Page 29 of Unlocking Hope

“She is not going to do it.”

“Will it take everyone down this time?”

Cole’s head whipped toward the kitchen door.

Bryson nodded.

“I will do it.”

“We can find another way.”

“No, you can’t. That computer is locked down, and your brothers are right—he hasn’t removed me, because I set up the protection on the machine. He was moving everything from his safe files onto the computer. He destroyed the other copies. There’s no other way.”

Bryson stood from the chair and gave Zoey a hug. “Thanks, Z?—”

Cole grabbed Bryson’s shirt, pulling him back. Bryson stumbled, but Cole pulled his arm back before forcing it forward. His fist connected with his brother’s jaw. Bryson grabbed his jaw and let out a few cuss words.

“Cole,” Zoey yelled before rushing to his brother. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back.

He knew he was acting like a teenager, but his family had put a gun to Zoey. Now they were asking her to put her life in danger for a mission.A fucking mission!Cole knew first-hand how they could go FUBAR—short for “fucked up beyond recognition”—and he didn’t want to put Zoey in danger again.

She wiggled in his arms, pressing her ass against his dick. He couldn’t control himself around her. She twisted in his arms. “Really?”

“You were the one wiggling.”

She huffed and tugged harder. Once out of his grasp, Zoey stomped over to the freezer, pulled out a bag of peas, and tossed them to his brother. “What about my hand?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Did you know they were coming here today?”

Cole reached out and tried to pull her in, but she walked to the other side of the counter in the kitchen.

Bryson chuckled. “You have your hands full.”

“Oh, don’t think you’re not on my shit list. Your Christmas present is going to be rocks this year. I haven’t forgotten you held a gun to me. But you”—she turned toward Cole—“forgot to mention we were having guests today, and if I hadn’t forgotten my phone here, I wouldn’t have come home for lunch and known what was going on.”

“I was trying to protect you… These fuckers didn’t tell me what they wanted, and if they did, I wouldn’t have even allowed them in my house.”

Zoey sighed and slid into one of the chairs around the table. Cole took the one next to her, and his brothers sat across from them, the same seats they’d sat in the last time his brothers were there. Today, if his brothers pulled a gun, they wouldn’t make it out of his house alive.

“I’m not a little kid you need to protect. Your brothers are trying to take down your uncle, and he needs to go to jail. The info on the computer will also help take down others. I can’t sit back knowing I could do something to help.” She reached over and squeezed his leg. “You know, if it were you needing to go in, you would do it in a heartbeat.”

She was right—if his brothers needed another person, he would do everything to help. Putting Zoey in danger was not at the top of his list, though.

“Can we come up with a different way?”

Both of his brothers said, “No.”

Bryson continued. “We’ve tried everything to get the information and lost our only informant on the inside. Clyde is back in town tomorrow, and we think he knows we’re on to him. He will erase the info when he gets back.”

“Tonight?” Cole growled. “We haven’t had time to prepare or come up with a plan—hell, I need to buy her a vest.”

“We took care of everything, including the vest,” Nathan said, tapping his finger on the table.

Cole still didn’t trust his brothers. “Ian and I are going with; no way will I let Zoey go alone with you two. I haven’t forgot about you holding a gun to her.”

Bryson nodded. “Will you help us, Zoey?”

She narrowed her eyes and looked over at Cole’s brothers. “Yes, but I want to talk to Cole in private.”

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