Page 97 of Bourbon and Secrets

Her nod against my chest is enough of a confirmation for now. Truthfully, I’m not surprised—the woman is an investigator.

She grows quiet for a few minutes as she holds me right back. Any time my girls get quiet, I know something isn’t right. Before I can ask, she looks up and says, “Blackstone is dead.”

That isn’t what I was expecting. I put down the brush and move closer to her. “What happened to him?” I ask.

She cuffs a piece of hair behind her ear, taking a deep breath. “That’s the problem. It was exactly what killed him that has me...” Looking up at me, she shakes her head. “His neck was sliced in two places. He bled out and—” She clears her throat. “It was the same wounds that Tullis had.”

I search her face for what she’s trying to tell me. Because, according to her, it was her mother who had killed Tullis and left Faye to clean up her mess. “But your mom–” I start to say, but she cuts me off.

“Maggie was there. She heard everything before I walked into that kitchen. It was never my mother.” A tear escapes the edge of her eye, but she bats it away, trying not to let herself crack.

“When did she tell you this?” I ask, trying to make sense of how she would just be finding this out.

“At the rodeo.” She shifts a glance around the barn, giving herself a second to elaborate. “My mother didn’t kill him.” When she meets my gaze this time, she looks so dejected, it makes my chest ache. “Waz did.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

“He threatened her. Told her to keep her mouth shut about what Finch & King had been doing, which is still unclear the extent of what that meant. And then he told her he’d come back for me and Maggie if she said anything. I suppose killing Tullis was his insurance policy. Kept her looking like the guilty party if he needed one and made room for him to take on a bigger part of Finch & Kings.”

A sob breaks from her chest as she punches the side of the horse stall. She’s pissed off and upset. I don’t blame her.

My adrenaline pumps just thinking about the level of danger she’s been thrust into. And now Blackstone ends up dead the same way as Tullis? It’s too specific to be any type of coincidence.

“Maggie never said anything. My mother couldn’t. And I went ahead and assumed the worst and buried it,” she says, blowing out a breath.

I wrap my arms around her. Her shoulders shake, and I let her stain my shirt with tears.

Once her breathing calms, I move my hand to her face, tilting her chin up to look at me. “Listen to me,” I tell her softly. She keeps herself wrapped around me like she can’t bear to move away right now. “None of that is something you could have known or stopped. You protected your family based on what you knew back then. It’s as simple as that.”

Like she’s physically pained, she closes her eyes. “I should have paid attention. Noticed the details better, and then maybe?—”

“Don’t,” I cut her off. “What-ifs and maybes aren’t reality. They’re ideas. And if we’re not careful and focus too heavily on them, they’ll make us spiral.” I lean down and kiss her forehead before I wrap my arms around her again. “I did it for too long and it got me nowhere. Except therapy.”

She steps away just enough to wipe her tears and let out a small laugh at my lame attempt to lighten this. “I promise you that I won’t let any of this any closer to your family than it already is.”

I cross my arms and pick up what she’s not saying. “Then you have a plan?”

“The FBI has to play by the rules. There are layers here that are much deeper than I realized, but while they build a case...” She closes her eyes, steadying herself. “Maggie is their only source. And she’s fed them all she can without Finch orKing realizing it. At least, I hope. I know Waz is suspicious, and then you throw me into the mix, and what’s happened with Blackstone.”

I don’t like any part of it. She’s important to me in ways I never expected or planned. And I damn well won’t let anything happen to her.

“It puts a lot of people in danger, Foxx. I can’t just sit and wait for something bad to happen.”

I feel exactly the same way. But what I’ve come to know about this woman is that she’s not going to ride this out.

“You’re smart and capable. And I know the worst possible thing I can do is to tell you to let them handle it.” I run my hand along my jaw and choose my words carefully. “Tell me what you need from me.”

Speechless for a moment, she only blinks at me. “Just like that?”

I give a nod when I answer, “Just like that.”

“I need to talk to Maggie first.”

Same.I hold out my hand and she takes it so I can wrap my arms around her. “Just don’t expect me to leave your side.”

“Okay,” she says, nodding as she gives Dottie a few more pets.

“How would you feel about coming over for kitchen sink dinner tonight?” I ask. I like the idea of her being at my table and being a part of something that the girls and I do a couple of times a month together.

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