Page 75 of Broken Player

Ryan lifted her head, her stormy eyes meeting mine. "This is all my fault."

"Did you bring Yates into this situation? Yes. But did you make him act like an asshole? No, that's all him. What he's doing? That's on him, not you."

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head before letting her go. "You two go finish the chores," I said, climbing back up onto Hex and grabbing his reins. "I'm going home to call in the cavalry."

Turning away from the two of them, I rode back to my barn, handing Hex over to Joel before striding inside the house, my brain churning the entire time. We were going to have a more formidable foe than I anticipated in Yates, and I was going to have to be smart and patient with how I dealt with him.

He thought he had Ryan where he wanted her, and he wasn't about to give that up easily. Pulling my cell out of my pocket, I shot a text to Connor.

Maddox: I need you back in TX.

Connor: Can it wait?

Maddox: No. Bring the whole team.

Connor: K.

I didn't need to do much else now but wait. Connor and his team would hop on the jet and be here this afternoon. And after I was done strategizing with them, I had plans for Ryan and I. Grabbing my keys, I hopped in my truck and took off into town. The hardware store would help me pass the time nicely.

The low humof the air conditioner rumbled through the room as we all sat around my living room, staring at each other. I wasn't quite sure where to begin explaining the shitshow that Yates brought to my doorstep, but I was sure as fuck glad that I had the men in this room surrounding me.

I purposefully left Ryan out of this meeting, not wanting her to derail any plans that might come up for ethical reasons. I had morals, but I had a feeling mine were a fuck of a lot more flexible than hers were.

As for Quinn? Well, I preferred to deal with professionals, and while I had no doubt the dude could hold his own, I also knew the team sitting around my living room would get this shit handled without any fuckups. It was what they did. Connor only brought the fucking best onto his team.

Connor didn't even need to clear his throat to get everyone's attention. He sat up taller in his seat, the ink on his arms and shoulders poking out of the sleeves and collar of his t-shirt. His dirty blonde hair was messy like he'd been running his hands through it for hours, but his eyes were focused. Everyone's attention snapped to him while we waited to see what he was going to say.

"This is the target," he announced, slapping a picture of Yates's smug face down onto the ottoman we sat around. Indy, Connor's main muscle and ex-MMA fighter, reached over and picked up the picture, studying it carefully.

"Looks like an egotistical asshole," he observed before passing the picture to his hacker, Sebastian.

He adjusted his glasses, pushing them further up his nose as he squinted at the picture. "He has a punchable face," Sebastian noted, setting the picture back onto the ottoman. We all looked back at Connor.

"His name is Yates Rutherford. His family's in the banking business. He's had a hard-on for Maddox's girl for a couple of months, and they were getting married. Turns out the wedding was all a setup," he explained, laying a folder down on the ottoman again. "Inside is the contract and NDA he had her sign."

Indy grabbed for the file and flipped through it while Connor continued. "The way he had all of it drawn up and pulled Ryaninto his plan is really fucking suspicious. Add to that that he now claims to own her family's ranch and is kicking them off and, well, this shit just got personal."

"What do you need from us, boss?" Sebastian asked, his gaze flicking between Connor and me. In Connor's crew, if you fucked with anyone they considered friend or family, they were all in, very few questions asked.

"He's given the Knight's a week until he has them removed from their ranch. I want constant surveillance on Yates for the next forty-eight hours. Audio, video, night vision. Use it all. Collect everything. I want to know who he's with, where he goes, what his routines are." Connor turned to face Indy and Julian, his second in command, who'd been silent until now. "You two will take eight-hour rotating shifts. If he so much as sneezes, I want to know about it."

He turned to Sebastian. "I've done a little digging into him myself and couldn't find shit. One personal bank account with hardly anything in it, which is suspicious as fuck, because he's supposed to be rich. Nothing else. Not even a library card or parking ticket. He's too clean. Do what you do and see how far it takes you. I also need to know if he bought the Knight ranch and how much he paid."

Sebastian pulled out his tablet, flipped open the cover, and started tapping. He tuned the rest of us out now that he had his assignment. Finally, Connor turned to me. "I'm going to alternate with Julian and Indy on surveillance. You stick by your girl. Tell her not to worry. We'll take this fucker down."

Indy locked his intense brown eyes on me. "He's right. We've never had a problem making shit go away before, and this asshole is no exception."

Nodding, I asked, "When will the surveillance start?"

Connor dropped his gaze to the watch on his wrist. "As soon as Indy and Julian load up the equipment they'll need, and Bash gets us an address to start."

Sebastian didn't even look up from where he was tapping quickly on his tablet. "Already sent, check your phones. He's at the bank until four o'clock."

Indy and Julian stood, and on their way out, Julian stopped and squeezed my shoulder briefly, flashing me a sympathetic look before his eyes hardened as he focused back on the mission and followed Indy outside. We'd been through some shit, Julian and me, and I knew he wouldn't let me down. I trusted him as much as I did Connor.

Lifting myself off the couch, Sebastian didn't even look up as the cushions next to him shifted. I needed to do something. Anything. I felt completely useless right now. "Want to help me with a side project?" I asked Connor, who nodded.

I led the way out to my truck and pulled the supplies I purchased earlier out, tossing some rope at Connor. "We're taking horses," I announced before turning and making my way toward the barn, a smile stretching across my face as I thought about what we were about to do.

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