Page 112 of Fought and Freed

The sound of a car door shutting filled the night. “We mean no disrespect. We’re just here to collect my runaway wife.”

Ryder stood, aiming his gun right at Richard. “She doesn’t want to be collected, Dick.”

Jeanne got out of the car. “Ryder, what the Hell are you doing? Put the gun down before you hurt someone.”

Everyone there to back up Ryder stood one by one, their weapons aimed.

Ryder kept his gun pointed at Dick. “No, Jeanne, I will not. Not until you leave and take that trash with you.”

“I’m not leaving until I have Honey back,” Dick growled.

“She doesn’t want to return, and she’s filing for divorce,” Ryder told him, though Honey hadn’t said anything about divorce.

Richard’s eyes narrowed on Ryder, and his lip curled into a sneer. “Over my dead body.”

Ryder stepped out from behind the car. “Oh, I can make that happen.”

“Dude, you didn’t say the Morettis would be here,” said one of the thugs who stood beside Dick. “No amount of money is worth getting on their wrong side.”

He took off running.

Lucca nodded to his crew, and Harry led them toward the apartment building.

“Of course, you would align yourself with a no-good drug dealer,” Ryder’s mother tutted.

“You’re unbelievable. You brought a drug dealer to get your daughter back.” Ryder shifted his focus back to Dick. “She’s hiding from you. This picture can’t get any clearer. She doesn’t want to go with you.”

When Harry came out of the apartment building with Honey, Richard took a step closer to her.

Harry gently moved Ryder’s sister behind him as he raised his gun.

“That is my wife! You’ve made your point, Honey, now let’s go home,” he commanded furiously.

“She doesn’t want to go home with you.” Harry peered over his shoulder. “Do you?”

Honey said something too low for Ryder to hear.

Harry raised his gun to point at Dick’s head. “If you take another step closer, I have no problem shooting you.”

“Honey, Richard is sorry,” Jeanne said. “He promises he won’t hit you anymore. Now, it’s time to come home.”

“Bitch, you’re the last person I would go with,” Harry replied.

She gasped. “How dare you speak to me like that! You have no idea who I am.”

“You’re someone who forces their kids to do what you want.” Disgust filled Harry’s voice. “You made a teenage boy sleep with all your sleazy women friends to pay for your lifestyle. Now, you’re telling your daughter to go back to her abusive husband.”

Harry tilted his head. “Maybe I should shoot you.”

Jeanne squealed and jumped back into the car.

A sick shame filled Ryder, all the good food Maddy had cooked for dinner sitting like a lump in his stomach. How did Harry know about his past?

He glanced over at Maddy, who shook her head. But if she didn’t tell him, then who did?

“This isn’t over,” Richard said through his teeth.

“Yes, it is,” Lucca said in a detached tone. “Unless you want everyone to learn about how you’ve been skimming off your company for years.”

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