Page 33 of Deception and New Direction (Ranger Shield Security #3)

RUTHIE

“Born to Be Wild ” played from my cell phone, indicating my granddad was calling.

“Hey Granddad ,” I answered.

“Hey Ruthie , it’s Ronald . I don’t want you to be alarmed, but I came over to give Hank some good news about the trust money and found him lying on the floor.”

Oh God !

“He says he’s fine, but I think he should go see a doctor,” Ronald insisted. “ I’m hoping you can talk some sense into him about letting me take him to the hospital.”

“Ugh, sure. Let me talk to him,” I replied, realizing I must get my stubborn genes from this side of the family.

Ronald mumbled a few things into the phone then sighed. “ He says he’s not going and we need to stop treating him like a baby—even though that’s exactly what he’s acting like.”

“I’m coming over,” I replied, frustrated that my granddad was being like this. “ If he gets worse, please just call an ambulance. I’ll be there soon.”

I hung up and started to hobble my way over to the back room where Cat worked from. This boot was definitely easier than the cast, but I still wasn’t exactly fast.

“Hey, Cat ,” I said as I stepped into the doorway.

“ Ronald just called and said my granddad fell. Apparently he’s doing better now, but I’m going to go over and help convince him to go to the doctor.

I’m going to text the guys to let them know, but would you man the phone until one of them can come down here? ”

“Yeah, no problem. I hope he’s okay… Wait …how are you going to get there?”

Shoot. She was right. Jack had driven us to work today and he had the SUV with him. I could take a company vehicle, but I was pretty sure Archer would kill me after the last incident with a company vehicle.

“I’m going to call an Uber .”

“Okay. Sorry , I would drive you, but Vince and I walked today, so I don’t have my car.”

“It’s okay. I don’t know how long I’ll be anyway.”

“Will you text me when you get there to let me know if he’s okay?” she asked.

“I will. Promise ,” I told her as I went back to my desk and quickly pulled up the app to order a car.

It said a driver would here in four minutes, so I grabbed my purse and made my way to the door, relieved I hadn’t brought Dash with me today, or that would have complicated things even more.

I pulled up the group text thread of Delia and all the men who worked at Ranger Shield and myself—mostly used for me reminding them to do their paperwork—and shot off a quick text to let them know that I was headed over to my granddad’s to check on him.

I let them know Cat was manning the phones for now, but couldn’t do it all day, so one of them needed to come down ASAP . Diego responded he was upstairs and would come down in a minute, and Wade also texted back, letting me know he was over at the pub and would pop by.

My ride pulled up, and I got in. I didn’t know who my granddad’s primary doctor was, but I realized since it was just after lunch, they may not be able to get him in this afternoon anyway.

I began looking up the closest urgent care and hospital to his house so I had options in case he was bad but still refusing an ambulance.

When we arrived at the house, I noticed two extra vehicles. One was the same gray sedan Ronald drove, but I didn’t recognize the other one.

I hopped out of the car and thanked my Uber driver, who had been kind enough to pull up as close to the house as possible since I had on my boot.

As I walked up to the house, I could hear Granddad’s dogs barking in the backyard somewhere.

They must have seen some kind of critter close by, because they were yapping like crazy.

As I walked up the porch, Ronald opened the door and welcomed me in.

“Sorry to bother you, dear, but he’s just being as ornery as I’ve ever seen him,” Ronald said as I walked by him and through the door. “ He’s back in the kitchen.”

I had no sooner taken a few steps into the kitchen when I saw Granddad tied to a chair at his dining room table.

He had a cloth between his teeth and a gash on his forehead.

He was awake and staring at me with horror in his eyes.

Obviously this whole situation was wrong, but as I turned around it got worse as I came face-to-face with my father, who currently had a gun pointed at my face.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my estranged daughter,” he sneered. “ Trying to get us all arrested wasn’t good enough for you. You had to run away and take the money you owe me with you.”

“I don’t owe you any money,” I shot back, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do since he had a gun and I didn’t, but I was sick and tired of him controlling me.

“The money your mom left you is mine,” he barked at me. “ I stayed married to her, even though she didn’t abort you like I told her to when we found out you would be a girl. Then she goes and gives all that money away to you instead of to me when she dies—what a fucking waste.”

There was a lot to take in there, but I was also worried about Granddad and the gash on his forehead.

“What do you want?” I asked him.

“The money, and you’re going to give it to me, or I’ll kill the old man,” he said.

“I don’t have it. It’s all been donated,” I told him, and I was so happy I had gone that route.

My father’s angry face changed into a leering smile as Ronald’s voice chimed in from in front of me. “ About that. Unfortunately , that paperwork went missing, so all that money is still sitting in your bank account,” Ronald informed me.

