Dirty Playboy - Alex Wolf Page 0,98

free.”

My eyes widen, and adrenaline shoots through my limbs. It takes me a few seconds to really understand what he just said to me. He wouldn’t lie and make something like that up, though. It’s so intense I get a little dizzy for a second and think I might pass out. I finally gasp. “What? How?”

“You need to thank Mary,” says Deacon.

Donavan nods. “There’s a lot to go over with you, but it’s all because of her. I don’t know what the fuck she sees in you, but she sees something. Maybe next time you really should just talk to her first instead of setting out on a righteous crusade.” He leans back. “Oh, and you might be interested to know, you’re actually thirty-one and not thirty-two.”

I snicker. “You fucking kidding me?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Mary went digging. We got Wells to drop the current charges. Said he was only doing it because you made him, like an idiot. He said you wanted to implicate yourself for whatever dumb-fuck stupid reason you had in your head.” He pauses. “The Detroit stuff was trickier. It was all Mary, though. She found CPS reports from when you were a minor. Run-ins your father had with them regarding you.” He pauses and swallows, proceeding with caution. “Detroit dropped the ball, handling things with you when you were too young to remember. They had reports and complaints and didn’t ask, didn’t follow up. Your father had multiple birth certificates for you, for various reasons we couldn’t track down, but it’s assumed they were nefarious. We managed to find the real one. Your birth date was one year younger than the birthdate you’ve been using.”

My hands start to tremble. It’s too much information all at once. But one little piece of it makes all the sense in the world. It changes everything, and that’s when reality hits me. Everything, in this one moment, slams into me out of nowhere. “So, the jewelry store, when I ran…”

Donavan nods like he’s reading my thoughts. “You were seventeen, not eighteen. Still a minor.”

My eyes start to well up as he continues.

“I talked to the DA, did a little blackmailing with the CPS stuff, laid on the guilt about how all this could’ve been avoided, how you’re a victim of your father and the state, not a damn criminal. They dropped everything.”

“So, my license…”

“We need to get you one under your actual name. I’ll talk to some people I know. But you’re not a convicted felon, you have no felony charges pending, so you’re eligible to be a licensed private investigator.”

I exhale a huge breath. “Thank you.” I turn to the other brothers. “Thank you so much. I’m sorry you guys had to do all this.”

Decker stands up, steps in front of me and holds out a hand. “Bullshit. We take care of our own. You’re the best fucking PI I’ve ever seen in my life, and you always have a place at the firm, no matter what. Always.” He pauses for a moment. “Even if you’re an asshole. No more feet on my desk, bitch.”

“Thank you.” I close my eyes. I can’t believe this is all happening; it’s too much to take in all at once. I’ve lived my whole life believing I was one thing, pretending to be something I wasn’t, just living in survival mode every day. The weight of that lifting off my shoulders is indescribable. I don’t even know how to express my gratitude to these guys. Anything I say isn’t enough.

I shake Decker’s hand, but it’s like I’m glued to the seat. I don’t know if I can finish what I know comes next, an even harder situation. The person who deserves the most gratitude of all.

“An-and Mary’s okay?” I can barely get the words out.

Donavan shakes his head. “She’s safe, but she’s not okay. She’s hurt, man. She’s hurting bad.”

Any joy I had in me leaves my body, and again, I’m crushed. I can’t believe I did this to her. I’m not worthy of being in the same room as her. As much as I want to believe things have changed, I just don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I’m ready. I’ve done so many bad things. There’s so much past there, and I don’t know if I can jeopardize it, bringing that into her life more than I already have. “She’ll have to get over it.”

Decker’s glare hits me in the side of my skull. “Wait, we