High-Sided: An Armed & Dangerous Novel (32 page)

A look of panic crossed her face, but then she stood up straight. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Obviously, Donnie does. He was quick to throw you under the bus. Although, I do have to say it
was
kind of stupid to hire an FBI agent to kill my father and Logan—especially considering Micah is Logan’s partner, who’s an FBI agent as well.”

Logan walked in from the back door, his face a mask of fury. Angela backed into the wall, dropping the duster from her hands the second her gaze fixed on something over my shoulder. My dad walked up beside me and I could see the betrayal in his eyes. “It’s over, Angela. I’m just glad I never have to see you ever again. What breaks my heart is having to tell Sean the truth.” Turning on his heel, he stormed out of the house.

“Richard, wait!” Angela screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Wait!”

“I’m sure Sean won’t be too happy when he finds out you tried to kill his girlfriend too. I didn’t realize you knew so much about brake lines. Guess you had us all fooled.”

Her breaths came out in rapid pants and she snarled. “But you and Sean
belong
together. All I ever wanted was for him to be happy.”

“He already is. He’ll be even happier when you’re gone.”

“Angela Bennett,” Logan growled, “you’re under arrest.” He stalked toward her, reading her rights. But I could see she wasn’t going to go down easy.

Once Gary walked into the room with other officers, she took off for the stairs. I raced up behind her, taking as many stairs as I could. My father always kept a pistol by the bed, I knew that was where she was going.

Angela ran into their bedroom, straight to the nightstand. My muscles burned, but my adrenaline gave me the energy I needed. Opening the drawer, she reached for the gun and pointed it at her head. I jumped onto the bed and lunged for her, knocking the gun out of her hands. The bullet fired straight into the ceiling with a loud bang.

We fell to the floor and I landed on her back, slamming her head into the hardwood floor. Footsteps thundered into the room and Logan bent down to help me. I jerked her arms behind her back while Logan cuffed her. “You are
not
going to get off that easy,” I spat. “You need to pay for your crimes.” Logan hauled her up and Gary was right there to take her away.

Once she was gone, my heart finally slowed. “She’ll pay,” Logan promised. “Prison isn’t an easy place to live.”

I looked out the bedroom window and watched my dad get into the ambulance. “Neither is living here. I guess it’s a good thing I have someone who can protect me.”

Logan put his arms around my waist. “You do pretty well protecting yourself. I’m just more skilled at using a gun. Now that it’s all over, we can move on.”

“Unfortunately, there’s something I have to do first.”

L
ogan and I borrowed one of my dad’s cars and headed to the hospital to check on him. I pulled out my phone and gave Sean a call. I was just about to hang up and call again when he finally answered with a yawn. “Hey, Kass.”

“Hey, you asleep?” I looked at the clock, it was
closing in on midnight. After everything that’d happened, I completely lost track of time.

“Only because your friend turned on a boring ass movie.”

“Hey!” Janie squealed in the background. They both laughed and I smiled; unfortunately, it didn’t last long. I was about to ruin their night.

“Sounds fun,” I said sadly.

Sean snorted. “Not really. But it doesn’t sound like you’re having any either.”

“I’m not. I need you to meet me at the hospital. We have news, and there’s something I need to tell you.” Especially before the media got involved. Soon, the whole city was going to know what happened.

“Are you okay? What is it?”

Leaning against the door, I rubbed my forehead. “I’m fine. We found out the truth about everything. It’s a long story and I’ll explain it all later, but I need you to meet me. It’s better I tell you in person.”

“All right, I’ll be there in ten.”

Logan reached over and grabbed my hand. “How do you think he’ll take it?”

“Not good. His mother was all he had.” We arrived at the hospital and I’d just gotten out of the car when Sean pulled up and got out too.

Logan kissed my head. “I’m going in to check on Richard.”

“You sure?” I asked. “You can stay.”

“No, it’s okay. He’s not going to want me here.” I watched him walk away and disappear inside the doors.

“What the hell happened?” Sean demanded. “Why was he covered in blood?”

The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving me tired and weak. “Do you trust me?”

