AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I'm good," I promise him, pitching my voice for his ears alone. "I'm sorting my shit out. You can quit worrying about me."
"That'll never fucking happen, kid," he growls. "It's my goddamn job to worry about you and your sister. The day I stop is the day I die."
"Christ." I grasp his hand, clasping it as we share a look. We don't say anything else. We don't have to say it. In this moment, we understand each other perfectly. We're exactly alike…two men steeped in darkness, fighting like hell to stay in the light and protect the people we love.
At the end of the day, that's all that matters. They're all that matter.
"Say that again," Jude growls an hour later.
I stroke my finger down Rosy's nose, watching as Quack leads Rabbit across the backyard toward Belle's flower garden. Rabbit moves slowly, creeping as if she's afraid she's going to get caught. Not Quack though. He bounds ahead, barking like he's telling Rabbit to hurry the fuck up.
Snow's laying in the grass with Sloth, trying to convince him that he wants to get up and play. He's not having any of it though. The gray behemoth may adore her, but he's too fucking old to bother with shit like playtime and exercise.
I make a mental note to schedule vet appointments for all of them soon. He may need some sort of supplements or something to help his joints or bones. He doesn't act like he's in pain, but better safe than sorry. I'm sure it'd ease Snow's mind to have them all checked out anyway.
"I said I need you to meet me at the Sheriff's Office in the morning," I repeat into the phone. "Aneira Buchanan wants to file a report regarding her stepmother making several attempts on her life."
"I thought that's what you said," my brother-in-law mutters. "Jesus Christ. She's with you?"
I hesitate, reluctant to tell him that information.
"I'll take your silence as an answer." Jude sighs, sending static crackling down the line. "What happened, Dimitri? I need the whole story, not bits and pieces."
"I always tell you the full story."
Rosy nudges my thigh, silently demanding that I get back to petting her. I smile, rubbing her ears. She grunts in pleasure, smiling at me in gratitude.
"Don't feed me that bullshit. You tell me what you want me to know and leave out everything you and Dante think I don't need to know," he growls. "You've been doing it since I met you."
"Snow's dad died six months ago. He left Snow everything but left Delilah to oversee the trust. She's been running the company since Snow's father fell ill," I say, ignoring his comment because he's right. I do leave a lot of shit out. It's not because I don't trust him. I do it to protect him and Devin. What you don't know can't hurt you is true in this world. "We don't know when she started trafficking drugs for the Carmona Kings cartel on company ships, but she is. We think she's trying to kill Snow to keep control of the company."
"Snow?"
"Her name is Snow. Don't call her Aneira; she hates it."
"How does she know Delilah Buchanan is trying to kill her?"
Quack and Rabbit reach the garden and clamber onto the rocks.
"Someone tampered with her brakes twice in a month. The second time, it caused an accident. Shortly after, Delilah tried to shove her down a staircase."
"Jesus," Jude mutters.
"Snow bolted after that. She spent three weeks living in the woods until someone spotted her and called Dillon. He's the reason the cartel was in the fucking woods looking for her," I mutter, still pissed about that. "He fucking told Delilah they had a lead. I was there when she went to the goddamn cartel and told them where to find her. She told them to kill her and make it look like an accident."
"Goddamn," Jude growls. "That's…" he trails off like he doesn't even have a word for it.
Hell, I'm not sure there is one strong enough to describe or condemn Delilah. She was supposed to protect Snow, not try to destroy her. Instead, she terrorized and tried to kill her. Snow will likely suffer the ramifications of this for the rest of her life. If hell is real, Delilah deserves to rot in the deepest, darkest part of it.
"You're positive about what you heard?" Jude asks.
"Absolutely certain."
"Quack, no!" Snow cries, drawing my attention to her. She's sitting up on her knees, one hand over her eyes to shield them from the setting sun as she watches Quack and Rabbit.
I whip my head around to check on Quack, only to find him standing on a rock, his body extended as he stretches eagerly toward a purple peony. He sniffs it and then sneezes so hard he falls from the rock, landing on his butt. He shakes his head and sneezes again, sounding exactly like a duck quacking.
