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She wasn’t.
Grayson’s forehead bunched up when he spotted Norris. “The ambulance is nearby, and I’ll give the EMTs the go ahead to come here.” He shifted toward Jesse. “You stay here and make sure no one gets in the house. We need to round up every last one of her henchmen. Because they’re still out there, and they no doubt have orders to kill.”
Chapter Seventeen
Orders to kill.
Jesse had no doubts whatsoever about that, but he hated that the reminder had put a fresh layer of fear all over Hanna’s face. Not Evan’s though. Jesse didn’t know how the baby had managed it, but he’d fallen back asleep despite the hell and chaos going on around him.
“How much backup do you have?” Jesse asked Grayson.
“Enough. Some deputies just arrived, and they’ve already started looking. The ranch hands, too. Stay here,” he repeated. “I’ll lock the front doors, and you turn on the security system. Hold on to that a little while longer,” Grayson added when he tipped his head to the gun Hanna was holding.
Jesse hated to put that kind of burden on her, but another thing was for certain—she would do what she had to. Despite the trauma she’d been through, no way would Hanna just sit back while they were still in danger.
Grayson hurried out, and once Jesse heard him lock up, he rearmed the security system. Of course, one of the militia thugs could have sneaked in by now, so that’s why Jesse stood by the door and kept watch. Hanna did the same across from him.
“I’m so sorry,” Isabel muttered in a soft sob, and she kept repeating it.
“Mother, you need to get in the tub with the baby,” Hanna told her.
Maybe that was just to get Isabel to focus on something other than her regret, but it seemed to work. The woman paused for just a moment before she swiped at her tears, blinked away some more of them and maneuvered into the small space next to Evan. When she saw the blood on Norris’s arm, Isabel even grabbed a towel off the bar and wrapped it around the wound.
Good. That would help Norris, and giving Isabel something to do might keep her from crying. She had a right to start sobbing after nearly being killed, but Jesse preferred she put that guilt on hold.
“My mother will go to jail, won’t she?” Hanna asked him in a whisper. “Because of the money laundering.”
Jesse didn’t lie to her. “It’s possible. She might be able to work out some kind of plea deal and get away with parole and community service.”
She nodded. “I don’t think she has anything to do with the attacks.”
“No,” Jesse agreed. He was mentally piecing it together, and he could see this all went back to Marlene. Once they’d had a chance to go through all her financials, they might be able to figure out just how long she’d been involved in the tangle of illegal activities.
A tangle that he wished Bull had uncovered before Hanna had been shot.
But Bull and Isabel weren’t the only ones at fault here.
“Don’t,” he heard Hanna say, and she surprised him when she leaned over and brushed a kiss on his mouth. “I know what’s going on in your head right now. You’re thinking if you’d arrested Arnie sooner, then none of the rest of this would have happened.”
“I was thinking it because it’s true,” he pointed out.
Thanks to the flashlight app on their phones, the room was lit enough now that he had no trouble seeing her fierce expression. “But maybe something worse would have gone down if you had managed to arrest Arnie. Something like his arrest could have triggered Marlene to order hits on all of you. On us,” she amended. “And we wouldn’t have known to watch out for her.”
Jesse knew that was possible, but it was still hard for him to clear his conscience. Hanna must have read his mind on that, as well, because she kissed him again. And this time it had a kick of heat despite everything else that was going on.
Isabel made a soft sound. Not a gasp, but one look at her and it was obvious she’d seen that kiss.
“Not a word from you on this,” Hanna warned her. “I’m not going to let your bad blood with Jesse’s family bleed onto me again. Understand?”
Jesse expected Isabel to have a say about that. She always had when it came to her daughter being involved with a Ryland, but maybe the night had changed her. Or at least made her see that bad blood could be forgiven.
So could his guilt over not having done more to stop Hanna from being shot.
Jesse figured it wasn’t over and done. Ditto for Isabel’s dislike of him, but this felt like a start. He would take it.
When Norris groaned, Jesse glanced over at him to see how he was doing. There didn’t seem to be any fresh blood on the towel Isabel had used, so that was good news. Maybe it wouldn’t be long before the ambulance would be able to get to the house and take both Isabel and him to the hospital. And that prompted Jesse to ask Hanna’s mom some questions.
“Did Marlene drug you?” he asked.
