I sigh.“How much do you know about Daniela’s past?”
Another pause.“Everything.Vinnie told Savannah.”
“Fuck.So you know.Reyes is one of the men who…”
“You don’t have to say it,” Falcon says.
“Good.I can hardly think about it, let alone talk about it.Especially since she and I are involved now.”
He sighs.“I guess I have to ask.What is Reyes doing in our old barn?”
“I went to his place in Austin.Took him down, brought him here.”
He gasps.“Youkidnappedhim?You?”
I grit my teeth.“Sorry I’ve fallen off that pedestal, Fal.I haven’t changed.Our lives have.”
“That’s bullshit.”I can hear through the phone that his teeth are gritted.
“You think?You’rethe one who spent eight years of your life locked up for something you didn’t do to protect Eagle, who’s probably going to die now anyway.”
“Hawk…”
“Sorry.I don’t want that.You know I don’t.”He has no idea how much I want Eagle to live.“But my days as the family fixer are over, Fal.Someone is stalking Daniela, and I’m going to put a stop to it.”
“Yeah, I get it.I felt the same way when Miles McAllister had Savannah.But damn… You just broke in and dragged him out?”
“He’s alive.Bound.And yeah, I wanted answers.I thought he was behind the gifts Dani’s been getting.But…”
“But?”
“I got a call from Vinnie while I was still at Reyes’s.The DNA from the notes matches someone else.Clifford Haynes.Some registered sex offender.”
Falcon exhales.“And you’re telling me this now because…?”
“Because I don’t think Reyes sent the gifts.He’s still guilty of plenty, but maybe not this.”
“All right,” Falcon says slowly.“So where’s this Haynes guy?”
“Oak County.About forty minutes out.”
“You going to talk to him?”
“That’s the idea.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
I think about turning him down.Why the hell should he put his life on the line for my woman?But I’ll do better if my big brother is with me.
I rub at my forehead.Normally I’m the cool and collected one.Quiet Hawk, who thinks everything through.
Ever since I met Daniela, that version of me has gone out the window.
And I’m not sure yet if I’m happy about that or not.
* * *
The drive’sall glare and heat shimmer.The kind of heat that turns the truck cab into an oven if you’re not blasting the AC.Falcon’s quiet, which means he’s thinking.
