Page 11 of Cooper

“He’s alive and he crossed the border into Texas two days ago. There was a cell phone inside her bag. We didn’t tell her we had it because we wanted to search it. There were trackers on it. We downloaded everything to a different phone and then put that phone in the cargo hold of a flight that was going to Canada.”

“Well, that will keep him busy for a day or two but if he’s anything like Rodriguez, he won’t follow it for long,” said Coop.

“Coop, we don’t think she knew anything about this. She would have said something if she did. She would have been trying to seek vengeance for her family if she’d known, at least for her mother and brothers.”

“I know,” he said nodding. “I’m just trying to figure out how I tell her that the man she thought was her father is actually nearly as vicious as the man who beat her.”

“You use honesty,” said the cracked voice behind them. Ham stared at AJ.

“Don’t we have alarms to tell us when someone enters this building?” he frowned. AJ shrugged.

“Didn’t seem necessary when all of you were here. I’m sorry, Bianca. Did you hear it all?”

“I heard enough,” she said staring at the men. “I might be weak right now but I am not a weak woman.”

“No one…” started Cooper. She held up her hand.

“Don’t. Don’t or I swear to God I will slap you again. In the future if there are things relating to me, my family, my safety, I would sincerely appreciate you not treating me like some invalid imbecile who can’t handle the truth.” She started to shake and Coop took one step toward her before she began to fall face first in his arms.

“Fuck,” he muttered, lifting her.

“I’ll call for the doc,” said AJ. “Get her to your cottage.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

“She’ll be fine,” whispered Blythe. “She was still very weak and whether she admitted it or not, the shock of her uncle or father or whoever he was, was enough to push her over the edge.”

“What do I do?” he asked.

“Nothing, honey. Just be here for her and for God’s sake,” she said standing at the door and staring at all the men, “stop fucking treating us like we’re fragile crystal that can’t handle bad news. We’re stronger than you think.”

Logan smirked at the men, ready to take his wife home. He raised his brows and nodded.

“Actually, they’re stronger than we are,” he chuckled. Blythe and Logan left the cottage, Abe, Diego, Rush, Ham, and Gator seated at the kitchen table.

“Do you want us to stay, Coop?” asked Diego.

“Thanks, Grandpa, but I think I’m okay. Besides, I need to be here to face her anger. Again.” The other men smirked at him.

“You’re not the first, Coop. She’s got a healthy temper and she might need that in the future. For now, keep her quiet and safe, allow her to heal. We’ll keep digging into Pablo and try to figure out his role in all of this,” said Ham.

“Thank you.”

Coop puttered around the cottage, washing dishes, straightening the bathroom, and making sure that he didn’t make too much noise. Every fifteen minutes or so, he’d touch her forehead, as if she might suddenly have an unexplained fever.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I’ve fucked up again and I have no right to ask for your forgiveness, but I will beg if I need to. I only wanted to protect you.”

He held her hand, lowering his forehead to their linked fingers.

“Cooper?” she whispered, her eyes fluttering open. “You didn’t fuck up. Not this time.” She gave a weak smile and he laughed low in his gut.

“Did you know? Did you know that your uncle was pretending to be your father?” he asked.

“No,” she said with genuine tears in her eyes. “No but it explains so much of his behavior. The distance he kept from all of us. The government officials that would come into the village always coming to our store. When they did, my fa-, Pablo would make us leave, even mother.”

“He’s connected somehow and he was following your location. Matthew brought a bag back with some of your personal things in it, including your cell phone. It was being tracked. AJ and the team downloaded anything that might be important to you, to a new phone. When you’re feeling better tomorrow, I’ll take you to get it from him.”

He went to stand from his position behind the sofa and she gripped his forearm.