Page 75 of Smitten with the Single Dad

“Are you feeling better, Dad?” Jake asked.

“I am, buddy.” He ruffled his son’s hair. “A lot better.”

“Did you barf?” Griffon asked.

“No.” He rolled his eyes.

Griffon seemed disappointed. “Bummer.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Can I make you some tea?” Vica asked, standing up from her spot on the floor. She groaned just a little bit, but the cringe of pain made him acutely aware of the fact that she’d also been in the accident, and although he was the one who’d been pinned in the truck and overtly suffering the most, she was probably suffering too. Just in silence.

He shook his head. “No. But I’m going to make you some. Sit.” He pointed to the couch and made sure his tone was kind but authoritative.

Smiling, she did as she was told. But he wasn’t in the kitchen for five minutes before she joined him. “Bennett came over with some updates.”

He lifted his brows as he poured hot water from the kettle over the tea bags in their matching green mugs. “And?”

“The police are compiling evidence against me regarding the ‘leaked’ information and classified documents. Apparently, the company in New York is ‘cooperating’. Rumor is they’re hoping to have enough to arrest me by tomorrow.”Fear clouded her gaze as she watched him in the kitchen.

He brought the mug over to her where she stood on the bar side of the kitchen counter. “I won’t let them.”

“Not much you can do if they have a warrant for my arrest.”

“Bullshit. They can’t get through the gate if we don’t let them.”

Her smile held little hope. “Then they’ll just arrest you too, for aiding and abetting a criminal.”

“But you’re not a criminal!”

Sighing, she blew across the top of her mug. “Immigration is also apparently getting restless and will come back tomorrow to check on the status of our marriage. Just because we’re married doesn’t mean they will believe it. Doesn’t mean they’ll process our application.”

“It delays things though. You don’t need a visa now.”

Her nod was small and unsure. As she stood there, it was like the fire from earlier was burning away, leaving nothing but hopelessness.

“They could have hurt or killed the children, Wyatt.”

“But they didn’t.”

“But theycouldhave. They are not playing games. This is serious. And now apparently, they—whoever ‘they’ is—are trying to get your family blacklisted from obtaining some dead man’s land. What is all that about? Jagger told me a little bit about it. Said Gabrielle and her cousins, and Myla and her friends, want it too?”

Wyatt shoved his fingers into his hair and tugged on the ends.

For fuck’s sake.

His headache was threatening on the fringes, and if anymore bad news came at him, he’d probably keel over with a migraine. “Bonn Remmen was an Island Elder.”

Her nose wrinkled in confusion.

“This island was founded by hippies, squatters, and draft dodgers. Most of the land was never purchased but obtained through squatter’s rights. Theymoved onto it decades ago and never left, and therefore it’s now theirs. However, it needs to be passed down through family only. Inheritance is really the only way to keep the landfree.”

She nodded, seeming to understand things. He could have switched to Italian, but given the bruised state of his brain, he wasn’t sure anything coherent would come out.

“We managed to get this land because the family that inherited didn’t want it. So they sold it. Land on the island isverydifficult to come by. It’s almost impossible to buy anything and it’s very rare anything comes up for sale. We got this place out of sheer luck.

“We wrote the sellers a very long, heartfelt letter telling them our plans and how we wanted to raise our families here. Even though we weren’t the highest bidders, apparently our story won them over.”

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