I turned to look at him, only to see him smiling as though this was no accident at all.

“I see dear old sis is just now figuring out the whole plan…” My brother Jason stepped out from the hallway.

“Jason, what’s going on?” I asked, hoping that he could talk some sense into our father and explain what was happening. “ Please tell Dad to calm down and lower the gun.”

“No can do, sis. What’s going on is that years of planning is finally coming together,”

he answered cryptically.

“When you were fifteen, your brother brought Mal over to the house, and I could see right away he had the hots for you,” my dad chimed in. “ I knew Mal would be my ticket. I told him to keep it in his pants until you turned eighteen, and then he could marry you and get rich.”

“After I got over the fact that our bitch of a mom didn’t leave me shit for money, I decided to get in on the plan and help Dad out,” Jason added.

“ I told him you were one of those bitches who needed attention and shit, so I told Mal to give you the jewels, but he fucked it up and you were just creeped out. “

I realized suddenly that all those years he wasn’t as mean as my dad, I had assumed it was because he cared. In reality, it was all for show—he just wanted the money too.

“We had everything set up to get you drunk and have Mal take you to a chapel and get married, but then you went to the cops and got him arrested and fucked everything up,” my dad said angrily. “ Then you ran away and took our money with you, until our golden ticket popped up.”

My confusion must have been written all over my face, because my father kept going.

“Good old Ronald here called me to let me know where you were, so your brother and I set a new plan in motion. Ronald was more than happy to help by getting you to come out here to help poor old Hank .”

What? I turned to look over at Ronald , who was smiling.

“How could you?” I asked him. “ Granddad is your friend.”

“So is your dad, but he pays better,” Ronald responded, as though this was the simplest explanation and all that was needed. “ If you had just gotten married in Vegas like you were supposed to, your grandfather would be fine right now.”

“What?” I whispered.

“Good old Ronald here offered to help fast track the transfer of the money when you married Mal —for a fee,” my dad said. “ He was just as pissed as we were that you ran away.”

“As luck would have it,” Ronald interrupted, “ Hank here called me shortly after you arrived to check in on the trust money and let me know you had moved here to be closer to him.”

Oh God .

“Thanks to Grandpappy here, Ronald kept an eye on you while Dad and I worked to get Mal out on early release so we can get you two hitched,” Jason shared.

“ Unfortunately , that went a lot slower than planned… which brings us to the new plan. You’re going to transfer over all the money to my bank account and then I’ll give everyone else their cut. ”

“All that charity paperwork you signed contained a few extra pieces—including a money transfer—which my secretary notarized,” Ronald said.

I felt chills roll up and down my spine. They’d had all of this planned.

“So now you’re going to go with me and Ronald to the bank and transfer all the money to my account,” Jason spoke up. “ And just to make sure you don’t do anything stupid, Dad will stay with ol’ grandpappy here.”

He stepped closer to me and scowled, his voice lowered. “ If you don’t do exactly as we say, Dad pulls the trigger, and Hank gets a bullet in his head.”

Tears welled up in my eyes at the same time as anger rolled through me. I couldn’t believe I ever thought my brother cared—even just a little bit. I was just a meal ticket to him. He’d played the long con well.

As much as I hated that they would get the money, I had no choice. I would not be responsible for my granddad’s death. But I also knew there was a high probability they would kill him anyway, even if I did give them the money, so I needed to think of something.

Think.

I had on my boxing glove necklace—the one with the tracker in it—but that would only help if the guys knew to track it. None of them realized I would be leaving the house. Then I remembered the cameras outside—the ones Archer and Jack had installed around my granddad’s house.

“Let’s go,” Ronald said to everyone. “ These things take time to sign and transfer, and I want this done long before the bank closes today so we can make sure the transaction goes through.”

I needed to somehow get a message across to the guys if they decided to check the cameras—but what?

“Come on, dear ol’ sis,” Jason said in a cheerful voice as he grabbed my arm and squeezed to the point of pain.

I turned quickly to Granddad . “ You’ll be okay, Granddad . I’ll be back soon. Just sit tight.”

His mouth was covered, so he couldn’t say anything, but he winked at me, so I knew he heard me. I just hoped he listened and didn’t do anything stupid to piss my dad off.

“Stop stalling. Move !” Jason ordered.

He yanked me toward the front door, and I tried to keep up, but I wasn’t as fast as him with my boot on.

As we walked out the door and onto the front porch, I tried to turn my body to where the camera was and looked straight into it and mouthed, “ Help !” I just hoped the guys saw my message quick enough.