Page 50 of The Mercenary's Guide to Mishaps and Romance

I decide that maybe I’m better off not knowing, and instead, I’m going to find my family and hide somewhere until this all blows over.

Tavish reaches a car that he leans against before turning to me. “Ellis, if you want, you can go with Henry, and he’ll take you to meet up with your mom and sister. You can rely on the same people as before to fix this mess, but don’t forget, they were never able to find out what happened to your father. They gave up long before that. And they’ll likely just force you to relocate.”

I still as that sinks in. I would have to change my name, change everything again. Would everything I’ve worked for just disappear? My job, my house, everything that I’ve surrounded myself with would be gone again, just like when I was sixteen.

“Your father was a detective, wasn’t he?” Cassel asks.

“Yeah.”

“Yet the people he worked for never found him,” Tavish says.

“He disappeared. They tried to find him.”

“All I know is that if someone I cared about disappeared, I’d tear this damn world apart to find him, but those he worked with never found anything, it seems,” Leland says.

“You think someone is hiding something?” I ask, unsure if that’s what he’s getting at.

“Honestly, I know very little,” Leland replies.

Tavish catches my eyes. “But what we do know is that the group of us can get you answers. Let’s say it’s an apology for dragging you off into the hands of an asshole. I can’t guarantee that you’ll like what we find, but we’re pretty damn good at anything we put our minds to. You can still go join your mom and sister, but if you’re out here with us, I’m confident we can make things happen faster since you know more. Even if your father never told you anything, you know who he is, and more about him than we do.”

I rub my face. I’m so exhausted. I feel like I could sleep for a damn year and a half. I really want to see my mom and Sienna and make sure they’re safe. But isn’t doing everything I can to keep them safe better?

“I just… I’m not good at this stuff. I don’t know how to help any of you. I’ll probably fuck it up.”

“Nah, you’re damn good at this,” Tavish says as he sets the vase, which is miraculously still intact, in my hands. “You’re a natural.”

I don’t know if it’s delirium or what, but I find myself nodding at Tavish. “Okay… Okay, yeah, I want to go with you guys. I want to figure this out.”

Tavish gives me a pat on the shoulder, and I don’t know why it makes me feel pretty damn good.

FIFTEEN

ELLIS

“We’ll take you to our place,” Leland says as we get into the car. He gets behind the wheel with Jackson in the passenger seat, leaving the three of us to slide into the back. “I feel like you’d be safest there.”

“What about Waylon?” Cassel asks.

“We’ll keep Waylon out of it. They can’t go to Tavish’s; his place isn’t secure after those horrible people broke his window.”

That makes Tavish’s head snap over to him. “Excuse me, what? When did my window get broken and how the hell did you figure this out?”

“I just guessed,” Leland says, clearly the suspicious one here.

“Leland, did you break my goddamn window?” Tavish growls.

“Well, I had to let the guy who was inside your house out somehow.” Leland turns around in the seat to get a good look at Tavish, who is squished between Cassel and me.

Tavish looks more confused than ever. “Theguy? What the fuck? Who was in my house?”

“I asked him if I could tie him up like I did to Henry so we could become best friends, but he weirdly seemed turned off bythe idea,” Leland says as I realize that I definitely got into the wrong car.

“Who the hell was in my house?”

“I don’t know who it was. He seemed pretty cool, so I knew he couldn’t be related to you. He fucked off before I got a name or anything out of him, and Jackson wouldn’t let me tase him, which I feel is horribly unfair of him. I got these new tasers and haven’t gotten to try them out on anyone yet. Tavish, can I try them out on you?”

“If I can shoot you in the nuts after.”

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