40. Cope

40

COPE

I watched the blood drain from Sutton’s face as she stared at the phone. Ding after ding. She just kept staring.

“Arden, take Luca and Gretzky outside,” I clipped.

Arden’s gaze flicked back and forth between Sutton and me. “Cope?—”

“Please.” My voice dipped lower as I let a pleading note bleed into my tone.

Arden’s jaw hardened, her telltale defiance beginning to show. But then she jerked her head in a nod. “Come on, Luca. Help me dispose of this shoe.”

“Mom, are you okay?” Luca asked.

I’d learned that he was an empath through and through. He made sure all the other kids at camp always felt included. He gave pep talks and cheered for everyone. But he was most attuned to his mom. It spoke of how deep their bond was.

Sutton blinked a few times, then forced a smile. “Sorry, Superstar. Just some bakery math doing my head in.”

He frowned but nodded .

“Come on,” Arden encouraged. “Before this whole house stinks like Gretzky’s butt forever.”

That had Luca giggling and following after Arden. The moment the two of them and the dogs disappeared outside, I took the phone from Sutton.

“Cope, I?—”

“What the fuck is this?” Each text was more vile than the one before.

“Roman,” she whispered.

My gaze flew from the screen to her. When I saw tears gathering in her eyes, I wanted to fucking kill someone. “You’re sure?”

She swallowed hard, trying to battle back her emotions. “He’s the only one who calls me Blue Eyes.”

My back molars ground together, but I gently pulled Sutton into my arms. I lifted a hand, my fingers skimming the delicate skin beneath one of her hypnotizing orbs. “Warrior, your eyes are so much more than blue. They’re like a sea in the tropics. They change shades and tones with your emotions. They’ll dip into a storm with your fierceness or spark with light when I take you. And they turn this soft teal when you look at Luca.”

Sutton’s breath hitched on a hiccupped sob. “Cope.”

“You aren’t anything he said you are. You’re so much more.”

She pressed her face into my chest, burrowing into me. “I don’t even recognize him anymore. He used to be funny. Caring. It used to matter to him that we were taken care of. He doesn’t even use Luca’s name.”

A pang lit in my chest, agony for all Sutton had endured. I rested my chin on her head and held her to me. “Sometimes, that kind of poison changes you. Morphs your mind.”

“Or maybe I never knew him at all,” Sutton whispered.

I wanted to fix it. Erase every ounce of pain she’d experienced at this asshole’s hands, or because of his choices—choices that had put the people he should’ve loved most at risk. But I couldn’t do anything to change the past. All I could do was make sure Sutton and Luca were safe now .

“We need to call Trace.”

Sutton pulled back, shame mixing with the torment in her eyes. “Do we have to?”

I nodded. “I’m sorry. He needs to know. We have to do everything possible to keep you and Luca safe.”

She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. “Do it. Just get it over with.”

The defeat in her voice had rage surging to the surface again. I was going to find Roman Boyer. And when I did, there wouldn’t be a chance that he’d contact Sutton ever again.

If one thing could be said about my family, it was that we were good in a crisis. Overbearing? Yes. Slightly unhinged? Quite possibly. But we showed up. Always. As they did for me now.

When I told Trace that we didn’t want Luca to be freaked, he said he had it covered. Apparently, having it covered meant as many of the Colson crew as possible descending on my house all at once.

I heard strains of sound from my mom and Rhodes in the kitchen, cooking up a storm. Trace had brought Keely with him, and she was currently having a diving-for-rings contest with Luca in the pool. Kye was apparently in charge of tossing the rings, which he did from his lounge chair, dressed entirely in black with motorcycle boots and shades in place.

Fallon sat in the chaise next to him, critiquing his form in true needling fashion. Shep and Thea tossed the ball for Gretzky on the lawn while Lolli seemed to be showing Arden some new work of art.

I could just make out snatches of conversations through the open doors, but even with Anson and Trace sitting opposite us, Sutton didn’t take her eyes off Luca. She held her breath with every dive until his head popped out of the water. Each time he hurried around the side of the pool, she tracked his every step .

“Sutton,” Trace said softly.

She jerked slightly. “Sorry. What did you say?”

I moved in closer to her on the couch, weaving my fingers through hers and simply assuring her that I was there and wasn’t going anywhere.

“When’s the last time you heard from Roman? Before this,” Trace asked. He was careful to pitch his voice at just the right volume. Years on the job had taught him how because his gruff tone could intimidate people if he wasn’t careful.

Sutton’s fingers tightened around mine in a vicious hold, and she swallowed hard. “I hear from him every now and then. I used to change phone numbers, but he always found my new ones, so I just gave up. When I block him, he only texts from a new number.”

