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I was still on cloud nine. Tinker’s declaration of love had not only allowed me to share my love for him and have fantastic sex all weekend, but we’d gone shopping the following day. I had no idea what he intended until he walked me into a jewelry store in town. When he did, I was stunned.

Everywhere I looked, there were glittering gems and diamonds. I didn’t dare to hope until he took me to a case filled with engagement rings. I gave him a stunned look. I was speechless.

“I know that I probably should do this myself and then present it to you, but I want to be sure you get what you want and that it fits. Now that I know you love me, I don’t want us to wait. I need my ring on your finger, Haven. Will you marry me?”

“Of course, I’ll marry you!” I almost shouted.

We spent almost two hours there perusing their selection, with me trying on rings. I started with ones with smaller diamonds, but Tinker soon put an end to that. He insisted we look at something more befitting me, as he called it. By the time we were done, I’d found the ring for me. The truly amazing part was that they had it in my size, so we were able to leave with it.

It wasn’t a traditional round diamond. It was a pear-shaped diamond surrounded by tiny round ones. Those identical tiny diamonds covered the entire band as well. I tried to tell him it was too much, but he refused to listen. He’d seen my face when I tried it on and knew it was the one I loved. He didn’t bat a lash at the price, and it was firmly on my finger when we left the store.

Later that evening, we went to the clubhouse. Unbeknownst to me, until we got there, he’d asked Annie and Gareth to come to the compound. When I saw them, I was so glad he had. It allowed us to tell those who meant the most to us, all at once, that we were engaged. We’d been congratulated, hugged, kissed, and even teased. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Later, after we excused ourselves for the night, we went home to make love.

My happiness hadn’t diminished. I proudly wore my ring for all to see. It was Monday, and I spent a chunk of the day running errands, having lunch with the old ladies and Annie, and then returning to the studio to see how the work had gone for the day. Tinker and I had driven separately since we both had errands to run, and he had to pick up supplies. We arranged to meet at the studio.

Walking inside, I admired what had been accomplished. Lash had finished the built-in shelves, and more of the restoration Tinker was doing to the molding was complete. Some of the other guys had been there as well. They’d finished patching and smoothing the walls. They’d start painting any day. Once that was done, the flooring would be sanded and redone. The building had the original wood flooring. All it needed was sanded and refinished, and it was good to go.

They all called out hellos to me, which I returned with smiles and my hellos. Tinker was already there. He came over to kiss me. The guys teased us, but it was all in fun. He was taking me around, pointing out what had been accomplished. We were almost done when the door opened, and Reaper walked in. He wasn’t alone. With him was Chief Carlton. Tinker and I exchanged worried glances. There was no good reason for the chief to be here.

“Tink, Haven, can we see you in your office?” Reaper asked. He had a tight expression. Dread began to rise inside me. Nodding, we showed them the way. We took seats while Tinker closed the door. He came to stand behind my chair.

“Just tell us, Reaper. What did they do?” he grunted.

“I hate to do this, but it’s my job. I asked Reaper where I could find the two of you. I’m sorry, but I must inform you that your family, Haven, filed with the court and somehow got a judge to issue protection orders against the two of you. You’re not allowed within a hundred feet of your mom, aunt, uncle, cousin, or her fiancé, their businesses, or their properties. If you do, you’ll be arrested,” Carlton informed us.

I sagged in relief. “Is that all? Whew, I thought it was something serious. I don’t want to go anywhere near them anyway, Chief Carlton. However, it does raise the issue of whether we should do the same. I wouldn’t put it past them to come around us and then try to say we did it to them.”

“If you fear they’ll do you actual harm, the orders don’t prevent it. However, if you want to be able to piss them off and have them pay fines and possibly serve jail time if they don’t follow the orders, then having your own orders can cause aggravation, which sometimes is better. Not that I’d ever advocate for someone to do that,” Carlton said with a smirk.

Reaper, Tinker, and I chuckled. “We may just want that. Thanks, and we know you’re doing your job. I’m not surprised they did it, to be honest. We’ve been expecting them to retaliate. How angry was her aunt and uncle when they had to bail out their daughter and that dickhead she’s marrying?” Tinker asked.

