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“Keep your mouth shut,” Lacy hissed. “You’re not getting away with this land. I already have a fun little surprise waiting for Nash, so this’ll be a nice little cherry on top. I warned you that I don’t forgive easily. Your twin’s about to feel a lot of pain for what he did to me. Both of you will.” Lacy turned to Crawley and Stein. “What are you waiting for? Get him.”
Porter noticed that Crawley and Stein kept glancing over at Trout for permission. Trout gave a single nod. “Go… I’ve got my own score to settle with Nash. You make him sorry that he ever thought to mess with me.” They grunted in affirmation and jogged for their cars. “Wait!” Trout called after them. “After you’re through with him, pay him back for what he did with Eva. We’re not forgetting what he did, either. I pay my debts.”
Porter groaned. Nashhadtangled with his daughter. And what about Emily? Sweet Emily! Had his twin really lost interest in her after embroiling her in the scandal of the century? River was going to kill him… if these guys didn’t first! Even knowing that his brother was a lousy player, Porter couldn’t just let Lacy and Trout and the rest of his lackeys go at him. “Stop!” Porter shouted. “You’re taking this too far. Just deal with me.”
Lacy scowled at him. “Ah, such a brave little Romeo, going up against the big guys, all for your sweet little girl. Did I tell you that she agreed to come home with me?”
Of course she didn’t. Did she? Lacy seemed so sure.
“Shewasso worried about you,” Lacy said. “Of course, she didn’t want you to know how much she was using you. Women are funny that way. I just received word from a few ‘friends’ that she’s at that concert, waiting for me. You think I should have Crawley and Stein pick her up, too? Yeah? I mean, I can’t do withoutmyAngel. She’s always by my side when I’m doing business—my little good luck charm.”
“Leave her alone,” Porter growled.
Lacy was enjoying this. He smiled. “I’m sure she’ll come. She’ll want to seeme.”
Porter wanted to tear his head off. Belatedly, he noticed that Trout’s frown had somehow sunk further into his face to form a deep grimace. “You talk about some other woman like that in front of my daughter?” Trout huffed out.
Lacy whipped around. The surprise lifting his brows showed that he just realized that he’d made a big mistake. “Sorry,” he said.
Trout nodded at one of his men, who pulled out a diamond earring. “We found this in your Mercedes, Lacy.”
“Who’s we?” Annoyance ran across Lacy’s face. “Who was going through my car?”
“You question me? I’ve been hearing a few disturbing things about you and my daughter, and I sent a few men out to investigate.”
“Daddy!” Eva piped up again. “I can manage my own life!”
“Wait.” Lacy held out his hands as it was becoming abundantly clear that he was the one that Trout had come to confront. “That spoiled brat of yours has never been in my car…”
Eva caught her breath in outrage—too dramatically done to be real. Porter’s eyes narrowed at her act. Was this what West had been talking about? He said that Eva might be able to help them, but it would cost them.
Trout quivered with rage. “You can’t talk your way out of this one, Lacy! Eva finally admitted that she was with you.”
“Then she’s a liar.”
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Trout’s face turned the exact shade of an eggplant. “You’re calling my little dove a liar? Everyone knows what you are—a womanizer and a cheat… with a baby on the way, and I wouldn’t trust you with a dog. You think you can mess with my daughter, too?”
That left Lacy stuttering in indignation.
Eva wrung her hands. “Don’t worry, Daddy,” she said with sudden spirit. “I made him sorry. I left a mark on his cheek to remind him to never touch me again.”
That was a nice little detail. Porter wondered how long she’d been practicing that.
Trout growled low in his throat as he faced Lacy. “That’s nothing to what I’m going to do with your face, boy. It’s been needing a little rearranging!”
Lacy stepped back, motioning for the rest of his men to take one for the team and cover him. To their credit, his men moved to action, though with unsure eyes. “You touch me and I’ll sue you sideways,” Lacy warned Trout.
“Oh, I won’t touch you… I’ll do worse. Much worse! I made some calls. All your investors are pulling out. No one is willing to work with you now. You’re ruined. Ruined!” Lacy’s face went white as Trout started shooting off the names of all the huge investors that dropped out due to his “concerns.” “Even BlackMoon backed off! You’re done for.”
“You can’t do this to me.” Lacy whipped around to Eva. “I’ll get you for this, you little tease.”
That was too much for Trout. Threats of lawsuits or not, he lunged at Lacy, his meaty palms clawing through the air as Lacy’s men jumped between them like kamikazes.
“Daddy!” This time Eva’s voice was filled with real concern. “Don’t hurt yourself!”
Loud grunts from men doing their best to keep Trout back without incurring his wrath filled Funches’s junkyard. That sound was followed by fists thumping against skin while Eva screamed out for everyone to stay calm.
Funches’s friends sprang back from the table, snickering through their thick fingers.
