“She showed up randomly and Dad lost his shit. They’ve been yelling for the last ten minutes or so,” he said, glancing down the hall in the direction of the yells.
I let out a sigh and shook my head. Just once I’d have liked for a night to have not gone to complete shit after having fun.
“Come on; let’s go see what the Wicked Witch of the West wants this time.” I headed in the direction of the yelling, Wes following right behind me.
Kathy and Lucas were standing by the front door, yelling at each other. “I cannot believe the nerve of you, you traitorous bitch. All the times, I defended you to my own damned sons, and they were right all along. I should’ve listened to them sooner and tossed you out on your ass out the door long ago.”
“Oh, please. You sit there and play the victim like your hands are clean. I know all about your little side projects. I know all about that little tramp you brought into the house.” She grinned at Lucas, who stood there, his body rigid and his hands balled into fists. “Oh yes, I know her little secret. I bet quite a few people would just love to know who she is, don’t you think?”
Wes tensed behind me, but I ignored him. Instead, I stalked the rest of the way down the hallway. Lucas and Kathy both looked at me with surprise when I walked over to them and neither moved until my hand swung out and connected with Kathy’s cheek. She dropped to the ground immediately, clutching at her face.
“I’m tired of listening to your bullshit,” I told her. “Since Lucas is too much of a gentleman to ever hit a woman, I figured I’d save him the trouble. I don’t give a fuck what you know or who you tell it to. Your skank ass isn’t welcome here, and you can either leave now on your own, or I can just keep hitting your bitch ass.”
Kathy stared at me in horror, and then started to scramble backward away from me. There was already a bright red mark having formed on her cheek. I had no doubt it’d be an ugly black and blue in a couple of hours. When she finally managed to get to her feet, she glared at me and pointed with a shaky finger. “Y...you bitch! How dare you! You’ll pay for that, you know. I’ll see to it!”
I didn’t bother responding. I just took a step forward and raised my hand again, making her back away and cower. She quickly got the front door open, and then fled outside, slamming it shut behind her. Then I let out a sigh and turned to Lucas with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, but she had it coming.”
Lucas chuckled and nodded, giving me a half-smirk. “That she did. Apparently, she’s been spying on me for a while.” Lucas sighed and looked over at Wes. “I guess I owe you and Chuck an apology. I should’ve listened to you guys instead of just dismissing everything.”
“She’s been spying on you?” Wes’s eyes went wide; then, they flashed with anger as his hands balled into fists. “What does she know?”
“Well, she knows the truth about Bella’s father, in case you didn’t catch that. But it sounded like she also knows about some of the work I’ve done for Carter, helping keep him off the radar from both the other cartels and the government over the years.”
“Can she do anything with that information? Can she prove anything?” Wes wasn’t just angry now. I could see the fear in his eyes. If Lucas had been helping hide and aid a cartel lord, it could very easily come back to bite them all on the ass, not just Lucas and not just me.
“I doubt it. I’ve gone to great lengths to keep my involvement with Carter purely personal. I’m sure the cartels already know about me, but as far as they know, I’m just a friend of his.”
“What about the business? If she leaks info to the Feds, can they come after you? You’ve got a lot of government contracts, don’t you?”
Lucas shrugged. “She can try. They won’t find anything. Any work I ever did for Carter was done offsite, and there wouldn’t be any way to tie it back to the company.” He smirked at his middle son. “I do know how to do my job, you know.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Wes said with a chuckle. Then his eyes flashed over to me and he was serious again. “What about Bella? If she really does know the truth about her father, that means she’ll become a target, doesn’t it?”
Lucas’s smirk dropped as he nodded. When they both looked at me, their gazes made me squirm. I really didn’t like having both of them looking at me like that. “I’d suggest you guys lay low for a while. Stick around the house or at school as much as possible. And I wouldn’t go anywhere alone.”
I let out a breath and nodded. I didn’t like essentially being put under house arrest, but Lucas was right. If Kathy did manage to tell the cartels who I was, then it was very likely they might come after me. The school and the neighborhood had security; at least, though I was sure someone dedicated could get around it. No sense in tempting fate, I figured.
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Wes promised, reaching over to put an arm across my shoulders. He smirked and winked at me, making me roll my eyes. “I’ll make sure Jax and Hunter keep an eye out for her too.”
“Good.” He reached out and patted Wes on the back, then smiled at me. “Did you make a decision about your father? Do you want to talk with him?”
I let out a sigh, then nodded. “Sure, I don’t see why not. It’s not like talking to him is going to make things any worse than they already are.”
“Then I’ll arrange for it sometime this week.” Then, he walked over and pulled me into a hug. I was surprised at first since while he’d always been friendly, he’d never really been affectionate. “I really am sorry about Kathy. I’ll do everything I can to help keep you safe, okay?”
“Thanks,” I said, hugging him back. Lucas was the first person in a long time who really felt like a father figure to me. And he was the first one who hadn’t taken me in just because he was screwing my mother. When we broke the hug, I nodded toward the stairs. “Now, if everyone’s done, I need a shower to get all this saltwater off me.”
“That sounds like a good idea!” Wes said with a grin. I elbowed him in the ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs and causing him to look sheepishly at me.
“I don’t want to know,” Lucas said as he walked passed us in the direction of his office. The moment he was out of sight, I turned and glared at Wes.
I was purposely trying not to let his father know what was going on between the two of us. Obviously, he knew something was going on, but he really didn’t need to know the details. Neither did Wes’s brothers, for that matter, but apparently Wes didn’t care who knew everything.
“Just for that, you’re showering by yourself,” I whispered as I headed up the stairs.
Chapter 19
Wes reached over and took my hand in his, squeezing it gently. My heart was pounding, and I could barely sit still in the uncomfortable wooden chair. It was a couple of days after the altercation with Kathy. Wes and I were both sitting in a small conference room at Lucas’s firm, waiting for the call with Carter.
Lucas was there with us, as was a man Lucas introduced as my father’s attorney. Lucas had set up the meeting as if Carter was just having a privileged conversation with his lawyer. As such, the government wouldn’t be able to legally record or listen in to the conversation. And just to make sure they didn’t try to do it illegally, Lucas had arranged to have the calls encryption scrambled to keep any prying eyes from peeking in on us.