Page 33 of Unlocking Hope

His blue eyes met hers. “I don’t want you to leave. All along, I wanted you at my house. Something about the first time I saw you, it clicked. I’m not going to force you to live with me, but I want you here in our house and in our bed.”

“I want to stay,” she said.

“Good. Now that we have that solved, we can finish watching the police send my uncle and mother to jail.”

“Did you and Ian work on the house today?”

“Yeah, it should be a quick flip, but I might need to work over the weekend. If you want to spend Saturday with Bella, you can. I’m sure Ian won’t have a problem if it’s just us working.”

“How about I come help instead, and if we finish earlier, we can go to the pub for dinner and have Ian and Bella come along?”

She enjoyed spending time with his friends. Jessica had sent her a text that morning, asking how she was doing. They’d texted back and forth for a little while before she headed into work.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I actually miss working at the house with you.” She took a sip of wine. “But don’t get me wrong—I love my day job.”

“It’s demo work, so these arms will get a workout.” He squeezed her bicep.

Last night, when they were leaving the warehouse, she’d seen a group of people sleeping on the sidewalk, and she couldn’t stop thinking about it at work. “I want to help at a home shelter or something.”

Cole didn’t say anything right away. He ran his hand up and down her arm. “I have a friend who runs a foundation, and I could talk to them about opening a shelter in San Antonio, but we would need to run it.”

“I don’t know the first thing about running a shelter or where to get the funds from. It would be amazing, but I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Even the mention of the idea made her head run with possibilities, but each one scared her to death. She wished she could have found a place to help her when she was on the street but had no clue where to turn. Cole casually mentioned the Ross family name like he wasn’t sure she would know who the family was. She did know the Ross family was rich, and not the new-money rich. The family had more money than they knew what to do with. They had opened a women’s shelter in Fort Lauderdale. It’d made headlines because Antonio’s wife was also the heiress to a large fortune.

“I’m sure Kat would come out and help. Not sure I would leave you alone with her.” Cole chuckled. “She is a retired assassin and is known for taking out men who hurt the women who come to her shelter. Last time I talked to Antonio, he was grumbling that she’d fed another body to the gators in the back yard.”

“You’re joking, right?” Zoey asked.

“I’m sure her husband wishes I was joking, but she promised to stop killing since she is six months pregnant,” Cole added.

“I’m not sure I can do it, but I would love to talk to her about the possibilities or even finding a place to help at.”

“Anything you do will help. It was an idea. I planned to bring it up the other day after I talked to Antonio. He was the one who sent the guy to watch over Paul.”

“That’s right. I wished I could have thanked him before he left.” Everything had been so busy, she hadn’t made it over to introduce herself and thank him for helping. That morning, after Cole told Antonio everything was clear, he’d caught the first flight back home. Antonio had said they had a mission in South America and could use John’s help.

Zoey and Cole watched the news a little longer, and when everything was just being repeated, they turned it off and went to the bedroom.

Cole

Later that night,Cole’s phone dinged on the bedroom stand. Bryson had sent a text, asking him to meet outside. Cole grabbed his gun from the nightstand and headed for the door. “It’s the middle of the night.”

Bryson pushed his way in, went to the kitchen, and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. “I know.”

“Why not make yourself at home?”

“I need a beer, and you’re going to need one, as well.”

Cole didn’t like where this might go. He grabbed one and joined his brother on the couch. “What happened?”

“We did everything to the fuckin’ T. There is no way she should’ve gotten off—and this quick.”

Cole had a sinking feeling who he was talking about. “I watched the news before going to bed, and she was cuffed and taken in. No one is released that fast.”

Bryson nodded solemnly. “I called a few contacts, and she didn’t even get processed. Someone escorted her right out the back door. That’s not even the fucked up part.” Bryson took a long swig. “I need something stronger.”

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