Anson and I shared a look at that. None of that was a good sign. A guy in the throes of addiction shouldn’t have the wherewithal to find the phone number of a woman who’d moved across the country.

“But it’s been a little bit. I think the last time was…” Sutton’s voice trailed off, and then she turned to me. “That family dinner a month or so ago. When you came out to talk to me by the pasture.”

This time, it was my hand that tightened around Sutton’s. “You looked sad. And a little scared.”

Fucking hell. If I’d known what was happening and what she’d been through, I would’ve moved her and Luca in with me right then.

“So, you didn’t hear from him around the time of your attack?” Trace pressed.

“No, I—” Sutton’s eyes widened. “Do you think it was him? Do you think he’s in Sparrow Falls?”

“We don’t have any reason to believe he’s currently here,” Trace said quickly, his voice taking on that soothing tone again. “But the Baltimore Police Department hasn’t been able to locate him at any of his last-known residences. His usual dealers haven’t seen him either.”

Sutton’s knee started bobbing up and down nervously. “I don’t see how that’s even possible. His family cut ties with him after what happened to me. They were never the warmest, but I don’t blame them for needing to close that door. And he burned every friendship to the ground. Borrowed so much money from people that they just stopped taking his calls.”

A ringtone cut through the air, and Anson shifted, pulling his cell out of his pocket. He silenced the call but stood. “I need to take this.”

Trace’s gaze shifted. “You got something?”

“Not sure yet.” Anson moved deeper into the house to take the call.

It was a minor miracle to see those two working together like this. Trace had not been a fan of the broody ex-profiler when he took up with our sister, Rhodes. But Anson had won him over by how hard he’d fought for her and everything he’d done to keep her safe.

“Do you know if Roman might’ve borrowed money from any other people who might take more drastic measures to get it back?” Trace asked.

Sutton’s bouncing intensified, and I reached over and put my hand on her knee to still it. “You’re safe, remember? Luca’s safe. I’ve got you. Holt Hartley’s team is arriving to install the new security system here and at the bakery tomorrow.”

She stiffened at that. “The bakery. I forgot, there’s a new owner. They may not want?—”

I squeezed Sutton’s knee. “I let the property management company know. They said it was all right.”

Trace arched a brow at me. He knew I’d bought the building. He also knew that Sutton would have my head when she found out I was lying to her. But this wasn’t the time to share that piece of news. We had bigger fish to fry.

“Okay,” she breathed, then turned back to Trace. “I honestly have no idea. He hid everything from me. I didn’t know until he was getting let go from the team. And even then, he played it off as a onetime screwup. I didn’t realize he had addiction issues. It wasn’t until he started disappearing for days and acting erratically that I knew I had to leave. I was so na?ve. Stupid.”

“Hey,” I cut her off gently. “Don’t talk about my girl like that.”

Sutton’s turquoise gaze swung to me. “I should’ve seen it. ”

“Sometimes, the people closest to us know the best ways to hide things,” Trace said quietly.

My gut churned at his words. I knew he’d been through more than his share of secrets and lies. Trust would never come easily to Trace. Yet he always showed up for the people he cared about and his community.

“I just wish I could go back. Leave so much earlier,” Sutton said.

My fingers tightened around hers in a gentle squeeze. “You were doing the best you could with the information you had. You couldn’t have known things would get as bad as they did.”

“Maybe,” Sutton muttered.

Anson’s footsteps sounded on the hardwood. “Dex found something.”

Something about Anson’s tone had my skin prickling. There was a tightness to it that told me he was trying to keep his anger contained. And when I took in his gray-blue eyes, I knew the rage had a chokehold on him.

“What?” Trace clipped.

Anson shoved his phone into his pocket. “Dex might’ve found a way into Petrov’s computer system.”

Trace pinched the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t hear that.” There was nothing worse for my rule-following brother than coloring outside the lines.

“Then you definitely won’t want to hear that Dex found out why Roman hasn’t popped up on any radar recently.”

Trace’s head jerked up, his eyes narrowing. “Why?”

“Roman is working off his debt. In the organization,” Anson said, his voice cooling. “The only problem is, the longer he works there, the more debt he racks up.”

Sutton’s fingers dug into the back of my hand. “They’re still supplying him?”

Anson nodded, a grim look on his face. “It’s how they keep him chained. He deals, he uses. Rinse, repeat. But the word in interoffice communications is that they’ve started using him as an enforcer. Apparently, he has a taste for it. ”

Color drained from Sutton’s face, and I glared at Anson. “Was that really necessary?”

Sutton shook her head. “I needed to know.” She looked up at Anson. “And if they know I’m with Cope now. That he has money…”

That fury was back in Anson’s face. “They could come for you and Luca both.”