Jesus, f**k. Violet.

“You might wanna waylay that considering Dusty knows about Vi and she’s not chompin’ at the bit to sit down to pork chops at her table,” Mike replied.

Cal held his eyes and he read what was in them.

So he muttered, “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Smart call,” Mike muttered back.

His cell on his desk rang, his eyes went to it and it said “Dusty Calling”.

“There she is,” Merry announced, seeing it too. “The woman of the hour.”

Terrific.

Hours after a funeral, he’d somehow got catapulted back to high school.

Dusty was getting off on it, loved every minute.

Mike couldn’t say their time by the watering hole was shit but the rest of it was a pain in his ass.

Mike tagged the phone, hit the button and put it to his ear.

“Hey, Angel,” he said with four men listening.

“I know you’re working, gorgeous, but if you don’t want one of your colleagues to be investigating sister-a-cide, you might wanna get to the farm.”

Mike’s straightened out of his chair immediately, ordering, “Talk to me.”

“She’s here. With a bunch of men. They’ve got some kind of equipment so they can survey the land. She’s informed me that if Fin, Kirb and I don’t want to sell our parts, she’s still selling her quarter and she’s got buyers.” She paused, gearing up he would know when she ended on a near shriek, “And get this! Mini-fucking-strip mall!”

Mike was already moving to the backstairs.

“Stay calm,” he told her.

“Calm is history,” she shot back.

Mike stopped at the top of the stairs. “Dusty, honey, listen to me. Are you listening to me?”

“Oh I’m listening,” she snapped and he knew she wasn’t. She was pissed and losing it.

“Deep breath, Angel, and focus just on me.”

There was silence then he heard a breath then, “I’m listening.”

“We’re gonna sort this.”

“Mike –”

“We’re gonna sort this.”

He heard another breath then, “Okay.”

“I’ll be there in ten.”

“Okay.”

“Stay calm.”

“Okay.”

“I’m letting you go now.”

“Okay, honey,” she whispered.

“Later,” he said.

“Later.”

He touched the button and, his voice no longer filled with humor but completely serious, Mike heard Merry offer, “You want company?”

Mike’s eyes cut to his partner and his mind conjured an image of Debbie. Then it conjured an image of Dusty strangling Debbie.

Then he answered, “Yeah.”

Merry grabbed his jacket.

Mike jogged down the stairs.

Therefore, he didn’t see the three other men in the room follow Merry.

*

“Slow day for The ‘Burg’s PD?” Debbie called sarcastically, her makeup free face twisted with distaste as Mike and Merry with Colt, Sully and Cal bringing up the rear, walked up to the huddle outside the front of the Holliday farmhouse.

“I don’t know what she was like back in the day, bro, but seriously, you picked the right sister in the end,” Merry muttered under his breath.

He’d given Merry the rundown on the way there. And Merry only had an afternoon with Dusty but Dusty was standing on the front porch, appearing to be barring the door, facing down Debbie and four men and the evidence Merry was right was laid out before them.

Debbie was in a power pantsuit, sturdy pumps and a wool overcoat that was good quality but its hints that it was actually made for a woman were few.

Dusty was wearing supremely faded jeans that had a slit in one knee and fit her in a way that, even though he was pissed and concerned, he had to fight his dick getting hard. She was also wearing a dusky pink sweater that was falling off one shoulder so you could see her bra strap, which was also pink. The sweater was slouchy at the top but started fitting her around the midriff and was snug there down to her hips. Her masses of hair were caught up in a slipshod knot at the top back of her head with locks spiking out, tendrils falling around her neck and down her chest.

It was late February, the day was relatively warm but it was still f**king February and his woman’s feet were bare. He could see her toenail polish again matched her fingernails. She’d somehow found the time to change it since she was over last night having dinner with him and his kids. It had gone from a green so dark it was nearly black to a lilac so pale it was nearly sheer.

She’d marched out to have the confrontation and didn’t feel safe leaving her sister and the four men standing with her to go back in and put on shoes.

She had no jacket and bare feet.

No jacket and bare f**king feet.

“Angel, go inside and put some shoes and a jacket on,” Mike ordered, prowling up the walk.

He then fully took in the men that were with Debbie and his anger increased right alongside his concern.

Bernie McGrath.

Over the last twenty years the man had been responsible for adding two strip malls and three massive housing developments to The ‘Burg. And that was just The ‘Burg. He’d built copiously throughout Hendricks County and was responsible for the fall of numerous farms. Some of them, if the families didn’t want to sell, he either threw money at them to make it impossible to say no or, unconfirmed word was, he found other ways that were a f**kuva lot less nice to do the same thing.

His attention was taken away from McGrath when Debbie spoke.

“Angel,” Debbie hissed his way, “I haven’t heard that in a while and wish I still hadn’t.”

Mike stopped four feet away from Debbie. “How long’s your sister been outside with bare feet?” he demanded to know.

“She walked out here on her own, Mike. We didn’t force her. She could have just let it alone, allowed us to do our business and then we’d be gone.”

Mike scowled at her then he noticed Dusty hadn’t moved and he cut his eyes to her.

“Inside,” he growled. “Shoes. Jacket. Now.”

She glared at him and he saw in an instant she was seriously pissed. Not at him. At her sister. Then she turned and stomped into the house.

“I’m seeing where I went right now. No way I’d let you speak to me that way when we were together,” Debbie informed him and his eyes moved from the door that was closing on Dusty’s ass which, incidentally, looked so good in those jeans he was seriously having trouble stopping from getting hard, to Debbie.