Page 30 of Mine to Protect

She nodded. “Okay. But I can’t reach out to him when you have my phone.”

“I don’t want you to yet. We need a plan, and while I might be known for going rogue, I don’t like to fly solo.” He tilted his head and brushed his lips gently over hers in a sweet kiss. It wasn’t overtly romantic, but it brought her back to five years ago. All the same emotions filled her soul, and she found herself leaning into him and soaking up his strength. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Good.” He strolled out of the kitchen, through the sliding glass doors, and to the outdoor patio.

Rhett had never been anything but kind to her, except when he hadn’t called. But he’d explained that, and it made sense. As did why he’d chosen not to tell her about the necklace or anything else right away.

He didn’t appear too pissed off about her lies.

She could only hope that she was doing the right thing for Chris.

CHAPTERSEVEN

Rhett climbed up onto the captain’s chair on his pool deck, holding Shelby’s cell in his hand.

Shelby had brought out a bowl of grapes and a couple of bottled waters. He took one, twisted the cap, and chugged half, wishing it was straight tequila.

He’d spent twenty minutes on the phone with his mother and his brother, Emmerson. Ten of them were waiting for his mother to stop mumbling and swearing while she had someone else get ahold of the judge—which was the last thing she wanted to do. Especially when Rhett didn’t want to bring Shelby into the mix by forcing her to sign anything to help the judge move the process along.

At the end of the day, Rhett didn’t think they needed the warrant. Sure, he cared what was in the safety deposit box, but right now, he wanted Chris and Jackie front and center. If they were the ones that opened the box, they could get into it later.

“You don’t look happy,” Shelby said as she fiddled with her water. “I suppose that was kind of a stupid thing to say under the circumstances.”

He wished he could shake the heavy weight from his shoulders when it came to Shelby, but he couldn’t. His heart wanted him to pull her close and hold onto her forever, but his mind kept reminding him that she hadn’t trusted him enough to be honest. And worse, he hadn’t believed her. If he tried really hard to put himself in her shoes, he understood all the lies.

But that didn’t make him feel better. She knew what he did for a living and that he could help.

He also worried that she wasn’t being honest about her lack of knowledge regarding Jackie and her uncle’s ties to the Mortelli family. Granted, he hadn’t known; however, it hadn’t taken but a single Google search for him to find the first article. It took some digging to get more, and he was good at his job. He knew which rocks to look under. People paid money to have certain things driven to the top of search engines, and other things buried.

Shelby was a smart girl. She knew how things worked. That said, on an initial search, Joe Staub was a guy from Jersey, who moved to Florida to start over after his brother and his brother’s wife had been murdered.

One article mentioned that the murder could have been mob related and talked about the Staubs and their ties to the Gorga family. But that was it. Nothing substantial.

However, Rhett knew there was more. Especially when this kind of trouble followed the family to Florida.

“We don’t have much time, so I’m going to send this text to your brother, but I want you to read it to make sure it sounds like you.” He set the cell on the table and pushed it toward Shelby. His stomach soured. There were so many holes in this plan, which had been tossed together haphazardly, but they had to move fast. Emmerson had pushed their mother to either make it happen with the judge or turn a blind eye and let Rhett do whatever it took, knowing she wouldn’t sit on the sidelines.

Not because she was that much of a control freak, but because of all the connections with the counterfeit money.

But she never liked being pushed into doing things before she was ready or before she had her ducks in a row. She was a meticulous police officer, which was why she was the chief of police. She demanded perfection in her officers and expected nothing but the best from herself.

Andher children, regardless of whether they were in law enforcement or not.

This particular sting operation had so many flaws that it made even Rhett itch, but he was used to this more than his brothers and his mom were. He thrived in this kind of environment. He didn’t need to have things lined up all nice and neat.

Most of the time.

Today, he did.

Shelby lifted the phone and tapped the screen. “Rhett lied. He has the key. He will be going to the bank. Call me as soon as you get this message.” She handed him back her phone. “That should get his attention,” she said. “I feel like I’m setting my brother up to walk into the lion’s den.”

“You’re doing the complete opposite.” He tapped the screen. That was it. Now, they waited. “When he calls, let me do the talking.”

“He’ll hang up in a second. Maybe I should start things off and explain to him that you’re not the enemy.”

Rhett rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re going to have to tell him in less than a minute that I’m listening. Because once he knows, if he’s uncomfortable, he’ll still end the call.” And Rhett would have no way of tracking it. The app he’d put on her cell wasn’t the most accurate to begin with compared to the ones the police used, but it did the trick for tracking a location, which was what he needed. Legally, his mother and brothers couldn’t use it. However, he had to keep Chris chatting for a specific length of time. If he didn’t, the entire thing was useless.

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