“I swore I could see steam coming out of their ears. They tried to intimidate us and threatened to have my job. I was more than happy to show them our proof and warned them not to come to my town, causing trouble. They stormed out of there like their asses were on fire,” he admitted.

“Wish we could’ve seen it,” Reaper said.

“They put on a show for the department. I don’t get people like that. Anyway, here’s the official paperwork for the restraining orders. If you have any questions, let me know. I’ll let you all get back to enjoying your day,” Carlton said as he stood. He handed the papers to Tinker. After we said goodbye and thanked him, Reaper walked out with him,

“You’re not worried about this, are you?” Tinker asked when we were alone.

“Not worried, just tired. What if they find a way to get away with it? I’ll lose the studio, but it’s more than that. I hate the thought of them having something they don’t deserve, and Grandma didn’t want them to have.”

“Haven, they won’t. We won’t let it happen. When we get home, we’ll see Spawn and see if he’s found anything. It’s been a week. Surely, he has something.”

“Okay, I’d like that. Anything is better than nothing and not knowing.”

As I waited for him to finish talking to his guys about the next day, I paced my office, trying not to give up hope.

It was all I could do to wait until everyone was home from work and settled. Tinker and I ate a quick dinner. When we were finished, he said, “I’m sending a text to Spawn to see if he can see us and where.”

I nodded. He was taking out his phone when there was a knock at the front door. Tinker frowned and then went to see who it was. I figured it was one of the guys needing something from him, so I stayed in the kitchen. When he returned, he wasn’t alone. I was surprised to see Reaper, who was accompanied by Spawn and Maniac.

“Is everything alright?” I asked.

“It is. I went to see Spawn after I left your studio. I told him we needed an update on what he’s found so far. He filled Maniac and me in on what he had. We thought we’d save you from having to ask,” Reaper said.

“I was about to text you, Spawn. I have a feeling we may need to talk a bit, so let me get everyone a drink,” Tinker offered.

As they gave their orders, I helped him get them. The guys asked for a beer while I got a glass of lemonade. With our drinks in hand, we sat at the table in the breakfast nook. Spawn had a tablet with him, which he tapped on and then laid on the table.

“Sorry for the delay. I’ve been accumulating information to present to you all at once. I should’ve given you what I had when it came in. Apologies. I heard what they pulled today. Assholes,” Spawn grumbled.

“They are, and you don’t have to apologize. Just tell us you’ve found something, anything. Even if it isn’t enough to make them back off, anything is better than nothing,” I told him.

A huge grin spread across his face. “Haven, I have more than a little. I found the motherlode. If they don’t back off after they’re presented with this, then I don’t know what will make them do it. What I need to know is, do you only want to threaten them with it or carry through with exposing everything?”

I glanced over at Tinker. “It’s up to you, babe,” he said.

“Why don’t you tell us what you found, and then I’ll answer that question?”

For the next twenty minutes, Spawn explained the information he had unearthed. I was beyond shocked. I knew they weren’t good people, but this went beyond that. When he was done, I had to sit there and let it sink in for several minutes.

Eventually, Reaper spoke up. “Haven, do you need a while to think about it? You don’t need to give us an answer tonight. You and Tinker can talk it over and decide. I’d just recommend not waiting too long. There’s no telling what they might pull next.”

“I’ll gladly talk it over with her, but it’s her decision,” Tinker reiterated.

“Thank you. But I know what you want, Tinker. I’d like to say I want to be nice to them and only use it to make them stop, but I don’t trust them. They’ll wait and plot, then come at us another way. They’ve pushed me and others around forever. I want them to be told and exposed. This impacts more than just Gareth and us. The question is, how do we tell them without breaking the restraining order? If we do that, they’ll have us in jail so fast, we won’t know what hit us.”

“I have two ideas. One, we get them to a place where if you break it, it’s done without witnesses who can attest to you having done it. The other idea depends on the wording of the orders. Can I see them?” Spawn asked.

I got up and fetched them. As Spawn read through them, he began to smile. When he was done, he seemed happy. “Not as smart as they thought. It says you can’t go within a hundred feet of them, their offices, or their homes. You cannot text or call them. It says nothing about video conferencing. Is it splitting hairs? Yes, but I guarantee you they won't press charges after you’re done with them. All they’ll want is for what you know to go away.”

