Page 47 of Butch

Butch leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Thank you, Little Fairy. Daddy and everyone in the Springfield Sinners are going to get through this together.”

“Can you tell us who is after you?” Deccan asked.

Rae looked nervous, and Butch didn’t like that. Who could have her so worried?

“Edmund Akers,” she said.

CHAPTER 21

RAELYNN

“Edmund Akers?” Daddy asked. “Are you sure?”

Raelynn couldn’t believe that she had told him. It seemed like Daddy didn’t believe her. Everyone would have been shocked about what he’d done to her. Over the years, she was, too.

She nodded. “Edmund always liked me, apparently, and was going to ask me out in high school, but then you showed up.”

She shivered at the thought. If their parents hadn’t married, would she have gone out with Edmund? He had always been kind to her throughout the years, and she thought they were friends—kind of. Rae hadn’t talked to him much, growing up, but they were close neighbors, and their parents had been close.

“I thought he was a nerd?” Daddy asked. “He seemed so sweet, and like he wouldn’t harm a fly.”

“I thought so, too,” she whispered, remembering all the horrible things he had done to her.

“I’ll call Neil and Ace and have them look into him,” Deccan said, pulling their attention to him. “Is there anything else you can tell me about him? Do you know who he has connections with?”

Raelynn shook her head. “He threw around some names every once in a while. When people visited, I just knew they weren’t good people. Any time I talked about leaving, he would say he had people everywhere to find me, so I never left.”

“What were the names?” Daddy asked.

Tears brimmed in her eyes. “I don’t know. I can’t remember. Normally, when I heard them, he would beat me afterward. I just learned not to remember anything for fear that, if I slipped up and said one of their names, he would get even more angry.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Daddy growled.

Her hands gripped his shirt, right on his chest. “You can’t!”

Raelynn’s hyperventilated, and she tightened her fists, not wanting to let him go.

“Whoa, Little Fairy. You’re okay,” he gently said.

She shook her head. “I can’t lose you. You will go to jail, and then I won’t see you for the rest of my life. I’ll die early because of how much I’ll miss you. Please, don’t kill him. They’ll put you away for life, or they’ll kill you themselves. I don’t want to watch you die. I don’t want anything to happen to you or anyone else.”

Rae knew she was on the verge of being hysterical, but she needed Daddy to understand. He needed to realize how much she cared for him and wanted him to be safe, no matter how much revenge he wanted.

“I won’t kill him,” Daddy said. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t make him suffer for what he did to you. He deserves that and much more.”

She rested her head on his chest and took several deep breaths.

“Maybe Dimitri can take care of him after we are done with him,” Deccan suggested. “I’ll talk to Neil. Is there anything else you want to tell me about him?”

“Don’t be fooled by his looks.” Raelynn shuddered. “He can pack a punch. He normally carries a knife on him, and sometimes when he goes out, he has a gun. I don’t know what type. I never got a good look at it, but he always kept it close.”

Daddy ran his hands up and down her back as she spoke.

“Everything is going to be okay,” he whispered.

“We’ve got one of the guys who has been asking around for her,” Deccan said. “We grabbed him just the other day.”

Raelynn sat up straight and looked at him with wide eyes. “He sent men?”