Page 111 of Mensa's Match

“And that fellow got away?” she asked.

He scoffed. “He’s no fellow, he’s pure scum. Assholes like him never stick around when cops are coming.”

“Why did he want her?”

Mensa shrugged a shoulder. “Why does any lunatic fixate on a gorgeous woman?”

Nadia shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“The night her car was stolen, Rod interrupted her asking me about the security feeds at Twisted Talons. He’d apparently talked to her once at Dontrell’s restaurant because he claimed to remember her car. I’m not sure I buy that, but he offered to help her find the car. She told him she wanted the cops to handle it.”

“That makes sense,” Nadia muttered.

Mensa nodded. “An asshole like Rod doesn’t deal well with getting rejected. Finding out later that she’s with me didn’t help either.”

“Don’t blame yourself, now.”

Mensa tipped his head side to side. “Hard not to, Nadia. I made a big deal about how she was my woman thinking that would get through to an asshole like him. All he did was point out she wasn’t wearing a cut, and he’d recognize her as mine if she had a property patch. My guess is that upped the ante for him. Get the girl and fuck with me all at the same time.”

She patted his arm. “Still not your fault.”

He turned his face to hers. “At a minimum, I should have had her at the clubhouse with me. Or I should have had Riley, or someone go to your shop and be with her.”

“Then why the hell didn’t you?” Wyatt demanded from the entrance to the waiting room.

“This is no time for that question or that tone, Wyatt,” Nadia said.

Wyatt’s hard stare softened when he turned his gaze to Nadia. “Have they said how she’s doing?”

Nadia stood. “She’s in surgery. That’s all we know so far. Come give me a hug. Did you call your parents? I should have done that by now.”

While they hugged, Riley bustled into the waiting room. “Oh, my God, Mensa! I came as quick as I could. How is she doing?”

He stood, went to Riley, and gave her a hug. “In surgery. No idea when they’ll be done,” he murmured against the top of her hair.

She pulled back from his hold and rested her hands on his shoulders. “And you saw it happen?”

“Why didn’t you stop it from happening?” Wyatt bit out through clenched teeth from the sound of it.

“Wyatt, I’m not gonna tell you again. That isn’t going to help. He’s already spoken to the police,” Nadia said.

“Aunt Nadia, if he’s as serious about her as she is about him, then he’s gonna have to get used to me questioning him.”

Mensa turned around to face Wyatt, but he and Nadia were in a stare-down.

Nadia’s lips pursed. “Not at a time like this, he won’t.”

Mensa hated it when family members argued with one another. “If I could have taken that bullet, I would have.”

Wyatt turned back to Mensa. “Sure, you would have. Getting shot hurts like hell.”

“Strange. The surgeons told me after I got stabbed that knives are worse, but frankly, it doesn’t fuckin’ matter what hurts more. You’re aunt is right, this isn’t the time or place, and I’d rather spare Nadia from hearing this, but I’ve never been this goddamned worried about anyone before in my life. I saw her body jerk when she took the hit. My whole world fell out from under me in that moment.”

“I almost believe you.”

“Don’t give a fuck whether you do or not. She has to pull through. If she doesn’t, I’ll be in jail because I’ll make it my mission—”

Wyatt held up a hand. “Don’t finish that. I’m an FBI agent, and I’ll take action if you make a threat to kill someone in front of me.”

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