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“No,” I shook my head, but deep down, I knew he was right. “I called because I need your help.”
“You know you have it, you’ve always had it. Tobias, you are a son to me, anything you need. Anything I can do, all you have to do is say the words.”
“Your men. The ones guarding the house. We need two good ones.”
“Done,” he answered, then added. “But I want you to be careful on this, Tobias. Those men are dangerous. The connections…the reach. It’s not like what you’re used to. Hell, it's not even like what I’m used to.”
There was fear in his words, real fear. The kind of fear I never thought I’d hear from someone like Benjamin Rossi. I knew he’d gone to help Lazarus and I also knew the asshole was tied up with the man who owned The Order. “Laz?”
“Is safe,” he said, and a hard rush of air filled my ear. “As is Katerina VanHalen. But Hale is a man who’s savage and dangerous, and right now he’s licking his wounds. You don’t want to cross a man like that. You don’t want him as an enemy.”
My mind was racing, searching. “You spoke about that guy, King. He seems to be the kind of man Hale doesn’t want as an enemy.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
That thrumming in my head only grew louder. “And you can’t reach out to this King? To see if there's a way to get her dad out?”
“I’ve reached out, but so far, I haven’t heard anything back. But everything I’ve heard about this guy tells me he’s a ghost. It’s just whispers.”
“But he’s invested, right? He’s invested in her dad.” There was silence on the other end, the kind of silence that made me pull the phone from my ear and check the connection. But the timer was still counting. “Ben?”
“Her dad isn’t the real reason for this guy’s investment. One of the few things Jack told me about him was that the man only helped him because of Ryth.”
“Ryth?” My blood ran cold. “Why?”
“He never told me.”
I forced the words through gritted teeth. “And you didn’t push?”
“How the hell was I to know she’d be important to you? As far as I knew, it was a private matter from one of my closest friends, he asked me to stay out of it, so I respected his wishes.”
How was he to know? How were any of us to have known?
“All I remember was that King wanted to meet her.”
The words rocked me backwards. He wanted to meet her, had set up private deals and threatened those bastards to get her free. A man like that, tied to others like Haelstrom Hale, only meant one thing…he wanted Ryth for himself.“That’s never going to happen.” My words were hollow and strange. “Do you understand me? That’snever…going…to…happen.”
“I understand,” Ben answered, and for a second, I forgot who this was. I forgot this man loved me like a father, like a real father and not the kind that’d kill his own blood to save his skin. “Dad was…”
“Weak.”
I swallowed hard. “Yeah, he was.”
“I’ll never betray you, Tobias, you don’t have to worry about that from me.”
Relief slammed into me. “I know.”
“Good. I’ll have my men ready, all you have to do is say the word and, son.”
“Yeah?”
“When this is done, I want you back. I want you to put whatever beef you have with Lazarus behind you and I want you back, okay?”
Fuck. My throat tightened, the lump too big for me to speak. I could only nod. Maybe that was enough. Maybe that was all he expected as he continued. “Blood means nothing. Not when your heart is on the line. Protect yourself, son. Protect yourself and keep your family safe. Call me if you need anything else.”
“I will,” I croaked, then lowered the phone and ended the call.
TWENTY-NINE
