32

Abby’s text scared the living hell out of me. I called 911 right away, then Borrowman, telling them to get to my house ASAP. I sped out of the parking lot, forgetting about the food, just flooring it. I’d not driven this fast and recklessly in a long time, but I couldn’t care about speed limits.

The love of my life was in danger. My girls were in danger. The terror of not being fast enough to get there, to stop it, ate me up alive. I prayed harder than I ever had before. Please let me be there in time. Please . I’d give anything to make it in time to stop Solomon.

Solomon was going to be lucky if he was still breathing by the end of the day.

I saw the bastard’s car parked crooked behind Jon’s Humvee. I parked even worse behind him, throwing the truck into Park, not bothering to turn off the engine. I jumped out of the truck and ran toward the open back door. Bastard hadn’t thought to close it behind him, apparently.

His stupidity was to my benefit. It was hard to open that door without making a noise. And I needed to be stealthy like I never had before.

I eased up to the door, hand on my gun—then paused.

Shit.

Jon was in the line of fire.

I didn’t think he saw me—his attention was solely on Solomon—but he stood almost directly in my line of fire, which meant putting another gun into this equation was not the right call.

Okay, breathe. Breathe. You’ve got this. You’ve done tougher things than sneak up on a rotten, crazy bastard who’s threatening your lover.

This pep talk didn’t exactly work because I couldn’t think of a damn thing worse than this moment, but I was determined Solomon wasn’t winning this fight.

“No one’s on my side right now! No one’s willing to help me! They all say I deserve this after all I’ve done. What have I done, huh? What have I done?! I put bad guys behind bars—”

What the hell was this bastard saying? Sounded like he was properly wound up and trying to pin all the blame on Jon. Scapegoating never worked. I didn’t know why he hadn’t learned his lesson by now.

I did know he was being so loud he was covering any sound I might accidentally make. I eased up, boots going heel to toe in a rolling motion to erase any whisper of sound. My adrenaline was pumping so hard it felt like a heartbeat in my ears. Easy does it. Getting the drop on Solomon was the only way to get my family out of this safely.

“—and for that I’m ridiculed? I’m shunned?”

Where were the girls? I had no line of sight on them. I hoped they’d somehow taken cover. They must have, if Abby had managed to text me. I’d hug her for being so composed in a stressful situation later. And buy her ice cream.

Solomon’s hand holding the gun suddenly tightened. “You. You entering the scene is what caused it all. The second you came, people saw me as a screwup past saving. I kept getting called into the captain’s office. I kept getting docked pay, reprimands, and now…now I’ve lost everything. BECAUSE OF YOU!”

My spidey sense told me he was seconds away from pulling the trigger. Terrifying, truly, and I felt sharp terror resurge like an acid wash down my throat.

I sped up a little, crossing the last few feet between us. In that second, Jon spied me. I could see it in the widening of his eyes, but my very smart fiancé didn’t flinch or give me away. He instead snapped back at Solomon, keeping the focus there.

“You fucking piece of shit!” Jon stabbed a finger at him. “The only reason you even kept this job for so long was because your mayor daddy kept cleaning up after your useless ass!”

Solomon actually flinched back. “You know who my father is?!”

“Yeah, dumbass, we do. It’ll all come out in trial.”

“You can’t do this! I promised him—”

I struck. One hand went for his throat, putting him in a stranglehold. He stank of alcohol, the smell assaulting my nose, but I didn’t let up. He beat at my hand, the gun hand coming up and around. I latched on, able to grab his wrist, but not far enough to reach the gun itself to disarm him. Shit, why did this bastard have such long arms?

Jon pounced in the next second. He grabbed the gun and twisted, using the momentum against Solomon’s fingers. The move was so perfectly executed Solomon instinctively let go of the gun rather than break his fingers, and in an instant, Jon had the gun.

I let go of Solomon’s wrist, using my other hand to bear down harder on his neck. Solomon scrambled, but it was hard to think when your oxygen was cut off, and aside from beating uselessly at my hands and kicking my shins, he couldn’t seem to focus enough to do any real damage. I winced at the kicks, but I held my ground.

It felt like eons, but within a minute, he was on the ground, passed out cold. I stood there, shaking, panting for breath.

I could hear sirens incoming, but my attention wasn’t on them. Solomon wasn’t a threat at the moment, and I had to check on my family.

“Jon?”

He threw both arms around me, hugging me tight. I latched on, my hands not able to bring him in close enough. For a long second, we just held each other, my nose buried against his hair, breathing him in.

“I’m okay.” He turned his head, not releasing me, and called, “Skylar, Abby, it’s safe.”

