Page 32 of Ryder

Arron had done his HSC and it was getting closer to Christmas. It was looking like Divinity and I would be having a Christmas wedding. At the moment, with how Divinity was, it would be held at the house. I needed to get her to leave. She needed some of the casts off. “Vixen, I know it’s safe here at home, but I promise it will be safe at the doctor’s. If you go today I will be with you the whole time, and Chad and Leo will be coming with us too.”

Her eyes went wide at the mention of leaving and she looked anywhere but at me and for a moment I hated myself for pushing her, but she needed to go. The doctor wasn’t willing to come to the house and take off casts no matter who I was.

“I…er. I think it’s best if the casts stay on longer.” She looked terrified. Her eyes were huge and her whole body seemed to shrink and her hands jittered.

I raised my brow. I knew she hated all the casts. “I promise I won’t leave your side. You’re safe with me. Nothing will happen. We will go from here straight to the doctor’s office and back home. Please, vixen.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip and her fingers played with the hem of her shirt. My heart sank. This wasn’t my feisty, full of life, take no shit woman. I swore if I ever got my hands-on X, I’d make him pay.

My mobile buzzed in my pocket and then rang. I ignored it, intent on getting Divinity to her appointment. It rang two more times before she sighed and I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out my phone.

“Argh. Fine. Answer that call and I promise I will go to this damn appointment. Happy now?”

I was. If this would get her out of the house and on the road to leaving and being herself more, I’d answer the frigging phone. It rang again, the same number as the last couple of times and it was a number I didn’t recognize. I hesitated for a moment before answering. “Ryder Silverman here. Who—”

“Meet me at Richard’s club in fifteen.” And then the caller hung up. I knew who it was though, as soon as I heard the deep timbre of the voice. Eric. Finally. I called Richard right away to tell him to get to the club and to not respond if the alarms go off.

I turned to Divinity. I didn’t want to leave her and not have her go to the doctor, but I had a feeling this call was important, something to do with X. It could help Divinity with closure. “I have to go. That was your father. Now, you can stay here and wait for me to come with you when I get home, or you can go with Chad and Leo.”

Her big brown eyes turned a warm light chocolate color as a huge grin spread over her face. “I want to come with you.”

Resisting the urge to smile, I shook my head. “No. I don’t know what I’m going to yet. Wait.” I was ecstatic though, that she wanted to come. The Divinity I knew was still in there.

“No.” She glared at me and I couldn’t help the smile. I chuckled at her growl. “I can help. It’s my dad.”

“No way. How can you help with the casts on? If they were off sure you could.” I watched as the light in her eyes flashed as what I was saying sunk in.

She stalked towards me, all traces of the woman who was afraid to leave the house gone. “Fine,” she gritted out. “I’ll go get the casts off, but I’m going to meet you and Dad straight after.”

I was grinning like a loon and didn’t give a shit. “Deal.” She grabbed her purse from the bench and stormed as best she could with her casts out the front door to the waiting car that Chad drove.

I went and grabbed what I might need, got in my car, and was on my way. I made it to Richard’s club in record time and let myself in with a key and disabled the security system.

I didn’t know what I expected when I saw Eric, but it sure as shit wasn’t what I found. He strolled in like he didn’t have a care in the world, a body over his shoulder. Even from the middle of the club dance floor staring at the back entrance I could see the guy was in bad shape.

Eric made his way to me and paused to look me over. That’s when I noticed the guy was flung over the wrong way so he was facing up. But that’s not what had my mouth gaping open. Instead of having his hands tied together, there was a wicked looking knife skewering them together. The same had been done to his feet.

“How you doing? You been treating my daughter like the angel she is?”

What. The. Fuck.Eric was insane. I was sure I looked like a bugged-out idiot, my eyes popping out of my skull, unable to believe what I was seeing and hearing. I was a detective and had seen some strange, and just wrong, fucked up shit, but this just jumped to the top of my list. Clearing my dry throat, I mumbled, “Your daughter is my whole world. She gets treated better than any angel. I love her.”

“Good. I’m so glad she’s happy. I saw you got her a puppy. That’s good. Divinity always wanted a dog.” He smiled. A genuine smile. Like he didn’t have a beaten and unconscious bloody man flung over his shoulder with knives sticking out of him. We might have been chatting over lunch or something. And how the fuck did he know I got Divinity a puppy when we hadn’t seen or talked to him in almost three weeks, and we’d only had the puppy for two?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts so I could focus on why we were here. I actually didn’t want to know how he knew. What was the saying? “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” I was sure in this case that applied. “We going to talk about the body now?”

“Sure. I have a gift. I’ve had some fun. I thought I’d let you have some too.” He dropped the body down at my feet not even removing the knives.

I STARED AT THE BRUISEDand bloody body dropped at my feet. Eric didn’t look like he’d even broken a sweat carrying the man in.

“I thought here was a good place as blood is easy to clean off the floor.”

I was a detective so I wasn’t afraid or grossed out by blood but Eric’s casual talk, like he knew what he was talking about, made me uneasy. I looked down at the broken body of the man and didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t even someone I’d arrested. I had perfect memory. I only had to see someone or something once and I never forgot.

“Who is this?” I assumed it was X, but I needed to be sure before this went further.

“This is X. Or I should say, David Ricardo.”

Ricardo. That last name was familiar, but not David. “I don’t know a David Ricardo. I did arrest a Leonardo Ricardo ten years ago when I was new to the force. It was one of my first big busts. He was charged with selling of narcotics to children and dealing drugs. I caught him on suspicion of murder and, if I remember correctly, it was later confirmed he killed a young couple and family in a home invasion. He died in prison from gang related violence. He was a piece of work. So I felt like karma dealt its hand.”

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