Page 88 of Offside Bride

“Great. I’m officially the world’s worst hockey wife.”

Sawyer chuckles, taking the prescription slip from the doctor. He turns to me when the man leaves the room.

“Don’t worry, darlin’. I’ll stock up on saltines and orange juice for when you watch my games. We can’t have you swooning every time I get a bloody nose, can we?”

“No one’s giving you a bloody nose but me, knucklehead.”

As the doctor leaves, Sawyer sits next to me on the bed, gently brushing my hair back. “You scared me half to death, Magpie.”

I try to sit up, but Sawyer gently pushes me back down. “Easy there, now. The doc says you need to rest.”

“Otto! Where’s Otto?”

Sawyer snorts. “You know Siobhan’s vintage record player?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s Otto’s personal merry-go-round now.”

“Oh no! What a naughty bird.”

“Yeah. But let’s keep the bird rescue missions to a minimum,” Sawyer warns, but his eyes are twinkling. He leans in close, his voice dropping to a husky whisper. “You know, there are much more fun ways to make you swoon.”

My heart skips a beat, and I’m pretty sure it’s not from the Vaso-Vegas syndrome this time. “Oh yeah? Like what?”

Sawyer grins wickedly. “Well, for starters?—”

“If you two lovebirds are done flirting,” Siobhan interrupts from the doorway with a laptop under her arm, “I solved another cypher, and we need to discuss it.”

“In the fifteen minutes since we’ve been here?” cries Sawyer.

Siobhan shrugs nonchalantly. “I work better under pressure.”

“All right, Miss Smartypants,” Sawyer says. “What have you got for us this time?”

Sawyer helps me prop myself up with a pillow, his hand lingering on my shoulder. I’ll never tire of the electric tingle his touch sends through me.

Siobhan plops down on the foot of the bed, her laptop balanced precariously on her knees.

“Okay, get this. Dad got arrested on purpose. He orchestrated the whole thing. The Italians, the crates of dolls. Everything.”

My jaw drops. “Wait, what? He planned his own arrest?”

Siobhan nods slowly, her big, blue eyes wildly wide. “Exactly. It’s all part of some grand scheme. He wanted to set up a feud between the Italians and Russians.”

Sawyer squeezes his temples, looking utterly bewildered. “So, let me get this straight. Dad deliberately got himself thrown in the slammer, set up a fake deal with stolen Russian dolls, and pissed off the Italians…all for funsies?”

“Well, not for funsies,” Siobhan corrects. “He set up this whole mob war as a smokescreen for his real operation. It’s genius, really.”

Sawyer shakes his head. “That’s some next-level chess moves right there. But why?”

Siobhan’s fingers fly over her keyboard as she pulls up a series of encrypted files. “That deal with the Feds? It’s not as an informant. But a partner with some corrupt officials. He’s dealing with international government hacking. This is big.”

I blink, trying to wrap my head around this new revelation. “International government hacking? Like, spying on other countries?”

Siobhan shakes her head. “I’m not sure yet. But whatever it is, it’s big enough that Dad’s willing to risk a mob war to cover his tracks.”

Sawyer’s seething. “And gets you involved in the middle of it.”

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