Page 66 of Seven

A few seconds later, Preacher stepped into the family room. He looked like he’d just been kicked in the gut. His shoulders were slumped, and there was a defeated look in his eyes. He ran a hand down his face before he spotted us watching him.

“Damn, Prez.” Ghost raised a brow. “That was rough.”

Prez didn’t answer right away. He exhaled a heavy breath, then shook his head. “Yeah, I can’t keep doing this shit.”

I exchanged a glance with Ghost. We’d both seen Preacher handle more than his fair share of shit over the years, but this mess with Kay was different. She got to him in a way nothing else did. It was clear he was torn, so I suggested, “Maybe it’s time to tell the girls to back off?”

“It’s not about the fucking girls. It never has been.” He kept his eyes trained ahead as he added, “Not gonna matter what I do. It’s not gonna be enough for her.”

“What are you saying?”

“She’s gotta go.”

Her ex-husband had given himself up to the men he’d deceived and robbed, but we hadn’t heard anything from him since. There was still a chance that there would be further backlash, so Ghost was compelled to ask, “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“Don’t have a choice in the matter. This shit isn’t fair to either of us.” Prez shook his head. “There was a time when I loved her like no other. Hell, I would’ve done just about anything for her, but now, I just wanna wring her fucking neck.”

“You know what they say…there’s a fine line between love and hate.”

“Well, right now, it feels like a fucking ravine.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“That’s something I’ll have to discuss with Memphis.” He ran his hand over his face, then shook it off and asked, “He still covering for you at the Vault?”

“Yeah. The last I talked to him, he was basically living over there.”

“I bet Antonia is loving that.”

“Hopefully, it won’t be for much longer.”

“About that… what’s the latest with your girl?”

“Her brother is a lying asshole, but I got no way to prove it or make him come clean.”

“There’s always a way.”

“I got Shep working on it. Maybe he can come up with something, but I have a feeling that the only way we’re gonna get any real answers is to get her father’s laptop and that’s in his office.”

“Which is gonna be tough with all the yellow tape and security hovering over the place.”

“Exactly.”

I hadn’t even realized that Tallie had walked up until she said, “Maybe I could help.”

“We got it covered.”

“I’m sure you do, but I could help,” Tallie pushed. “I could ask Detective Joyner if he could let me in the office.”

“Doubt he’d go for that.”

“I could tell him that I need some important papers from the safe or something?”

“Hmm.” Preacher shrugged. “That could work.”

“But she’s gonna need a good excuse.”

“I could say that I need Ford’s birth certificate so I can register him for school. If he lets me in, I could try to get access to his computer and whatever else you think we might need.”

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