Then I turned and ducked my head. Bryce froze beside me, but as I moved past him, he and Corrigan formed a wall around me. With Denton, all three of them hustled me from the main lobby. Security staff was waiting for us, and one guy clipped out, “What the hell was that?”

Denton shot back, “Just get us out here. She could be in danger.”

He jerked his head forward and began to lead the way. We were shown down a hallway, through the kitchen, and down into a basement hallway. I had no idea where we were going, but then we climbed stairs, and a set of doors were thrown open. The sun was harsh, and I squinted against it, trying to see where we were.

I had no idea.

We were behind a different building, one that I didn’t recognize from the hotel. A car was waiting for us, and we climbed inside. Before Denton closed the door, the head security stuck his head inside. He looked stern as he said, “I’m warning you. The hotel is not happy with the stunt you pulled in there.”

Denton reached for the door. “Shut it, Deacon. My team will deal with any ramifications your hotel might drum up.”

“So, that’s how it’s going to be?”

“She did nothing wrong. I doubt Maria will press charges and Sheldon only spoke her side.”

“She lied.”

Denton stopped, glared up at him, and said, “Prove it.” Then he shut the door. The guard jerked up out of the way. Once it was closed, Denton pressed a button and ordered, “Let’s go home.”

Corrigan asked, after we had traveled a few blocks in silence, “So, to recap this last venture, was it successful?”

I laughed, emotionally drained. “I put the assistant in a headlock.”

“You did?”

Bryce chuckled. “She did. It was ridiculous to watch.”

I grinned at him. “I was trying to distract her and Guadalupe so you could get her phone.”

Corrigan glanced over. “Did you?”

Bryce held my gaze for a moment. More had happened up there, but I didn’t want to talk about it. He nodded, understanding me even though I had no idea how he could know. He said, “Yes.” He pulled out a phone, but it wasn’t Guadalupe’s.

“I wanted you to get Guadalupe’s phone.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. She doesn’t keep anything on it worthwhile to us. Maria’s, however, is a whole other story.” He pressed the screen and started to scroll through it. Then he handed it over to me. Right there, on the screen, in black and bold letters was a text from her to Guadalupe. I smiled. I couldn’t hold it back, and it stretched from ear to ear.

I looked at Corrigan. “You asked if this venture had been worth it?” I passed the screen to him. “It was more worth it than you can imagine.”

Right there, on the screen, Maria wrote, I cut the brakes. Now that bitch won’t be in the way.

Guadalupe responded, Good. Bryce is mine.

“Whoa.” Corrigan’s eyebrows went up. “It’s right there.” He pressed a few more buttons and handed it back to Bryce.

“What’d you do?”

“I sent that shit to the cops. Now let’s watch ’em squirm.”

My sentiments exactly.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

We were met in the front entrance by my dad and Beth. I had one second to take in the fury and balled fists before my dad started yelling. He was throwing questions at me, and I felt déjà vu from the reporters again.

I checked out. I’d been through the wringer just now. I wasn’t going to sign up for another one. Bryce and Corrigan took over, though. I went to the back and rested while I let all of them duke it out.

Somewhere, in between my dad’s constant yelling and Bryce swearing back at him, I heard my dad yell, “Then what the hell were you thinking? This doesn’t help her case at all! It’s all over the news! Our personal phones are being flooded with calls.”

Corrigan flung his hands up in the air. “Fuck her case then.”

My dad went rigid. His eyeballs almost popped out. “Excuse me?”

“I said, ‘Fuck her case.’” Corrigan folded his arms back over his chest and leaned back against the wall. He glanced to Bryce, the two shared a look, and Corrigan seemed even firmer in his statement. “I said what I said.”

“You said what you said?” My dad shook his head in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Are you KIDDING me?”

Corrigan frowned.

Bryce moved to stand next to him.

My dad burst out again, “Her case is everything! They only have circumstantial evidence on her, but with this stunt—this is actually something. The media has this now. They can see her yelling and cursing. You think people are going to like that? Public opinion matters. If the pubic hates her, that doesn’t help her case.”

Yelling and cursing. I started to laugh to myself. Of course that was all he had heard. He hadn’t looked past the volume of my voice. He didn’t actually hear the message I was sending. For some reason, this struck me as hilarious, and the laughter kept pealing out of me. I couldn’t stop it. The tension in the room was thick, and I knew this was inappropriate, but fuck it, how Corrigan said, just fuck it. This was hilarity gold. My own father had no clue the message I was sending to the real killer.

“You think this is funny?”

It wasn’t my dad who expressed judgment. I had expected it from him, but I glanced up, wiping tears from my eyes, as I couldn’t contain myself. It was Beth who stood with her hands formed into fists, resting on both hips. Her feet were spread out and a firm look of disapproval was on her face, it was worse than my father’s. A glaze of dislike mixed with it. That helped contain my laughter, and I stood, rolling my shoulders back, and I tilted my head to the side.

“Oh boy,” Denton muttered behind me.

I stepped toward her, but caught another look shared between Corrigan and Bryce. All three of them knew the shift that had just happened, but they didn’t say anything. They knew. They had learned. No one judged me, not unless they earned that right to judge me, and this time, this girlfriend of my father’s, had just made a huge mistake.

I asked coolly, “You disapprove of me?”

A flattened look entered her gaze, and her hands fell from her hips, but she didn’t move back. She held her ground.

That was a point for her, for now. I moved even closer, so it was just her and me, staring at each other. Face to face. On the same eye level, I asked, so softly now, “Do you think I’m not acting appropriately?”