Montaña del Cielo. Heaven’s Mountain. It was on that mountain that Montez had written his manifesto about freedom for all people, decrying the very capitalism that had granted him the money to buy the island in the first place.
Montez’s story was the thing of legend. And it would also make an excellent documentary someday since Montez had at least three wives and a whole lot of exotic animals in his own personal “paradise.”
“Well, enjoy yourself because when I get there tomorrow afternoon we’re going to work our asses off.” He had one week to get what he needed. Or to convince Eddie that his crazy dad’s life was a brilliant story and he should keep the nature preserve he’d built intact for future generations. Montez had been eccentric, but he’d cared about the people on his island and the wildlife there. “My flight takes off in about eight hours, and I’ll contact you when we land.”
“I’m…forward to seeing…again.” The call started to go in and out, proof that any cell service on the island would be unreliable.
And then the line went dead, Luis obviously losing the signal.
David frowned and set down his cell. “I didn’t get a chance to tell him Kyle’s not coming. The last time I talked to him I told him there would be two of us.” He was going to convince Ian that all of this was unnecessary. It was one thing for Kyle to tag along, but he wasn’t about to ruin someone else’s vacation because his mom was paranoid. And it wasn’t like he would be alone. Luis would be with him. He was fairly certain his mom wouldn’t see his twenty-two-year-old assistant as a proper guard, but there was safety in numbers.
“You’re crazy if you think you’re going in alone.” Hutch yawned. “If MaeBe says there’s talk about you on the Dark Web, there’s talk about you on the Dark Web. I mean, if you want to write a book about being kidnapped and held for ransom, this would be a great way to get some research in.”
“No one wants to kidnap me.”
“Maybe they don’t want to but they have to,” Hutch countered. “They probably don’t even like their jobs. Who would? It’s a pain in the ass to kidnap someone. I should know. I worked for the Agency for a while, and then there’s every single bachelor party we have around here. It always starts with trying to make the dude crap his pants and ends up with someone vomiting. It’s why I’m not having one. Of course, if I was me, I wouldn’t care that I wasn’t having a bachelor party. I would still kidnap me in revenge for all the shit I’ve done before. I have to think about that. Do you think sincere apologies would work? My fiancée bought like fifty pounds of good card stock for our save-the-date cards. I could use those. Apparently good card stock makes things seem more serious.”
Luckily the door came open and Ian strode in. Sean’s brother was practically a superhero, if superheroes had potty mouths and were sarcastic. So he was Deadpool. The point was Ian Taggart was a larger-than-life hero. Many of the men and women who worked here were. Who had Tessa been engaged to? Which one of the super-muscular, knew-how-to-kill-a-man-fifty-different-ways dudes had she been in love with?
“All right. I’ve got everything set up. Hutch, when MaeBe gets back have her send me a full-on report on everything she’s got on the threat to my not-nephew,” Ian said. “Your Red Vines are safe.”
Hutch hopped out of the chair and gave the boss a jaunty salute. “I wasn’t worried about the vines, Tag. I was worried about where you would shove them. I’m a taken man now, and all of my bits are reserved for my gorgeous girl. Also, there’s someone named Luis we’re going to have to do a background check on because Kyle’s workup doesn’t even mention him.”
“He’s my assistant. Kyle’s met him. He’s been working with me for months.” There was a reason his mom was paranoid. She’d been around security guys for way too long.
“Yeah, see, most of the time the bad guy doesn’t show up at the last minute twirling his long mustache,” Hutch said. “So I’ll run a background check.”
Was he serious? “It’ll be a waste of time.”
“Big Tag will tell you there is nothing I love more than to waste time,” Hutch replied confidently. “It’s my favorite hobby.”
Ian nodded. “It’s on his employee review every single time. Please, David, waste Hutch’s time.”
David sighed. “His name is Luis Vasquez. He’s a student at UTD employed by the history department. I don’t know his Social Security number or anything like that.”
Hutch waved that off. “No need. I don’t need numbers. Good luck not getting kidnapped, man.”
Hutch was a weird dude.
Ian sat down across from him. “Hutch is going to be wishing he had that luck. I happen to know how his bachelor party’s going to go.”
“He said he wasn’t having one.”
Ian’s lips quirked up in a slightly evil grin. “He’s not the one planning it. It’s okay. We’re calling this party Karma Comes for Hutch. It’s probably not illegal. Mostly.”
He did not envy Hutch. But he kind of wanted to go to that party. “I’m sorry this is such a pain in the ass. I didn’t mean it to be.”
“No, you meant to do your thing and not have anyone notice.” Ian’s grin had faded. “Are you and Sean okay? You were quick to point out we’re not family.”
Fuck. He hadn’t meant to do that. “I know we are, but it’s not the same. Ian, you have to know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and for Kyle. And definitely for my mom.”
“But you get upset if someone mistakenly calls Sean your dad.” Ian let a moment pass while David fumbled for what to say. “He loves you, you know.”
The big guy could make him uncomfortable on every level. He was sarcastic as hell one minute and talking about his feelings the next. Often in a weird way, but the earnest Ian knocked him for a loop.
This was Ian the dad. Ian was dadding him.
It made his tongue way looser than normal. “It would be easy to slide into that because Sean has been good to me over the years. But I was an adult when they got married.”
“You were in college. You weren’t an adult, but I understand. It would have been different if they’d married while you were a kid.”
It was more than that. “If I called Sean Dad, it feels like I erase my real dad. I’m not trying to push Sean away or keep something from him. My parents didn’t divorce. My father died and for a long time it was me and my mom and Kyle, and despite the fact that my dad was gone, he was still there, you know?”
Ian nodded. “And then Sean comes in and your mom doesn’t talk about your dad anymore.”
“There’s no blame here,” David promised. “I’m glad she’s happy, but I sometimes wonder if she remembers him at all.”
Ian sat back with a sigh. “I’m sure she does. Look, David, you’re in a hard situation.”
He shook his head. “I’m not. My mom’s happy. Sean’s good to her, and he’s great to my siblings.”
“But you don’t know where you fit in this big family of ours, and sometimes you wonder if you want to fit at all.” Ian summed up the situation nicely. “I can understand that. We’re loud and overwhelming at times, and I can be a massive ass. I know. It’s shocking that I have so much self-awareness, but it’s true. You’ve watched your mom fall in love with someone who was very different from your father, and you have to wonder about that, too.”