“You want to talk to Ransom?” Kane asks. “We’ll get him on the phone for you right now, but you gotta put the gun down first.”
“You think I’m stupid? This gun doesn’t leave my hand until I see his face. And don’t think for a second if I pull the trigger, I’m gonna miss. I never do.”
She jerks her head at me.
“You get his phone. I don’t trust him further than I can see him. And I sure don’t trust him not to pull a gun on me for pointing one at you. I recognize the look on his face. I’ve seen it on Mount’s before he orders someone dead for saying something wrong to Ke-Ke.”
I meet Kane’s gaze, and when he nods, I cross to the bedroom and get his phone. “I need your pass code.”
“Your fingerprint works.”
My chin jerks in his direction. “What? How is that possible?”
“You really want to discuss that right now?”
I shake my head and press my thumb to the reader. Sure enough, it opens. “We’re going to talk about how the hell you made that work later.”
“Call your brother before I disarm Magnolia and she accidentally shoots one of us, or a stray bullet hits Harriet.”
My gaze goes back to Magnolia, and while she’s moved her finger off the trigger, she hasn’t lowered the gun.
I nod and ask Kane for the number. He repeats it from memory. Before I can tap to engage the call, Magnolia interrupts.
“No. I want to see his face. I’m not trusting you don’t have some actor set up, ready to impersonate him.”
Her request actually doesn’t sound crazy. I probably should have asked for the same, but it didn’t even occur to me.
“Then you need a different number, and I don’t know if he’ll answer it.”
“You better hope he does.”
Magnolia’s voice is sharp as I dial the new number and then tap the button for a video call. Before it connects, I level a stare on her. “Don’t threaten us. Remember what you just told me?Yougot everyone into this. Now they’re just cleaning up the mess.”
Rafe answers on the third ring. “The fuck you want? You need to see my beautiful face, Saxon?”
I realize he can’t see anything but the ceiling right now, so I tilt the phone so my face is in the camera’s view.
“Tempe?”
As soon as she hears my brother say my name, Magnolia releases a wild cry.
“Oh my God!” She stumbles toward me, and Kane snatches the pistol from her hand before she makes it two steps. “Let go of me, asshole.”
Rafe’s brow scrunches. “Magnolia? What the hell is going on?”
“She—”
Before I can explain, Magnolia snatches the phone from my grip and stares at my brother as tears stream down her face.
“I thought you were dead. Oh sweet fucking Jesus, I thought you were dead.”
I’ve never seen a composed woman fall apart so quickly. Magnolia loves my brother. That’s for damn sure.
I’m not sure what to think of that, but it doesn’t matter right now because she’s spilling everything she knows to Rafe on the phone.
“I didn’t mean to get you involved. I didn’t know he was running people. This is all my fault. I’m so fucking sorry, baby. Please come home to me.”
Kane cuts in. “Magnolia says there’s another trafficker. She came to your sister worried shit was going to spill over onto her. Now she won’t tell us the name because she wanted to kill me for killing you.”