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“Well, it seems my daughter can be very persuasive when she wants to be, but I guess you already know that?”
“I sure do.”
“And anyway, where else would they be, amigo? They’re your family.”
I stare at him, my eyes searching his face and waiting for the inevitable but that must be a part of that sentence. He and I haven’t been the same since I started dating his daughter, and even though I understand that, it still hurts like a motherfucker.
“Fuck, you’re my family too, Jax. You always have been…” He runs a hand through his thick hair. “I’m still trying to figure how we fit now that you’re married to my daughter, but I need you to know that I have always got your back. Apart from Alana, I trust you more than anyone in this world.”
Fuck! This was not what I was expecting at all. “Thanks, amigo. That means a lot.”
“Yeah, well, I know you’ve had some shit going on with Harvey and everything, and if that had been me, you’d have been moving heaven and earth to fix it. Alana, the boys and I can stay here as long as you need us, amigo. We will find the hijo de putas who are trying to fuck with you and make them regret that they even know your name.” He steps forward and wraps me in a bear hug. “Just tell me what you need, okay?”
“Breakfast’s ready,” Matthias shouts, interrupting the moment.
“Looks like we better get back in there,” Alejandro says with a flash of his eyebrows.
“Yeah, and thanks, amigo. It means a lot to have you at my side.”
“Where else would I be?” he says with a wink and then he walks back into the kitchen.
I follow him but I hover in the doorway for a few seconds. It seems like my entire world is in this one room. I feel a pang of guilt as I think about my father lying in his hospital bed and I realize perhaps there is room for him in it too.
Now that Alejandro is here, we can focus on finding out who attacked Harvey and who was behind those damn videos. I have a hunch that when we follow the different trails, they’ll lead us to the same people.
LUCIA
After the breakfast things are cleared away, we settle the boys in the den watching cartoons with Hugo while Jax, my parents, Molly and I sit around the table to figure out the fastest way out of the mess we all seem to be stuck in the middle of.
“So, let me get this straight,” Molly says, brushing a thick lock of blonde hair from her eyes. “Not only did somebody beat your father half to death and tell him that you were responsible, they also videoed you and Lucia with another woman, blackmailed Lucia’s father and then tried to make it look like you were conspiring with the other woman to get your hands on the five million? Is that about it?”
I gasp in a breath. She pretty much nailed it. Everything that happened does seem to point to Jax being the real target here. “Don’t forget the picture of Jax and Shannon too,” I add. “That was taken at least a year and half ago.”
Molly frowns but she nods her head in agreement. “You think it was someone we know? Here in Dallas?”
“Well, whoever took those pictures of me and Shannon had to have known about the two of us…”
“It wasn’t exactly a secret, honey,” Molly says with a shake of her head. “The whole town knew about you two.”
“Could Shannon be behind this?” I ask.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” my mom adds with a nod.
“She couldn’t have taken the picture of the two of them though,” my father says.
“No, but she could have had someone else take it,” I offer.
Jax nods his head. “She also has a crib like the one my dad went looking for on the night he was attacked, and he placed the ad in her mom’s store, so she knew all about it.”
“But she’s happy with Ed now,” Molly says with a frown. “Why would she do that?”
“Beats me,” Jax rubs a hand over his jaw.
“Who is Ed?” my father asks.
“Ed Sawyer. Local vet. Moved here four or five years ago. He and Shannon got together about eighteen months ago…”
“Before or after that photograph was taken?” I ask.
