Lyon's Heart (27 page)

“We’re looking at this thing
from two different angles. You’re talking about the law and doing
shit the right way. I’m talking about this bitch coming here and
fucking with my family, fuck the law. She brought this shit to my
front door, there’s no fucking way.”

“Colton listen to me son,
you can’t deal with things this way, there has to be a better way
to handle conflict.”

“That’s your deal not mine,
do you think she ran them off the road for sport? She was trying to
fucking kill them, what the fuck?”

“I understand that but what
I’m telling you, is that there’s a better way than just leading
with anger. What do you plan to do, off her?”

I didn’t answer him but I’m
pretty sure the look I gave him was answer enough.

“Son, you can’t, you just
can’t. And I can’t know anything about this. I’m the law for crying
out loud.”

“I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

“Colton, stop and think. You
don’t want this on your hands, just please give me time to look
into it.”

“Are you going to arrest her
for what happened today?”

“We can’t because we don’t
have any evidence. The one kid who saw the whole thing got scared
and drove off, he only came back when he heard the sirens but by
then the perpetrator was long gone. All he remembers is a dark four
door sedan, no plates no model, nothing. Now we could drive around
the city looking for a car that fits the description but I’m pretty
sure this person already ditched it. We’re checking the data base
for stolen cars fitting the description and the rental places here
and the next town over but that’s all we can do for
now.”

I could stand here and argue
with him all day but what’s the point? He had his own ideas about
how to handle shit and I had mine.

“Thanks for stopping by,
I’ll talk to Cy.”

He looked at me like he knew
everything he said went in one ear and out the other. My only
concern was making sure that whatever the fuck I did never got on
his radar.

“Where are the
girls?”

“The baby’s asleep and Kat’s
upstairs with her.”

“She upset?”

“Yep.”

“I’m gonna go up and see
them, you and your guys stay cool. I don’t want to have to arrest
anyone.”

“We’re cool, no worries.” My
ass.

My boys waited until he was
gone to start talking again.

“What’s up boss?”

“Nothing new really, except
I forgot to mention the tracker she put on my wife’s
jeep.”

“Damn, who is this
chick?”

“That’s what we’re going to
find out.”

Cy showed up not long after
and Drake was right, he was pissed. I had to calm him down because
my man went into military mode. He was usually the level headed one
in the bunch. A good influence, I guess you could say on the rest
of us hotheaded young’uns as he calls us. Not this time.

“I dropped the ball last
time Colt, not this time. I was there when the kid was giving his
report, sent chills down my spine. Someone intentionally ran them
off the road, a young mother and her baby. What’s this world coming
to?”

“I know Cy but I don’t want
you worrying about this Drake’s already on my ass about keeping my
crew calm…”

“He’s her dad but he’s the
law, his hands are tied. She’s as much mine now Colt, do you
understand? Not many young women would’ve done what she did for me
that day on the side of the road. Look at my life Colt, I live in
that nice home your mother calls a guesthouse that could sleep six
easy. I have food in my belly and a nice warm bed to lay my head
down at night and it’s all because of that little girl upstairs.
You’ve been a big part of that too but we both know if your Kat
hadn’t stopped that day, I wouldn’t even have registered on your
radar.”

“I know how you feel Cy, but
what you don’t understand is that you’re mine now too, like Daniel
and Elena. I wouldn’t let them get involved in this shit either. I
take care of my own. Let me and the boys work it please, if
anything happened to you it would destroy Kat.”

“What’s going to happen to
me? You think I’m afraid of one little girl who’s lost her damn
mind?”

“No, but we don’t know what
we’re dealing with yet. We have no idea who she is, why she’s here
and if she’s working alone. You can keep searching online for
missing persons that match her description. You’ve seen her
right?”

“Nope, haven’t seen her yet
but I can go from a general description I guess.”

“Okay, that’ll help me out a
lot.” I gave him what he needed and he hung around with us for a
few before shuffling off home to do what I asked.

Drake hung around upstairs
for about an hour while we kicked around ideas about how to get the
mystery woman out of her apartment. As much as I would like to just
go over there and cut her fucking head off, that would be a shit
fuck thing to do with Drake onto me. I couldn’t get my boys
involved in that shit and there was no way they were going to let
me do this shit alone now. Fuck.

“Look, it’s Xmas eve, why
don’t we have your mom and her girls call her under the pretense of
going shopping?”

“I don’t want her around my
mother.”

“Yes, but if your mom knows
what you’re doing, she would be careful. Besides, she’ll have her
girls with her there isn’t much the chick can do.”

“I don’t know, too much
could go wrong.”

“It’s either that, or have
her invite her to the house.”

“Fuck that. I don’t want her
there either, this shit is fucked.”

We were still throwing
around ideas, when Drake came back down and said his goodbyes. Not
once did I give his idea of waiting a shot. She wasn’t spending one
more night in my fucking town that was too close for
comfort.

“Let’s go. Let me go tell
Kat we’re leaving and I’ll be right back.” I found her in the
nursery sitting in the rocking chair next to the crib. She had
tears in her eyes and the saddest face I’d ever seen her wear. I
wanted to hug my wife and tell her everything was going to be okay
but I was still too pissed at her. What the fuck have I been
telling her? It’s the holidays, let’s just concentrate on our kid
and forget everything else. She never fucking listens to shit, the
fuck.

“I’ll be right back, don’t
let anyone in the house, and don’t leave. I’ll try to get back in
time for you to not lose your fucking mind again.”

