Til Debt Do Us Part (Married At Midnight #4)

Chapter 34

Thirty-Four

Dare

"I s this the place?" Tristen asks, pointing to a strip of sleazy businesses coming up on our right.

"Lucky Sixes?" Burn asks.

"That's it." I ease the car up to the curb and kill the engine. "You guys might have to hold me back in there. I might actually kill Felix when I see him."

"He's a snake. Nobody notices when snakes get their heads cut off," Tristen grouses.

"They do when Remy Morgan is the snake's father," I say. "Don't let me rough him up so badly that he needs a ventilator afterward."

Burn climbs out of the car. "He's old. What if he just happens to have a heart attack and we just happen to leave with the kid he kidnapped?"

I follow him up to the door, shading my face from the sunlight. "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

The smoke and raucous laughter hit me like a slap as I shoulder through the door of Felix's favorite dive. My gaze rakes the room, landing on his broad back hunched over a whiskey at the bar.

Burn and Tristen fan out on either side of me, a wall of tense muscle.Worry for Solana drives me on.

I stalk over to Felix, my steps ringing loud on the scuffed wooden floor. He doesn't look up until I slam my palm on the counter beside him, making his glass jump.

"Fancy seeing you here," he sneers.

"Cut the crap, Felix. Where's Solana?" I demand.

He raises an eyebrow and shrugs. "Couldn't say. Do you have what I asked for?"

Felix turns at the scuff of my boot, eyes widening. His cronies turn as one, hands sliding under coats.

"You'll get it when I'm ready to give it to you." I square my shoulders and meet his gaze. "Where is she, Felix?"

He bares his teeth, reaching beneath a newspaper for a silver handgun and sliding it into view.A raucous laugh comes from another table and makes me jumpy. I glare at my uncle.

"Don't drag this out, you pathetic excuse for a human."

Felix hesitates, cold calculation in his eyes. He also chose this meeting location carefully. He probably figures thatI'm not going to try anything in front of witnesses.

He figures wrong .

"Fuck you,"I sneer.

My palm slams on the table again. I lunge forward and shove his hand away from his weapon.

"I won't hesitate to strangle you. Just give me a fucking reason."

He smirks and rubs three fingers together.

"I need a signature from you first.”

"You'll get your signature, Felix. When you show me Solana, alive . There had better not a be fucking hair on her head that's out of place."

A snort of disgust is his only response as he shakes his head. He waves a dismissive hand.

"The girl? She's safe. For now." He smiles as he pushes a sheaf of papers across the table and nudges a pen toward me. "In exchange for that, she goes free. Refuse..." He draws a finger across his throat with a raspy chuckle.

My fist clenches on the documents signing away my birthright to a man who has never cared for me. The urge to grip his throat and bash his head into the bar in front of him is so strong, my blood thrums with it. How the fuck did it come down to this?

Burn's voice rasps in my ear, "You good, brother?”

I meet Felix's gaze again and see the truth all too clearly. Felix will never honor any bargain. Solana's life means nothing to him. She's merely a pawn in his game of power.

The papers crinkle in my grip. I need to pretend to have a moral struggle.

I think about the fact that all my life I've struggled to do right by the company. I think about the employees who depend on its success. I pull a long face, trying to tell Felix that I’m at war with myself.

If I am not convincing enough, he'll kill her without a second thought. I can't lose her. Not when I promised Talia that I would bring her back safe.

My kingdom or the girl who's become my family? There's only one choice.

I step forward, pulse pounding in my temples, and pick up the pen. It takes only seconds to scrawl my full name across the dotted line. Then I toss the pen onto the counter again.

"The company is yours," I declare. I try to seem defeated, to really sell this fiction.

Felix snatches the papers with a triumphant smirk. "At last. You've made the wise choice, nephew."

Nephew. The word curdles my stomach like sour milk.

He folds the documents and tucks them into his jacket, already counting his winnings. "The girl is being held at the old warehouse down by the docks. She'll be released within the hour."

"I’m not waiting an hour. I want to her out now. That’s how this works."

His smirk widens. "So distrustful. I'm a man of my word."

"If you want the money, I get the girl. It’s as simple as that."My heart hammers in my chest.

For a moment his eyes narrow. But then he smiles as if I've just offered him a glass of damned lemonade. "As you wish. But if you try anything, the deal is off."

He scrawls something I can't see on a piece of paper, then slides it across the table to me. My eyes latch onto the address. It's not far from where Hope House used to be.

"I'll accompany you," my uncle says with a smirk.

I yank the table away from him. "Let's go."

It's a tense ride over to the warehouse district. Tristen is boring a hole in my uncle's head with his eyes. Burn is driving like a fucking maniac. And I am looking straight ahead, trying not to sweat through my suit.

