Fierce Daddy

by Laylah Roberts

  “What the fuck,” Sav snapped. “That was fucking years ago, and he didn’t take off then.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you,” the lawyer said. “The judge wouldn’t budge. Does anyone have it out for him? Judge Fallows is never usually that harsh.”

  “The detective,” she said. Everyone turned to look at her. “Detective Andrews, he arrested Razor. He hates him. Did you tell the judge that I was with him all day?”

  The lawyer gave her a condescending look. “That will have to wait for trial.”

  “So he’s just stuck in jail until he goes to court?” she asked. “There must be something more we can do. I don’t understand who this witness is. They have to be lying.”

  “I’ve got to go. Call me if anything changes.”

  The lawyer hastily left. That was it?

  “Fuck,” Reyes said. Then he took hold of her shoulders with his hands. “Don’t worry, Tabby. I have other resources I can tap. We’ll fly Duncan back. We’ll get him out. I promise.”

  She nodded numbly. But they wouldn’t get him out today. He’d have to stay at least one night in jail. It wasn’t fair. She just knew that Detective Andrews had done something to ensure he didn’t get bail.

  She’d love to teach that asshole a lesson.

  “Let’s go get some of your stuff,” Reyes said. “You can stay with Emme and me until Razor is out.”

  Stay with him? No, she didn’t want to stay with him.

  “She’ll stay with us,” Spike said. “Millie wants her.”

  “Sunny already told me to bring her to our place,” Duke added.

  She stared around at them all in amazement. Not that long ago, she’d been all on her own. And now, here they were, practically arguing over who got to take her home. It might all be for Razor, but it still filled her bucket up just a bit more.

  “I want to go home,” she whispered.

  “It would be better if you were with someone,” Reyes told her. “It’s not safe on your own.”

  “I . . . I . . . please.”

  “I’ll stay with her.”

  She looked over at Sav gratefully.

  “That okay with you, Tabby?” Reyes asked.

  “Yes,” she said in a hoarse voice. “I want Sav to stay with me.”

  “All right. Try not to worry too much, okay?” Reyes said to her. “We will figure this out. We’ll get him out.”

  She nodded numbly.

  Spike had picked her up in his truck, and he dropped her back off with Sav following on his bike. Sav and Spike spoke quietly as she went across to grab Luna from Lois. The other woman hugged her tight, telling her to call if she needed anything.

  But there was only one thing she needed.

  Razor.

  Later that night, she lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. There was no way she could sleep. She was too worried about Razor.

  What was she going to do?

  Sav was asleep in the spare bedroom. She didn’t want to get up and wake him. Besides, it wasn’t like she could go for a jog at eleven-thirty at night.

  Razor would kill her.

  She missed him so much. Rolling over, she grabbed her phone and went through the texts she’d received from the girls today. There were so many, she hadn’t been able to answer them all. Finally, they’d added her to their group chat.

  She never thought she’d have this. She just wished they had a way of helping her.

  Then it suddenly occurred to her. Cat! She’d said to call if she needed help.

  But what could she do? There was nothing, right?

  Except, what if she could do something and Tabby didn’t call her?

  Oh hell. What was the worst that could happen? She wouldn’t answer? She’d tell her that there was nothing she could do? At least Tabby would have tried something. And right now, she felt so helpless that she’d do anything to alleviate this feeling.

  Climbing out of bed, she moved into the bathroom so that she wouldn’t wake Sav. This ache in her stomach hurt. It hurt worse than anything Luther had ever done to her, that was for sure.

  The phone rang.

  “Tabby? What’s wrong?” Cat’s voice came through the phone as clear as though she was sitting across from her.

  Tabby’s throat seized up. She couldn’t answer.

  “Tabby? Are you all right? Wait, is someone threatening you? Grunt once for yes, twice for no.”

  Someone else spoke in the background, their voice deep. A man. Cat replied in Spanish.

  “Tabby?”

