Elise squeezed Lottie’s hands back, a beaming smile spreading across her face. “She will since Rhys paid her twice as much as your brothers did.”
Feeling tears welling in her eyes again, Lottie pressed her hand on her heart, swearing it was going to jump out of her chest. “He did that?”
“Yeah, he did.”
Lottie stared at Elise, so damn tired of running away. Her past had still caught up with her, no matter how far she ran and all the measures she took to ensure her family never found her. She didn’t want to run anymore. Not from what she truly wanted—a life with Hunt. The man who made her feel safe, appreciated...loved...worth fighting for. “So, what do we do now?” she asked.
Elise jumped off the bed, pulling Lottie to her feet. “We go to the police station. Archer took this woman there already. All you have to do is tell your side of the story, and Hunt should be in the clear.”
Lottie lunged, throwing herself at Elise, hugging her tight. “I owe you, Elise. I owe you so much. Thank you.”
Elise laughed softly, squeezing just as tight. “You’re part of our family, Lottie. Don’t ever forget that.”
“I’ll try not to,” Elise said, emotions clogging up her throat like they seemed to do all the time lately.
With a satisfied smile, Elise headed out the door, and Lottie followed her into the hallway.“You’re part of our family, Lottie. Don’t ever forget that.”For so long, she’d felt like an outsider, someone who couldn’t belong because of the life she’d been born into. Then she found Nessa. Then she found Phoenix. Then she found Hunt. She’d never expected to find a whole new family.
It occurred to her many minutes later as she walked into the police station that shewaspart of the Phoenix family. Not just someone who lived out her fantasies there and put on shows, but she was a part of something bigger—something that Rhys had created when Phoenix was born. And she would fight for Hunt and her life with him, just like his friends did.
By the time she sat in the interview room, with Elise and Archer out in the waiting room, and the woman who recorded the punch being interviewed elsewhere, Lottie’s chin lifted, her shoulders squared. She had to make this right. For Hunt. For them to have a future together.
“At one point did Leo Ricci threaten to kill you?” the detective asked the hundredth question over the last hour. He had a stern face, thick moustache, and eyes that told her he had a no-nonsense personality.
“When I went to see him at the hospital to try and get him to drop the charges against Hunt,” she explained.
The detective took a note, then set his pen down. “Can you explain to me why your brother wants to kill you?”
“Because he’s a very dangerous man,” she said honestly. “He harbors bad feelings toward me because I left my family behind.” She paused, considering, and still couldn’t make sense out of it. “For some reason, he thinks I have evidence that could send him to jail.”
The detective’s eyebrow winged up. “You don’t?”
“No, I don’t,” she said. “Believe me when I tell you, if I had something, I would have turned it in. I left my brothers behind because I didn’t want them to be a part of my life. I didn’t want any part of what they do. I certainly don’t want the trouble they bring.”
The detective made another note, then dropped his pen. “It’s good you came forward. You’re all lucky this woman who recorded the fight had a conscience.”
Lottie restrained her snort. The woman’s willingness to talk had nothing to do with her conscience, more likely how her bank account fared. “We are very lucky. I’m just happy this clears Hunt’s name. He’s a good detective and an even better man. He just made a bad decision in a split second because he wanted to protect me.”
The detective agreed with a nod. “And your name change, why did you do that?”
Elise had already assured Lottie that even if the police looked, her new name would register as legit. “To get away from my family. Like I said, I wanted nothing to do with them.”
After another note, he nodded again. Then his expression shifted in intensity. “There is something else you should know,” the detective said.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Your brothers have been arrested for murder. We arrested them at the hospital an hour ago.”
“Murder?” she breathed, freezing in her seat. “Who did they kill?”
“Your father,” the detective said solemnly.
She tried to process "your father"as he grabbed a tablet next to him. After clicking a few buttons, he turned the screen toward her. First, she noted the wooden box that her father had given to her after his death and his note. Then she felt the heat drain from her face as he began swiping through the evidence photographs which showed the box wasn’t a box at all, but a puzzle.
When the last puzzle piece came out, so did a USB stick.
Before she could make sense out of this, a video began playing. A camera had obviously been set up in her father’s office, somewhere behind him, since she could see the back of his salt-and-pepper head. In front of him, Leo raged, spittle forming in the corners of his mouth as he screamed in anger.
Only one minute passed before the detective turned off the video, flipping the tablet over. “Your brother Leo kills your father in his video by using a syringe to administer a drug to his neck.”
