Page 34 of Deserving Ryleigh
“Why? How?”
“You really want to know?”
Ry nodded.
“The night of Henley’s baby shower, I finally heard you. When you told me you were terrified, I saw the fear in your eyes. I didn’t understand it, but I finally took the time to look at you again,reallylook at you, and I realized I’ve been wrong about you all along. After that, it was only a matter of using my brain to think about the things you’ve done since you’ve been here. Not once have you done anything that would remotely hurt anyone else. Everything you do, with your computer or not, you do it with the best of intentions. My past clouded my vision for a while, but now I see better than ever. I seeyou, Ryleigh. And I like what I see.”
Ry closed her eyes. She felt vulnerable right then. Had anyone ever bothered to take a second glance at her? Not that she could remember. She didn’t totally love that Tinycould read her emotions so easily, but it was also a somewhat comforting realization. She wouldn’t have to hide from him, he could look at her and know what she was thinking, feeling.
He proved her point by speaking again. “And while I appreciate you opening up to me and my friends, there’s more you aren’t saying. More than your dad simply wanting money. Isn’t there?”
Ry wanted to deny it. Wanted to avoid his question entirely. But she was feeling too raw. Too exposed. She opened her eyes and gave him a tiny nod.
“Right. We’ll talk later…if you’re up to it. But I have to say this, and I need you to hear me.” He waited for her to nod before he went on. “At no time are you to put yourself in danger to catch your father. Understand? My friends and I have each been through our own hells. Someone fucking with The Refuge isn’t going to take us down. No way. We’ll weather this latest storm one way or another, but not at your expense.”
A tear escaped her eye, and Tiny shocked her once more by leaning in and kissing it away. “Tell me you understand and agree,” he ordered.
“Okay.”
“Say it, Ryleigh. I want to hear the words. I asked you not to lie to me, and if I let you be ambiguous with this, you’ll claim that it wasn’t a lie when you do something dangerous…like put yourself out there as bait.”
She couldn’t help but smile a little at that. It seemed Tiny’s observational skills hadn’t failed him, after all. “I understand and agree.”
“Thank you.”
Still…she couldn’t help but think about what he’d said. About bait…
It wasn’t a bad idea.
Yes, her dad wanted his money back, but he also wantedher.
She already knew Brick’s vague plan would never work. Using her laptop, it would literally take minutes to transfer the money to a secure account for her father, something the man knew. He wouldn’t need to go to a bank, wouldn’t have to sign for anything. But more than that, her dad was far too paranoid to just waltz into a bank and assume there wouldn’t be a building full of law enforcement waiting for him.
But hewasdesperate to get his hands on her. To make her pay for leaving him. For daring to steal from him. She’d seen comments he’d left on the dark web, where he knew she’d see them. He wanted her dead. It was the only way to truly end the threat to his way of life.
If she could lure him somewhere using not money, butherselfas bait, and get the authorities to catch him, the world would be a safer place.
“Come on, I can see your mind spinning with who knows what. Alaska needs you to reassure her, you need to eat something, then we’ll go back to the cabin so you can start locking down what you can. All right?”
“Okay.” It sounded more than okay. Especially the part about going back to the cabin. Ry had been an introvert all her life. And while she enjoyed helping out around The Refuge and genuinely liked the people who lived and worked there, she was always grateful for her alone time.
As Tiny led her out of the conference room, Ry felt lighter than she had in a very long time. The threat of herfather was as dangerous as ever, but she’d opened up to the guys and they hadn’t rejected her. They hadn’t looked at her with disgust. With disdain for bringing a threat to The Refuge. She would do what she had to in order to fix this.
There was so much to be happy about right now—the recent births, Lara and Maisy’s babies coming before too long, Cora and Pipe’s foster kid, the helicopter, the fact that everyone was healthy and in love…
Yeah. The Refuge was a place of happiness. It didn’t deserve a cloud of evil hovering over it. She’d fix everything. After lunch.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A week later, Tiny was frustrated as hell, but he did his best to hide that from Ryleigh, who was already stressed to the max.
Things continued to go wrong at The Refuge, but nothing that the authorities would consider to be intentional. Tiny and everyone else knew better.
Hay arrived that was moldy, a slew of bad reviews suddenly showing up online, payments to vendors hadn’t gone through, the trash wasn’t picked up because the service was randomly canceled. Everyone knew this was all Harold Lodge’s doing, but the frustrating part was, nothing could be proven. He’d covered his electronic tracks too well.
But the most alarming incident occurred earlier that morning.
The lodge had been surrounded by SWAT members who’d burst into the building, demanding everyone put their hands up.
