen the sting of his fingertips striking her cheek.
“Jesse!” Sarah yelled. “Stop it! Please!”
But Jesse’s hand clenched into a fist. He started to turn toward Sarah. Olivia kicked his back leg out from under him. He stumbled to his knees.
“Come on!” Olivia grabbed Sarah’s arm and pulled her into the kitchen. “Let’s get out of here!”
“Wait.” She glanced back toward the bedroom. “Jesse could be hurt.”