Page 152 of Lesson In Faith

It was the way Merrick felt about Tamsyn.

“She’s a lucky woman, Grit.”

“I’m the lucky one.” Something chimed in the background. “Hold on. Anarchy’s intercepting a call to the main desk, same number as before. Let me patch it in to the office phone. Can you put it on speaker?”

Merrick turned to find Elias and Evander watching him, their own calls finished. He jerked his chin to the phone on Evander’s desk as it began to ring. “Speakerphone.”

Jaw tight, Evander reached out and tapped a button, then another.

“Club Serenity. Amanda-May speaking, how may I help you today?” Anarchy’s voice was high, bubbly. She sounded like an eager receptionist, ready to do someone’s bidding.

“I’d like to speak with the owner. Ledston, is it?”

“Ah, that would be Mr. Ledston or Mr. Mitchell, sir. I’m afraid both are tied up in meetings until later this afternoon. Could I possibly take your name and contact number? Or if you’d prefer to call back later—”

“They’ll want to talk to me now. They have something that belongs to me, and I want it back. I suggest you interrupt their meetings and tell them Jedidiah Drake requires their attention, before I get it myself.”

Nerves stuttered in Archie’s voice, playing on the darkness in Jedidiah’s voice. “Sir, I’m just a receptionist. I don’t have the authority—”

“Then find someone who does.”

“I-I—please hold, Sir.” Canned music filtered over the speakers.

Merrick switched his call with Grit to speakerphone as well. “You’re on speaker, Grit.”

“She’s going to keep him on hold long enough to triangulate his position. Mack’s sent out the shelter in place texts to all club members logged into the system as being here, effective immediately. Merrick, Brett and Tank are in position at your cabin.”

Tension seeped from his shoulders. “Thanks.”

“No problem. All right, Archie’s pinpointed his location; about fifty feet out of camera range on the north side. She’s ready to transfer his call if you want to decide who’s going to deal with the asshole.”

Eli and Evander exchanged glances.

“I’ll do it. Taking her in was my doing. Marrying her is my choice. Seems only right I handle the fallout.” Merrick inhaled deeply, leaning back in his seat and cracking his knuckles. “This needs to end here tonight, with him dead or in handcuffs. If I goad him into making a mistake, maybe it’ll be finished faster.”

“Eli? Van? You good with that?”

Elias’s British accent was stiff. “We have no objection. Let’s get this nightmare over with before it gets out of hand.”

“Okay, then. In three, you’re on, Merrick. One, two…”

“Ledston?” Jedidiah demanded almost immediately.

“No.” Merrick tried imagining what it would be like to have that voice raining down on him day after day, making promises and breaking them, being the last thing he heard before a bunch of entitled assholes murdered him for being a lesser product. “But I’m the guy you want, Drake. Took you long enough to track Tamsyn down—did you get lost out there in the forest?”

“I want my daughter back.”

“That’s a shame. She really doesn’t want to go back, and what she wants is more important than anything you demand. Besides, why would I hand her over to a man who’s so much of a coward, he’s lurking in the trees making nuisance phone calls and terrorizing the staff?”

The line seethed with animosity.

“Why don’t you grow a pair, Drake, and come on down. Talk to me like a man, face to face, instead of hiding behind a phone. You’re in the real world now, not that cozy little hellhole in the mountains.” Merrick added a smirk into his voice, a little bit of smugness, a touch of derision. “You and your rich prick buddies like trading so much, try dealing with someone who won’t bow to your whims so easily. Ten minutes should be enough to drag your sorry ass down to the boundary line.”

Fury shimmered in four bitten off words. “You’ll pay for this.”

“There’s a price we all pay. Oh, and Drake? If you think you can get one of your paid mercs to put a bullet in me, I’d think twice. There’re bigger monsters than you in the woods.” He ended the call without waiting for a reply, then stood. Ten minutes was just long enough for him to make the meeting spot as well. “Shit goes south, you take care of Tamsyn. Need your word on it.”

Eli scowled at him. “Meeting with him face to face wasn’t in the cards.”

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