Page 15 of Axe-ing for Trouble
“I fucking hope so.”
I thought about her smile, her freckles, and the mischievous glint in her steely gray eyes. She was trouble personified. But I couldn’t help but feel like she might be the missing piece we’d spent years looking for.
“What if this is our opportunity?” I scanned the table, making eye contact with each of my brothers and Chloe. “To end all of this, once and for all?”
“What do you mean?”
I closed my eyes and searched for the right words. Public speaking was not my thing.
“We’ve been living under this cloud for so long,” I eventually said. “Chloe, you’ve been followed by sketchy people. Cole and Willa stumbled on some kind of illegal deal, and then Cole was drugged and framed. And Noah—”
I looked over at my twin, and a wave of panic washed over me. It happened every time I thought about the fire. About what could have happened to the person I cared for most in this world. What could have happened to his daughter. I couldn’t even fathom it.
I swallowed back the emotion and lifted my chin. “We’re not safe. This isn’t going away unless we do something about it. And she’s our best chance.”
Gus, the quietest of all of us, spoke up. “But we hired Parker.”
“And she’s amazing, but she’s just one person. When she’s officially sworn in as the new chief of police, she can do a lot more. But right now, we’ve got a resource with hard evidence.”
“Have you seen this evidence?” This question was from Owen, ever the cynic.
I shook my head, then forced out a “no” when I realized he couldn’t see me.
“And you trust her?” Lila added. “Believe her?”
I ruminated on those questions for a moment. Did I believe her? Yes. Undoubtedly. I couldn’t imagine her dislocating her shoulder in order to pull something over on us. But more than that, the fear in her eyes was genuine. So was the jut of her jaw when she talked about what she’d done. And the love and care that oozed from her when she spoke of her brother.
“I do. I trust her.”
“What does this mean practically?” Finn asked. “How do we proceed?”
“Guys,” Gus said, crossing his arms. “It means she meets with Parker and tells her everything. Then we decide what’s next. We’re not going to do anything reckless.”
“Agreed,” Owen said from the phone. “We proceed cautiously. Give all the evidence to Parker. Try to rope in the FBI at the right time. I’ve got the lawyers on standby in case this goes sideways.”
“I think we’re gonna need more than lawyers,” Finn grumbled. “Like a couple of shotguns.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Okay, it’s decided. She stays with Jude and lays low while she heals. We’ll get Parker looped in, find out what this girl knows, and go from there.”
“And,” Gus said, putting his arm around her. “No one does anything reckless or dangerous. We consult each other, and we do not take any unnecessary risks. We’ve had too many close calls already.”
Murmured agreements went up around the table.
Meanwhile, my mind was spinning. What did Mila know? And could it help me put a stop to this? Because after this meeting, it was more obvious than ever how much this ongoing fiasco was weighing on my siblings. They had all sacrificed so much, and now they were happy. So it was up to me to wrap it all up so we could move on.
Chapter4
Mila
Idid not leave the house. Instead, I spent the day sleeping on Jude’s couch, petting his dog, and flipping through his books. The shelves in the spare room were meticulously organized, and I found all sorts of gems, including an entire shelf of poetry. That one had been a pleasant surprise.
I’d raided the kitchen as well. Like the rest of the house, it was well-organized. But sadly, the only foods I found worth consuming were dried mango and lentil chips. Ripley followed me around, probably confused by my presence.
All day, try as I might, I couldn’t stop memories of the last time I was in this house from bubbling up. Filled with grief and scrambling to make sense of what had happened to Hugo, I’d lost all sense of self-control.
I’d never been good at denying myself the things I wanted, and when I’d looked at Jude standing on that stage with his guitar, there was no doubt in my mind that, in that moment, what I wanted was him.
He was at once both powerful and gentle. Feral and tame.
