Page 236 of Unexpected Heroine

Sensing she’s unconvinced, I’m a second from ending the call to find another way when she responds, “You’d be surprised how relatable all that was. We’ll be there to get you in a half hour.”

In typical Lettie Holt fashion, I blurt out an unimportant question. “We?”

“Doctor told me not to drive anymore. And if there’s a threat, my husband wouldn’t be happy with me going out alone anyhow. He’ll come with us. His name is Cort. He’s a puppy dog, so there’s no need to worry about him. And we’ll get one of our own guards to accompany us to Redleg.”

Whether my father is ready or not, here I come.

Red rover, red rover, send Lettie right over.

Chapter 43

This ends now

TOMER

Thank fuck Mia is coming back to work this morning. Klein texted that they were on their way not too long ago. I need a full staff now more than ever.

Sunrise arrived with more than burning eyes, body fatigue, and woozy thoughts from the lack of sleep. It brought a metric shit ton of unresolved issues with Lettie and zero time to address it. And I do mean zero time. I haven’t even had a chance to scan her phone to see how she’s coping after our argument. No clue who she’s texted about it. Probably Stella, who’s likely mounting a posse to hunt me down.

Lettie’s texts and the few seconds I heard her voice painted a vivid picture of the worst possible scenario coming to fruition—her blocking me, cursing my name, and declaring we were finished for the last time.

Fuck.

Add it to my list of problems. Unfortunately, Lettie’s justifiable anger will have to wait.

For now, she’s safe, which is the most I can hope for. Once I ensure my Redleg family is protected, I’ll visit her to explain the situation. She won’t pick up another call from an unknown number after earlier. I doubt she’ll read my texts, not that I have time to adequately type a response that won’t have her terrified. Best I can do right now would be something like this.

Hey, sugar bear. Not to worry, but the mafia tried to kill the father you’ve never met. Also, we’re all in grave danger, including you. Not a big deal. Call you later.

Yeah. That would go over well.

Not only would it be insensitive as hell, but it might also be detrimental to her recovery process. She deserves to feel safe after everything she’s endured.

Something at the back of my mind has me second-guessing my approach, though. Maybe it would have been better to tell her why and send a guard to wait outside her room. Would that have been smarter?

How the hell am I supposed to know? Too late now.

As much as I loathe knowing she’s enraged at me, I have bigger priorities.

Pressing away from my desk, I rub my eyes with the heels of my palms and quickly glance at the time on the bottom of my monitor. Shit. It’s time to head to the conference room.

No rest for the weary.

All the activities we started overnight bled into the morning. More tasks were tacked on with each passing hour. In addition to bringing in a contingent of off-duty law enforcement officers to further protect the building and leasing a walk-through metal detector for the lobby entrance, we had to activate some of our contract workers to provide extra support.

Leo and I spent most of the morning getting all the new people trained and up to speed on the current situation. In this upcoming meeting, we’ll tell the Redleg employees why it looks like they’ve entered a militarized zone this morning.

After undocking my laptop, I tuck it under my arm. While ambling down the hall in a partial daze, I pass Sawyer’s office and peek inside. Sammy’s seated in his chair with her feet up on the corner of the desk. Her head is tipped backward, and she’s snoring softly. His coat is tucked around her like a blanket. I shut off the light and close the door so she can rest. It was a long night for her.

I’m sure she’d rather be at home in bed. But there was no way Sawyer was going to let her stay alone. He tried to get her to lie down in the bunk room repeatedly last night. Despite her pregnancy, she stayed on her feet, helping where she could until she finally couldn’t go on.

Last I saw, Madeline was sleeping on the couch in Big Al’s office. Sue is around somewhere as well. None of us went home last night.

A twinge of jealousy pricks at the back of my neck. They have their partners here with them, where they know they’re safe. Partners who they can openly love as themselves.

Peggy, Boss’s assistant, arrived safely this morning. I sent two guards to look after Kri and Valerie so Shep could report to work for the meeting.

My mind shuffles through the faces of the people important to my Redleg family, hoping I haven’t forgotten anyone.

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