Tristan braced himself as everyone in the house scrambled to the front door. Thanks to all of Toni’s security systems and safeguards, they knew Manuel Grant was there long before he ever parked his car. By the time he reached the front door, Tristan pulled it open and was glaring at the man who had caused Shae so much pain. “I think you’re in the wrong place,” he said harshly.
Manuel blinked in surprise. He apparently wasn’t used to being threatened. Well, he was about to get a really intense fucking lesson on it.
“I’m here to see my daughter.” Manuel straightened his shoulders, showing that he wasn’t one to cower easily.
Tristan knew it wasn’t just him glaring down at the man. By now Hunter, Gage, Toni, and Scott were all there. It wasn’t just his daughter. He had to get through all of them first.
“Shae’s not here right now.”
“I can see her,” said Manuel.
“Like I said, she’s not here right now. At least not for you. Maybe try again later.” He started to shut the door, but Manuel stuck his foot out.
“Shae! I just want to have a few words. I’ll leave you alone after this. I promise.”
Tristan turned to look at her.
Shae took a nervous gulp. Tristan could tell she didn’t want to spend any time with her father, but he also knew Shae well enough to understand that she wasn’t going to say no. Between her desire not to let people down and her desire to be strong, she wouldn’t want to step away from this, even if it made her uncomfortable. “It’s fine, guys.” She stepped forward. Tristan didn’t move out of her way, though. Instead, he remained standing shoulder to shoulder with her. “I can spare him a few minutes.”
“Ummm, I think you guys are forgetting the bigger picture,” said Toni. “How the hell did you find us?”
“I always know where my daughter is.”
Tristan wasn’t sure whether that was supposed to sound reassuring, but to him it sounded creepy as hell.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” said Toni. “I want details. If you tracked us here, other people can too. People who don’t really care about the safety of their precious daughters.”
Shae frowned at that, but she wasn’t offended. By now she knew Toni couldn’t help the way she phrased things.
“Her phone.”
Toni scoffed. “That’s bullshit. I turned off the GPS on her phone myself.”
“That must be why I haven’t had signal lately. But after I heard about the shootouts, I checked in on the last registered location. Which is here.”
“Fuck,” muttered Toni. She turned to Scott. “We need to leave. Now.”
“No.” Manuel adamantly shook his head. “I didn’t tell anybody where you were. I promise.”
Toni scowled as she looked him up and down. “I thought you were supposed to be a big bad business guy. Are you really so na?ve to think that you’re doing a deal with Damask and he’s not monitoring your every move? Especially now that he knows who your daughter is?” Toni paused for a second before her eyes widened in realization. “Scratch that. He’s always known who your daughter is. What do you want to bet that he offered to go into business with you around the time that she bought that house? You’re not a business partner to him. You’re leverage. So you two have a nice little chat and I’m going to go try to save our asses.”
Toni turned and walked away in a huff, leaving no doubt about her opinion of the man. Hunter and Gage followed her out. Tristan knew that the group would need help packing things up, but he wasn’t about to leave Shae alone.
He hated to invite the man inside, but if Toni was right about Damask and his men showing up any minute, he didn’t want to be out in the open. He stepped back and motioned with his head for Manuel to come inside. But he didn’t step back too far, leaving Manuel crowded against the door. Sometimes a little intimidation went a long way. Especially when dealing with a guy who wasn’t used to any intimidation at all.
“What do you want, Manuel?” asked Shae harshly.
Oddly enough, Manuel appeared almost... sheepish. Tristan had a feeling he’d come here not knowing exactly what to say. Or maybe he’d come with a plan to intimidate his daughter into submission, and that had all gone out the window once he had seen the mini army at the door. He watched Manuel’s mind work frantically to calculate where he was going with this. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Her house was shot up. Why didn’t you check on her then?”
“Because I believe that my daughter can deal with a lot. It wasn’t until I found out that it was Damask after her that I got worried. The man is dangerous.”
“Then why did you get in business with him?” she shot back.
“This isn’t about me. After what you did today, I don’t—I mean, what do you think he’ll do to you?”
“I think I have better chances now than I did sitting around waiting for him to kill me.”
“I don’t understand. What does he have against you?”
“That’s the million-dollar question,” she muttered. “I never did anything to the guy. He wants the house I bought for some reason. Enough to kill for.”
“Have you gone to the police about this?”
“Of course I did. They don’t care. Besides, he isn’t trying to kill me personally. He sends his budget mercenaries for me. They’d probably all be too terrified of him to name names if they got arrested.”
“Damask can kill people even behind bars,” pointed out Tristan.
“I’m not stupid, Dad. I’ve exhausted every legal option I have.”
“But you didn’t come to me. You came to these... cretins. You know I have certain influence.”
“Like the influence you used to sabotage my first job? I’m sorry if I don’t think you’re my ally here.”
“I did that to protect you.”
“Your protection leaves a lot to desire.”
Toni called from the living room. “We’re out of here in fifteen minutes, everybody! If you don’t have all your shit together, you need to get to getting!”
Tristan hated to invite Manuel farther into the house, but Toni was right. He motioned with his head for them to follow, and Shae didn’t question it.
Therefore, Manuel followed Shae. “I know we’ve had our issues, but you never should’ve thought I abandoned you.”
Tristan couldn’t take any more. “You didn’t abandon her. You were actively working against her. You purposefully made her life harder. The opposite of what parents are supposed to do.”
“If you felt that way, you should’ve come to me.” Manuel’s voice rose in irritation.