Page 12 of Mine to Protect

This time, he’d do things right.

CHAPTERTHREE

Shelby took her glass of wine and made herself comfortable in one of the chairs by the pool. Rhett had told her to make herself at home, and that’s exactly what she’d done. He’d mentioned that he had a few things he needed to wrap up at his office in town, and then he wanted to stop by the police department to check on how things were going with his brothers. He told her that it might take a couple of hours and that he’d check in if he was going to be later. So far, he’d only been gone for forty-five minutes, but it seemed like forever.

She set her cell on a small table and stared out at the stars that appeared in the night sky. It was hard to believe that Rhett owned this magnificent piece of property. When he told her that he’d bought a house on the river, she hadn’t expected it to be a little over three thousand square feet with a hundred and ten feet of water frontage.

Not to mention, the inside of the house had been completely remodeled with a beach-modern feel and had state-of-the-art everything.

Although, he could have used a female touch with some of the decorating.

The pool deck had a summer kitchen along with a tiki bar, deck, and a dock, and he had a thirty-foot center console fishing boat. He had kayaks, paddleboards, and everything else one would expect a man with a family to have on a piece of waterfront property.

Only, Rhett didn’t have a family. She had to believe that he used this as a way to impress the women he dated.

And impress it would.

However, she’d been surprised that someone who worked as a private investigator could afford something so lavish.

He’d mentioned that being single and the fact that he saved his money helped, and, of course, he’d bought before the housing market went crazy, but still, this place must have cost a pretty penny.

Country music played softly from the speakers. He’d told her that his neighbors never complained about him being noisy, and he always had something piping through the sound system, whether it be music or the television. But she didn’t want to be a pest, so she made sure to keep the volume down. But she couldn’t stand silence. That would mean she had to think.

And that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Of course, her mind still went a million miles an hour. It would have been worse if she didn’t have a song to focus on.

She didn’t want to believe that her brother was using again, but that was the only thing that made sense. Except Jackie wasn’t a drug addict. Other than the occasional glass of wine, she was about as straight as they came. She was sweet, kind, and generous. She could be a bit quiet, but she was good for Chris, and she loved him. That certainly showed.

Ties to the mob.

Those words kept coming back into her mind. It didn’t make sense. And yet, maybe it did, because Chris and Jackie were missing. Perhaps Shelby had brushed off her concerns too quickly.

But she had trusted her brother. As she should. Her therapist had told her that she needed to let Chris live his life. Make his own choices. He was a grown-ass adult, and Shelby had let her life suffer because she’d chosen—chosenbeing the keyword—to be the caretaker of her family. She didn’t have to be that person anymore.

However, there were too many questions.

Things like: Why did they leave all their shit behind, including Chris’s wallet?

And why the hell did they have a counterfeit one-hundred-dollar bill?

Shelby sipped her wine as her mind grappled for answers, but all she came up with were more questions. She inhaled sharply, letting the warm air fill her lungs. She closed her eyes and exhaled. One of her favorite songs came on, and she sang the words along with the band. She was tone deaf, so it was more of a whisper rather than her belting it out. She didn’t want to scare the neighbors or the wildlife in case anyone was around. But she really needed to shut off the loop that kept replaying in her brain.

Her phone buzzed. She glanced at the vibrating device, expecting to see Rhett’s contact information flash across the screen. Instead, it saidwireless caller.She had no idea what that meant, so she let it go to voicemail, figuring it was probably a telemarketer. She’d been getting a lot of those calls lately.

Less than a minute later, her cell rang again.

She sighed as she reached for it, tapping the green button and putting it on speaker. “Hello?”

“Shelby?” Her brother’s voice echoed in the night. “Are you alone?”

She bolted to an upright position, spilling red wine all over her tan pants. “Chris? Holy hell. Where are you? Are you and Jackie okay?”

“Answer my question,” Chris said in a dark, commanding voice.

“Yes. I’m alone.” She swung her legs to the side and set her glass on the table, ignoring her wet legs. “What’s going on? I’ve been so worried about you.”

“I’m sorry about that,” he said. “I don’t have much time, so listen carefully.”

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