  “I’m all right,” Tabby managed to get out.

  “You sure? Say the word or grunt the grunt and my Papi will come rescue you.”

  “No, no, it’s not me that’s in trouble.”

  “But someone is, or you wouldn’t be calling me. I’m almost hurt.”

  Tabby thought she was teasing. She hoped she was. But at the moment, it was difficult to tell. She was just too exhausted and heart sore to work out the finer nuances of what Cat was saying.

  “My boyfriend, he’s in jail.”

  “What’d he do?”

  “He didn’t do anything. This detective has it in for him. He arrested him for setting his business on fire. The detective said he has a witness, but he can’t because Razor was with me the entire time.”

  “Wow, that detective sounds like a real dick.”

  That deep voice said something again.

  “Papi, it’s not swearing if it’s the truth,” Cat complained. “Sorry, keep going, Tabby.”

  “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know why I called you. The judge won’t give him bail because he was in jail years ago. Our lawyer doesn’t seem like he even cares. I just . . . I can’t be without him, Cat.”

  “I get it, Tabby. Let me see what I can do. Hold on.”

  Tabby paced, needing to get rid of some excess energy.

  “Tabby?”

  “Yes?”

  “You know Bert and Ernie, the guys who kidnapped me?”

  “Yeah?” she asked, wondering why she was bringing this up.

  “They ended up dead. And it wasn’t my Papi.”

  She thought her father would kill them. Tabby’s eyes widened. Then that deep voice spoke again.

  “My Papi is going to send someone to help, okay?”

  “He is? Who?”

  “A lawyer, he’s the best. You can trust him. He’ll call you when he arrives, okay?”

  “All right.”

  “He can be a complete asshole, but he’s also the best there is.”

  “I don’t care if he’s an asshole as long as he helps. What’s his name?”

  “Reuben Jones.”

  27

  Tabby sat at the dining table the next morning, poking at the scrambled eggs Sav had cooked.

  “You should try to eat something,” Sav told her.

  “I know, I’m sorry. I wish I could.”

  Sav just grunted.

  Her phone started ringing and she jumped for it. “Hello?”

  “Is this Tabitha Smarts?” a sharp-sounding voice asked. He sounded impatient, hurried.

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  “Reuben Jones, I was told you were expecting my call.”

  “I was. I didn’t expect you to get here so quickly.”

  “Well, you have friends in high places with big pockets. And their own private plane.”

  She did? Who? Jared? No, that made no sense. He meant Cat. Shoot. She probably did need to eat something, she was slow on the uptake today.

  “Miss Smarts, I’m tired and hungry. I want to get this done. I have other things to do.”

  “Okay. Sorry.”

  Cat warned you he could be an asshole.

  He sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude. Truthfully, it just comes naturally.”

  “Um, okay. It’s all right.”

  She was aware of Sav giving her a curious glance, so she forced herself to smile at him.

  “I think it would be easier if we met i
n person. I’m going to have to twist some arms to get things done today and I want to start as soon as possible. Can you meet me by the police station? Is there a good café near?”

  “Um, there’s a diner on the corner across from it.”

  “Good. Forty-five minutes?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  Forty minutes later, Sav pulled up outside the diner.

  “Don’t know about this.”

  Sav hadn’t wanted her to come meet this guy, hadn’t liked any of what she’d told him about Cat and her Papi. But in the end, he’d brought her. However, he’d also called Reyes to let him know what was going on. One of Ink’s people was researching Reuben Jones.

  She didn’t care who he was or what he’d done, as long as he got Razor out of jail.

  “It will be fine.”

  She climbed out of the passenger side of Razor’s truck. Sav stomped around, frowning at her. “You should wait for me before you get out.”

  “Sorry. Come on. I don’t want him to leave.” She walked into the diner, coming to a stop as she realized that she had no clue who this guy was. Then she spotted a dark-haired, handsome man over in the corner. He was working on his phone and he looked tired.

  Somehow, she just knew it was him.

