Page 65 of Broken Daddy

“Uh-huh. Sure you did. Do you like her?”

Hayes crossed his arms over his chest. “We are not friends and this is not a fucking gossip session. We are here to protect Stein and Sondra. We’re trying to find out who is threatening them so we can fucking leave. We are not going to talk about Devi.”

“Unless she’s the one sending the threats. Maybe you should get close to her, see what you can find out.”

“Not necessary.” But watching her could be a possibility.

“Well, I could do it.”

Like fuck.

Unlike him, Donovan was fun, young, and flirtatious. Hayes wanted him nowhere near Devi.

“You’ll stay away from her.”

Donovan’s grin widened.

Fuck. He had a feeling that he’d just walked straight into a trap set by this asshole.

“Sure, sure, I’ll stay away from her. Unless you feel like swapping again?”

“No.”

Donovan sighed. “Seriously, though, if Devi is our letter writer . . . we need to find out. Not to punish her but to keep her safe. Because if Stein figures it out . . . well, we don’t know that he’ll go to the cops. He gives me a bad feeling. I haven’t seen or heard anything concrete. But he feels slimy to me.”

Hayes agreed.

They headed out of the basement quietly. It was late on Sunday night and both Sondra and Stein had gone up to bed early. He was pretty certain that Sondra drugged herself before bed. She had a separate bedroom from Stein.

He didn’t get that. Sure, there could be reasons for it, like one partner snored or kicked . . . but still, he couldn’t see himself ever sleeping apart from the person he loved.

Of course, he also couldn’t see anyone loving Alan.

As they walked through the house, he heard something. Turning, he gestured to Donovan who immediately nodded.

The guy might be a gossip and he might talk way too much, but he was also well-trained and a good person to have at your back.

Hayes walked quietly forward, reaching for the gun in the small of his back. He carried it everywhere.

He realized the noise was coming from Stein’s office. Was someone in there? How the fuck had they gotten in without setting off the alarm?

Moving toward the door, he heard another noise. A voice.

“Look, I know . . . yes . . . yes . . . no one should know! I’m getting threats! Yes . . . I’m aware I could have several enemies . . . but what if someone figured out what I did for you? Yes, I know . . . but if someone has discovered the truth, I’m in all sorts of trouble, aren’t I?”

Hayes shot a look at Donovan who had both eyebrows raised.

“Just . . . make it go away. I’m paying a fortune on bodyguards and I want them gone. It’s making it hard to do business . . . well, what did you expect me to do? Wait until this person escalates and kills me? I’m aware they’re in my house! Yes . . . no! Of course they don’t know the truth. I’m not an idiot . . . it’s got to be related to him, right? His is the only case I’ve ever lost on purpose . . . fuck. Fine. Yes.”

A sound of frustration filled the room and then there was the sound of glass smashing and a grunt of anger and pain.

Hayes pointed behind Donovan and he shrugged and started to back up. They headed quietly upstairs and into Donovan’s room.

“What the hell was that about?” Donovan asked. “Did we basically just hear him say that he threw a trial?”

“He did. Although he didn’t say which one.”

Donovan shook his head. “We need to know who was on the other end of that call. And what they have planned next.”