“I don’t—please! They went, all of them. Oh, God, I don’t know anything!”
“Cyrus, I’m getting a call, man. One of my PIs. They must have something.”
I glare at the house manager, but fall silent as I listen to Tor speaking into his phone. He starts to grin part way through, and glances our way, shooting me an okay sign. When he signs off, he nods, then turns back to the door.
“Let’s go. I’m going to call in a favor. We’ve got a location. And a name. And I think we might just have leverage.”
Thirty minutes later, we’re through the iron gate at another estate. This one bigger, older, more fortified, but it’s not going to matter.
I slam my foot against the carved wood next to the iron door handle and the door cracks on the first kick, the lock buckling as it flies open.
There’s a group of about ten people standing in a living room to the left and they all spin and look my way.
There’s the priest, up front with a book open in front of him, eyes wide, as me and Tor and Chance step inside. No guns, we don’t need them, especially with the sheriff following us right inside.
“What the hell is this? This is a private wedding!” The groom—the guy Tor told me is called Alex—looks furious as he turns to Anna’s father. “If you did this, I’m going to—”
“Don’t say another word, sir,” the sheriff warns. “I don’t want to have to arrest you for terrorist threats.”
Anna looks frightened as she looks from Alex to her dad and back, then hisses at me, “You can’t be here. Go. Please. You’re making this so much worse.”
I shake my head, ignoring her words as I start towards her. She’s still glancing nervously at the groom, who I hope never got as far as saying “I do” or there’ll be hell to pay. She doesn’t understand what’s going on here, but she will. Very soon, she will.
I stomp between them, pushing him back with my ass and grabbing Anna by the back of the neck. “Tell me you didn’t vow anything to this fuck.”
“N—no. But that’s not… You have to go, Cyrus,” she whispers. “I’m marrying Alex. You have to let me do this, you don’t understand what’s going on.”
“Get out of here! It’s none of your fucking business,” Alex says and I spin and fling my fist up on a bent elbow, knocking my knuckles into his teeth, then just for effect, drive it upward, hearing him yelp as he doubles over. I glance over to see Tor stepping forward with the sheriff’s hand on his gun, shaking his head at the guy as his two security goons step back.
“Do you want to marry him?” I ask, only because I want her have her voice. I know the answer already and no fucking way she’s marrying him but I want her to be the one to tell everyone. “Baby, it’s all going to be all right, but you need to tell the truth. You’re a badass, baby. I got your back, now tell them.”
“Anna?” Her mother sounds mildly amused, as I shoot her dad a glare. If he tries to step in right now, the fucking sheriff’s going to have a homicide report on his hands. “Who is this strapping young man?”
“Mom,” Anna offers, giving her mother a soft, sympathetic look, then glancing at me. “He’s—he’s…”
“I’m the one that claimed what’s mine already. Let’s show them, baby.” I reach over and tug down the white dress she’s wearing watching her father’s eyes go wide as her mother gasps on a giggle. “Those are my fucking marks. On my fucking woman. And, for the record, I filled her with enough seed in one night to knock her the hell up good. She belongs to me.”
I feel the hand on my shoulder, and I’m instantly in fight mode, clenching my fists as I turn.
“This is ridiculous. I want you out of my house right now. This is a private—”
Alex doesn’t get a chance to get the last words out. My punch connects with his chin so solidly it sends a shockwave up my arm. He’s thrown back, and I’m dimly aware that I’m going to be feeling that bruise for some time. But he’s no pushover. Whatever happened to this guy in prison, it toughened him up. From what Tor told me, he was a scrawny twenty-two-year-old kid fresh out of college when his parents were going through their divorce. Tor represented his mom as one of his earliest career making cases. That was after Alex had already been convicted of embezzlement. His mom believed in his innocence, his dad thought he was guilty.
It tore them apart.
Well, he’s still skinny. But that doesn’t seem to slow him down because he comes back at me with both barrels.