Page 37 of Snagged By Hook

Virus pulled a pen from his inside pocket and wrote something down on the back of a business card before closing his laptop and leaning back on the couch.

“Because you made a beeline over here when your daughter and your man are out there. That means something is weighing heavily on you to pass them up.”

“Busted. I need—” Virus slipped the card into her hand; she looked down at the ten digits in blue ink.

“How’d you know?”

“Because I saw the look on your face when you realized we had it and Hook didn’t tell you. I agree, you have a right to know.”

“Isn’t that against your bro code or something?”

His smile was a little wicked.

“Not at all. I deal in absolutes. Your ol’ man admitted he just didn’t think of it. He never said no or that he didn’t want you to have it. Ergo, it was a simple oversight which I have now corrected.”

He stood. “If you’ll excuse me, there’s a birthday girl who owes me a dance.” He took two steps before turning back. “Just promise you won’t use it. Anything comes up, let your ol’ man handle it. Brent is not a good man.”

Nova didn’t correct the ol’ man comment, nor did she want to out-and-out lie to him. She chose another route: avoidance.

“I know he’s not.”

Virus gave her a hard look before stepping into the dancing people.

One down, one to go.

Outlaw disappeared into the kitchen, and she followed.

“Oh, hey, Nova,” he said when he turned from grabbing a water.

“Hey, Outlaw, can I get some legal advice?”

“Sure.” He motioned for her to sit. “Is this hypothetical or…”

“Can we go with whatever one makes it so you can’t tell anyone what I say?”

“Got any money on you?”

“Just my lucky silver dollar.” She pulled it from her pocket.

“I’ll hold on to it until you can trade it out for a paper one.” He wiggled his fingers at her, and she placed it in his hand.

“Okay, anything you say is between us.”

Here goes nothing. “I want to sign everything I have, which admittedly isn’t much, over to Jeremy.”

Outlaw raised an eyebrow. “Does he want it? Like you said, it’s not much.”

“Probably not, but I also want him to have legal guardianship over June in case anything happens to me. I have a life insurancepolicy with her as the beneficiary. He could take what he’s owed for her upkeep when she turns eighteen.”

“Nova. First, I think you need to talk to Hook, not me. Second, I couldn’t do that without his consent anyway. You can’t just leave someone a child without their knowledge.” She could tell there was a third coming, but she spoke up first.

“Okay, what about this? I read online that intent matters. What if I make my intent known? I write it down, I’ve told you, I’ll say it to everyone who’ll listen. If something happens, would you go to court and argue my intent?” She didn’t know how valid any of that was—it came from the internet after all. If she managed to kill Brent, there’d be no one left to try to take June, so the problem was solved. It would give her peace of mind to know the RBMC would fight Brent for June if, somehow, she were the one to end up dead.

Under his breath, Outlaw muttered about people with their Google law degrees before speaking to her. “Is it about what happened today because I promise you, we have it handled.”

“It’s not that. It’s just…” She stood to pace. “I could choke on a biscuit or die in a car wreck or trip in the shower. If that happens, I do not want that man anywhere near my daughter.”

“If, and that’s a big if, you choke on a biscuit, I will fight tooth and nail for June, and so will every brother here, you have my word.”

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