Sloane caught my eye from where she and the women were cleaning up the tables. She raised her eyebrows, silently asking if I wanted help with her brother. I shook my head, dismissing her concern, then returned my attention to the man who’d earned my respect. He loved and protected my family when I wasn’t there. For that alone, he’d get his answer.
“I’m going to marry her.”
“She deserves a good life, Duncan. Make sure she gets it.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Excellent. Do you know if our father has tried to contact her?”
“Not to my knowledge. Why?” His question was worrisome.
“His company is about to take a huge hit in the stock market.”
“How huge?”
“Catastrophic.”
The slow grin that spread across his face said it all. Finn was a thousand-percent responsible for whatever was happening with their father’s business, and if I had to guess, this was only the beginning of the havoc he planned to wreak.
“As long as there’s no blowback on Sloane, I don’t give two shits.”
“What do you take me for, a feckin’ amateur? That bastard won’t know what hit him until it’s too late.”
“Are you gonna warn either of your sisters?”
I’d only met Shannon in person briefly, however I knew the three siblings had become very close. Anything that concerned their father would affect all of them. None more than Sloane though. She’d maintained a relationship with him the longest.
He shook his head. “Plausible deniability. If they don’t know the details, they won’t have to lie to protect me.”
“Should I be worried?”
“Nothing illegal has taken place.”
“Let’s keep it that way.”
He slapped me on the shoulder, whistling as he walked away. I stumbled, grabbing the edge of the closest table to keep from falling on my ass.
Fucking fuck.
The tune wasn’t the same, but the memory it invoked was crystal clear. The person who shot me whistled when they walked away, leaving me to bleed out on the forest floor. But what had my blood running cold was the fact I’d heard it more recently, I just hadn’t recognized the meaning. That smug fucker thought they’d got away with trying to kill me and Sloane. Well, fuck that. There was no statute of limitations on attempted murder, and I was about to rip their world apart, piece by piece.
We had to play it smart. The one thing we couldn’t do was let my would-be executioner know that…
I knew his name.
Sloane
It was rude to think it, but I couldn’t wait for the party to be over. The kids were having a blast. The puppy, with his endless energy supply, was enjoying his freedom. But I was worn-the-heck-out. The sugar rush from the piece of cake I’d inhaled wasn’t doing anything except giving me the jitters. The only thing I wanted to do was curl up on the sofa with Duncan and the twins and fall asleep watching a movie. Unfortunately, we had another thirty minutes before parents were set to pick up their offspring.
Lord, save me.
With the cleanup completed and the leftover food put away, I leaned against the fence on the far end of the yard, watching the twins play tag with their friends. When I’d made the decision to follow Finn to West Virginia, my biggest concern was how the move would affect them. There wasn’t anything or anyone keeping me in New York, but Rogan and Regan had to say goodbye to their friends and the school they loved. I should’ve known there was nothing to worry about. My kids were resilient. They adjusted better than I ever could’ve imagined, even before we discovered their father lived here.
A smile crossed my lips when Reagan skipped across the lawn with her new buddy trailing behind her. In another six months, he’d be as tall as her, maybe taller. Duncan was right. We’d have to find a trainer.
“Mommy.”
“Yes, Love?”