Chapter 24

"That was too easy," Luke said when they got in the SUV.

"Yeah," Cade agreed.

That was what Paisley had asked about before and Luke had hoped they wouldn't need the backup plan. They had one, but this was the easiest option.

He was glad that Mary had taken their offer and had already denied helping out with tarnishing Paisley, though. That was great news for her and hopefully meant that one day they'd get to introduce her to her nephew.

"What's next?" Paisley asked.

"First, we wait," Ryker answered, "for the lawyer to get cut off, and for that we need to hear from Mr. Smith. I don't imagine that will happen before he gets Mary and Dr. Jones settled."

"You guys have a plan though? Right?"

Luke squeezed her leg where his hand was resting to help calm her. "We do," he told her. "You said you didn't want to be involved in the planning, but we can tell you about it if you want."

Paisley bit her lip. "I don't know."

"That's okay. When you have questions that you want answered, just let any of us know." Luke pulled her across the seat so she was flush to him. She came willingly.

"I'm going to call Jake and have him order pizza. It's looking like there's potential for a long night ahead." Cade pulled out his phone. "Any special requests?"

They all declined and Cade made the call. Other than his conversation, the ride home was quiet. Paisley leaned on Luke as he contemplated plan B that they didn't think they'd actually need. Or maybe it was just him that didn't think they'd need it.

"Here," Ryker blurted just before they pulled up.

"Thanks for coming with us," Paisley said.

"You're family." Cade shrugged like it was that simple.

They piled out of the car and headed inside. Quiet greeted them as everyone hung out in the living room, both babies asleep and everyone else watching a movie quietly.

"I ordered the pizza. It should be here soon. Evan and Kayla are on their way over, too. They just wrapped up meeting with Evan's company about expanding the restaurant." Jake stood and shook everyone's hands.

"That's so wild to me still," April said. "There was a time when we didn't think the restaurant would take off, and now it's growing to a second location."

"We don't know that yet," Cade reminded her. "Wait for them to tell us."

"I do know. I might be on maternity leave but I'm still her lawyer."

Catherine laughed at Cade getting corrected. "Of course she knows."

He humphed and folded his arms across his chest.

"How did things go? That's something I don't know," April soothed her husband.

"It went really well," Luke filled in for her. "Mary was on board with the rehab and was already working on getting herself clean like we thought."

"That's wonderful." Catherine came around the sofa and hugged Paisley.

"What does that mean for your father?" April asked Cade.

"It means that we aren't done yet. Mr. Smith is working on getting rid of his lawyer and once that's done, we have other things we can do to make sure this doesn't happen again." Cade went back to his pacing like he always did when they were here. "We can't let our guards down yet. Hopefully soon."

"I hate being on edge," Catherine said. "Why couldn't we just have a normal family?"

"What even is normal?" Luke asked.

Paisley chuckled beside him. "None of us know. We've all had our moments and it's rough, but it brought us all together."

"Well, okay, Miss Bright Side," Catherine teased.

The doorbell rang and Luke left the group to open it, whether for either pizza or Evan remained to be seen. His thoughts about what to do next bounced around in his head as he walked, not paying attention to his surroundings or bothering to look at who was there before opening the door.

He pulled it open and immediately tried to close it back. A foot stopped it, though.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," the man who was in the way said.

"Mr. Hamilton," Luke acknowledged. "You need to leave. You are not welcome here at all."

"I'm afraid that doesn't matter. You need to stop what you're doing, and I'm not leaving until you come to your senses." Mr. Hamilton's beady eyes drilled into him from the crack in the door.

"Do you need help with the—" Cade cut off when he noticed what was happening. "Who is it?" His almost jovial voice was now stone.

"Ah, Cade, glad you're here too. Thanks for being together. It makes things much easier on me."

"What do you want?" Cade demanded.

Luke opened the door the rest of the way so they could see the man on the other side. Hopefully, the women stayed in the living room.

"Do you know?" Mr. Hamilton asked. He looked smug, like he had a secret that was going to turn things around in his favor and get him inside.

"Know what?" Cade stepped closer. "I know you're harassing my brother at his home and already on your way to being disbarred so you probably should back away before things get worse."

The other man sputtered while adjusting his necktie, clearly thinking that Luke hadn't told Cade.

"I won't ask you again to leave." Luke looked around until his eyes were on the security camera. "Let us remind you that you're on camera." He wasn't sure if it would help to remind him, but it was worth a shot. He didn't want things to get out of hand with all the women and kids in the next room.

"I am aware of your cameras." Mr. Hamilton tried to recover. "Well, I'm glad to see you've accepted your family. However, I came here to let you know to back off before something else happens."

"You control what happens," Luke snapped. "You are doing his bidding."

"Do you think so?" Mr. Hamilton laughed. "If you think that I'm the only one that is helping your father ensure his legacy, then you're wrong." He sneered at Luke. "Up until recently, your new brother was helping him." He smiled like the cat that got the canary.

"I already came clean." Luke smiled back at the man. "Leave."

Mr. Hamilton cut his eyes to Cade to confirm. Cade nodded.

"We know. And to add to your plan, we've already put it behind us."

"There are others," he swore. "There will always be others."

"It won't be you though." Ryker came up behind them.

"Oh, if it isn't the bad boy. Please. You don't scare me."

"And you think you scare me?" Ryker pushed between Luke and Cade.

Mr. Hamilton took a step back, showing his fear without realizing it.

Ryker growled at him.

"Get out of here," Cade said, making a shooing motion. "No one wants to hear what you have to say. You're a drunk and a lousy lawyer."

"There will always be more people to help him. He's determined and you can't stop this by doing anything to me. Things are already in motion." He spun on his heel and stormed away.

Luke held the door open and accepted the pizzas from the confused delivery man. Ryker pulled out a few bills from his wallet and tipped the young man.

"It's got nothing to do with you. Don't worry about it," Cade said as Ryker handed the tip over.

"Yes, sir," the man replied and walked away with a smile on his face.

Luke carried the stack to the kitchen and set it on the counter, meeting Jake's gaze. Luke didn't notice the gun in his hand at first.

Jake holstered it as Cade and Ryker joined them. "Got that sorted?" he asked.

"For now. I think we need to talk to Matt," Luke said.

"Matt would've told us if anyone else was in contact with him. I think he was blowing smoke up our asses and trying to scare us," Ryker reassured.

"It won't hurt to ask," Cade backed up Luke.

"I'm getting my dinner first." Ryker grunted and grabbed two plates. "Catherine's too."

Despite everything that had just happened, Luke laughed. Typical Ryker to want food first, but grabbing it for Catherine too was new and showed how much he really cared about Luke's sister.

"Guess we should all get some food and go discuss it with the ladies. No point in talking in here and then having to repeat it." Cade faced Jake. "They know?"

"Yeah." Jake nodded. "I was hanging in between just in case something happened."

"Let's make sure they know it's over for now, and we can wait on Evan and Kayla before we make any decisions." Cade grabbed pizza and put it on plates and left the kitchen.

Luke and Jake followed suit, grabbing plates for themselves and their significant others. It was shaping up to be another long night. Luke was over it already and needed to find a way for this to be done soon.