When we arrive at the warehouse, Felix leads us inside. And there she is.

Solana, locked in a cage, but otherwise unharmed.

Her face lights up at the sight of me. "Dare!" She rattles the bars, reaching out her hands. Her little voice is raspy and desperate.

I hurry to her and grip her fingers. "I'm here now. You're safe."

"Here is your property. Returned safe and sound, like I promised."

Tristen and Burn rip the cage apart and Solana comes sprawling into my arms with a shriek. I cup the back of her head and try to remain calm. But inside, I'm roiling with turmoil.

"Shh," I whisper, stroking her hair. "You're safe now. I've got you."

She clings to me, tears streaming down her face. "Thank you, Dare. Thank you."

I hold her for a long while, refusing to let her go until I'm certain she's okay. Then, with a sigh, I point at my brother Burn.

"Tell him."

Burns straightens and faces him. "The deal is off."

"What?" Felix's eyes bulge. "You lying, double-crossing?—!"

"You really thought that we would hand over the company that easily?" I nod to Tristan, who steps forward, a shiny silver gun glinting under the dim light. "You're more gullible than we realized."

Felix sputters in rage, hand darting into his jacket. But Tristen pulls his gun and points it directly at Felix's heart.

"Give me a reason," Tristen warns softly.

Felix glowers at him, then turns to me. "You'll regret this."

"The only thing I regret is not seeing through your transparent schemes sooner. I’ll be seeing you very soon, Dare.”

He leaves the room. I don’t bother to watch him go, but I hear an engine fire up in the distance.

I say nothing, hugging Solana to me. What I neglected to tell Felix, and everyone else, is that I have tipped off the FBI. I let them know not just about Solana’s kidnapping, but about some Ponzi schemes that my uncle set up and watched collapse. They happened a decade ago… but the state statute of limitations for wire fraud and investment advisor fraud still has five more years before it lapses.

The FBI should be calling on my uncle sooner rather than later. I offered to testify if they need me. And when the Feds nail him for wire fraud, he’s going to prison for life.

Burn steps up to us, features tight with concern. "The police are on their way. Felix won't get away with kidnapping."

"Good." I meet Tristen's gaze over Solana's head. "Thank you. Both of you."

"What are friends for?" Tristen's mouth quirks.

Burn's hand settles on my shoulder, grip warm and steady. "We protect our own."

A surge of gratitude fills me, easing the last of my tension. Together, we've overcome every challenge. We always will.

I smile down at Solana. "Let's go home."

Solana nods against my chest, her hair tickling my chin. Home .

The word resonates within me as we leave the bar behind, Tristen covering our backs in case Felix attempts anything else. But he won't. His thirst for power and control has been quenched by a bitter dose of defeat.

Burn's hand remains on my shoulder, a comforting weight. "Remy hasn’t officially stepped down from Morgan Drilling yet. But I'll get started on the paperwork transferring partial control of the company to you. You might be penniless, but you’re a penniless man who is going to inherit a billion dollar company. Don't worry about that for now."

I glance at him in surprise. "You don't have to do that."

"I want to." His lips curve. "And I want to sign over my parental rights, too. Consider it an early wedding gift."

"But—"

"Hush. No arguments." His eyes glint with humor and affection. "You've more than proven you're ready, and it's what Mom would have wanted."

My throat tightens. If only Remy could see how far we've come. How, despite all the odds, we overcame his poisonous legacy to forge something better. A family based on trust and support rather than greed and betrayal.

By the time we reach the car, Solana has drifted to sleep in my arms. I cradle her close as Burn and Tristen slide in on either side of me, flanking me like the brothers they are.

"To the manor?" Tristen asks.

I shake my head. "To the Windsor hotel," I reply softly.

I stare out the window as the cityscape blurs past, Solana's even breathing a balm against my neck.

We did it. We won.

And yet why does victory taste so bittersweet?

Perhaps because the price of success was too dear. Perhaps because for all the wrongs Felix committed, he was still my uncle. Perhaps because in the end, we were all orphaned boys craving a father's love and approval, even if it could never truly be given.

"You're brooding again." Burn's voice is gentle.

I glance at his reflection in the glass. "Am I so obvious?"

"To me." A wry smile. "I've had a lifetime to learn your tells."

I huff a laugh. "And here I thought I was inscrutable."

"You are to most. But not to us." Tristen leans forward to squeeze my shoulder. "We know you, Dare. The good and bad and everything in between."

My throat tightens. How did I get so lucky to find not one but two men who would stand by me through thick and thin?

"Thank you," I say roughly. "For today."

Burn's eyes soften. "Always."