Happy Ending (Fisher Brothers 4)

A knock on the office door interrupted us, and Grant poked his head in. “The police are here.”

“Already?” I asked.

“Must be a slow night.” He held the door open, revealing two cops standing in the hallway.

The office was too small to hold everyone, so Frank asked the ladies to step outside with Grant as we ushered the cops in and closed the door behind us. The three of us explained to the policemen what we knew and answered all their questions while one of them took notes, writing down everything we said.

It took less than twenty minutes for them to hear our story, then walk out of the bar with the three bags of valuables and the original deed.

But not before we copied it first. I tried to get them to let us keep the original, but they said it had to be entered into evidence. I made five photocopies of the deed, just in case I lost the first four.

“What? I’m a little paranoid. Sue me,” I said when Nick gave me shit as I copied it more than once.

“We’re pretty sure you can have this back.” One of the cops held up the deed once I was done with it. “Just give us twenty-four hours to process it. Then you can file a request to get it back.”

“Will you find out where the money and jewelry came from?” Frank asked.

The cop shrugged. “We’ll do our best, but no guarantees. Anything we find out that we can share, we’ll let you know.”

“Sounds good.” Frank gave them each a firm handshake and moved to see them out.

Alone with Nick, I turned to face him, the weight on my shoulders I hadn’t even realized I was carrying suddenly lifted. Inhaling deeply for what felt like the first time in weeks, I felt so light. I wanted to jump around and high-five everyone in the bar.

“I guess we get to make more memories here after all?” The smile on my face wasn’t going away anytime soon.

“Hell yes, we are! I’m so relieved, Ryan,” Nick said, and I pulled him into a brotherly hug.

“Me too. Me fucking too.”

“And I’m engaged!” He gave me a shit-eating grin.

“That you are, little brother.”

“I’m going to go find my fiancée and make sure she doesn’t want to kill me.” He gave me a sly nod and moved toward the door. “You gonna call Sofia and fill her in?”

“I probably should, huh?” It wasn’t really a question.

“I’d tell her before one of the girls does.”

He was right, but I waved him off. “Go. Enjoy being engaged. I’ve got this handled.”

Mob Heists

Ryan

The next day, the three of us waited all afternoon for the guy who threatened our livelihood to walk through the door. We knew he could arrive at any moment, and that moment couldn’t come soon enough.

My stomach twisted in anticipation and dread. Even though I knew we held all the cards, I had no idea what a man like that was capable of. I couldn’t imagine him simply accepting the news. No, a guy wit

h ties to the mob would most likely refuse to walk away emptyhanded.

“Did you tell Sofia everything?” Frank asked in a hushed tone as we continued to stare at the door.

“Yeah, I told her last night.”

“Was she mad?”

“She was mad.” I nodded, thinking about how hurt she’d been that I’d kept something so big from her. “She said all the same things that Jess and Claudia did. I swear, it’s like girls have some kind of book they read out of. Then she reamed me for making her feel like she wasn’t important enough to confide in.”