Page 58 of Lone Star Hostage

“How did you find that out all of that?” Billie pressed while she kept an eye out for both Presley and Damon. At the moment she couldn’t see either of them.

“I hired a PI, and I poked around in the bone marrow database.” Hattie stopped, groaned, and began to cry. “I thought Jesep would use it to punish Presley somehow. I didn’t think he’d have him, or me, killed.”

Billie cursed under her breath. Jesep had unleashed all of this nightmare. He was the one responsible. But Billie didn’t think Presley had been his motive.

Not his sole one, anyway.

No, there had to be a lot more to it than this. Victoria’s kidnapping, the missing diamonds, the attempts to kill Presley and her had a lot more to do with something other than merely punishing Presley for Hattie’s sister dying.

The sounds of the sirens got louder and louder, and while she couldn’t lever herself up enough to see the blue lights, Billie figured the responders were nearby on the road. Waiting to get the all clear before they sent someone in to help Hattie.

Billie saw some movement in the trees, and she readjusted her gun, ready to fire. But then she had to immediately pivot back when she heard something behind her. She whirled around.

But it was too late.

There was a man belly down on the ground, and he had a gun pointed right at her.

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Chapter Twenty-one

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Presley snaked his way toward those trees. Toward the sonofabitch who’d been trying his damnest to kill them. Ironic that that SOB was the stepson of the man who’d fathered him.

And Presley doubted that was a coincidence.

Whoever had put this shitstorm together probably knew enough details to understand that Joe’s stepsons might get a kick out of being hired to murder his bio-kid, Billie, Olivia, and anyone else who ended up being collateral damage. Hell, the plan could be to murder Joe and Victoria as well.

And that brought him back to Ari or Jesep. Heck, even Olivia.

One of them had to be behind this.

Once he’d taken care of Damon, Presley intended to get answers about that from Hattie. It was possible she didn’t know who’d hired Damon, but she might have heard something that could help.

Overhead, Presley heard the whirring of the drone. Heard the occasional gunfire exchange between Angel and the SOB, but the loudest of the sounds were coming from the sirens. Judging from the volume, there was a small army of people waiting toassist. Angel would be their point of contact for that, but for the EMTs to come in, Presley first needed to eliminate the threat.

He kept moving, eating up the space between the trees and him. And hoping he had enough cover to keep his ass hidden so he didn’t get shot. He thought of Billie, and the image of her flashed through his head.

An image of her naked and in his arms.

While it was a damn fine memory, he had to shove that aside plenty fast. Too much of a distraction. But later, he’d need to talk to her, too. To tell her how he felt about her.

“Later,” he muttered, and he kept moving.

After what seemed a couple of eternities, Presley reached the tree line, and he bolted behind one of the oaks.

And immediately got shot at.

Damn it, the bullet had come so close that Presley thought he could feel the heat coming off it as it whizzed past his head. Apparently, his ass hadn’t stayed hidden nearly well enough.

He drew in his body, trying to put as much as possible behind the tree. And he waited.

A moment earlier, he’d been thankful for the sirens, but now he wished he could kill the sound so he could hear. Damon could be moving in on him right now, and he wouldn’t know it.

Presley dragged in a deep breath and dived out from the tree toward another one. In the same motion, he took aim in the direction of where that last shot had come. He didn’t fire because no one was there.

He hit the ground behind the second tree and came up ready to shoot or be shot. But neither happened.

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