Page 52 of Queen of Blades

“I couldn’t let someone else—”

“I’m busting your balls,” his father interrupted. “We understand why you stepped up. Considering the history, we also anticipated things would go sideways. Now we have to handle the fallout. This isn’t permission to go off half-cocked. Keep your head straight.”

“I am.”

His dad sighed. “How is she doing?”

Paul glanced toward the bedroom door. Things were quiet. He hoped she’d found slumber. “As good as can be expected. In shock over Snoopy.”

His father hummed on the other end of the line. “Understandable.”

“Did Eddie tell you about Rojas?”

“Yes.”

“I want to meet with him.”

“Why?”

“This all comes back to him. He brought it to the table, got permission for the bounty to go through. He knows who wants Harper dead. I had thought, maybe, it had to do with Snoopy. If it was really about her dad, now that he’s gone, I want to see if the price on her head is wiped out. If not, I’ll pay the debt to end it.”

Paul had to scrape together the funds. This needed to stop before Harper got hurt.

“And the Irish?”

Paul was stumped about them. To be honest, he sort of forgot they were still in the mix. The hit out on him hadn’t really been his concern. His focus was on Harper and keeping her safe. “I don’t know yet.”

“Eddie is setting up the meeting for tomorrow,” his father said on a sigh. “Keep thinking on the Irish. They aren’t going away.”

“I know.”

“Get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”

28

Harper

Curledintothefetalposition, tucked tenderly into the bed, Harper lay in the darkness as the heavy reality crushed her. Not that she hadn’t taken this situation seriously. Her life was on the line and a dude was dead in a hotel room because of it. It becamethatmuch more tangible when she watched the life fade from her father’s eyes. She was smack-dab in the middle of a crime war—due to no fault of her own. At least as far as she knew. Who could she have pissed offthisbadly?

As a prosecutor, she had handled nothing remotely resembling organized crime. They didn’t trust her with that sort of high-profile, complicated stuff yet. She was still earning her way, making her bones. Harper had barely graduated from prosecuting misdemeanor crimes and civil infractions. She hadn’t even been included on felonies yet. Not to mention, she was an assistant prosecuting attorney in North Carolina, not Oklahoma, so she hadn’t pissed in anyone’s Cheerios. The pieces didn’t fit together.

Hell, the most serious case she’d been on had been Dwight’s as his defense attorney. She didn’t evenprosecutehim. That was afavor. This made no sense.

Sitting up in bed, she pulled a knee close to her chest and rested her forearm on it as she gnawed on her thumbnail. She’d need a manicure in the worst way after all this nonsense resolved.

Paul’s mumbled conversation in the other room had her curious, but she couldn’t make out what he said. Though she’d put money on it being about what truly spawned all this chaos. The only way to end it, to guarantee her and Paul’s safety for another day, was to figure out who truly was behind it.

The slight creak of the door to the bedroom drew her attention, and she snapped her focus toward it. Immediately, her heart raced. Logically, she knew this place was safe, but fresh out of a gunfight, she was a little jumpy. Which infuriated her.

Paul crept into the room, and even in the low light, she could see his frown. “I had hoped you would’ve fallen asleep.”

“I can’t.”

Nodding, he stood at the end of the bed.

“I have too many questions.”

“Me too.”

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