“But we’d have to get them to agree to view the video call,” Tinker said.

“True. However, if they thought they were about to win, they’d come to a meeting with Gareth, wouldn’t they? They’d think he was giving in if he told them he wanted to talk it over. Reaper, did Carlton and you serve restraining orders to Gareth and Annie?” Spawn asked.

“Nope. We thought it was odd that they also didn’t issue one to them.”

“Then that’s our way in. We do a modified approach. Gareth invites them over to talk. He can tell them he wants this to end. Gareth will insist he wants to talk to all five of them. When they show up, you and Haven come strolling in and hit them with what you have. You have proof to back it up,” Maniac suggested.

I felt giddy as the possibility of being free of the lawsuit and them for good assailed me. I tried not to let myself hope too much as I said, “Let’s make it happen.”

Two days, that’s how long we had to wait for the meeting to go down between us and the rest of our family. We’d called Gareth after Reaper, Maniac, and Spawn left Monday evening. First, we filled him and Annie in on what Spawn had found. Gareth was as surprised as I was. Then we told him what our idea was to get them all together so we could face them with our evidence. He’d been one hundred percent behind it, not only doing his part to trick them but in doing more than threatening them. Gareth and Annie agreed that they’d behave for a while and then come at us again if we didn’t do something more than warn them away.

Tuesday morning, Gareth called Judd and told him he wanted to talk to all five of them. He made it sound like he wanted to settle things behind my back. Of course, Judd loved that idea and readily agreed. Gareth went on to assure him that I wouldn’t know anything about his change of heart until it was too late if they came to Bristol and met at their house. He lied and told them Tinker and I had gone out of town for a few days. Judd quickly agreed and set Wednesday evening at six as the time to meet.

I was such a nervous wreck all day today that I couldn’t get any work done. Tinker offered to stay at home with me, but I told him no. I wanted him to get his paperwork done and have a site inspection on the other project they were doing. He finally agreed after Annie said she’d keep me company for part of the day.

She came over and spent the late morning to early afternoon with me. She left at three o’clock so she could get home and be prepared to face the demon’s spawn. It was her name for the family, not mine, but it was apt. Tinker was home by four. I was too worked up to eat, so we decided to get something afterward and ask Annie and Gareth to go with us.

I changed my clothes four times before Tinker put his foot down. “Haven, don’t you dare change again. There’s no reason to dress up for them. Anything you wear will be fine. You’re beautiful even in a gunny sack. Go comfortable. I’m wearing my usual. I suggest you do the same.”

Ultimately, I went for denim shorts, a shirt, and my property cut. If we’d gone on the bike, I would’ve swapped the shorts for jeans, but Tinker didn’t want them to be warned of our arrival, so we went in his truck. He timed our appearance, so we arrived ten minutes before six. We parked a street over and waited. After they got there, Annie texted us to let us know they were there and to come in through the back door. She had it unlocked for us. As we approached their house, my stomach flipped. Tinker held my hand the whole way. He paused on the side of the house, gave me a tender kiss, and smiled.

“We’ve got this. Just go with it. We have the proof we need. They’d be idiots to refuse to drop it. Remember, if they agree, we promise not to do anything with the legal information. We give them until Monday to drop the lawsuit and provide proof it has been done. If they don’t, we’ll expose them. However, as soon as they drop it, we’ll do it anyway. The illegal stuff can’t be swept under the carpet. They won’t be in much of a mood to fight with us after tonight. They’ll be too busy fighting and hating each other.”

He had that right. “Got it. I’m ready,” I told him.

As we entered the house and they saw us, I wished we had a camera to take a picture of their faces. Their expressions were a mixture of dismay, outrage, and anger. Judd whipped around to glare at Gareth.

“You said they were out of town. What’s the meaning of this?”

“The meaning is, we all needed to talk, and your ludicrous restraining orders prevented it any other way,” Gareth responded.

Judd and Ursula came to their feet. “We’re leaving. And don’t think this will prevent us from having you arrested,” Ursula stated with a sniff of disdain.

