Page 64 of Static

"We were struggling," he admitted, his voice cracking. "This place isn't making nearly enough money to keep it afloat. Not with those cheap online flower places."

"Not with your gambling debts, you mean," she spat out. She waved a finger at him. "I told you! I told you, Troy, that you needed to clean up your damn act. I'm not losing Mom and Dad's place because you're too selfish and stupid to keep your nose clean." She heaved an angry breath. "I don't know why they left this place to you anyway." Now she sounded close to tears. "I'm the one who loves it more than-" She broke off with a shake of her head.

There was a look in Troy's eyes. A look I'd seen so many times before.

"Well, they did," he snapped. "So, it's my choice what to do with this shithole. Don't believe me?" he sneered. "Talk to the lawyer again. He'll tell you for the tenth time, that there's nothing you can do."

I put a hand on Lock's shoulder as he started to shove off the counter. He gave me a curious look, then nodded, when I silently asked him with a glance if I could handle this. I didn't want to ruin this woman's entire world because her brother was a dumbass. "Which lawyer did your parents use?" I asked.

Tara looked over at me, resignation and the tiniest spark of hope igniting in her soft brown eyes. "Earl Willford."

I rolled my eyes. "Earl Willford would sell out his mother for a piece of fucking cheese."

Troy's mouth dropped open. "I don't know who the fuck you think-"

The door behind him slammed open and suddenly Troy was twisting in Hush's grip as our brother held him up by the back of his jacket. Hush had been watching and must have seen Troy take a step toward us.

"Can you give us a minute, Hush?" I asked. He grinned and took a squirming Troy out the door with him. I didn't want him hearing all this. Raising my brow, I looked over at Lock again.

He gave me a considering look. "You think you can fix this?"

"Yeah," I told him. I had a feeling in my gut that Troy had managed to get to Earl and paid him off to change whatever the will said to reflect him as the sole owner. All it took was hearing the pain in Tara's voice for me to know it deep down. "It means this will still be operational while I get it worked out though. That fucker isn't going to stop if Fremont is paying him off."

Lock looked over at Tara. "If we help you get the flower shop into your name, will you stop doing business with Fremont?"

"I'm not even sure what sort of business we're doing with him," she admitted.

"Your brother is taking cash for him, and for a cut, he's running that cash through here and returning it back to him, clean," I explained.

Her eyes widened, then narrowed on her brother again through the glass door. "How could he? Our parents loved this place," she whispered. She leveled me with a grim look. "If you can help me, I swear to you I won't do business with him."

"He's a powerful man in this town," Lock told her. "If he harasses you, call us." He handed her a card with his name and number on it.

She clutched the card to her chest, looking between me and Lock. "Why are you helping me?"

Lock's smile was vicious. "This is our city. We do what we can to keep the trash contained." His eyes flicked over to Troy, letting her know in no uncertain terms that we considered him garbage.

"Thank you," Tara said. She was on the verge of tears.

"How long will it take?" Lock asked.

I gave Tara an apologetic glance. "Few months to a year. We have to gather evidence. Then I'll file a lawsuit. From there it's in the court's hands and whether Troy files an appeal. Without Fremont's backing, I doubt he will. And if he does, we'll introduce him to Butcher."

Lock nodded, then glanced over at Tara. "He can't know what you're planning. Think you can keep up the act for that long?"

"Absolutely." A determined look settled on her face.

"Do it," Lock said. "Let me know if we can help in any way."

I nodded, then turned to Tara. "Meet me at Clayton, Rouse, and Henderson, in one week. One p.m."

"I'll be there. Thank you again," she said with a smile. Her eyes slid over to the flowers I bought. "Are those for someone...special?"

Grinning, I nodded. "Yeah."

She shrugged her shoulders with a sheepish smile.

We grabbed our vases of flowers and left her shop. Lock gave her one last look as we were leaving. "If your brother gets out of control, call."

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