Page 37 of Happily Ever Maybe

And that was the part Jen hated.

So, I pushed it down and looked toward Kingston. He had hisphone out and was looking at the security feed. I froze, my blood turning toice.

Because Kate, Daisy, and Jennifer were all in there,standing in front of a man with a gun, and there was nothing I could do aboutit.

Chapter 10

Jennifer

I pulled Kate down as soon as the shot sounded, movingquickly.

She lay under me, shaking and wide-eyed. She hadn’t signedup for this. She was an admin, and damn it, I was so pissedoff. Here I was, trying to do what was best for my child and my team,and the danger came right into the building.

“Mr. Davis. Please, put the gun down.”

He pointed it directly at Daisy as he wiped the back of hisother hand across his forehead.

“You don’t understand. I worked so hard for this business. Iput my life into it. And now it’s all gone up in smoke. Literally. The damn man blew up the building. All my investors are backingout. My followers don’t want to deal with me anymore because, apparently, I’mtoo dangerous. If you would’ve just listened. If you had understood, thiswouldn’t have happened. I would still be making money. But instead, I’ll haveto beg on the street.”

I highly doubted that was the case. He was beinginvestigated for criminal activities thanks to what the authorities had found,but that wasn’t on us. We had nothing to do with it.

But here he was, putting us in danger.

I slowly sat up, blocking Kate. He didn’t seem to mind memoving, so I continued to stand, nodding at Daisy. Someone must have heard theshot, and though we hadn’t been able to send out an alert, the security systemwould. Whoever was outside would, as well. The authorities were probablyalready on their way, and our team would be here soon.

We needed to contain this before it got too dangerous.

“I’m just so tired. So tired of all of this.”

“I understand,” I said as he moved toward Daisy.

Daisy looked like she wanted to curse at me, but I wasn’tabout to let him shoot again. He had shot into the ceiling, and who knew whatwould happen if he got off another round. It could go into the wall, hitsomeone in the tattoo shop, or someone outside. Or anyone in here.

“It wasn’t fair that man took his frustrations out on you.But you don’t need to do the same here. You can just put the gun down, andwe’ll talk it over. But we can’t talk to you when you have a gun pointed at us.Don’t you see that we’re scared?”

Kate let out a whimpering sound. I wasn’t sure if it wasreal or not, but he seemed to understand and wavered just a bit.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want things to go backto the way they were.”

“Then let’s talk it over. But we can’t do that with a gun inyour hand.”

“I’m just so tired.”

When he lowered the gun, Daisy and I moved. She had the weapon out of his hand immediately, and I got him onthe ground, my knee in his back, his arms behind him before he could even callout. Kate was on her feet then, phone in hand as she dialed the authorities,and I was so damn proud of how quickly she reacted.

The man under me began to cry.

I wasn’t surprised when the back door burst open andKingston, Kane, and Gus ran through.

“Jennifer!” Gus shouted as he came in.

I saw the fear in his gaze as he took in the situation.

“It’s fine. We’re fine. If someone could get me some zipties, that would be great.”

“I just want it to stop,” Mr. Davis continued to cry,shaking under me.

“I hear sirens. I’ll go head them off and make sure theyknow the situation is handled.”