  She moved swiftly over to the corner, aware of Sav behind her. The man looked up, frowning. That frown turned into a scowl as he spotted Sav.

  “Who is he?”

  “A friend. Mr. Jones?”

  He grunted. “Call me Reuben. Sit. I don’t have long. I’m going over the detective’s head. What an asshole. If we can get to the district attorney, I could get these charges dropped.”

  “You can do that?” Sav asked.

  “I can do anything. Who are you?”

  “This is Sav,” she said hastily, slipping into the seat across from him. Sav remained standing beside her. This didn’t seem to intimidate Reuben at all, who just smiled up at him. With a lot of teeth.

  Yikes.

  “Do you really think you can get this overturned? You believe that Razor didn’t do this?”

  “It doesn’t matter to me if he did or didn’t do it. But I don’t like some of the things I’ve learned about this Detective Andrews. After I’ve resolved this, I think I’ll go after him.”

  She glanced up at Sav.

  “How can you know anything about him? Didn’t you only learn about him a few hours ago?” Sav asked.

  “About ten hours ago. I can do a lot in ten hours. I don’t sleep. I don’t like shady cops. At all. So, tell me what happened.”

  She started with the call about the fire to Razor getting arrested.

  “He said he has a witness?” Reuben asked.

  “Yes, but I don’t see how. Razor was with me the whole time.”

  “Any way you can prove that?”

  “I don’t know how,” she said, bewildered. “Why isn’t my word enough?”

  “Does the detective know who you are?”

  Sav let out a low warning noise that Reuben ignored.

  “Yes, he mentioned it. You know?”

  “I do. You don’t think you can be friends with Cat without Alejandro doing a complete background on you, do you?”

  She didn’t point out that she wasn’t actually friends with Cat. Who was Alejandro? Her father?

  “He’ll try to discredit you. We need indisputable evidence. A timeline. I need to find out the approximate time the fire was lit. Also, who this witness is since they’re lying. Razor have any enemies?”

  “Other than the detective? I don’t know . . . I don’t think . . .”

  “What about Tommy?” Sav asked quietly.

  “Who is Tommy?” Reuben asked.

  “He’s a guy who worked for Razor until recently,” she explained.

  “He was fired? He might hold a grudge?”

  “Um, yes, Razor also hit him because he touched me.”

  Reuben stared up at her from where he was taking notes on his phone. “Right. That’s interesting.”

  That was all he had to say? She shared a look with Sav.

  “Give me the timeline of where you went yesterday from lunchtime until that call.”

  She rattled off the places.

  “Wonder if the restaurant had cameras.”

  “Cameras? Oh my God! Why didn’t I think of that? My apartment. It has cameras.”

  “Yeah? Good. That might be too early for when the fire was lit, but it doesn’t hurt to get the footage. Can you grab it?”

  Shoot. Did that mean she’d have to ask Jared? Maybe. But it would be worth it.

  “Yes, I can.”

  “Good. I’m going to go check on a few things. I’ll be in touch.” He packed up and left.

  She stood and looked up at Sav. “Do you think he’ll be able to help?”

  “I don’t know, but he’s confident and he seems ruthless. Surely, he can’t do any worse than that other lawyer.”

  She guessed at this stage, she’d take that.

  “What do you want to do now?”

  “Can we go to my apartment? I’ll set up the automatic feeder for my fish and then I’ll call Jared. I might need to be there to do something with the cameras.”

  Sav just nodded.

  She grasped hold of his forearm as he turned away. “Sav? Thanks for helping. And for being here with me.”

  “Razor would want me to take care of you. Besides, we’re friends, right?”

  “Right.”

  As soon as she walked in, she knew something was wrong. But before she could figure out what was going on, she was staring at Sav’s back.

  “Tabby, run.”

  “What? What is it?”

  “I suggest you move away from my cousin, Mr. Miller,” a smooth voice warned.

