Page 41 of Protector Unmatched

She wasn’t pinning the second man down, nor did she have him in a chokehold. She simply held him back. Pearce realized why: the second man wasn’t a kidnapper. He was Daphne’s brother.

“Tim?” Holding the kidnapper down with a knee in his back, Pearce motioned to Daphne’s brother. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

Tim shook his head, clearly confused and upset. “What the fuck do you guys want? Let go of my friend! You’re hurting him!”

Pearce exchanged a look with Enya, whose forehead furrowed.

“Friend?” Enya asked, and tugged on Tim’s shoulder.

Tim stared at her, then ripped himself free. Enya let it happen. “Who are you guys?”

“We’re—”

“Tim! You’re okay! Oh God!” Daphne charged into the room and ran to Tim, wrapping her arms around him. “Oh my God, I was so worried.” Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Daphne?” Tim pulled away from her, then glanced at Pearce and Enya. Then his eyes darted to the man whose face Pearce was still pressing into the hot pizza, the man Tim had called a friend.

Pearce quickly looked around. No signs of weapons or restraints. Tim wasn’t here against his will. It all clicked now. His eyes landed on Tim again—whose face showed no bruises, when in the video it had looked like somebody had played soccer with his head. “You little shit!”

Tim’s reaction, the look of guilt on his face, the look of being caught, said it all. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Daphne stared at Pearce. “What?”

Pearce shook his head and motioned to Tim. “Why don’t you tell your sister? Or do you really want me to explain to her what happened here, because you’re too much of a coward?”

“Pearce, why are you talking to my brother like that?”

Pearce took his knee off his captive and pulled him up by his hair. The asshole squealed, but didn’t fight him. “And whom do we have here? Why don’t you introduce us to your friend, Tim? You are friends, aren’t you?”

Daphne stared at her brother. “What is this?” Despite the question, it appeared that she was already putting two and two together. She pointed to the stranger. “Is this your friend?”

Tim dropped his head and nodded.

“I couldn’t hear you!” Daphne said.

As if he’d been whipped, he lifted his head. “That’s Kevin.”

Still holding Kevin by his hair, Pearce said, “Why don’t you say hi, Kevin? Or do you only talk on the phone when you pretend to be Guido, the strongman?”

It was obvious that Kevin wanted to bury his head in the sand, but Pearce wouldn’t allow it.

Daphne took a step toward her brother. “You made all this up? You faked a kidnapping to have me break into a house and steal for you? What the actual fuck!” She pulled her arm back and smacked her brother in the face so hard that his head whipped to the side and he lost his balance and crashed against the armchair, where he landed rather softly.

But Daphne wasn’t done. “You piece of shit! I worried about you! I thought they’d cut your finger off!” She slammed her fist in his chest, while Tim held his arms up defensively. “I nearly got caught by the police! You no-good jerk! How could you?”

When Daphne launched her fist again, Pearce gave Enya a sign. Enya snatched Daphne’s arm and pulled her back.

“Don’t. He’s not worth it,” Enya said gently.

Daphne stepped back and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, Daph,” Tim said in a rather meek voice. “But I needed the money.”

Daphne whipped her head back to him, her eyes full of fury. “You needed the money? Oh, let me punch you another one for that.”

Pearce let go of Kevin, who was no danger to anybody, and grabbed Daphne before she could beat up her brother even more. “Enya is right. He’s not worth it.” He pulled Daphne into his arms and rubbed her back. After a while, she nodded, then freed herself from his embrace and turned back to her brother.

“What was it this time? Gambling? Laziness? Or some harebrained business idea, huh?” she asked, glaring at him.