“I did bring you something on the way over, but they confiscated it,” Ian replied, pausing to fold his arms over his chest. “You look better than last time.”
Jake flashed him a smile and pushed himself up. “Can’t keep me down for long.”
“I heard you’re going to be released soon, with just an ugly scar on your side.”
Jake shrugged, and he looked pale and anxious beneath the fluorescent lighting. “Women love a good scar. I just have to tweak some of the details to make myself look good.”
Ian took a step forward. “Any new details you want to tell me? Something you didn’t share with me last time, maybe?”
Jake threw his head back and cleared his throat. “I already told you what happened, but fine. I can tell you again. This security guard comes in, starts trying to rile me up. When it doesn’t work, he starts cursing me before spilling my food all over the floor. I shouldn’t have let him get the better of me.”
Ian’s blood turned cold. “So, he just stabbed you in the middle of the holding cell? In full view of the camera?”
Jake twisted his head to look directly at Ian. “You can’t be that surprised. I told you Eric was going to come after me once he realized what I’m doing.”
“He can’t know. We’ve kept it under wraps.”
Jake snorted. “You’re underestimating him again, Railings. It’s how he’s been able to get away with stuff. How’s that investigator going?”
“I hired him.”
Jake shook his head. “Of course, you did. You got some kind of death wish or something?”
“Do you?”
A heartbeat later, Jake smiled, and Ian pulled up a chair to sit next to him. Over the next hour, the two of them reviewed everything they knew until a nurse came in, and Ian spotted the handcuffs Jake kept hidden under the cover. When Ian left, Jake’s words reverberated inside of his head and stayed until he drove back home and got out of the car.
All three kids were fast asleep on the couch, their soft snores filling the air while the TV blared in the background. Ian crept forward and felt for the remote. As soon as the TV was off, he covered them all in blankets and lingered to watch them sleep.
He wished there was a way he could go back in time to when things were simpler.
Exhaling, Ian tiptoed up the stairs and into their room. In the master bathroom, he changed out of his clothes and into a pair of sweats and a hoodie. Then he drew back the covers and snuggled up against Lucy’s back. She muttered something in her sleep, and he pressed his head to the back of her neck.
The sweet smell of her eased some of the tension in his shoulders.
Please help me save her. Help me bring my mom’s real killer to justice, and help me stop Eric Taylor once and for all.
Chapter Eighteen
“Iwas watching that,” Dean protested before leaning forward and trying to snatch the remote out of Kelli’s hands. “You’re the one who got up to use the bathroom. You snooze, you lose, sis.”
Kelli snorted and held the remote up over her head. “You’re going to have to do better than that, little bro. What are they teaching you in college?”
“Working at a fashion house has made you meaner,” Dean grumbled darkly. He jumped to his feet and launched himself at Kelli, who took a few steps back and continued to hold the remote over her head. “Give it.”
“Make me.”
Dana lifted the mug up to her lips and eyed them over the rim. “It’s too early in the day for this.”
“It’s twelve in the afternoon,” Kelli and Dean replied in unison.
Dana took a few more sips of her coffee and turned her attention to the phone. “You two are such children.”
Kelli and Dean shot Dana a dirty look and started bickering.
It wasn’t long before the three of them were talking over each other and fighting over the remote.
Ian lingered on the last step and craned his neck over his shoulder. He spotted Lucy at the top of the stairs, her hair a tangled mess on top of her head and the robe half-hanging off her frame.