Brows furrowed, he stepped closer. “I trust you with my life.”

“Good, because what I’m about to tell you is something you won’t want to hear.”

“Jesus Christ. Tell me, you’re freaking me out.”

Closing the distance, I reached for his hands. “Donnie and your mother were the ones behind everything. They were seeing each other behind my father’s back.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he growled.

I shook my head. “They were responsible for both Logan and Levi’s accidents, for Ethan getting framed,” I took a deep breath, “and for Janie’s accident as well. Your mother switched her brake line with a rusty one. It was only a matter of time before it failed on her.”

Eyes wide, he shook his head. “How could she do this?”

“That’s not all,” I murmured.

His angry glare bored into mine. “There’s more?”

I blew out a tired breath. “Tonight, they tried to have Logan and my father killed. They hired Micah to abduct me and use me for ransom. Only what they didn’t know is, he’s an FBI agent and Logan’s partner.”

“Partner?” Sean looked confused. “You mean Logan’s an agent too?”

I nodded. “They pretended to be enemies to play both sides. Only, we didn’t know the real enemy was in our own circle.”

“Why would my mother agree to that?”

“She wanted everyone out of the way, so you and I could get back together. Donnie and your mother wanted us to merge Bennett Racing with Baker. That’s why they wanted to get rid of those who’d oppose it.”

“Levi,” he whispered.

“And Ethan and Logan,” I added.

His jaw clenched. “Where is she now?”

“On her way to the station. She’ll probably be transferred somewhere else while she awaits trial.”

Stumbling back, he let my hands go and leaned against his car. “What the fuck am I going to do? Everyone on our team’s going to want me to step down. They’ll think I had something to do with it.”

I took his face in my hands, but he wouldn’t look at me. “No, they won’t. You’re a good man, Sean. Everyone sees that when they look at you. If I don’t want you to go, then neither will anyone else. I can’t do this on my own.”

His gaze lifted. “Yes, you can, Kass. You never needed me. You’re more than capable of doing it on your own.”

“Yes, I can,” I admitted, “but I don’t want to. You’re my best friend, Sean. I don’t want you to leave, and neither does my father.”

“You sure?”

A small smile spread across my lips and I hugged him. “I promise. You’re going to need our support over the next few months. It’s not going to be easy.”

He hugged me back. “Looks like I owe Chandler an apology. All this time I thought he was slacking off just to piss me off.”

“No, he’s definitely not a slacker.” I laughed, letting him go. “But I’m sure he’d appreciate the apology.”

“Is he staying around for the race this weekend?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Logan called out. I turned around and he smiled. “Been waiting my whole life for it.”

T
wo days had passed since everything went down and the media went crazy. Donnie’s red Chevy Camaro was taken in and inspected. It turned out it
was
the car used to run Levi off the road. There was damage to the front, left side of the car to prove it. Micah and I also found the video footage of Angela digging in the scraps to find an old rusty brake line. Turned out, her fingerprints were found on Janie’s car.

It was the biggest scandal ever to hit Franklin, North Carolina. Kassie and Richard took it pretty well, answering the media’s questions every time they came around. There was a constant slew of people camped out at the shop, eager to hear more. Sean, on the other hand, was reluctant to be seen in public. He was embarrassed of his mother’s actions and afraid people would see him differently after what happened. It was something he’d have to live with for the rest of his life. I felt bad for the guy.

A car door slammed out front, then Micah appeared at my garage door, dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark T-shirt. I’d just finished changing the oil in my bike, getting it ready for the race. “Bike’s looking good,” he said, grinning wide.

I wiped my greasy hands off on my jeans. “Thanks, man. Gotta get her ready for the big race tomorrow.”

“You leaving tonight?” he asked.

“Yep. Just waiting on Kassie to get here. You gonna come too?”

He shook his head. “Can’t. I got a call from Kincaid. I’m needed in New York to help track down a wealthy tycoon. Apparently, he embezzled a few million dollars before taking off. My guess is he’s in Canada by now. We’ll see though.”

I held out my hand. “It’s been good having you here. I’ll miss being on the road with you.”