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“Yes,” she whispers. Her fingers curl on the edge of the cushion. “Kenneth would threaten me. ‘Don’t make me go to Jean Claude about you. He kills people who fuck with him.’”
“Oh my God,” Cat murmurs but Abbie doesn’t look at her. She focuses on Reese.
“I really didn’t think he’d kill him,” she says, “but now I sound really guilty.”
Reese studies her for an eternal second and no one pushes him. Reese wasn’t joking about his moral compass. He doesn’t represent people he doesn’t trust or believe to be innocent. He stands up and walks a few steps before he turns to face us, his hands settling on his hips. “Did you know any names? Was there someone Jean Claude was supposed to have killed?”
“No,” Abbie says. “It wasn’t like that. It was more my ex talking big. He did a lot of talking big. Like I said, he used Jean Claude to scare me.”
“Fuck,” I murmur. “If he wasn’t dead, I’d fucking kill him.”
“Amen to that,” Reid adds.
“I might help,” Carrie chimes in. “What an asshole.” She slides her hand to Reid’s. “Thank God you got away from that man before he pulled you down.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Reese says, tuning us out, and focusing solely on Abbie, “if this gets pointed your direction. It may not. We’ll prepare tomorrow. We’ll be ready for anything.”
Abbie breathes out. “Then you’re still with me?”
“I’m with you,” Reese says, with no hesitation, but the lines of his face are drawn tight, his tone harrowed. I know this man. He’s worried for us. I wasn’t. I knew there was nothing that could come back on us, but Abbie’s past with her ex is riddled with motives. And mine is riddled with my father, who won’t just go the fuck away. It might be time to start to get worried.
Chapter sixty
Gabe
I’m still contemplating the levels of hell my father might travel to drag us there with him when Cat pops to her feet, drawing everyone’s attention as she exclaims, “I see everyone in this room worrying right now and this is ridiculous. We need to just go talk to dad and end this.”
Abbie casts me a hopeful look. “Is that an option? I didn’t think that was an option.”
“No,” I say, at the same time as Reid and now the entire room is standing.
“You’re not going to see your father,” Reese orders, on his feet and catching Cat’s hand, grounding her right here in their home. “You and our baby don’t need that stress.”
“Worrying like this is stressful,” she replies. “Let’s just end it.” She twists around to face us all. “End it. Let’s confront him.”
“If anyone was going to confront him, it would be me,” Reid replies. “I’m not personally involved. He sees me as the cold-hearted bastard I can be.”
“Neither am I,” Cat argues. “I’m not involved.”
“When you get involved, we look rattled,” I interject. “He doesn’t need to see us as rattled.”
“Exactly,” Reid states. “Calculated is more like it, and calculated means we wait to see what Blake has to say about any tricks he might have played to frame us.”
“We don’t need to give him ideas,” I agree. “For all we know, the police are looking at him right now.” I eye Cat’s belly pointedly. “Protect what’s important. Reid and I will deal with our bastard of a father who should be protecting you, too, but won’t.”
The doorbell rings. “That’s Abbie’s mother,” Reid says. “Walker has the security clearance to bring her up.”
I turn to Abbie, my hands settling on her shoulders. “Be strong and she’ll be strong.”
“I will be,” she promises. “I don’t want her to panic.”
“You also need to allow Reese to talk to her without you protecting her. Just like I had to do with you.”
“Yes,” Reese states. “I need to be clear, Abbie. I’m representing you with the family right now. I’m not promising to represent your mother. I met her at the shelter. I liked her, but I need to talk to her before I make a commitment.”
“Thank you for considering her as a client,” Abbie says. “She’s a good person, but she’s also—”
“Abigail!”
