Page 60 of Mine to Protect

“If she knew I didn’t force you to go with Miles, she’d kill both of us, so let’s make sure we get out of this alive and make it a funny story.”

“No. We’re just not going to tell her.”

“Don’t ever ask me to lie to your sister.” Rhett slammed the vehicle in reverse and drove to the other spot. He parked the Jeep. “I love her, and lying to her would be betraying her, and that’s never going to happen.” He jumped out from the driver’s seat. His pulse popped against his wrist. It wasn’t because of the situation at hand.

He loved her.

And he’d said it out loud.

Rhett glanced around. There wasn’t much cover. He really didn’t want to sit inside the tent, but that was really the best place at this point. He unzipped the opening. “Get in, sit down, and be quiet.”

Chris didn’t argue.

Rhett adjusted the window so he could see through the screen. “Did you leave anything behind in the RV they could use?”

“Nope. We gathered the important things and gave them to Miles.”

“But you left all the electronics?”

“Just like you asked,” Chris said. “We want this to end. Joe and Albert want to be a family again.”

“You do realize that they still might have to deal with some legal issues, right? And even if we take down Tony Gorga, there will still be a target on their backs.”

“And what should we do about that? Run for the rest of our lives?” Chris asked, thick emotion dripping from every word. “Their beef is with Tony only. They barely know the other people in the organization these days. No one will care.”

“If they take him down, someone will have something to say. It could be good; it could be bad.” Rhett kept his focus on the RV. If these men were smart, they’d have at least one come in on foot and have the vehicle roll down the street slowly from the opposite end. That could pose a problem, blocking his view for a short period of time. But all he needed to do was follow them once they left. That was the goal. Not engage them or cause conflict.

“Our plan wasn’t to take them down,” Chris said. “Joe honestly believed that Tony would do a trade.”

“What does Joe have that Tony wants for their freedom?” Rhett rubbed the back of his neck, trying to work out the tension that filled his muscles.

“Tony has no idea that Albert took copies of the books he cooked from the business. He also has pictures of the printing press.”

“That’s from twenty-seven years ago. It’s going to be hard for a district attorney to build a case on that.”

“That’s true. But he recorded conversations between him and Tony, too. And he also has video footage from the restaurant where Tony sometimes had meetings and discussed family business. Things like who he hired for what hit and other stuff that I’m sure the feds could do something with.”

“Jesus. Why didn’t you tell me this before? Why didn’ttheytell me?”

“Albert and Joe still think they can use it as leverage if they need to. Personally, I think they’re nuts.”

“Where is all this evidence?”

“In your storage caddy on your dock.”

“That’s what you were doing at my house. You’re a little shit,” Rhett mumbled. But he had to give it to Chris. He was a smart little fucker.

“I know I come off as a master manipulator. I get that. The bottom line is, this has to end. I’ve been trying to talk them into finding someone to trust for weeks, and the fact that they went off with Miles is a major thing. I told Miles to look there, but to make sure that Albert and Joe don’t know about it.”

“I have to give it to you, Chris, bringing them to Lighthouse Cove was smart for a lot of reasons. But I don’t like the situation you put your sister in. All she’s ever done is take care—”

“I know what Shelby’s done for me. And I also know I owe her one hell of an apology. But that’s between me and her.”

“Perhaps. However, you stuck me right smack dab in the middle of it.”

A man wearing a baseball cap, dark sunglasses, and a matching shirt and pair of shorts with turtles on them strolled from the south side of the street.

Alone.

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