Page 60 of Lone Star Hostage

Chapter Twenty-two

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Billie sat on the floor at the back of Presley’s living room and watched the aftermath of the dog and pony show play out. She much preferred it to the actual shitshow since here no one was trying to kill Presley and her.

Well, not trying to kill them with bullets or bombs anyway.

Ari was aiming some nasty looks at both Presley and her, but she doubted he was going to be stupid enough to try to avenge his father, what with two security operatives and a cop in the room.

And that was just inside.

Outside the house was another operative, a slew of cops, the bomb squad, EMTs, two ambulances, and last but certainly not least, Ruby Maverick herself.

Ruby had arrived shortly after the first responders and had taken over the mop-up. The woman and Presley were now outside, talking to Jesep and Hattie, who were both being loaded in ambulances.

Billie was thankful for any and all help from Ruby. She personally had the adrenaline crash from Hades going on in her body, and judging from Presley’s body language, he did as well.Unfortunately, he had a more active part in cleaning up the aftermath than she did.

No sitting on the sidelines for Presley. A few minutes earlier, he’d gone outside to have a word with Ruby and Jesep. Before that though, he’d talked to the EMT who was examining Olivia for the bruises and possible concussion she’d gotten when her car had exploded. Presley had also talked to his bio parents, filling them in on what’d happened with Jesep and Damon. And before that, Presley had told Ari to sit down and shut the hell up when the idiot had started spewing about how his father had been framed.

Billie had applauded that, literally, causing Ari to give her more stink-eye.

She reciprocated. Stink-eye wasn’t her specialty but she could dole it out when needed.

Like her, Angel was in the sit and watch mode, too, now that they’d given their initial statements to the cops. In fact, he was shoulder to shoulder with her on the floor. There were available chairs and room on the sofa, but they’d opted for this space to put some distance between Ari and them.

“I demand to see my father,” Ari snarled.

Not his first request. More like his tenth. He’d been mostly ignored except for those barked shut-ups, one from Presley, one from the deputy trying to take his statement, and the other from Olivia, who was apparently as tired of her brother’s crap as everyone else was.

“No way was my father involved in any of this,” Ari ranted on, repeating his vent for the umpteenth time.

“I beg to differ,” Ruby said, coming back into the room. Presley was right behind her, and he made his way to Billie, sinking down on the floor on the other side of her. “Jesep just made a full confession.”

Billie released a full breath that she’d been holding for too long. She’d figured Jesep would lawyer up and drag this out in a court process that could take years to unravel. Apparently not. Then again, he had been caught red-handed trying to murder Presley.

“A confession?” Ari challenged.

“A confession,” Presley verified.

Angel smiled. “Did you threaten to shoot his balls off or something?” he murmured to Presley.

“No. I’m not sure he has balls,” Presley remarked. “I merely reminded him that he was probably safer behind bars than he was on the outside with three highly trained security operatives that he tried to have murdered.”

Billie had to fight back a laugh. The timing for that would be totally inappropriate since only a half hour earlier, she’d killed a man and they’d been in the middle of a near-fatal attack. Still, he’d been a bad man, and if she hadn’t shot Damon, then he would have killed Hattie and her. This way, Hattie would survive, and the woman had already made it clear she would testify against Jesep.

The bad blood between Hattie, Presley, and her wasn’t completely wiped away. It might never be. However, Billie thought the woman’s feelings had softened some. They might have failed to save her sister, but Presley and she had saved Hattie.

“Did my father really want me dead?” Olivia asked, drawing Billie’s attention back to Ruby, who was staring down Ari—and winning.

“I’m sorry, but yes,” Ruby verified. “He also planned on you taking the blame for the diamonds he stole. Then, he’d intended on Damon killing you. Hattie heard Jesep give that order while Damon was transporting her here.”

Olivia made a whimpering sound and dropped down onto the sofa. Victoria immediately reached out, pulling Olivia into her arms, and while Olivia didn’t return the embrace, she didn’t fight it either.

Baby steps.

There would need to be a lot of those over the next weeks and months.

“Of course, Jesep wanted Hattie dead, too,” Ruby went on, “since she’s the one who came to Jesep with the info that Olivia and Presley were Victoria’s biological children. But he only wanted her to die after she’d been set up for kidnapping Victoria. Jesep had already gotten started on that by planting a recording of Hattie’s voice in one of the calls from the kidnapper.”

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