Page 96 of Broken Player

“What the fuck are you doing?” Yates bellowed, jumping off the stage and attempting to grab as many pages as he could.The sheets might as well have been money for how people were diving after them.

“Just showing people who you really are,” Ryan said with a shrug. “Now, as for Sergeant Ferraro,” she announced, looking at Lucas with a small smile. “He’s here for something a lot more important than all of this.” Ryan waved her hand at the sheets of paper currently being ripped apart as people fought to get a look at his internet history.

“He’s here because Yates has been stealing from Rutherford Bank for almost a year,” she concluded as the crowd gasped.

“He what?!” Jacqueline exploded at her son as Yates stepped menacingly toward Ryan.

Lucas stepped forward, unfolding a piece of paper. “I have a warrant here for the arrest of Yates Rutherford.”

The collective gasp in the room was so loud and satisfying, I closed my eyes for a second and reveled in it. Everything had come together perfectly so far. I should’ve known that it wouldn’t be that easy.

Yates ran straight at Ryan, punching her in the stomach and grabbing her so fast she didn’t have time to react other than to hunch over, gasping for air. His mother was shrieking, and I only felt a thrum coursing through my body, demanding pain. I needed to fucking hurt him for what he’d just done. He fucking hit her.

But then he wrapped his arm around her neck in the front in a sleeper hold, his other hand behind her head. He started dragging her toward one of the entrances as his eyes darted around, looking for anything to help him. I began to move toward where he was pulling her down the stairs, my explosion of rage morphing into fear.

Ryan’s eyes met mine, but she looked calm. I wasn’t calm, though. I was on the verge of screaming. What if he hurt her? What if he did worse? He was capable of anything because hewas so desperate I scanned the room and watched as Connor, Julian, Indy, and Griffin all moved toward us in what looked like slow motion. Yates was almost to the exit, facing inward as he backed away, a cruel smile on his face. He thought he was going to get away with this.

He wasn’t.

I would follow him to the ends of the fucking earth if it meant saving Ryan. Lucas had one hand on his gun, but it was still in the holster. He was following Yates as he backed toward the exit, his eyes never leaving them. He watched every single movement with the trained eyes of a professional. Where I was a fucking mess right now, he was completely composed as if he did this shit every day.

Hell, he probably did.

Yates took another step back, dragging Ryan along with him. She stumbled, undoubtedly trying to make it harder for him to pull her along because that was just the kind of badass my girl was. He was getting frustrated with her, I could tell. But she was also his ticket out of here, and he wasn’t about to let her go.

I was watching Lucas when his eyes flicked for a fraction of a second over Yates’s shoulder, but it was so quick, I doubted Yates had noticed with his gaze still frantically scanning the room. “Stay the fuck back, or I’ll hurt her,” he threatened.

He took one more step back. Just one more and one of Lucas’s officers moved within striking distance, pulling out his taser and pulling the trigger. The electrodes cracked ominously as they flew through the air, sinking into Yates’s back. As soon as they made contact, he dropped to the ground in a heap, taking Ryan with him. His muscles tensed and spasmed as his full weight landed on top of her.

“Get the hell off of me,” she gritted out, pain flashing in her eyes as she shoved Yates off and crawled out from underneathhim. Sergeant Ferraro rushed forward and snapped Yates’s wrists into his cuffs, reading him his rights.

All I wanted to do was pull Ryan into my arms and rush her out of here. Fuck, he could have seriously hurt her. He could have found a weapon and killed her. There was a panic bubbling underneath the surface of my emotions right now because Yates could’ve taken Ryan from me permanently tonight.

I ran to her side, diving onto the floor on my knees and pulling her into my arms. I ran my hands over every inch of her that I could reach, but she seemed okay. “Shit, that taser hurt. Quinn’s going to kill me for not inviting him to come to this,” she noted, and I laughed. I couldn’t believe how okay with all of this she was. Then again, she’d always wanted to be a cop, so maybe she was good with all of this stuff.

Lucas looked perfectly calm when I glanced up at him. “EMS is en route. They’ll be here to check you over soon.” He looked over at Yates. “And deal with him.”

She shook her head. “Yates got the worst of it. I’m maybe a little tense and achy, but I’ll be fine. I don’t need paramedics.”

Lucas crouched down next to us as the rest of the guys formed a loose half-circle behind us, shielding us from the pandemonium that’d broken out all over the ballroom. I had a feeling these people would be talking about this for years to come. “You okay?” he asked Ryan, his eyes filled with concern.

“I’m fine. I wish everyone would stop asking me,” she huffed, and I chuckled. So fucking stubborn.

“In that case, I’m going to need you to give a statement,” he stated, standing up and holding out his hand to help her stand.

“I’ll go grab the limo,” Julian offered, turning and walking quickly out of the room.

“I’m going to grab a drink.” Griffin turned and moved toward the open bar.

“Just one!” I called after him. He still had to make a statement. He waved me off.

Connor and Indy watched everything. “Even I have to admit that shit was fucking satisfying,” Connor said.

“Right? I wish we could do this every day,” Indy agreed.

Connor pulled out his phone. “Julian’s got the limo ready. You guys ready to head out?”

I nodded. Ryan took a step, winced, and I reached down, scooping her into my arms. She was still in pain from the taser, and I wasn’t going to let her just tough her way through this. Once we were settled in the limo, I didn’t want to take my hands off her. Things could have been so much worse tonight than they were, and I’d never stop being grateful for every second I had to spend with her.

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