  She shivered, hearing the deadly intent. She knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Sav if he thought that he was a threat to her.

  “Sav, it’s okay. This is my cousin. He won’t hurt me.” She stepped to the side so she could see Jared.

  He was sprawled on her sofa, looking deceptively casual. But she knew that he was on alert for any threat or danger. And his two bodyguards, Bill and Bentley, were as well.

  “I know who he is,” Sav said, grasping hold of her arm.

  Jared’s gaze immediately went to where he was holding her arm.

  “Sav, let go of me.”

  “No. You’re not going near him.”

  There was something in Sav’s voice that told her he wasn’t entirely here. As though he was looking at Jared and seeing someone else.

  “I won’t,” she reassured him. “Why don’t you go wait downstairs?”

  “No. I have to protect you.”

  “I’m not in danger from Jared. Trust me.”

  Sav looked down at her, then he let out a shuddering breath. He gazed around at Jared and his men. “Fuck. Fine. But I’m not leaving.”

  “All right.”

  Jared’s eyes narrowed, but she sent him a quelling look. “Jared, what are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to collect you,” Jared told her smoothly. “Go and get your stuff. You’re coming home with me.”

  She gaped at her cousin. Had he lost his mind? Why would he think she’d go with him?

  “We had an agreement.”

  “Yes, and that agreement said that if you got into danger that you would move back home.”

  “I’m not in danger.”

  “You don’t think that rescuing Cat De Leon from a kidnapper is getting into trouble? You could have been hurt. What if he’d had a gun?” Jared had stood at this stage; his voice hadn’t risen, but it was clear to see he was upset. Sav must have thought so as well because he took a half-step forward.

  Okay, she couldn’t have that.

  “Sav, my cousin isn’t going to hurt me,” she snapped at him. “Stand down.”

  Sav stared at her. “Tabby, you don’t know—”

  “I do,” she insisted quietly. “I’ve lived in that life for
years. I know who my cousin is. And he’s not like my uncle. He won’t hurt me.”

  Jared sighed. “This is getting tiresome. You’re coming home, Tabby. I can’t have you in danger. What were you thinking, jogging in the early hours like that?”

  “You sound like Razor.”

  “And we have to talk about this boyfriend of yours. That’s going to end.”

  “It’s not.”

  “It is. He’s no good for you. Look at what he’s got you messed up with.”

  “He didn’t set fire to his garage, and even if he had, you wouldn’t care. So what’s your objection?”

  “He’s too old for you.”

  “Try again.”

  “I don’t like who he hangs out with. He has a record.”

  “Oh, come on, Jared. That’s just laughable.”

  “Fine. I want you to come home. I can’t protect you out here. I did my best with this apartment and your car. I did think of getting someone to follow you.”

  She gasped. “You promised you wouldn’t. You never break a promise.”

  “And I didn’t break this one.” He gave her a furious look. “That promise was bogus, though. I should never have promised that. Obviously not since they would have dragged you back home after you threw yourself at Cat De Leon’s kidnapper.”

  “I didn’t throw myself at them,” she muttered. “How do you know Cat? How do you know about the kidnapping if you weren’t following me?”

  “De Leon,” Sav muttered. “She’s not . . .”

  “Alejandro De Leon’s girlfriend?” Jared asked dryly. “Yes, she is. Tabby rescued the wife of the leader of the most powerful crime syndicate in the United States.”

  “I what?” she said in a strangled voice.

  “Alejandro De Leon is powerful and ruthless,” Jared told her. “He’s also indebted to you.”

  “You spoke to him?”

  “Yes, he called me in the early hours of the morning to tell me everything that happened. Something you should have done. Apparently, Cat didn’t tell him about you until you called her for help. Why did you call her and not me?”

  “Because I didn’t think you would help me.”

  Jared snorted. “We’re going home.”

  She was still reeling that Cat was the wife of some powerful criminal. She wondered why she’d never mentioned him? The only person she’d talked about was her Papi.