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“Fuck,” Ethan said. “He told him?”
“Who?” Rhodes asked.
“Uh, his boyfriend,” Ink said.
“Fred?” Cate asked.
“Fred,” Ink said grimly.
“Are you saying Fred did this?” Ethan asked. He jumped to his feet and started pacing. “But that’s not his style. He’s usually more, um, direct in his approach.”
What did that mean? Confused, she looked over at Rhodes, who just shrugged.
“Well, it does have some poetic justice,” Ink said. “They’ve lost their standing with the church and the town. And they’re looking at a lot of jail time. They’ll be miserable for years.”
“I’m happy with that,” Rhodes said darkly. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to hire someone to look into them. I should have done that years ago.”
“In fairness, it wasn’t easy,” Ink said. “Brody is good at what he does, but I think he had some extra help. He won’t tell me, though.”
Ink didn’t look happy about that.
“There’s still the cousin, though,” Ethan said. “James.”
After telling Zippy about the scar on her lip, she’d decided to tell Ethan what happened. To say he’d been furious was an understatement.
“No, there’s not.” Ink shook his head. “Apparently, he was the mastermind. He tried to skip town, but a few hours later turned himself in. Said some crazy man was hiding in his car and threatened to disembowel him.”
Holy. Moly.
Rhodes took her hand in his. “They’ve all been arrested.”
Only Rhodes could know what this truly meant to her. To know that they were no longer living happy and free.
It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
“Yep,” Ink replied, taking a seat in an armchair.
“I’m both pissed and happy at the same time,” Ethan said. “I wanted to be the one to take them down. But ultimately, all that matters is that they’re fucking miserable.”
“You didn’t tell me that you asked Brody to do that,” Cate said to him.
“Or me,” Rhodes said.
Ethan walked over and crouched in front of Cate. “Are you mad at me, baby? I just couldn’t live knowing they weren’t going to pay. And I didn’t want to make you an accomplice in case we had to . . . embellish things.”
“I understand. I don’t like you keeping things from me, though.”
“I know. I just wanted you to be safe. I would have told you eventually.”
“I guess I understand. I just can’t believe they’ve finally been dealt with. If feels surreal.”
“I have to go.” Ink stood. “But I’ll keep you guys updated if anything changes.”
Rhodes got up. “I’ll walk out to the car with you.”
They stepped out the front door and Ethan stood and pulled her up. Then he sat with her on his lap.
“Baby, are you sure you’re not mad at me? I just want you to be happy and safe. And I couldn’t sleep knowing they were getting away with what they did to you.”