Their heads popped out over the back of the couch, and they took in the sight of Solomon with relief.

“Told you Uncle Donovan would take him out,” Skylar said matter-of-factly. “Good timing, Uncle Donovan.”

My head jerked back in surprise, not expecting her to call me uncle, but I was absolutely giddy because of it. Jon grinned too, but he wasn’t surprised, which meant he somehow knew she now thought of me as her uncle. I seriously loved this girl.

I unbent enough to grin. “I do try. You two okay?”

“I mean, I’d rather not be under gunpoint again, but yeah? Abs?”

Abby stood up fully, and while she did look unnerved, she also looked mad.

“Donovan? Can we accidentally put a bullet in him before the police get here?”

So when Abby got scared, she got violent. Good to know.

Jon sighed and let go of me a little. Just so he could face the girls easier.

“Abby, let’s maybe not end the day with murder?”

“It would save us the cost of a trial,” she suggested hopefully.

Solomon groaned, stirring. It was unfortunate that when someone was choked out, they woke up as soon as the pressure was lifted. Without compunction, I coldcocked Solomon, and he was back out for the count.

The cops burst inside a moment later. Fortunately. Because frankly, I saw Abby’s point on this one.

I recognized the first two cops through the door. Franky and his partner, Shelly. I gestured to the unconscious man near my feet.

“It’s fine. He’s knocked out cold.”

They went from guns out to more relaxed, although Shelly still came straight for Solomon, pulling out cuffs. No trust there, huh? Well, I didn’t blame her. Rather, I was relieved to have him in cuffs.

“What the hell’s going on?” Franky demanded. Then did a double take upon seeing Abby. “Shit! You girls okay?”

Abby waved him down. “We’re fine. He just yelled a lot and waved a gun, didn’t touch any of us. I feel like I need therapy after this, but it’s fine.”

She’d undoubtedly get therapy after this. No one should have to deal with an armed lunatic.

Jon sighed and started filling them in.

“Solomon snuck in the back door and told me he was going to kill me because I ruined his life. In a nutshell. I mean, he had a lot to say—”

“I recorded half of it,” Skylar offered.

Jon stopped mid-sentence, head whipping around. “You did what?”

Now, trust Skylar to have the wherewithal to even think of recording a raving madman.

Her expression was a thundercloud of anger. “If he did kill us, you think I’m letting him off scot-free? Hell no. I hit record as soon as we got behind the couch. Angled my camera so it caught him full-on while he ranted. Also caught it when Uncle Donovan got him in the stranglehold. The move was beautiful, Uncle Donovan. You’ll teach me how to do that next, right?”

“Uh…sure.” I scratched my head and looked at my niece and wondered where she got these nerves of steel from. ’Cause I was still jumpy, not going to lie.

I felt sorry for anyone who messed with Abby in the future. They might not survive Skylar’s wrath afterward.

Sighing, Franky spoke into the walkie attached to his breast pocket. “Dispatch, can I get an ambulance at Jon’s place?”

The response was loud and clear: “ Did Jon get hurt ?!”

“No, Donovan got Solomon before he could do damage, but now Solomon’s out cold. We need a stretcher.”

“ Oh. Copy that, I’ll dispatch one to you. ”

I loved how no address was needed for us. Just “Jon’s place.” Should that worry me?

You know what, I chose to not stress about it. I had enough on my plate and only so many spoons available.

Shelly, very apologetic about the whole thing, spoke. “Sorry, everyone. You’ll need to come down to the station. File charges, statements, all that.”

“Yeah,” I agreed on a long sigh.

Jon also made a face, glaring down at Solomon. “I have to get into a vehicle again because of you, and I didn’t get my fries.”

“Babe. Are you seriously more upset about the fries than being held at gunpoint?”

“Of course I’m upset about the other, too.”

Really? ’Cause it didn’t look that way to me.

The ambulance arrived shortly after, hauling Solomon away. We gathered up Skylar and Abby, informing both girls to call their parents and fill them in. They’d need a guardian to oversee their statement, and it was wrong to leave parents in the dark about what just happened, anyway.

I was more than peeved with everything that had gone down, but just as we got to the police station, Jon leaned in to whisper near my ear. “Hot monkey sex when we get back,” he promised in a low tone. “Because I, for one, could use it.”

I nodded vigorously. Me too. My adrenaline was still hopping and needed an outlet; otherwise, I’d be up half the night.

I wasn’t saying I wanted to marry this man because of how well he knew me, but it was a definite plus.

Abby opened the back door once we parked and she said with confidence as she disembarked, “Solomon’s not going to get out of this one. Asshole’s going to jail for sure.”

You know what? She was likely right.