Page 109 of Proof of Guilt

“Is everything gonna be okay?” Nathan asked, volleying glances at his mom, his uncles and Theo.

“Of course,” Ivy jumped in to say. Jodi, Gabriel and Jameson answered similarly.

Nathan settled his attention on Theo. Maybe because he didn’t respond to the boy’s question. “Will it be okay?” Nathan pressed.

Theo wasn’t sure why Nathan wanted to hear his assurance when they’d only met a short while earlier. Maybe Nathan felt the connection? But Theo knew that could be wishful thinking on his part. He certainly felt a connection to his son, and it didn’t matter that he hadn’t shared the same years with the boy that Ivy had.

“We’re all going to work to put a stop to this,” Theo finally told him.

Nathan nodded, apparently accepting that as gospel, and he went with Jodi when she led him to Gabriel’s desk. Part of Theo wanted to stay so he could just talk to him and get to know him better, but as long as Ivy was in danger, so was Nathan.

Gabriel motioned for them to follow him to one of the interview rooms just up the hall, and once they were inside, Gabriel shut the door. Each of them re-holstered their weapons. Except for Ivy. No holster for her, so she tucked the gun in the back waistband of her jeans.

“One of the gunmen gave us a first name or possibly a nickname of the person who hired him,” Theo told Wesley. “Mack, someone the gunman described as a thug from San Antonio. Ring any bells?”

Wesley repeated the name, and he nodded. “Maybe. There’s a bar. A seedy bar,” Wesley added. “It’s owned by a guy whose last name is McKenzie. I can’t remember his first name, but he used to work as a bouncer at the place before he bought it.” He took out his phone, stepping slightly away from them. “I’ll see what I can find.”

“I need to check on my own contacts,” Jameson said, taking out his phone, as well. “I also need to keep tabs on anything the ME might find on our dead guys. Anything the CSIs might find, too.”

Yes, because those gunmen had gotten to the ranch somehow, and that meant they’d maybe left a vehicle in the area. A vehicle that could contain possible clues as to who had hired them and why.

“I’ll get to work on ID’ing the guys,” Gabriel said. “Once we have that, then we might be able to find a money trail.”

Again, it was a good idea, and Gabriel moved as if he might step to the other side of the room to start on that, but he stopped and looked at his sister. Then at Theo. “I don’t want any yelling,” Gabriel warned Theo.

That didn’t sit right with Theo. Of course, nothing much would at this point unless they found the clown who’d orchestrated all of this. But Gabriel wasn’t talking about the danger. He was talking about Nathan.

“You don’t think I have a right to yell?” Theo asked him.

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed for just a moment. “Maybe. But it won’t happen here. Anything you and my sister have to hash out can wait.”

With that “advice” doled out, Gabriel moved away from them and made a call. Of course, that left Ivy and Theo standing there, staring at each other. Theo knew he had his own calls to make. And he wanted to check on this situation with Ivy’s stepdaughter to make sure she didn’t hate Ivy enough to do something like that. And Theo did pull his phone from his pocket, but Ivy spoke before he could make a call.

“Don’t tell Nathan that you’re his father,” she said. “Let me do it, please.”

Theo thought about that for a few moments. “What will you say to him?”

“The truth. More or less,” she added. “I don’t want to get into specifics. I’ll just tell him that it didn’t work out between us.”

He gave that more thought, too. “I don’t want him to think I knew about him and then left. I’m not the bad guy in all of this.”

Something flashed through her eyes. Not anger. But hurt. Theo wished he’d phrased that better, but it was the truth. There was only one person who knew Ivy was carrying Theo’s child, and that was Ivy herself.

Ivy nodded, finally. “I’ll tell him I screwed up,” she said, dodging his gaze. But she didn’t do the dodging before he saw something else in her eyes.

Tears.

Hell. It was too bad Gabriel hadn’t added “no crying” along with the “no yelling.” Theo wasn’t an ice man—not every day, anyway—and those tears cut away at him. They also brought memories back to the surface. Ivy had been crying the night she’d ended things with him. He ha

dn’t wanted to hold her and comfort her then. Too much anger had been bubbling up inside him. But for some stupid reason he wanted to try to comfort her now.

He resisted.

In part because it truly would be stupid to have her back in his arms and also because her brothers were watching her. Jameson and Gabriel were both on their phones, but they had their attention nailed to their kid sister.

Gabriel finished his call first and came back to them, and judging from his expression he looked ready to blast Theo for making Ivy cry. But Ivy gave a little shake of her head, a gesture for her brother to back off. Gabriel did—eventually.

“They got an immediate match on one of the gunmen’s prints,” Gabriel explained several long moments later. “Ted Mintor. He has a long record, and they’re looking for a match on the second one.”

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