Before the others could stand, Tinker launched his first attack. “Go ahead, leave. But if you do, I can promise you that the evidence of your guilt in a number of things will be exposed to everyone it impacts. We’ll see who’s in jail by the time we’re done. If you want that, then by all means, there’s the door.”

“Guilt? We haven’t done anything that’ll get us arrested,” my mom snapped.

“Are you sure of that, Mom? Because from what I’ve seen, most of you will be spending a long time in prison. The rest, well, you won’t be happy either,” I said with a raise of my eyebrow and a challenging smirk.

“How dare you and that ruffian you’re shacked up with come in here and threaten us. We’re not afraid of you,” Jubilee said.

I snickered. Even with the makeup she’d applied, I could see both eyes were black from where I broke her nose. By the looks of it, poor Jubilee hadn’t been able to get a plastic surgeon to fix it yet. Her face darkened. She knew what I was snickering about.

“It’s your move, Judd. Walk out, and we expose everything. Stay and hear us out, and we’ll see,” Gareth added.

Ursula demanded, “Judd, let’s go. They have nothing on us because there’s nothing to be had.”

“I know there isn’t, my dear, but I’d like to see what drivel they’ve come up with. I want to know what they think could change our minds. It might be amusing,” Judd responded.

In the end, their arrogance made them stay. They retook their seats. Tinker held out a chair for me before taking his. Annie poured us each a glass of iced tea and then slid them across the table.

“Well, get on with it. We don’t have all night. We have a two-hour drive home. Why you couldn’t have come to us, I don’t know,” Jubilee grumbled.

Taking the first packet of papers I had with me, I handed a copy each to Ursula and Judd. “What’s this?” Judd snapped without bothering to look at it.

“That’s proof that you both have engaged in illegal activities and done it on multiple occasions. These are the dates, times, and people involved with your threats, blackmail, and pay-offs involving witnesses, other lawyers, and judges. When you add these all up, they carry a max sentence that would have you never being free again.”

Tinker went next, as their mouths fell open and they began to peruse the documents. He handed my mom a bundle of papers from the stack in front of me. “Carrie, we haven’t met. I’m Tinker. I’m Haven’s fiancé.” He paused so I could hold up my left hand and wiggle my fingers. I was thrilled to see the look of envy on Jubilee’s face. My ring was bigger and of higher quality than the one on hers.

Tinker continued, “This is proof of the embezzling you’ve been doing from the various charities you supposedly endorse. It’s been happening for years. I think those charities and the police would be very interested in this information. You may not get as long of a prison term as your brother and sister-in-law, but it would still be a good length of time. Maybe you and Ursula can share a cell.”

Mom’s hand shook as she took the papers and began reading them. While she did, I glanced at Judd and Ursula. They were pale and still reading. Turning to my cousin, I held up her packet.

“I haven’t stolen or bribed anyone,” she stated.

“You’re right. As far as we can tell, you haven’t. However, that doesn’t make you innocent. I often wondered why you never sat for the bar exam after putting all those years into your schooling. It never made sense. Imagine my shock to find out the reason you didn’t is because you couldn’t pass it,” I said sweetly.

“That’s laughable. If she could earn passing grades, she could pass the exam,” Rick snapped.

“You’d think, but it wasn’t that farfetched since she didn’t pass, or at least not on her own. It seems Jubilee found a way to cheat her way through college and law school, but she couldn’t figure out how to do it on the bar exam. I’d wager when she couldn’t cheat that she slept her way to a passing grade,” I informed them both. Jubilee tore the papers out of my hand so she could read them.

Tinker presented the last coup de grace to Rick. “You claimed you never wanted Haven and that kissing her made you sick and that you’d never cheat on Jubilee. Well, you’re a goddamn liar. Here are emails and texts recounting how turned on you were by Haven and how, if you could find a way to have Jubilee and Haven both, you would’ve done it. I bet if we called your buddies to the mat on these, they’d attest to them. In addition, here’s proof that you’ve been cheating on Jubilee since the beginning. And it hasn’t been with just one woman. By our count, there have been five long-term ones. There’s no way to know how many one-night stands are out there,” Tinker said smugly.

