Chapter 28

28

Rob finished up in the guest room and fought the anger. He could hear Charlie Fields’s baby sister in there, giggling over something. Girl sounded young. He thought she was around thirty or so. He’d seen her dart into one of the side bedrooms with one of those Hiller brothers.

The one she’d been out there with two weeks ago. Damned asshole had ruined all of Rob’s plans. If Hiller hadn’t been with her, that Fields girl would already be dead. And Rob wouldn’t just be waiting for someone to put it together that he was involved with all of that.

Instead, she was in there screwing around with her boyfriend or something. She was a beautiful woman. He wouldn’t mind screwing around with her himself. Just like he wouldn’t have minded some time alone with Fields’s grown daughter. Now there was a little looker. She looked a good deal like good old Charlie’s baby sister, too. Happy, healthy. Living the good life, despite what had happened to Charlie’s daughter a while back.

Not like his sister who was rotting in the ground.

Because of Charlie Fucking Fields.

How was he ever supposed to forget that?

Rob forced himself to calm down. To appear as just another one of the guys around this place.

Hell, he and Charlie had worked together for years. At one time, he would have trusted Charlie at his back completely.

Until Charlie had booked Rob’s own sister. On drug charges. She’d been so young and stupid—but they could have fixed it.

Yeah, she’d had some problems, but she’d been his sister. Fields should have come to him. They could have worked something out. Kept her out of the system.

If she hadn’t been in the system, she never would have lost her kids.

If she hadn’t lost her kids, she never would have taken too much crack.

Candy wouldn’t be dead right now.

If Charlie had just had Rob’s back like a fellow officer was supposed to, everything would have been different.

Well, Charlie’s sister was going to end up in the ground rotting just like Rob’s had. She didn’t have kids to lose, though. So he was going to have to make it good.

Maybe the boyfriend’s kid?

That was a possibility.

And good old Charlie had those two babies now, too. But that would involve hurting Charlie’s new wife. Rob had always respected Rory Price. He didn’t know what she was doing with Charlie. She could have done so much better. Half the guys at the TSP had had a thing for that smoking hot blonde at one time or another.

Why the hell had she settled for Charlie?

He would never understand it.

But no. He wasn’t about to hurt some innocent baby. Or kid.

Charlie’s daughter was right there.

That was always a possibility.

But ultimately, it was Charlie’s sister who Charlie was going to lose.

What was it his father used to preach? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.

Well, in this case… it was a sister for a sister.

And that was the way it was supposed to be.

Pretty girl was living on borrowed time. She should just enjoy the boyfriend while she could. It was only a matter of time until Rob finished what he had started.

He had to. He didn’t have any real choice now.