Or help each other.
“Mr. Mancini, Ms. Rodriguez,” the sheriff stated, then turned to Branson and nodded.
Guess they were going with the formal approach.
“We have a man in custody that has stated that he was responsible for the fire at Branson’s home.”
“Fuck,” Mark muttered.
“Did he say why? Do we know him?” she asked, and she saw the sheriff's face shift slightly when he looked at her. Mark must have seen it too though, because his body went tense and his arm around her tightened.
“Unfortunately, you do, Ms. Rodriguez. Mr. Fredrick is the same man that you had a run in with at the ice cream shop.”
Mark muttered another curse.
“Did he say why?” Branson asked, taking a step closer to the sheriff.
The sheriff gazed at Branson for a moment, his gaze a little too sharp.
If she wasn’t in the situation that she was in, and she wasn’t so far gone for Mark, she would be able to say that he was a handsome man. He was tall, although not as tall as Branson, and had that rugged boy look that many of the town’s people had. The sheriff pulled it off though with a head of dark hair, and a dashing look that she was sure the town women loved.
He glanced at her and Mark, then briefly at the house behind them, before sighing big and glancing at the ground.
“Connor?” Branson asked.
“Listen,” the sheriff, or Connor as Branson had called him, said then looked up to all of them. “I can’t say much more. I can’t tell you that he said he was paid, and I definitely can’t tell you that he is being released tomorrow on bail.”
She watched him give one more meaningful glance behind them to the house then turned and walk to his cruiser, getting in and driving away.
“What the fuck,” Mark whispered.
“That’s what I want to know,” Rick muttered from behind them, as Danny, Dominic, and Rick all walked out on the steps where they were.
“You heard that right?” Mark asked, but she was still standing there watching where the sheriff’s cruiser had disappeared.
What was that about?
“Told you he was a good guy,” Branson said giving Dominic a not so nice look, then he turned and went inside the house.
“I take it we are going hunting tomorrow,” Danny said, and she turned to see a sinister smile on his face.
This was where she had to make a decision.
This was where the men of the Mancini family did what they were trained to do. She could either stay there and support Mark and his family or run. The look on Dominic’s face, the one aimed at her, said that he had already made up his mind about what she was going to do.
But she was here to show him wrong.
She turned to look up at Mark, an indecisive look on his face as he looked back and forth between her and Dominic.
She couldn’t have that.
She got up on her tip toes and brushed her lips against his chin.
“Just make sure you stay safe.”
Mark’s eyes widened slightly, and his hand convulsed on her hip, too in shock to stop her as she moved away. Turning to glare at Dominic who had the same shocked expression on his face.
“He comes home in one piece. Do you understand?” she said, giving each man a look.