Jubilee let out a head-splitting shriek before snatching the papers away from Tinker. Rick tried to take them from her, but she wouldn’t give them up. Mom was crying. Judd and Ursula were arguing. It became a seething cauldron of anger and fear. We let them yell, cry, and, in Rick’s case, be slapped by Jubilee while he claimed his innocence. Finally, we’d had enough.

Gareth shouted. “Quiet!”

Slowly, they all stopped talking and hollering. When they were quiet, Gareth issued our demands. “If you don’t want this all to become public knowledge and to be held accountable for what you’ve done, you’ll do the following. You’ll have the restraining orders and lawsuit dropped and the proof they have been to us by Monday. You’ll forget you ever knew us. And you’ll never contact or see us and never attempt to sue us or cause trouble in any way again. If you don’t, this information and any additional information we find will be released. Are we clear?”

I could tell it galled them to lose to us, but they had no choice. One by one, they agreed, except for Rick. He was already ruined as far as it went with my cousin. The way she was glaring at him, there was no way she’d forgive him. In her case, she wouldn’t want it known that she cheated in school or had a man cheat on her.

As the last one agreed, Annie stood up. “Then we’re done here. Get the fuck out of my house. If I see any of you again, I’ll make sure your asses disappear,” she snarled.

Hastily, the five of them came to their feet. We were on their heels as they made their way to the door. Outside, I heard Rick trying to beg Jubilee to hear him out. She screamed at him that she never wanted to see his ugly face again. To punctuate her demand, she threw his ring in his face and stomped over to get in the car with her parents and my mom. We watched both cars peel off as if the devil was after them.

Reentering the house, we grabbed our drinks and went to the living room. “I wish we’d recorded their looks and response for the club. They would’ve enjoyed that. I should feel bad, but I don’t. They got what they deserve, and what is to come is their fault, too,” Annie said.

“What about you, Gareth? Are you alright with us disclosing what they did?” I asked.

“Honey, I am. I wish they hadn’t done it. The people they hurt and possibly sent to prison scare me. It reminds me of the talk we had about the Punishers and when law enforcement doesn’t or can’t do their job. When this comes to light, all those cases will have to be given a re-trial. I hope none who don’t deserve it get out of prison.”

“Gareth, I promise, if that should happen, they won’t be allowed to prey upon others,” Tinker told him.

“I appreciate that. I get it now. I do. Haven, how do you feel about exposing your mom? She’ll serve time for that, without a doubt. I have no idea how long. I always knew they had money. In your mom’s case, I assumed it was your dad paying spousal support. He had a lucrative career when they were married. As for Judd and Ursula, I presumed it was due to their law careers. Now, I have to wonder how much was from them being paid off. You know they’ve represented criminals. Many never went to prison.”

“Mom destroyed daughterly love a long time ago. I never did anything right. She always treated me like an unwanted nuisance. She’s always fawned over Jubilee. That hurt so much. The only thing I do hate is that our kids will never have grandparents. Between Mom and Dad and Tinker’s dad, they’re out of luck.”

“They won’t have those, but they’ll have a ton of kickass aunts, uncles, and cousins within the club. They’ll be so spoiled you won’t know what to do with them, which reminds me—enough talk about the five who just left. Let’s discuss your wedding. Have you decided on a date? How about a theme? I can’t wait to help you plan it,” Annie said gleefully.

This made Tinker laugh as I gasped. He sat there chatting with Gareth, occasionally interjecting a comment or a suggestion while Annie interrogated me. I’d been engaged for less than a week. Tinker was louder than Annie in objecting when I suggested we wait and have the wedding next spring.

“There’s no damn way I can wait nine months to marry you, Witch. I’m willing to meet you halfway and say January at the absolute latest. I know finding a dress and venue, if you prefer it to be somewhere other than at the compound, can take time. But that’s as far as I’m willing to go. Don’t make me kidnap and spirit you away to the courthouse.”

This got Annie teasing him that planning one would take two years. Even when we sat down to dinner in town a half hour later, she kept poking him about it. She stopped when he threatened her with not being a part of the planning or the wedding party. She told him he could disappear. She knew people. This made all four of us laugh. The night ended on a high note. The only thing that could bring my happiness down was if my family decided not to do what they said they would, which I thought was highly doubtful. It was in their best interest to comply.