Page 16 of Ruthless

“Guys are so dumb.” Kelsey rolls her eyes as Charlee shakes her head and bounces a giggling Lily against her hip. Up until now, I forgot there was anyone else in the room except for my brothers and me.

“No, Wildcat. We just work through shit quicker.” Axel winks, but Asher and I share a look because he’s digging himself into a hole, and we’re gonna let him bury himself alive when she murders his dumbass. I have more important shit to do anyhow.

I grab my truck keys off the hook and head toward the front door, but Asher steps into my path, blocking my way.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks.

“I’m gonna go get my wife.” The keys dig into my palm as flashes of her leaving hit me. I’m hoping she doesn’t slam the door in my face, but I wouldn’t blame her if she did.

“It’ll have to wait.” Asher crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head before I can even finish talking.

“I’m not fucking waiting.” My blood boils at the thought of waiting a second longer.

“You’re gonna have to. The call came in. They want Canton brought in ASAP. I have everything ready to roll. We leave for Florida in twenty minutes.”

“Goddammit!” I slam the keys onto the counter and fight the urge to punch a hole through the wall, but I’m pretty sure Axel and I have already tested Asher’s patience beyond its limits with our breakfast brawl, so I don’t. Plus, I’m not sure my battered knuckles can take much more.

“Let me get my shit.” I’m letting Kennedy go for now, but at least I know her family will watch out for her until I come to claim what is mine.

The flight from Atlanta to Key West didn’t take us long. As soon as we landed, the three of us packed inside a blacked-out Suburban that Asher rented and headed toward our destination. The motel we found is a total shit hole, but it’s serving its purpose while we hide out until nightfall.

Asher has all the files open and spread out across the bed as we strategize and make sure our plan is rock solid. He grabs his laptop and pulls up an exterior shot of a house on the screen. It’s a sky blue two-story house with white shutters, white trim, and a white balcony that goes all the way around the second floor. It’s definitely not something Isaac could afford living off his disability income.

The quicker we get this shit done, the quicker I can get back to Kennedy. I’m not happy that I had to leave things unsettled between us, but the girls promised to swing by and check up on her for me.

“That’s where he’s staying?” Axel shakes his head, bringing me out of my head and back to the present. I glance over at the image of the house on the laptop and have to agree with him. It’s suspicious as fuck that Isaac can afford something as nice as that. Then again, with the offshore bank account Asher found, it explains how he could afford it. It still doesn’t explain where it all came from, though. Despite what my brothers think, I know Isaac. He wouldn’t sell out his country. A country we both bled and nearly died to protect.

Asher ignores Axel and pulls out the blueprints of the house. “It’s on a dead-end street that’ll raise suspicions if we park too close”—he points to the document—“but also secluded enough that we won’t have to worry about waking the neighbors if shit goes sideways.”

“Secluded how?” Axel asks from his spot on the bed.

“Both the house across the street and the ones a block over are rental properties that are currently vacant.” He switches back to the screen on his laptop and points to the right side of the house. “Through this grassy field here is our best option of where he might exit if he sees us coming.”

I sit back in the chair and stroke my beard, taking in everything my brother says. “So, we make sure he doesn’t see us coming.”

Asher nods. “I’ve also hacked the feed on his security cameras and set a timer for them to go off-line right when we get there to keep the element of surprise on our side. With someone like him, catching him off guard is our best chance of making this a clean and quick catch.”

“Great.” Axel claps his hands and stands to his feet. “I’m gonna go hit up the vending machine. Y’all want anything?”

“I’m good.” Asher shrugs him off and goes back to his laptop. He won’t eat or drink once he’s in the zone until we have our shit handled. We’re alike in that sense.

“What about you, Z?” Axel stops at the door and twists to face me, his cut lip scabbed over. I should feel bad, but my sore nose reminds me that he gives as good as he gets.

“Nothing for me.” There’s no way I could stomach anything right now, even if I wanted to.

“So, just more of that shitty gum for you and munchies for me. Got it.” He smirks, showing off his dimples and reminding me of our niece. The only difference is that Lily is a fuck of a lot cuter than my dipshit brother.

“Ax.” It’s one word, but he knows enough by now to take that as the warning it is, or else he’ll end up with my foot up his ass this time.

“Fine.” He waves me off and heads outside.

I lean back against the headboard and attempt to pick apart the plan piece by piece, making sure I’m as ready as I can be for what is sure to be one of our most demanding jobs, but Asher has other ideas.

“You want to talk about that shit show I walked into at breakfast this morning?” he asks, never looking up from the monitor.

“What about it?” I toy with the end of my beard and lean farther back against the headboard.

Asher stops typing, closes his laptop, and shoots me a look. “I’m not Axel. I won’t push you until you take a swing at me, but just know that I’ve been where you are, and when you’re ready to talk about it, I’ll listen.”

---