Page 54 of Keys

“You want me to send someone else?”

I shook my head. “Quickshot is here. We’ll be fine, and if not, he can call on some of his guys.”

“All right. I hate doing this,” he murmured.

“Don’t you dare feel bad. I should have never brought you down here with me. Get back to your sister.” MiMi had been having some issues as a result of her recovery after she was attacked and left for dead by the same human trafficking ring that my father seemed to be a part of. It made me want to bring the bastard to justice that much more.

After Paul took off, I went to grab Quickshot, who had been trying to get Jack to take something so he could rest easily while we looked for my mom. Jack refused.

“We need to go see my father’s lawyer,” I finally told Quickshot and Jack. They both just stared at me for a moment. I wiggled the cell phone at them that had remained quiet since it had been delivered. “No one has called and we’re not going to wait around with our thumbs up our asses for them to do so. I still have some leverage, and his lawyer will no doubt have information that I can use to track my father down.”

“Do you think it’s wise to chase after him? He’s obviously not right in the head.” Jack’s concern was palpable. “I want my wife back, but she would literally kill me if I sent her daughter to be harmed in her stead.”

“I doubt that, but listen, this isn’t our first rodeo. I’ll be fine.” I held his hand for a moment and then offered up a quick squeeze before letting go. “I need you to stay here.” I handed over a Desert Eagle 357 Magnum. “This holds 10 rounds total including the one in the chamber. Do you know how to fire a gun?” He nodded, but I still went through the basics. I don’t care who comes through that door. If it’s not me or the man beside me, you shoot first and ask questions later.”

“If I shoot first and hit, I don’t think I’ll be asking any questions.” Jack held the weapon in his hand, testing the weight as he spoke.

“It’ll be for the best.” I turned and grabbed hold of Quickshot’s hand as I moved back to the front door. “Lock up behind us. The door, windows, anything that a person can fit through, you secure it until we get back or you hear from us, okay?”

“Sarah,” he called out just before I stepped out the door. I turned back in time to catch a small smile. “Please, come back home safe along with your mother.”

I nodded my head, not willing to make any promises. Quickshot followed closely behind. He had entrusted his Harley to Paul so that we were able to keep the van. Obviously, if we found my mother, there was no way we would all fit on one motorcycle. Something Quickshot was continually grumbling about, though I think he was only doing it to help take my mind off everything as I drove to downtown Atlanta where my father’s lawyer had his office.

“Are you sure you want to be here for all of this?” I asked Quickshot. He took my hand in his and held it tightly.

“I’m right where I need to be. When this is all settled, we’re going to get a few things straight between us too.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Like, I don’t ever want you sneaking out of my bed in the morning again.”

I chuckled lightly. “I told you we had something going down at work that wouldn’t wait.”

“You could have woken me up and told me that.” His argument was logical, and it was also doing its job of taking my mind off the horrible future that might await me. In that future, my mom might be gone forever; and my father was an important part of a trafficking ring, one that might be damn near untouchable considering he was also a US Senator representing the Great State of Georgia.

“Are you saying that you want me in your bed more often?” I asked, unsure if I was going to like the answer I received.

“Is that even a real question?” He laughed lightly but turned to watch as the scenery passed by in a blur. “I swear to you that I never meant the things you overheard me say. Trying to deny a relationship with you while we were supposed to be hiding it was second nature.”

“Yeah? What would you have told your men when the weekend rolled around, and we finally came out as an official couple?”

“I would have gladly eaten crow and told them the truth, that we weren’t ready for everyone to know our business before.”

It was such a simple answer, and yet it had never been one to occur to me in all the different scenarios I had made up in my mind. Luckily, I was spared having to discuss it further since we made it to the lawyer’s office.

After parking, we both made our way into the law office and straight up to the same – though much older – receptionist. “I need to speak to…” Her face blanched before I could even get his name out.

She picked up the phone and as soon as the jackass responded she let him know who was there. “It’s Sarah Keys,” the woman told him.

“Who?”

“Sarah Cassidy,” she tried again with my old last name.

“Tell her we have an arrangement and that unless she wants to be the one to break it, she needs to leave the premises immediately.”

We could hear Grady Johnson loud and clear through the line despite the fact that it wasn’t on the intercom this time. I snatched the phone out of the woman’s hand and held it up to my ear.

“Hello. Remember me? The pain in the ass girl who still has both video and DNA evidence of my parentage? You might also remember that I was an unrepresented minor when signing the NDA and hadn’t even been emancipated yet. Anything I signed back then can’t be held accountable in court. Technically, I could go public at any moment with no consequences.”

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