Page 112 of Moros

She accepted it.

“Do you know anything about my mother’s family?” Ryanne asked. “I found dad’s parents in Jamaica. But nothing for my mother.”

Goran dug through the file again and pulled out a piece of paper. He extended it to Ryanne.

“They aren’t very nice people.” Goran explained. “Anne’s mother, Miriam used to work her ass off to send money home to take care of these people. When she grew ill, they still expected the money and the free ride. Anne refused and was swiftly disowned. I’m sure you see that everything was in Morrisey’s name.”

We both nodded.

“That was why. They couldn’t trust Anne’s family.” Goran pointed out. “After she passed, they tried suing the estate. They lost…”

“Everything was in my father’s name.” Ryanne nodded. “Precisely. Your father saw anything he had as hers. So, the estate belonged to both of them. They’ll try and come after you?—”

“I’ll make them regret it.” I growled.

“Very good.” Goran spoke.

We went through a few other legalities that needed to be set in place for the transfer of the estate on Ryanne’s birthday, and though we would have to make another visit to the lawyer, it was enough for one day. We wandered out into the sunlight, Ryanne taking a moment to lean heavily against me, pressed her face into my chest and inhaled.

“I love your smell.” She’d told me a few nights before as she shoved her face into my neck. “It?—”

“Turns you on?” I’d interrupted.

She’d lifted her head to glare at me with a sweet kind of anger I loved seeing on her face.

“Moros, focus.”

That had caused me to laugh. She rarely called me by my callsign—it was usually when she was trying to be mad at me but was failing.

I’d kissed her nose.

“Okay, darling. I’m focused—what am I focusing on.”

“Your scent makes me feel safe.” She’d told me.

She’d then giggled, held me tighter and kissed my neck.

“And it turns me on!” She’d admitted.

Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her closer into me, kissed her head and stood there in the parking lot, just holding her. By the time we made it to lunch with Pasha and Boss, she seemed exhausted and was over the day.

Still, she laughed with my friends—held conversations with them, helped them in teasing me.

We even explained to them what the lawyer said and all the new information Goran had given us. Boss was contemplative about Anne’s family, wondering why they couldn’t have just gotten over themselves and looked a little deeper for Ryanne.

There were only two bodies in the car.

“Paul was running interference from day one.” Pasha leaned in. “He’s been hiding Ryanne from everyone in everything. I mean, why go to that length?”

“He was greedy.” I put in. “And he wanted Ryanne to suffer because Anne dared to choose the man she was in love with to have his child.”

Pasha scoffed. “Men are pigs.”

“Hey!” Boss exclaimed.

“You know what I mean!” Pasha adjusted her ass on her chair and pointed at Boss. “Y’all need to band together and make your fellow men behave.”

“I wish it was that easy.” Ryanne muttered.

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