Page 13 of Phoenix

Maverick stood on his left, arms crossed, his face impassive.

Whiskey and Deviant were lounging in the small sitting area on the right side of the office, while Stone sat at the round, wooden conference table on the other side.

“Took you long enough,” Stone muttered.

“Was busy,” I said flatly, dropping onto an empty chair in front of Fox’s desk.

“Yeah, we know,” Deviant said with a shit-eating grin. “Mav filled us in.”

Whiskey smirked. “Bastard’s finally got it bad.”

Fox’s voice cut through the shit, demanding our attention. “Shut the fuck up. I have a wife and kids waiting, and none of you are pretty enough to keep me here longer than necessary.”

The room immediately went quiet.

“Since she’s here, and you look like you’re gonna flip your shit any minute, gonna assume something happened at the hospital?”

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “Someone tried to snatch Lindsay in the parking lot. Van rolled up, masked pricks jumped out. I shot one of the tires and clipped the frame before they peeled off. Had to fire a few rounds. The hospital will have to report it.”

Stone didn’t even blink, just wrote a note on the legal pad in front of him. “I’ll handle the cops.”

I nodded my thanks. “Asshole is still in a coma. No help there.”

“We should have eyes on him,” Whiskey grunted.

Fox nodded and pulled out his phone, making a call. “Send two prospects to the hospital. Then contact the head of the ICU and let him know that they’re not to leave Vogel’s side until I say otherwise. If the fucker wakes up, I want to know immediately. If anyone tries to get to him, I want them stopped.”

He listened for a couple of beats, grunting a response before ending the call. Then he looked back at me. “You sure he’s the guy?”

“Positive. Every deposit lines up with donation drops,” I confirmed. “And the account he used wasn’t tied to Juniper Grove’s records. All under the radar.”

Deviant nodded. “Pulled his credit report. Paul’s drowning. No real assets, no savings, no investments. He’s overdrawn most months. The withdrawals are cash, and then he’s wiped out.”

“Which makes it more likely he owes somebody,” Whiskey said, rubbing his jaw. “Or he’s paying for something he doesn’t want anyone to know about.”

“He’s still alive, so I think whoever kicked his ass still wants something from him. Putting him in a coma was probably an accident.”

“Think he’s in with a bookie?” Stone asked.

I shook my head. “Don’t think so. The withdrawals are too regular. He’d be scrambling for large payoffs if he was in major debt to a bookie or loan shark.”

“Which leaves paying for a vice,” Whiskey concluded. “Then why the beating?”

Deviant scratched his chin and rested an ankle on the opposite knee. “Probably pissed someone off, and they were teaching him a lesson.”

Fox frowned. “Still doesn’t explain why they came for the girl.”

I went still, my voice dropping low. “We need to figure that shit out fast. Or I’ll put the bastard in the ground. Whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

No one argued. It would have made them a bunch of fucking hypocrites since they’d do exactly the same thing for their women.

“She know something?” Stone asked, thoughtfully.

I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “Been poking around. Asking questions. But I didn’t think she’d dug deep enough to make waves.”

Fox studied me for a second. “We’ll figure it out. No one’s gonna hurt your girl.”

“Damn straight,” I growled my hands curling into fists. Just the thought of anything happening to Lindsay had me feeling homicidal.

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