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“You have my word.” I would keep our little secret between us, at least until I knew the guys wouldn’t give Ariella a hard time. I could handle them harassing me. What I didn’t want was them pressuring me to end the relationship or to dismiss her from the job.
One last kiss I planted on her forehead before I quietly snuck out of the bedroom and shut the door. I hurried down to the kitchen, needing a strong cup of coffee to keep me awake.
“Morning,” Skylar said. She sat at the kitchen table reading the newspaper.
I strode across the kitchen, grabbed a mug, and poured a steaming hot cup of coffee. Already I could smell the pleasant aroma and I wanted to taste it. I craved that first cup to wake me up. The last thing I wanted was to drive off the road on my way to work.
Izzie had slept in, which was unusual but not unheard of when she had a tiring day. I hadn’t spent enough time with my daughter lately, and I’d be spending more time with Skylar if she was moving to Breckenridge.
“Are you two a thing now?” Skylar asked. “I heard you guys all night squeaking the damned bed. I had to put headphones on to drown out the noise.”
I lifted my mug to my lips and took a long drag of my coffee. I attempted to hide the smile that was plastered to my face. Maybe she’d move out of my house if we kept her up with loud, obnoxious sex.
“What?” I asked, pretending like I hadn’t heard her. I wiped the smile away and put the mug down on the counter.
“You two were knocking boots all night,” Skylar said. It wasn’t a question.
“Daddy!” Izzie squealed, stomping down the last of the steps. Her hair was a wild mess of tangles, and her pajamas were still on, but she was a bundle of cuteness.
“Morning, baby girl.” I lifted her into my arms and spun her around, giving her hugs and kisses. I’d missed her so much and had depended on Skylar more than I wanted to admit.
“Knocking boobs, Daddy. I wanna knock boobs.”
Skylar’s face turned crimson, and she hung her head, covering her face with her hands.
“Boots,” I said, correcting Izzie. “And it’s not a saying we use.” She was smart enough to understand that it wasn’t something nice to say if I was telling her that. I didn’t need to elaborate; she was, after all, only three years old.
“Come on. Let’s get you dressed.” I put her down on the ground, and she grabbed my hand, tugging me to follow her upstairs.
I did my best to keep quiet, not wanting to wake Ariella. Following Izzie to her bedroom, I flipped on the light and strode to the dresser in a hurry. I needed to get into the office and find out what was going on with Mason and Hazel. Were they all right?
I was supposed to meet with Franco yesterday, but after he’d been held up at the resort, I suspected he might stop by today. We needed to drop them as a client. There was no way we would turn Hazel over, and while I’d been doing my due diligence on Franco, I hadn’t expected to come up against the mafia.
We’d dealt with criminals in the past, domestic violence cases, and delinquents but the mafia, that was new. I wanted to discuss how we were going to handle it with the guys before Franco or his goons showed up at Eagle Tactical. We needed a plan. Telling them we weren’t going to accept the job didn’t seem like enough.
I opened the drawers of the dresser, retrieving an outfit for Izzie. While in the process of dressing her, my cell phone rang. I answered the call and held it to my ear using my shoulder. “Hey, I’ll be in the office soon,” I said, having recognized Declan’s number pop up on my phone.
“Did you see the news this morning?” Declan asked.
My stomach sunk. “No. Is everything okay? Did Mason check-in?” I asked. I hadn’t spoken with him about where he was taking Hazel, but I assumed it was his uncle’s property in North Dakota. The team had gathered for a retreat there on quite a few occasions.
“Mason’s fine, as far as I know. This is about Ariella,” Declan said.
I hurried as I dressed Izzie and glanced back at the bedroom across the hall. “What about her?” Was there another secret she hadn’t divulged that I was now going to be beaten down with? How much more could I take?
“Do you remember Benjamin Ryan?”
“Yes, he’s her ex-husband,” I said. I knew of him. The bastard stole my life savings.
“The D.A. dropped the charges against him, and he’s been released from prison,” Declan said. “Turns out there’s evidence that he couldn’t have been involved since the digital trail leads to a connection in another state outside of New York. There’s an interview on the news asking what he plans on doing next with his life.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Izzie was dressed, but her clothes didn’t match. I’d been too busy listening to Declan to realize until after I dressed her how much she clashed. “Do you like leaving me hanging?” I grimaced and took her hand, leading her out of her bedroom and back down the stairwell.
“He’s coming back to claim his wife, Ariella Ryan.”
