of the night thinking I’m lucky, but I am. Firefighters got here soon enough, it didn’t spread to the forest or my neighbors.
Bella called me and about blew my mind when she told me Wendy Sisson was at the church property a few minutes ago, paying someone off for something.
The timing sure is eerie since my house just blew up.
“I ran the footage back,” Bella adds. “The explosion happened minutes after you flipped the lights on remotely. Cole, someone thought you were home.”
“It was an IED.”
The line goes dead for two beats. “They confirmed this?”
“No.” I watch Asa barking orders into his phone as Crew, Grady, and Jarvis dig through shit at the back of my house, seeing what they can salvage. “I know—I’ve seen it before. It’s classic. And there’s the fact the arson investigator got here thirty minutes ago and already found traces of ammonium nitrate. From the angle of the blast, it came from the front porch. There were two packages delivered. That had to be it.”
“Cole,” she whispers. “Your home. I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head. Was it a home? Haven’t had a home since my mom died and we sold their place for Red to move in with me. Life has been such a shit show, it sure didn’t feel like a home even though I was trying to make it one for Abbott. “No one was hurt. That’s all that matters.”
“What’s the plan?”
“We’re waiting for the fire department to finish, then we’ll come back to you and regroup. Watch every move at the church—we’re going in before sunup, whether anyone is there or not.”
“Hmm,” she hums. “I assumed so. I haven’t taken my eyes off it. As far as I can tell, there are three men still there.”
“Three—piece of cake.”
“Precisely,” she agrees. “Damn, I wish I could go.”
I huff a laugh in the midst of my life falling apart around me. “Next time, baby.”
I hear her tapping away at the keyboard as she mutters, “Yes. I need to get back to the gym. I’m ready.”
“The doc said six weeks—you’re hardly ready. I don’t have time to discuss this now. You’ve got eyes on us, you’ll know when we’ll be on our way.”
“Cole,” she calls.
“Make it quick, sweetness. I need to help.”
“I’m going to reach out to Gracie and Keelie first thing in the morning. Abbott didn’t bring much to stay at Crew and Addy’s. We need to make her as comfortable as we can after this. If there’s anything special you think she’ll want replaced right away, we need to make it happen. I don’t know her well enough to know of any special trinkets or lovies she may have.”
I drop my head to look at the ground under my feet. I have to clear my throat to get the words out. “Thank you.”
“Ha,” she spouts. “I do believe it’s the first time you’ve ever thanked me for anything, Cole Carson, even after I gave you my virginity. One for the record books.”
“Baby, don’t piss me off right now. You doing that for Abbott means a lot. You even thinking about it needing done means even more.”
Her tone softens. “You’re welcome. Now, go finish. You gents have three men to abduct.”
“See you soon.”
“Cole, wait.”
“Baby—”
“If you can find my Louboutins, that would be lovely.”
“I’m sure that would be fucking lovely.” I shake my head and kick a charcoaled toaster that landed in the front yard all the way from the kitchen. “I’ll do my best.”
I hang up, more annoyed I have to deal with this than it happening in the first place. I head back through my entryway and to the family room. That’s when I decide we’ll rebuild this fucker bigger and better than I ever imagined I’d have. And since there’s a chance my sperm could be flirting with Bella’s egg at the moment, we’ll need it.
Chapter 27
Windmill
Cole
It was easy.
Which kind of sucked since I don’t work in the field anymore. I was looking forward to traveling back in my operative time machine to kick some asses for a change, instead of ordering everyone else to do the fun shit.
We assumed they weren’t holding a bible study in there, so we went in prepared. Helmets, shields, vests … your basic ballistic wear. Bella used to say firepower and flashbangs were perfect accessories. She was not wrong.
They didn’t see it coming.
Now they’re blindfolded, hogtied, and lying on the mat in Crew’s barn. I must note, this place is the shit. More workout equipment than