Page 95 of Broken Player

He nodded at us as he approached. “We’re ready. I’ve got officers stationed at every exit. He won’t be able to get past us.”

I appreciated his confidence and how quickly he pulled everything together. We wouldn’t get another chance like this for a while. “Perfect,” Ryan approved, tightening her grip on my arm. She hadn’t let me go since the huddle outside.

Griffin and Indy had gone inside a minute ago, and so we waited, the last minute going on forever. “Our turn,” Ryan grinned, lifting onto her toes to press a kiss to my cheek. I briefly wondered if she’d left her lipstick there, and I hoped she had. The idea of her marking me as hers turned me the fuck on, even if now wasn’t the best time.

We slipped through the double doors, and the room was incredibly crowded. No one even glanced our way. We moved together toward the front of the room, not getting too close just yet. The plan was to wait until Jacqueline got up to make her speech. So for now, we’d blend in. I had no interest in talking to any of these people, but I pulled my girl into my arms on the edge of the dance floor, and we started to sway.

My hands wrapped around Ryan, one resting on her hip and the other moving around her back and pulling her closer. Her body pressed against mine was distracting, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. I hadn’t bothered looking for Yates yet. Where he was didn’t matter. He wasn’t getting out of this room a free man, and really, that was all that mattered.

I spun and twirled and swayed with my girl for so long, I almost forgot why we were here. If I hadn’t been on edge, waiting for the right moment, I could’ve gotten lost in Ryan’s magnetic eyes.

The feedback from a microphone caught our attention, and I spun Ryan out of my arms, still holding onto her while we looked toward the stage. Jacqueline stepped up to the microphone, her chin tilted up haughtily as she stared down at her subjects.

“Showtime,” Ryan murmured, winking at me with a wicked grin before letting me go and starting to weave her way through the crowd. The other guys were supposed to be on Yates duty, making sure they kept an eye on him, and he didn’t leave the room before this moment.

I’d been glued to Ryan’s side all night because I refused to let her go through this alone. Shit was unpredictable, and no matter how much we planned, things didn’t always go the way we thought they should. Just look at what had happened when we tried to get evidence on Chloe, Zen’s stalker. She walked in with a gun, and almost fucking shot me.

You could plan for a goddamn year, but it wouldn’t matter in the moment if shit went off the rails. I turned my attention back to the stage where Ryan was climbing the stairs, her eyes focused on the podium. She stepped up beside Jacqueline, and reached across the podium, snatching the microphone out of its holder.

She looked like vengeance in her fiery red dress, a wild mess of curls on her head, and the fierce look in her eyes. My chest actually ached from the amount of love trying to burst out of me right now. It felt like a struggle to contain it all inside.

Jacqueline made a weak attempt to pull the microphone back, but to save face, she plastered a thin smile on her face and stepped back and to the side, giving Ryan the floor.

“Ladies and gentlemen, excuse the interruption. I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to address you all here this evening. You see, I don’t know if you’re aware, but I almost became a Rutherford myself earlier this month,” she started. Murmurs broke out across the crowd as people shifted around, their rapt attention on her as they anticipated what she might say. These people lived for gossip and drama, and they were eating this shit up.

“The problem was I was in love with someone else, and shouldn’t real, honest, and intense love always win out in the end?” Ryan mused, not really paying attention to the crowd’s reaction as her eyes found mine, and she smiled.

Movement to my right caught my attention as Yates slithered through the crowd, trying to get to the stage. “My ex-fiance, well, he didn’t appreciate me walking away. So he thought he’d try and get me back. Isn’t that right, Yates?”

Her warm gaze hardened and shifted away from me and instead focused on Yates as he got closer to where she stood. “Except he really didn’t know me that well. He didn’t know that when someone messes with the people I love, I don’t just take itlying down. I fight back. I’m a fighter, and he’s about to learn the lengths I’ll go to to defend myself and the people I love.”

Every exit door opened, and the officers plus Sergeant Ferraro stepped into the door frames, blocking them all. Yates spun around, his eyes starting to get frantic, and he tried to figure out what was happening. “What are you doing?” he demanded through clenched teeth. His fury was barely under control, but he was obviously still trying to save face in front of his parents.

“I’m showing everyone what kind of man you really are,” she said sweetly, raising her head to address the crowd again. “Now, Yates here. He’s a Rutherford. Old money. Prestigious as they come. And yet… there’s more here than meets the eye, isn’t there, darling?” Her tone dripped with condescension.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he scoffed.

“You don’t? Well, normally, when you’re going to marry someone, you should tell them about your kids, don’t you think?” she asked, turning to Jacqueline. “Congratulations, you’re a grandma… at least a few times over.”

Jacqueline paled and swayed where she stood. “What’s the meaning of this? Yates, what is she talking about?” she sputtered, her eyes darting around the room where the whispers were getting louder. This looked like her nightmare come to life.

“I don’t know, mother,” he answered robotically as his eyes narrowed at Ryan. His fists were balled at his sides, and I glanced around. All Lucas’s guys were at the exits, but none were near the stage close enough to stop him from hurting the woman I loved. I edged closer.

“Maybe you’ll remember last night then? At theCloud Inn? You were there most of the night with Candy?” Ryan pulled a folded picture out of the tiny clutch she’d been carrying around all night, and now I wondered what else she had in there.She held the picture up, smoothing it out before passing it to Jacqueline.

Yates dove for the stage, climbing up and trying to snatch the picture out from Ryan’s grasp, but his mother was quicker. She paled even further when her eyes scanned the image, her skin going a sickly shade between gray and green. “We’ll discuss this later,” she hissed at Yates before setting her sights on Ryan. “I think you’ve done enough-”

Ryan held up her finger. “Oh, no. I haven’t donenearlyenough yet. Sergeant Ferraro? Would you come into the ballroom, please?”

Lucas walked in, his navy blue uniform crisp and perfectly out of place. He walked up to the stage, climbing the steps, and standing next to Ryan. I relaxed a little knowing he was up there with her, and he had a gun strapped to his waist. “This is Sergeant Lucas Ferraro with the Dallas Police Department. We’ll get to why he’s here in just a second.”

Yates’s mother was glaring at him. The crowd watched with complete silent fascination except for a few people who had their phones out, furiously tapping on the screens. I hoped they were live Tweeting this shit show. The thought made me almost giddy.

“So, on top of the multiple random kids Yates has fathered-”

“Allegedly,” he fumed, and his mom elbowed him in the ribs.

“Right.Allegedly. On top of that, Yates here has a couple pretty nasty habits. Remember the picture of him with Candy last night? The hooker who charges fifty dollars an hour? Well, he also has a fascinating porn viewing addiction.” Ryan reached into that magical bag of tricks she was carrying around and pulled out several folded pieces of paper, tossing them out into the crowd.

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