“Colt, I’m sorry I didn’t
think…”

“I’m not doing this shit
with you right now, just please look after my daughter until I get
back.” I know that’s fucking harsh but so the fuck what. I’m over
her shit.

I didn’t wait around to hear
any more of her excuses. I had shit to do, plus I couldn’t bare
that look on her face. Let me deal with this crazy bitch and then I
can concentrate on making her feel better about fucking up. Shit
this marriage fuckery is a minefield.

In the end, we went with
something simple. I had the super knock on the door and tell her
there was a gas leak in the building and she had to leave. Of
course we had to tell the other tenants the same thing to make it
look legit but what the fuck. Most of them weren’t home anyway.
Most normal human beings were out getting ready for the holiday.
According to the guys who were on her, she headed for the mall. I
decided to go in alone, the place wasn’t that big anyway. I could
toss it in an hour tops. I went in and headed straight for the
bedroom. Everything was neat and nothing looked suspicious. The
computer was sitting on the bed and left on. There was nothing
there but some shopping site. She had a cup sitting next to the bed
and her clothes were folded neatly on a chair. I opened the closet
door and that’s where I got my first break. She had three different
wigs in there in different shades. Red, black and some crazy
looking shit with spikes and colors. What the fuck did she need
that shit for, unless she was up to no good? I went through the
drawers but there was nothing in there but clothes. I went back to
the computer and tried getting into her email and shit but of
course everything was pass coded. I should’ve brought Paul with me.
He would know how to break into that shit. I could always steal it
but then she’d know someone was in here. This shit was beyond
frustrating. Char said she’d been acting suspicious and the wigs
were a dead giveaway for me but there was nothing here I could use.
As I was about to turn away the computer screen changed and my
heart dropped. Gotcha. I had what I came for but it just posed a
whole other set of problems fuck.

I called the guys that were
on her.

“Where is she?”

“Shopping.”

“Do you have eyes on
her?”

“Not at this moment no, she
went into the mall and started walking from store to store, then
she went into the changing room so we’re sitting outside, don’t
worry she has to pass us to get out what’s up?”

“She’s the master of
disguise. She could’ve passed you and you wouldn’t even know it.
Get into the store and make sure she’s there.” I grabbed the laptop
and hot footed it out the door.

I made one more call with my
heart in my throat.

“Kat, you two
okay?”

“Yes Colt, why”

She had a laugh in her voice
so at least she wasn’t still sitting in that room
crying.

“Don’t let anyone in the
house.” I didn’t want to tell her what I’d found over the phone,
she’d freak.

“I’m on my way. Should be
there in ten, baby, love you okay.” Now she started crying
again.

“Don’t cry baby,
everything’s going to be okay.

“Okay, love you too.” She
sent me kisses and hung up. I gave the guys a quick rundown before
hopping on my ride and heading for home.

I rode with one hand while
holding the laptop in the other and sped through the streets to get
home. I knew it all along, the gut never lies. I should probably
call my father in law and let him handle it but there was a lot to
think about before I went there. This shit could come back to what
went down in Arizona. I have to get my shit straight before I get
anyone else involved. If it was just me, I probably would say fuck
it and let Drake have at it. Then again, the thought of losing my
wife and kid did not sit well with me at all. There was no sign of
him and will never be, and Kat still hadn’t put anything together
about our trip. As far as she knew, it was just so she could visit
her mom. I’ve been keeping up with the news and nothing had been
uncovered so we were still in the clear there but I don’t know how
much this nut knows. I now had a pretty good idea why she’d
targeted my wife though. Fuck, this was going to set her
back.

I turned down my street and
my gut went on high alert. I throttled back without thought and
lifted the hand with the laptop to halt my guys who were fast on my
tail. We idled down the rest of the way. I hopped off my bike on
the street a little ways down from the house instead of pulling
into the driveway. The guys followed suit and came towards
me.

“I think she’s here, she’s
not at the fucking mall.”

“How do you want to do
this?” Jared was chomping at the bit to get at her but I had to
keep a cool head. I have no idea what’s waiting for me in there and
I can’t think about that fuckery right now or I’ll lose my
shit.

“I’m going in alone, through
the back. You guys surround the house and some of you head around
back to the fence line. If she’s not here already, she’s coming.
Don’t ask me how I know? I just do.”

I left them to follow orders
and took a deep breath as I geared myself up to deal with whatever
was waiting for me in there.

I eased around the back,
being as quiet as I could, and praying the whole time that just
this once my gut was wrong. I was going on pure instinct. Nothing
looked out of place, there was no screaming coming from inside, but
I knew. My heart threatened to stop on me when I thought about my
family in danger inside that house. I wanted to scream in rage but
I had to tamp down on that impulse. They’ll be time enough to let
off steam later. Taking a deep breath, I eased my way around to the
outer door. I saw my men getting into position, guns drawn. There
was no movement coming from inside, so I eased the sliding door
back as slowly as possible. I toed off my shoes after placing the
laptop on the table in the kitchen. Keeping to the wall, I eased my
way down the hallway. I heard the voices when I reached the
entrance to the living room. Please don’t have my kid in there.
That was all I could think of. I didn’t want her caught in the
middle of whatever this was.

“It’s all your fault, you
stupid bitch.”

“Please just let me put the
baby down and we can talk.”

Fuck, she had the
kid.

“No, give her to me. You
took my life now I’m going to take yours. I’m going to kill you and
the stupid kid and then guess what? I’m going to fuck your husband
before your body’s even cold in the ground.”