“Bren.” My dad started for me, but stopped. He sent another glance to Raith.
I was looking.
There were three other guys on the far side of the lawn, but they were lingering and talking to each other. A few looked over, but went back to their conversation. One was on his phone and he lifted his head, shooting us a frown as if we’d interrupted what text he was sending. All of them wore Red Demons cuts, all looked rough. And all could’ve been the same guys I saw take Harper last night. Their body types fit.
“Bren Monroe.”
Maxwell brought my attention back to him, and he sat up, but kicked out the chair across from him. He nodded to it. “Take a seat.” There was an edge to his voice. That wasn’t a request. It was a command.
My legs turned wooden.
The guys behind them seemed relaxed. They weren’t primed for battle, but everything from my dad was saying the opposite. And Raith, I was getting the sense this was another day in his life. No big, no little, just…it was what it was, but it could go bad real quick and he had no problem with that.
I sat. “Where are the guys?”
My dad sucked in a breath, but he didn’t respond.
Maxwell did. This was the Max show, and the authority coming from him was just cementing that to me. “They got a call from your brother. Something about how you were arrested at the precinct and were already being transported to Roussou.”
“What?” I frowned. “Channing wouldn’t call and say that. I was just on the phone with him.”
A strangled gargle came from my dad, but Maxwell ignored him.
He smiled at me, as if placating me. “Of course your brother didn’t make that call, but one of my guys rigged up a handy-dandy voice app and the message that your boyfriend got was from your brother, just not currently being said. If that makes sense?”
No. It didn’t, but they weren’t here.
That’s all I cared about, and with that, I sat back and one of the many knots inside loosened up. Just one. The rest were still tight and wound up.
“This is about the cop I just talked to?”
Irritation flashed in Raith’s gaze, the first time I really saw a hard emotion from him and he leaned forward. Resting his arms on the table, he angled his head toward me. “We know you recognized Heckler. And since you’re aware the lengths we’ll go to silence one witness, you can imagine what we’ll do with you. You alone can link us to that kidnapping last night. Now.” He paused, glancing to Derrick, and he took a deep breath before turning back to me. “Pops has been adamant that you won’t say a word, but Pops is new and a lot of the guys haven’t seen him in action. We’ve also done a few favors for Pops regarding yourself and your brother, two bounty hunters who could turn around and track us if you’re seeing a dilemma here. Not to mention that a lot of my men don’t know Pops either and they’re going off my shared experience of living with your father in prison.”
I glanced at my dad, whose head was low, but his gaze was on me. Those eyes—I flinched. They were heavy and hard, resting right on me and pinning me to my seat. “So, what do you want?”
“Besides a guarantee you’ll never talk about who you recognized?”
“Yeah. Besides that?”
He stared at me, long and hard again.
There was a whole beat where no one moved, no one said a word, and a shiver went down my spine.
I was in trouble. Very real and serious trouble here.
They took someone right in front of me, infiltrating an entire party with masks and guns. They were prepared and they moved almost as one unit. That spoke of a seriously tight unit.
And they were here, knowing I’d been called to the police station and they went the distance to clear out any witnesses.
I had nothing.
I had nothing to bargain with them, no way out, no escape plan, no way of fighting. They were a force I’d never even knew existed, but they were here and my dad was one of them.
Blood.
Family.
Loyalty.
All three of those were held in high regard with them.
I had all three on my side, which was why I was even getting this sit-down.
That realization hit me hard, and I had to blink back some tears because it wasn’t until just now that I thought I’d been about to be killed by their hands, because I recognized one of them.
I looked at my father, though my words were for his President. “I never visited you in prison, and I’m sorry about that.”
He sucked in his breath, an audible sound to it, and his head jerked as if I slapped him.