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“Why the fuck am I wearing a tie?” I growled as I ripped the damned leash off and threw it behind the reception desk, then I stormed towards Tyler. I unbuttoned the top button on my shirt and felt like I could finally breathe again.
“Good evening Tyler. You look incredibly handsome in that suit. Makes me wish I had taken you up on all of those offers years ago,” Ty mocked with a shit eating grin, the whole time mocking the growly tone he always took when he was mocking my voice. “Why thank you, Nico,” he added in his own voice.
Tyler was Parker’s kid brother and Mia’s closest and greatest friend. He had practically been brought up by Park and the rest of us after the two of them lost their parents. He enjoyed toying with me with his flirting, but he was a good kid really. While he had never worked for us at Milite, he had been training with the five of us for years. He knew how to take care of himself and I trusted him to watch my back.
I had plenty of guys who worked for me who could have backed me up, but this felt personal and I wanted my family at my back.
“Fuck off, pretty boy. You good to go?” I asked, unable to hide the hint of a smile that slipped onto my face at his teasing.
“Yep. You gonna tell me what exactly you’re up to?” he asked as we headed out of the building. I didn’t answer as I jogged down the steps and over to the car I had ordered to use for the night. It saved me trying to find a place to park in the city.
I opened the door and ushered him into the back of a Lincoln Town car, then climbed in behind him. I had to unbutton the suit jacket so I could still breathe as I sat.Fucking suit!
“Nic? You know I’ve got your back, man, but I need to know what the fuck we’re doing,” he prompted as the car started moving.
“It’s Maddie,” I replied as I unzipped the folder under my arm and pulled out the images of her and Willow from the night I picked them up.
“Maddie? The woman who works in the office?”
“Yeah. Her husband has been hurting her for years. Earlier this week he hurt her daughter, Willow, while he was laying into Maddie. She called me and I got them away from the bastard, but he’s been calling and threatening her.” I held out the small handful of images of Maddie and Willow taken at the hospital I had driven them to.
“Fuck, Nico,” Ty gasped as he shuffled through the images. “How old is the little girl?”
“Three. He broke her arm.”
“Fucking animal,” Ty hissed as he handed me the pictures back. “Why isn’t he locked up? Did she call the cops?”
“She did and she got a restraining order, but he got off with any charges,” I explained.
“How? Those photos would be enough to charge him, wouldn’t they?”
“His father is Frank Foster. The D.A.”
“Sweet, quiet Maddie is married to Edward Foster?” Ty gasped. No doubt he knew the family from the vast amount of press footage they got due to Frank’s position.
“Was. She and Willow are far away from that piece of crap now and I need to make sure it stays that way.”
“That’s why we’re going to this fundraiser? He’s going to be there?” Ty questioned.
“Yep. And Frank should be here too. I have more photos that Maddie took over the last two years and they’re bad, Ty, really bad,” I told him.
“Worse than those?” he asked as he turned his eyes to the images in my hand I had just shown him.
“Much worse, but that was the only time he hurt Willow, thank fuck. I’m gonna use the images to threaten Frank. Maddie says Edward doesn’t give a crap about her or Willow. He just does whatever Daddy tells him to, so it’s Frank we need to get to.”
“Frank’s up for re-election this year. He isn’t going to want this getting out,” Ty realised and I nodded my agreement. “What do you need me to do?”
“Just watch my back. I doubt Frank or Edward will do anything at such a high profile event, but there have been whispers of Frank Foster using underhanded techniques to get his way before, and he’s really not gonna like my threats tonight. I could ruin his whole career if these pictures get out,” I explained.
“You sure you shouldn’t have had more guys here? You know I’ve got your back, but I’m not Parker,” Tyler worried.
“I want it to stay between family as much as possible, for Maddie’s sake. She’s been through enough.”
“You like her.” It wasn’t a question. Tyler had always been perceptive and I was pretty sure my feelings for Maddie were all over my face because of how much I was worrying about her.
“She’s a friend. I just want her and Willow to be safe,” I hedged.
“And are they?”
