Page 8 of His Reluctant Savior

God, was I putting her and her family at risk? No, I was confident no one knew about her. If they dug deep enough, they could find her, but there had been too many people in and out of my life. It would be hard to pinpoint one person I’d go to for help.

With a glance, I checked on Owen to make sure he couldn’t hear me, but he was busy dunking a chicken nugget into his barbecue sauce and watching a video with his headphones on.

“What can I do?” she asked.

Fuck, if I’d been straight, I would’ve married her instead. She was an amazing woman. Then again, I would’ve missed out on my happy life with Matt.

“I’m in trouble. I can’t go into details right now, but… Honestly, it’s better that you don’t know. Owen needs a place to stay while I sort through this mess. I’m… not sure for how long.”

She sighed on the phone, thinking about my request because I wasn’t exactly asking for a small favor.

“Dalt… this sounds serious. Are we… would we be in danger?”

“Can I just swing by so we can talk in person? You can decide then, but I’m desperate. Please.”

“Yeah… okay. Come by the farm, and we can talk. Do you remember where it is?”

“I do. Thank you, Savvy. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I’ll be there, hopefully, no later than tomorrow night.”

“We’ll see you soon, Dalt.”

As soon as I hung up, a text came through on my other phone.

Unknown: Are you gone?

I picked it up and texted back.

Me: Yes, I’m on the road.

Maybe I shouldn’t have answered and told them I wasn’t home, but my instincts told me they were a friend, and I needed to find this friend. I needed fucking allies, and fast.

Me: Can we meet?

Unknown: That’s not a good idea.

Me: We can work together to sort this out.

Unknown: This will be the last time I reach out

to you.

I texted them several more times, but the messages didn’t reach them. Dammit!

I guess I was still on my own.

Another pang hit me as I cleaned out my savings account. It made my situation feel more real than it already was, like I couldn’t turn back now. My life had been completely turned on its head.

I didn’t have enough time to figure out my investments, so I left those alone, but I’d saved a lot since I barely did anything or went anywhere after Matt’s death. I had buried myself in work and Owen’s care.

Having cash on hand was a priority. I needed to clean out my accounts before the government seized them.Once I started running with evidence that belonged to the FBI, no doubt I would be flagged as a traitor. Whoever it was within the Department of Justice and behind this cover-up would pin something on me. That was how cover-ups worked. Find people to pay off and keep the rest silent through intimidation, discrediting, and scapegoating.

My only power was my evidence, which I currently had stashed in a safe deposit box. I hadn’t intended for that one to be kept secure. I needed it to buy me time. Once they seized my accounts, they’d take evidence, breathe a collective sigh of relief, and look at all I’d gathered.

There would be eventual doubts, wondering if I made copies. It wouldn’t take them long to assume I had done just that. I would be stupid not to. But it would keep them off my back for an extra couple of days, allowing me to go deeper into hiding and figure out what I needed to do. I had ideas, but since they’ve already killed people, it would be nothing to kill me, too.

After emptying my savings and checking accounts, I used the bank’s ATM and pulled out as much cash as I could from my two credit cards.

“Daddy, I’m bored,” Owen said, who sat on the floor next to me at the bank, playing with Spidey.

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