Page 96 of Ruthless Protector

What are you hiding from me, beautiful?

Because she was hiding something, something bigger than she knew how to handle on her own, something so big she was prepared to run. Shit in her world had gotten real, I knew that much.

She thought I was a nice guy. She hadn’t seen the other side of me; the ruthless, single minded side that would do anything—fucking anything—to protect those I loved.

I didn’t give a fuck about her privacy anymore. Her and Tilly’s safety was more important than her secrets. Now I just had to wait for Neco to call with what he found out.

I woke up, still in my chair in the dark, to my phone vibrating in my pocket. I checked the time before I answered. I’d been asleep for hours. “Yeah.”

“You get the email I just sent you?” Neco said.

The hard note to his voice set off alarm bells. “No.”

“I think you better take a look. I got mugshots sent over of Tilly’s dad.”

I put the phone on speaker. “Checking it now.”

I clicked it open, then tapped on the mugshot. “Fuck.” Willa’s brother-in-law was the same fucker who brought her to the poker game.

“Yeah,” Neco said. “He’s got to have something on her.”

“No other reason she would’ve worked that game for him. She sure as hell didn’t want to be there.” I fucking hated that she’d kept this from me.

“This Trent asshole is a known user and a dealer. Likes to gamble as well. Managed to find out he owes some bad people a lot of money.”

I shoved my fingers through my hair and cursed again. “Willa went to Tomas for money, and not chump change. He’s blackmailing her.” I paced the room.

“That’d be my guess,” Neco said.

Red rage pounded though me. “I’m going to find that asshole. Whatever he has over Willa, he will tell me.”

* * *

Willa

I stood in the middle of the house we’d called a home for almost a year, and told myself I wasn’t going to cry. After what happened with Jude the night before, I was struggling to keep it together, to pretend everything was okay, for Tilly’s sake.

But I had to. I had to do what I always had. Bottle it, shove it down deep, and keep moving.

Tilly was pissed at me, angry that I was taking her away from her friends, from Fay, from Jude, and I didn’t blame her. I couldn’t tell her the real reasons we were going, so for now, I was the meanie who was tearing her world apart. Between her and Jude, I felt like the worst kind of villain.

Fay walked in from the kitchen, where she’d been helping me pack. She was frowning down at her phone.

“What’s up?”

She shook her head. “Jennifer’s no good, piece of shit son, that’s what’s wrong. She’s pissed at me because I told her what her son’s been up to. Raul knows for a fact he’s mixed up with some shady characters. You know he looks after his girls, and Jen falls under that category. She won’t hear a word of it, though. Donny always was an idiot, but it sounds like he’s in well over his head.”

“Donny? What’s Jennifer’s last name?”

“Morgan. Why?”

Jethro’s pasty sidekick with the creepy eyes. “He’s come into the club a few times is all. I didn’t realize he was your friend’s son.”

I checked the time. The bus would be here any minute. “I need to go pick up Tils.”

“I need to go see Jen and try smooth things over. See you later?”

“Sure thing.” Grabbing my keys, I headed out, waving Fay off when she climbed in a cab.