Page 20 of Forbidden Bond

“Finding Ire.” And with a head bob, he guided her back to the car. “We’ll get Dad working on that resignation email.”

“Okay, just don’t do anything final… yet.” Lach kissed her cheek and got back into the car. The male McLeods could probably use a minute alone. Her focus landed on Strat. “You found me.”

“Yeah,” he said, gas still pumping into the car. “Don’t make me regret that. Might lose you again just as quick.”

“Will you help me find him?”

“You know I will.”

“And if he’s….”

“Whatever we need to do, we’ll do, Scamp. What were you and the cop talking about? Daddy?”

“I can’t think straight about anything. Lach’s right that Dad has to give up his job. You can’t be a corrupt murderer and run the city’s police department, that’s just crazy.”

“You’re hesitating because you want to talk to him,” Strat said and their eyes met. “Ire, you want his take before settling on a plan.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“No. Providing your brother knows this is a three-way decision, it’s not just you and him.”

“It’s a decision for all the people who know, Lach, me, Conn—when I tell him, and you.”

“I don’t want the decision.” He took the nozzle from the car and hung it up again. “After this week, I’m taking a vacation.”

“A vacation? Where?”

“My apartment.”

She laughed. “Haven’t you missed my craziness this week?”

“That’s one way to put it.” He went around the back of the car. “Want anything from inside?”

“They’ll be coming for me, you know.” Strat stopped. “The Manzanis. They might want my dad for failing to deliver, but they’ll be coming for me too.”

“And they’re already gunning for the McDades.” If only she could talk to Whisper, find out what happened at the prison with Biz. “This is good.”

Startled, she blinked at her friend. “Good?”

“They’re spreading themselves thin. Silvio’s got an idea what he’s doing, but he can’t rely on Vex to back him up.”

Evander “Vex” Manzani, another potential corpse on her conscience. “You heard anything from Evander this week?”

“Vex doesn’t usually check in with me.” His chin rose as his focus narrowed. “Why?”

“You don’t want me to answer that question. You’ll thank me for the ignorance one day.”

“With you, Scamp, these things always come out in the end.”

Maybe. “We’ll find Conn, get drunk, and then decide if you want another crime on your rap sheet.”

“There’s one up side.”

“What’s that?”

“Life in prison’s a shorter stretch for me than it will be for you.”

She laughed. Trust Strat to be the one brightening her day.

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