Page 57 of Lethal Weakness

“I know,” I state it so plainly that I watch the realization of my words hit her.

“They stuck a needle in my baby?”

I nod slowly, giving her time to digest the information.

“What did they do to her? Did they give her something?” She tries to pull away from me again, attempting to get to Avery, and this is the only time I’ll ever keep a momma bear away from her cub.

Linden wrestles her arm, attempting to get away, but I pull her into my chest easily, only making her more upset. “Get off!”

“Listen to me. Listen!” My clipped tone gets her attention. “You’re going to scare her. Let her think it was a bee.”

“And I’m supposed to just ignore–”

I cut her off. “I looked her over. She doesn’t seem to have anything in her system. She isn’t acting weird. A puncture that size was likely a 22-gauge needle, meaning they probably took blood.”

“Why?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

And that’s the truth. All that I know about the Scotts, I can’t fathom why they would do anything nefarious to their granddaughter. For what purpose?

“Paternity?” I guess.

“We did a paternity test right after she was born.”

She seems to have calmed, so I let my arms drop from her shoulders, and I don’t see it coming when she shoves me hard in the chest.

“Don’t ever stop me from getting to my daughter, ever again. And don’t try to stop me now.” She runs over to Avery and scoops her up, bee-lining straight for her car.

Shit.

“Linden, don’t.”

“Move one fucking inch, Jack, and I will hit you with my car,” she threatens, and dammit… I believe her.

This isn’t good. This is not good.

She’s going to barge into her in-laws and demand to know answers from people that are more devious than she even knows.

She’s going to tell them that her neighbor suspects them of their wrongdoing, and they’re going to get suspicious.

I leave the steaks burning as I rush inside to gear up, and barely take the time to turn the grill off as I run back through the backyard.

She’s going to beat me there, but I’m not letting her go in alone. Even if she does hate my guts right now.

I’ll be watching.

Chapter Twenty

Linden

“What the hell did you do to my daughter?” I demand, striding right into Merrill and Edmund’s den. I left Avery with the cook in the kitchen who could pass for someone’s grandmother, and I’m sure I’ll return to her halfway to a sugar coma.

“Excuse me?” Merrill acts as if she’s shocked that I’m here. But we both know that her security alerted them to my arrival a quarter mile down their driveway.

“You said she was stung by a bee! That was not a bee sting.”

“What makes you think you know the difference?”