Family Ties (Ashby Crime Family)

The officer jumped out of the car and hung his hand on his holster and he walked up the lawn. “This your house, sir?” He scanned the wreckage and gave me a worried look as his partner came up behind him.

“It is. I just got home.”

“Any idea who might’ve done this?” The cops didn’t follow me into the house, and I was grateful.

I knew exactly who had done it and why. “No idea, officers. Probably just some stupid kids seeing as they didn’t get inside. Got one of those smart alarm systems.” I flashed a friendly grin while they eyed me warily, backing up to return to their squad car.

“We’ll circle around in ten if you want to report anything missing or property damage.”

“Thanks, officers. I’ll be sure to document what I find.” Everything but the woman locked inside because there was no damn way to explain that. “Thanks for your concern.”

They gave me a skeptical once over and then got back in their car and pulled away.

“Thank fuck,” I groaned and made a beeline for the house. It took me too damn long to unlock the front door and race up the stairs, heart racing as I checked all three bedrooms, the bathroom and the linen closet. Where the fuck was she?

I heard a muffled groan coming from the closet in the guest room that tore at my heart. I yanked the door open to find Savannah curled into a ball, rocking back and forth on the floor of the closet.

“Savannah?” I said, kneeling down in front of her. I worried after all she’d been through, she slipped into some bad PTSD type of shock from which she might not return.

She looked up at me, big blue eyes red and filled with tears.

When she murmured, “Charlie?” I gave a silent prayer of thanks. At least she sounded like herself. I held out my hand as her gaze landed on Cross. He stood behind me, taking in everything.

“Are you all right?” I asked gently.

“I’m fine,” she said in a voice surprisingly strong now. She slid back, putting distance between us that I didn’t understand. Since she was so shaken up, I stood and stepped back as she rose from the closet floor.

“A little shaken up. Okay, a lot shaken, but that was mostly your stupid alarm.” She wiped at her eyes and took in several slow, deep breaths before she stepped out of the closet. “Two guys wearing Black Jacks patches walked up, knocked and rang the bell, and broke almost every window in the house.”

“Did they see you? Did you say anything to them?”

“Hell no! I heard a bottle break about a minute before the chaos started. The door alarm started and then the window alarm, and the way they beat the door, it was too much so I came upstairs. I thought they were coming to get me.”

“Did they say anything?” Cross stood behind me, hands on his hips, a suspicious look on his face.

She nodded. “Something about a missing guy, but between the howling and laughing, I didn’t get all of it. Oh, and one of them was named Memphis.”

No matter how strong Savannah was, and she was without a fucking doubt, she couldn’t hide the tremble of her bottom lip or the way her hands shook with fear.

I took her hand and tugged her down the stairs, fully aware of Cross right behind us. I led her into the kitchen and sat her on a chair, then I went to the cupboard for a bottle and poured a shot of whiskey into a rocks glass.

“Take this,” I said, handing her the tumbler.

She frowned. “Why?”

“You’re in shock. This will help.”

Savannah took it, hand shaking as it brought the whiskey to her lips.

“Thanks.” Her voice trembled, and she didn’t look up, a testament to how much they had scared her.

“No problem. I need to talk to Cross, and then I’ll figure out dinner.”

She barked out a laugh. “I cooked. Meatballs and mashed potatoes. Put it in the oven to warm just before the crazies showed up.”

She cooked? I nodded for Cross to follow me outside because I knew he had ten thousand questions that I wasn’t ready to answer.

“She cooked dinner?” he said with a smirk. “Cozy.”

I shrugged. “What else is she gonna do stuck in the fucking house all day?”

“You sure she’s as stuck as you think? Those Black Jacks could have gotten in if they wanted to. Why didn’t they?”

I sighed and raked a hand through my hair. “Sending a message. You should know that. They want to make sure I knew that they knew it was me who fucked with them.”

“By keeping her?”

“No. Savannah gave me some useful intel. I sent Lasso and Dallas Jr. to check it out. They confirmed the intel was accurate and made the guy a better offer.”