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Hawk joined us a minute later. “What are we talking about?”
Rebel was the first to answer. “We’re all doing the mental math to figure out that Ash is Slate’s kid.”
Hawk looked at the little girl who laughed at Leo’s attempt to get the bulldog to stand on his hindlegs. “I mean, she looks just like him. That makes more sense than the eerie resemblance.” I glared at Hawk, and he shrugged. “You don’t see it?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t until I walked into the kitchen this morning and saw a miniature version of myself eating all the bacon.” It had been a shock even though I already knew she was my daughter. It made sense. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before then.”
“You didn’t have any clue?” Diesel asked the question, but his gaze was fixed on the kids.
“No. I mean there were a few moments where Emma reminded me of Vick, but her hair was short and blonde back then. She recognized me the moment I walked into her house.”
“But you just found out?” Rebel’s suspicious mind came to the forefront.
I nodded. “Last night something happened that made it hard for her to deny she was Vick.” I told them how she’d gone back to Steel City Tap to find me. “Bartenders begged her off and she figured she was doing me a favor by giving up.”
“And now?”
I shrugged. “Ash and I get along well, and Emma thinks her future is uncertain. Between the investigation into her husband’s disappearance and her brother-in-law harassing her, I think she wants to make sure Ash is taken care of if something happens to her.” It had taken an hour or two last night for my anger to fadeand to realize how hard it must’ve been for Emma being young and pregnant, vulnerable and susceptible to a predator like the man she married. I didn’t like it, but I understood it.
“And you don’t think this is all a littletooconvenient?” Rebel folded his arms as he stood two feet in front of me and watched. “Seriously.”
“No. If I hadn’t figured it out, I’m not sure how long she would’ve waited to tell me or if she would have at all.” That was the part that hurt the most. “She also told me to get a DNA test to ease my mind, so no I don’t think it’s merely convenient.”
Satisfied with my answer, Rebel nodded his approval. “Good. It’s better to be safe.”
“I know,” I bit out because I appreciated my brothers looking out for me.
“She’s newly widowed and without someone to take care of her,” he began.
“That asshole beat the fuck out of her whenever he could so I wouldn’t say she was taken care of when shewasmarried. She’d still be putting up with it if he hadn’t put his hands on Ash.”
Rebel’s gaze darkened and his hands balled into fists at my words. “Shit.” Rebel grew up with two parents who never hesitated to use their fists, their feet or whatever was handy to punish him for real and imagined crimes.
“Yeah.”
“So here we are again,” he groaned. “Knee deep in shit because of a woman.”
Rocky howled with laughter. “At least it’s just one pissed off PI.”
“And the whole fucking Sheriff’s Office,” I added. “She’s there now talking to Cross. Again.”
“You think the breadcrumbs will help?” Diesel had given me the greenlight to do my thing and make it look like Alex was still alive.
I shrugged. “They won’t arrest her with that thread still blowing in the wind, but I also don’t think they’ll give up that easily.” Despite being a piece of shit abuser, the guy was a respected doctor which meant that Cross couldn’t afford to let this remain unsolved. “I have a few ideas.”
“Good. Focus on that, but we need to deal with the brother-in-law. As long as he’s making noise about Emma, the cops won’t stop.”
“Diesel is right,” Rocky agreed. “We need to find a way to get that fucker to stop.”
“He’s in a lot of debt and until recently his brother has been bailing him out.”
“Gambling?”
“Some,” I confirmed. “Also has a spending problem. Living beyond his means and gambles to make up the gap but it doesn’t work often. No one told the asshole that the house always wins.”
“How the fuck do you live this close to the gambling capital of the nation, and you don’t know that fact?” Rebel shook his head in disgust. His lack of patience with gamblers is another piece of trauma from good ol’ mom and dad.
“Dirty and disgraced cop with a brother like Alex? Easy to see what drove him,” I mumbled as I watched Ash. My heart clenched at the sound of her laughter. I ached for what I’dmissed but I knew I had to find a way to keep her—and Emma—in my life for good.
