The Billionaire Op - Lori Ryan Page 0,63

to compete with. But he didn’t.

He liked hearing about how happy Jennie had been. He wanted that back for her. It hurt like hell that he couldn’t give her that happiness, but if he couldn’t give it to her, he wanted her to find it any way she could.

Eventually, the stories of Kyle and Jennie stopped and the group sat quietly for a bit even though it was well past midnight. It was as though none of them could stand to leave Jennie for the short time she’d be home.

They had turned out the lights and had only a small lamp on as they talked. At some point they’d eaten cold burgers, bringing the plates in from the dining room to eat picnic style in the living room.

“What do you think you want it to be, Chad? A boy or a girl?” Jennie’s dad grinned as he asked the question.

“Oh, it can’t be a girl,” Chad said with an equally big grin that told them he really didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl. “Then two women will have me wrapped around their little fingers,” he said with mock fear in his voice. “I can’t have that.”

As they laughed, Chad heard a car creep to a halt outside Jennie’s parents’ house next door. He went immediately on alert just as Zeke stood and growled, low and in his throat. It wasn’t a loud bark. It was an almost silent warning.

The headlights on the car were cut before it even finished pulling to the curb and whoever was in it didn’t exit right away.

Chad sat Jennie up, placing a finger to his lips to indicate to the group to be quiet.

“Jen,” he shook her a little. “Jen, did you tell anyone we were here? Text or call anyone?”

She looked at him with confusion in her gaze but shook her head, no.

Chad looked up at the couples sitting around him. “Have you called anyone since we arrived?”

He had a bad feeling about this. And he trusted his gut. It had kept him alive in a lot of tough situations.

All four of them shook their heads.

Chad left Jennie on the couch and motioned to everyone to stay put. He slipped his Glock out of his duffel and held it by his right leg as he went to the window to watch Jennie’s house.

Two men exited the car. He didn’t recognize them, but their dark clothing furthered the feeling of unease coming over him. As he watched, they crept toward the house carrying large containers. It took only seconds for Chad to recognize they had containers of gasoline.

He grabbed his phone and tossed it to Jennie’s dad. “They’re setting your house on fire. Call 911. Tell them what I look like and what I’m wearing. Stay inside until I get back,” he said as he turned toward the back of the house.

He heard Jennie cry out behind him, but he had to leave her. He needed to find out who the men next door were and how they’d tracked them down. Once the police arrived, he wouldn’t have a shot at any of that.

He crossed through the dining room, grabbing one of the cloth napkins from the table and tying it around his mouth and nose, cowboy style. He went into the kitchen, then slipped out into the yard.

He moved silently as he took in the location of the men next door. He stopped and listened, focusing only on the sounds around him. He could hear one man at the front of the house and one at the back. And neither was expecting him.

Chad hoped he could get to them before one of them lit a match. The smell of gasoline was overpowering, even with his impromptu mask, as he got closer to the house. Using a gun was out of the question with so much accelerant around.

It was clear that the men weren’t professionals and had no clue what they were doing. Surrounding the house with gasoline wasn’t a very effective way of burning it down. They needed to be working from the inside out. Not to mention, the men hadn’t even checked to be sure Jennie was inside the house before they started.

Whoever had sent these guys hadn’t taken the time to find someone who knew what they were doing. They were either acting hastily or were acting on someone else’s plan, with little thought as to how to execute it.

Chad moved into position behind the man at the