Page 136 of Proof of Guilt

In other words, Gabriel was going to make it look like it would be an easy attack. Of course, the person behind this likely knew that it wouldn’t be and would probably bring lots of firepower.

Ivy looked up at Theo the moment he looked down at her, and she saw something in his eyes that she was certain was in her own. A parent’s worry. This was still a fairly new feeling for Theo, and she wished she could tell him that it would go away. It didn’t. Even when there wasn’t this kind of danger looming over them, she always worried about Nathan.

“Don’t worry,” Theo said. “I won’t teach him how to ride a bull. Not anytime soon, anyway.” The corner of his mouth lifted for just a moment.

Ivy was glad at his attempted humor. Glad, too, that it eased her racing heart just a little. She wanted to tell him she was glad he was there, but because he was there, with her, he was also at risk of being killed.

“How does Nathan do in school?” Theo asked. He glanced away from her to keep watch.

It seemed like such a, well, normal conversation. Definitely not the gloom and doom they’d been discussing since his return to Blue River.

“He gets As and Bs,” she answered. “He struggles some with math, but he’s way ahead in reading. In sports, too. He loves playing baseball.”

Ivy realized she, too, was smiling a little, and she understood that’s why Theo had talked about Nathan in the first place. That was probably the only thing that could help with the nerves. For a few seconds, anyway. And then Ivy felt the blasted tears threaten again.

On a heavy sigh, Theo slid his arm around her. She had on her seat belt, but Theo didn’t, and he eased across the seat toward her. As he’d done with Nathan, he brushed a kiss on the top of her head.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She automatically slid into the crook of his arm.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he whispered back, and she got the feeling they were talking about more than just the danger yet to come.

She looked up at him and got confirmation of that. The heat was still there. Simmering. And the kisses in Gabriel’s office hadn’t done a thing to cool it down. However, what did help was when Gabriel’s phone buzzed, because that quickly got her attention. Theo’s, too, since he moved back across the seat.

“It’s nothing to do with Nathan,” Gabriel said right off. “It’s one of the hands. They have everything in place, and they’re moving to their hidden positions now.”

Good. Because they weren’t far from the ranch now. Only a couple of minutes out.

“When we get there,” Gabriel went on, looking at her, “I’ll have Edwin pull up in front of the porch, and Theo, you and I will go inside. Edwin will leave and drive back toward town, but he’ll actually pull off on a trail not far from here so he can make a quick response if necessary.”

Ivy hoped it would be quick enough.

“I want you and Theo to go upstairs to the guest bathroom,” Gabriel continued. “The hands have put a laptop there so you can watch the security cameras.”

It took Ivy a moment to process that, and she didn’t like where this was going. “If an attack happens, it’ll likely be on the ground level of the house—where you’ll be.”

Gabriel nodded. “And I’ll know they’re coming before they even get here. I don’t want to make this easy for whoever’s after you by giving someone the opportunity to just start firing shots into the place. There’s also another cruiser parked out of sight in the barn, and if things get bad, I want Theo to get you there and drive the two of you off the ranch. Don’t worry, the hands and I will get out, too.”

That caused every muscle in Ivy’s body to tense. She didn’t want her brother or anyone else right in the line of fire, but that might happen no matter where they were on the grounds. The trick would be to spot a possible attacker and capture him before he could even pull the trigger.

“The hands have made sure someone’s not already on the grounds?” Theo asked.

“As much as humanly possible. They’ve been looking around since I called them a couple of hours ago.”

But the hands could have missed a gunman who was hiding. The ranch was huge, and there were a lot of places for someone to stay out of sight of the hands.

“Hell,” Gabriel grumbled.

Theo cursed, too, and Ivy lifted her head even higher to see what had caused their reactions. She soon saw the cause. There was a car parked just off the road where they were to take the final turn to the ranch.

And Wesley was there, leaning against the car as if waiting for them.

It wasn’t an ideal spot for an ambush since there were no trees nearby, but that didn’t mean Wesley didn’t have something up his sleeve.

“What the heck does he want?” Theo added under his breath. His gun was already drawn

, but he turned it in Wesley’s direction.

“Should I stop?” Edwin asked.

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