Page 51 of Rascal

“Oh, we will, we always have, but move past it. We learned to compromise at an early age.”

Jonas parked up outside my house as Shane pulled in behind him. “Thanks for the flights.”

“Thank you for protecting me,” I replied, nodding at his arm.

Jonas nodded. “I won’t be around much longer. Hopefully, Jane gets caught.”

“She will, especially as she’s now attacked the cops.”

“Take care, Hallie,” Jonas said as I got out.

“You too, Jonas, you’re not bad for a cop,” I stated.

Jonas drove off, but his laughter drifted on the wind.

The front door opened, and King emerged. He glowered at Shane and wrapped his arms around me.

“Seems you had a busy time of it.”

“Jane is loco, totally fucked up. She attacked again and burned the hotel down. Who does that?” I asked as we walked back up the path.

“Well, Detective Gold showed up to drop a message off,” King replied.

“Should I be worried?” Shane inquired.

“Why are you here?” King demanded.

“Because Hallie’s in danger. And she’s my woman,” Shane stated.

I opened my mouth, and King slapped a hand over it. “Argue inside,” he ordered. I glowered, but let King lead me away.

Don’t ask me how, but somehow Shane got King to agree to him staying here. Or as King said, “I can throw the asshole at Jane while getting you to safety.” That seemed a valid reason to me.

Later, as we sat eating, Shane brought King up to date on what had happened.

“Well, Gold came here with a message. Jane had gone to see your parents and spent an entire afternoon and evening making nice. She told them she forgave them and that she understood.”

“And they never realised something was wrong? Wow,” I said, amused.

“Yeah, talk about not knowing their daughter. Even your two asshole brothers fell for it. The family all got together to celebrate. Initially, they refused to believe they’d been fooled. That they’d celebrated with Jane, but by all accounts, they were horrified and devastated when they learned they had,” King continued.

“How can you fail to recognise an imposter?” Shane exclaimed.

Bemused, I turned and cocked an eyebrow.

“Hey, I own my fuck-ups. I only knew you for five years. They had you since birth!” Shane retorted.

“They had images of Jane on their cameras. Shit, babe, Jane really is the spitting image of you,” King said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, I don’t see how that is remotely possible,” I murmured.

“I’m still checking out this lead. One more day, babe,” King stated.

“You’re not going to give me a clue?”

“No. If I’m wrong, I don’t want you letting your guard down. One more day, babe, and we might have answers,” King stated. I nodded. I could allow him that. Compared to five years, what was twenty-four hours?

“So we’re in a holding pattern; that doesn’t sit well with me,” Shane drawled.