Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
He couldn’t love her, but if he could love their son, she had to give him the chance to. She had to try to at least be friendly with him.
Remy Guidry strode in with Riley Blade and Shane Landon at his back. “We’ve handled the police. Told them it was some prankster trying to pull one over on the doc. They were happy to let us deal with it internally.”
Because they had a million things to do. If they thought for a second it wasn’t serious, the police would move on to real problems.
Of course, they couldn’t know how real her problem had become.
“I don’t understand why I’m needed in this meeting.” Sadie was being herded into the conference room by a steely-eyed Liam.
She knew that look. They were in a whole lot of trouble.
“You’re here because I asked Li to invite you, Sadie.” Ian Taggart sat at the head of the table, leaning back and looking way more intimidating than he had when he’d been hoarding his sweets. There was no glint in his eyes now. The blue had turned an icy color. “Please sit down. We’re going to have a talk. You might not be my niece by blood, but you are family because Grace is my family.”
Sadie frowned and sank into the chair on the other side of Steph. “And I love my aunt and uncle.”
“Then why do you seem intent on giving them both freaking heart attacks? You do understand that I have to tell my brother what happened here today. I can’t get around it.” Ian stood, leaning over the table a bit like a cobra waiting to strike. “Coffee? You went after a known killer with two cups of frigging coffee?”
Damn that man was scary when he wanted to be. Even Sadie shrank back a bit.
“It was all I had,” Sadie replied.
“Where the hell was the damn pistol I made sure you knew how to use?” Ian asked.
She winced. “I didn’t take my purse because it’s heavy.”
Charlotte sighed. “That was the wrong answer, hon.”
“I’ll make sure your damn purse is easy for you to carry then,” Ian said. “We’ll go through it together. You and me. We can dump all the frilly girly shit. Or better yet, Remy, I believe Sadie will be joining you for afternoon workouts from now on. Pay special attention to her shoulders so she can carry her damn bag around.”
“Have ya heard the term too stupid to live, you two?” Li joined in, standing next to Ian.
This was what it meant to have an overbearing dad. Yeah, she hadn’t had one of those. Her dad had been laid back, allowing her mom to do most of the work. She’d had a mom who’d believed in logic and quiet discussion.
“I am not too stupid to live,” Sadie shot back, her former fear seeming to evaporate. “I knew exactly what I was doing. I snuck up on him and made sure he didn’t take Stephanie, and now you can totally ID him because he’s going to need medical attention. Unless one of the big bad boys managed to catch him.”
There was a whole lot of silence from the boys.
Li and Big Tag looked at each other for a moment and then Ian sighed.
“Adam, start checking the ERs.” He pointed a finger Sadie’s way. “You don’t get caught without a gun again. I am responsible for you until your uncle can marry you off. I’m helping him find a list of qualified candidates and everything.”
“That’ll be the day,” Sadie replied, more chipper now. “Now, it’s after hours and I have my own things to take care of. I’ve already typed up a whole report on how everything went down and I think you’ll find that it’s more detailed than anyone else’s. So I think I was good in the field.”
“Absolutely not.” Ian shook his head in pure horror. “I am not telling my brother that I made his niece an operative.”
She stood up and straightened out her skirt. “Someday. Now, I have work to do. Let me know if you need anything else.”
Sadie winked her way before she walked out.
Ian slumped into his seat. “That girl is going to kill me. It was easier when Grace was here. She ran the office and didn’t once try to take out the bad guys all on her own. I don’t understand this generation.”
Charlotte smiled. “I view it as practice for our own girls. They’ll be way worse than Sadie. Now that the men have stopped yelling, are you all right, Steph?”
“I’m fine.” Except for the fact that her biggest mistake was sitting beside her.
Could she trust him with Nate? It wasn’t Brody’s fault that he couldn’t love her. She had to throw away all her anger with him when it came to their son. He hadn’t known. He’d been a bastard, but he seemed to want to know Nate.