No. No one paid as well as the Steels. This didn’t make any sense, unless—
“You motherfuckers,” I said through clenched teeth.
Joe eyed me.
“They let him go, Joe. They fucking let him go.”
“Hey, we didn’t—”
I drove into Mills this time, slamming him against the wall. “Mercenaries. What did he offer you?”
“Nothing. He doesn’t have—”
“Bullshit. He might not have Steel money, but he’s rich. He was my father’s protégé. His real father was loaded too. What the fuck did he offer you?”
“You’ve got—”
“You gave him a car, didn’t you?” I tightened my hold. “Didn’t you?”
Joe had drawn his gun on Johnson by this time. “You’d better start spilling, or I’m going to start shooting. And I never miss.”
Chapter Fifty
Marjorie
“He said he and Bryce had something to attend to, and he’d be here as soon as he could.”
Melanie rocked baby Brad, trying to nurse him. “He’s starting to get it. He’s latching on, but it sure hurts.”
She smiled, though. Clearly she didn’t care about the slight pain. Who would? The baby was so beautiful, and he’d gained another ounce.
I didn’t want to worry Melanie, but something didn’t feel right. Bryce and Joe were walking into something that wasn’t going to end well. I felt it deep in my bones. I looked sideways at Jade. She and I had discussed what they might be up to during our drive to the hospital. I didn’t want her talking.
She didn’t.
As much as I loved seeing the baby and Mel, I was antsy to get moving. I wanted to get Jade safely home and then figure out how to get to Bryce and Joe before they did something stupid.
My brother was a big hothead, and so was Bryce when they were together. Both of them knew the dangers of what we were all dealing with, but leave it to the two of them to go running in without backup.
I tried not to check my phone too often. I didn’t want to be too obvious. Not that I thought Bryce would actually call me, but I had the urge to look at my phone anyway, even though the ringer was on. Call it a compulsion. It was better than cutting myself open.
Though my scar still tingled sometimes when I was tense, I’d kept the desire to slice myself open at bay. Perhaps it was my promise to be less self-indulgent. Perhaps I was conquering the problem. Or perhaps by helping Bryce with his self-indulgent behavior I had also helped myself.
Whatever it was, I felt an odd sort of loss. Nothing horrible or unbearable. Just the end of something that had given me a modicum of relief. The end of something that had been mine and no one else’s. Something that had served a purpose that no longer existed.
Strange, to mourn something that had only hurt me.
I could ask Melanie about it, but she was enjoying her son, and I didn’t want to ask her to work at the moment.
The scar tingling reminded me constantly that Bryce and Joe were out there, and they could be in danger.
I smiled. “You about ready, Jade?”
“Whenever you are.”
Great. That meant the decision to leave would be mine. I was hoping Jade might play the pregnancy exhaustion card. No such luck.
Minutes stretched into another hour. I took leave to get us all some drinks and tried calling Bryce.