Page 58 of Mine to Protect

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Rhett strolled up the street with his cell pressed against his ear. “Hey, Ma. How’s it going?”

“I love her,” his mother said. “We need to keep her.”

He laughed. “She’s not a possession. She’s a person.”

“You know what I mean.”

Just a year ago, his mother seemed like a hard, almost mean woman. Their family had been going through a lot, and his mom had taken the brunt of it. Of course, she’d been the cause, and it took her a long time to accept how much she’d hurt everyone.

His mom hadn’t been a warm and fuzzy mother. Sure, she’d read him stories and tucked him in at night. He knew without a doubt that his mom loved him and would move Heaven and Earth to protect him.

But she wouldn’t always do that to spend time with him or show him how much she loved him. She missed sporting events and other important things in his life, all in the name of doing what she thought was right and best for her family.

She did teach him the value of hard work, but sometimes he’d been so starved for attention that he did some pretty stupid things.

“I hope you’re not embarrassing me too much.”

“I’m sure I am,” his mom said. “Why are you calling me and not Emmerson or Emmett?”

“Because you’re a control freak.”

“That’s a true statement, but I left Emmerson in charge.”

“That’s fair, but we’re going to need the chief of police on this one,” Rhett said.

“Shit,” she mumbled. “I guess I need to sober up.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. His mother never got drunk. She had two to three drinks at most on her days off, but it was rare that she did any day drinking. But he suspected that interrogating Cole Laurita wasn’t a typical day at work. “You started early.”

“I wanted to start yesterday because it took every ounce of energy I had to keep my cool.”

“I’m sure my brothers said the same thing I’m about to tell you, and—”

“Yeah. I know. Someone else could have interviewed him,” his mother said. “Do you want to hear the craziest thing?”

“Sure.”

“Cole apologized to me,” his mother said with a shaky voice. “He told me that he’s wanted to say those words to me for a long time, only the moment one of Gorga’s men stepped into his cell, his life was no longer his. They have been threatening his daughter. Did you know he had a kid?”

“I did. I went to high school with the mom. Nice girl, actually. I didn’t know he had anything to do with his child, though.”

“He told me he’s been paying his fair share of child support but staying away because he’s afraid the Mortellis or the Gorgas will harm his family. He said he wanted to turn over a new leaf in prison. But the Gorgas have him by the balls. They told him that if he did a few favors for them, they’d give him his freedom, but he knows that’s not true.”

“Did he use that counterfeit money on purpose?”

“That’s what he says. He wanted to get caught so he could blow the whistle. That way, if he ended up getting cut loose, he had plausible deniability.”

“That’s a dangerous game,” Rhett said.

“If it’s really the one he’s playing.”

“You don’t believe him?”

“Are you fucking kidding me? The man tried to kill me. Of course, I don’t trust the asshole, but every goddamned thing he told me checks out. Not one thing is off, and no matter how hard I tried to trip him up, he stuck to his story right to the letter. Cole Laurita is not that good of a liar.”

“What do we know about what the Gorgas know about Albert and Melissa Staub?”

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