“Both, actually.” Pierce is the one who answers me. “That’s why Heidi gave you the background information on what we discovered in Tennessee.” His jaw ticks, nostrils flaring the tiniestbit. “Because we were able to conclude both of them were involved in that as well.”
I drop back in my chair, any excitement I felt over possibly getting some answers gone like the wind. “They’re both part of a human trafficking ring in Tennessee?” I shake my head. “How could that have anything to do with us?”
“It doesn’t.” Heidi still seems excited, which I don’t get. “And that actually tells us a lot.”
Trevor snorts. “Finding out the shit they’re in has nothing to do with us tells you a lot?”
“Of course it does, dick.” Heidi doesn’t hesitate to put Trevor in his place, and despite the seriousness of the conversation, I snicker a little. “It means we don’t have to look at any of that shit as we’re digging through their backgrounds. That reduces the amount of data I have to scour exponentially.”
“Were they doing a lot of other bad things?” Ruth poses this question, dragging everyone’s eyes to where she sits.
I didn’t have to argue for her to be here today. Didn’t have to fight for her to occupy a place at the family table. Because everyone here already considers her one of us. The intense way she’s listening to Heidi’s every word and is now participating in the conversation proves—at least on some level—Ruth also considers herself a part of our family.
Heidi huffs out an unamused laugh, eyes widening. “Oh yeah.” Her nose wrinkles as she tips her head. “They were doing all sorts of shady shit. Dealing in drugs. Serving as hitmen and hired muscle. And they worked all across the country. Not just in your area.”
My brows pinch together. “So anyone could have hired them to do this?”
“Technically, yes.” Heidi changes her screen, displaying a list of names. “But they would have to be able to afford it, and not everyone can drop that kind of untraceablecash.” She slowly scrolls through the names. “So far I’ve been able to link them with every man here. I can’t prove the men actually hired them, but I can prove they interacted digitally.”
I’m back to sitting up straight, eyes trying to decipher each name as it passes. “Are you sending us that list?”
“Of course I am.” Heidi smirks. “I’m good at what I do, but so is your brother’s team, and I’d love for them to take a crack at this shit.”
Ruth shifts in her chair, the lunch I sat in front of her shoved to one side, forgotten completely. “Does that happen a lot? People hiring men like this to do bad things?”
“All the fucking time.” Heidi’s face twists into a scowl. “Men who don’t want to get their hands dirty will pay an extraordinary amount of money for someone else to clean up their messes.”
Ruth’s skin is pale, her hands gripping the arms of the chair so tightly her knuckles have turned white. Suddenly, she’s on her feet, racing out of the room.
Heidi looks around before focusing on me. “Is Ruth okay?” She huffs out a breath, brows lifting at me. “Did you knock that poor woman up already?”
“No, and no.” Probably. “I’ll call you later.”
I’m on my feet before Heidi can respond, racing out of the room to find Ruth. I know why she ran, and I get it. But if I’ve learned nothing else in life, it’s that you can’t run from the shit that scares you. You can’t hide from the things that hurt. You have to tackle them head on. Whether you like it or not.
Luckily, Ruth and I no longer have to do that alone.
I find Ruth exactly where I expected she would be, sitting on the couch in my office, head in her hands. When I close the door behind me, her eyes lift to find mine.
“William is going to be on that list, isn’t he? He hired a man just like the ones Heidi’s talking about to scare me.”
“Even if he’s not onthatlist, I think chances are good he’s onalist.” I won’t lie to her about this, however I do want to put it into perspective. “But, if he is on that list, it gives us even more ammunition against him.”
Ruth slumps a little as I come to kneel in front of her. Her eyes drop mine to fix on where her hands are now twisting in her lap. “I still feel so stupid for ever believing anything he said.”
“Some people are very good liars.” I reach up, pushing back her dark hair. “They will smile right in your face while they wait to stab you in the back.”
It’s what happened to Trevor with Dan. The guy was so fucking nice to everybody, and the whole time he was planning to take us down.
“But I can’t just blow William up.” She huffs out a breath. “Unfortunately.”
“I guess you’ll have to settle for metaphorically blowing him up.” That’s the goal. To come at him with so many explosives he’ll do anything to avoid detonation. “And once that’s done, we can file the paperwork to make Birdie mine. Then you never have to worry about him again because he won’t have a claim to make on her.”
Ruth’s eyes widen. “You want to adopt her?”
“Absolutely I want to adopt her.” I smile just thinking about it. “She’s a Bradshaw whether she likes it or not. Might as well make it official.”
Birdie isn’t the only one I plan to make a Bradshaw, but that will have to wait. I want Ruth to enjoy an engagement and wedding without the threat of William hanging over her head. Ideally, I would love to enjoy an engagement and wedding without the threat of the dead Dans hanging over mine, but I’m willing to get past that if it means I can call Ruth my wife.
