Page 87 of Sinful Promise
“Yeah,” he laughs, but it’s a menacing sound. “You married her. Did you get hitched so you didn’t have to testify?” He looks to Minka. “Or did you trick him into nuptials andthentell him?”
“This isn’t a Jason Patterson, baby on the way,all-in or all-out, trickster situation,” I cut in. “We married because we fell in love. And I shot Fentone because he admitted to killing those girls.” I step forward, so the steel of his gun bites into my skin. “He was coming for Mia next.”
Fletch’s eyes shutter. “Did you know?” Now he flicks the safety off again and flexes his hands around the gun. “Did you know he was coming for my baby, and you didn’t tell me?”
“We didn’t know.” Shakily, Minka reaches up to hold the barrel. Now all three of us have a hand on the one gun. Three grown adults who might, in a moment, shoot me dead. “We knew he had hurt Chelsea and Bella,” she continues. “He admitted to me he did it. So when Detective Franklin released him, I stepped in and—”
“Westepped in,” I insert. “Wedid. Because he was gonna hurt another kid if he stayed on the streets.”
“And the next little girl was gonna be Mia,” Minka presses, relentless as Fletch’s stare burns hotter. “But we didn’t know that. We had no clue.”
He watches us. Enraged. Hurting. His knuckles turn white because he holds his gun so tight. But he doesn’t lower it. And he doesn’t fire it. “How many?”
“Minka, don’t—”
“Dowel,” she cuts in anyway. “But Preston James was my first. I took him out in New York.”
As though her confession clarifies something deep in his mind, Fletch nods. “Who else?”
“Minka, stop—”
“I would’ve dealt with Ethan if he couldn’t be stopped. But that never became necessary.”
“And Tribble?”
My wife’s hands shake as her eyes flicker between me and my partner. “Self-defense. But I would’ve taken him out anyway, had I been given more than thirty seconds to process what he’d done. He hurt Louisa, and he would have kept going. So yeah,” accepting her fate, she nods. “If the law wasn’t able to do anything about it, I would have.”
“But he threatened you with a gun and you claimed self-defense.”
“Just like you’re threatening my husband with a gun right now.” Minka’s eyes cut to the knife on the couch. Then back to Fletch’s. “I don’t want to hurt you, Charlie. I’ll do everything I can to avoid it, because dammit, I love you the way I love my family. But there will come a point,soon,when resting your gun on his forehead will no longer be tolerated.”
“A threat?” His hand loosens on the pistol. His stance lazy as he turns his gaze to her. “You threaten a police officer that easily?”
“I protect those I care about.” Swallowing, she looks him up and down. “I would protect you too, Fletch. And Mia. And Aubree. I’ll die keeping safe the people I love. But Archer comes ahead of you on the totem pole.” She takes a deep breath before adding, “Always.”
The apartment door swings open with acrash, and Cato stops on the threshold with Mia on his hip and Micah hobbling in behind them.
“Whoa…” My kid brother’s eyes fly from me, to Fletch, to Minka in the middle. He holds Mia on his left, but I don’t miss the way his right hand lowers in search of a weapon. “Seems we’ve walked in on something kinda private, huh?”
“Daddy?” Mia’s eyes well up and moisten as she wriggles in Cato’s arm, fighting to be put down.
The second her light-up shoes touch the floor, she dashes our way.
Like magic, Fletch’s gun is holstered, and mine disappears in the cushions of the couch before he sweeps his baby up and presses his face to her neck. “Moo. Why are you back so early?”
“Why are you playing cops and robbers with Uncle Arch?” Her beautiful honeycomb eyes scour my face. Then they drop and study Minka with the same intensity. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened, baby.” He hugs her tight and gulps down oxygen filled with the scent of her. Candy. Dirt. Chapstick. And whatever shampoo the toddler uses. “Daddy and Uncle Arch were just talking.”
“With guns?” Micah shuffles into our space and drops onto the couch to look up at us all. His face is still bruised and beaten. Stitched up. His ribs ache, and his hand is still wrapped. But he lays his head back against the cushions and watches us through sleepy eyes. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought Arch left that life back in New York. Something about law and order and being a better person. So…” His green eyes flicker to mine. “Care to share with the class?”
“They’re fighting over—”
“None of your business.” I push Minka back and smile for my too-curious brother. “Detective Fletcher has the information he was searching for.”
When my phone trills in my pocket, I take the device out and answer it before Minka can confess her sins to more people. “Detective Malone speaking.”
“Detective Malone. This is Cara with your traffic reports. I have a positive ID and the particulars of that car you were asking about.”
