“Then whose blood is this?”
“Not mine,” I said evasively, trying to pretend like I wasn’t enjoying every second of his hands on me. Why did my damn body have to betray me and melt for him every time he was this close? It wasn’t fair.
That was when he took in the rest of the room and finally noticed the dead man lying on Murphy’s floor. “What the fuck happened here?” he raged.
“What do you think happened, Sheriff?” Mom countered with a question of her own.
Ben’s eyes went from Campbell to her, to Murphy and the knife lying at his feet where he’d dropped it. Ben took it all in within a matter of seconds before answering her. “It looks like you two paid Murphy a friendly visit, but Campbell interrupted and tried to ambush you to take Lexa. Murphy had no choice but to defend you with the only weapon on hand.”
Mom’s grin was bright enough to light up the whole world. “Smart man. That’s exactly what happened. Right, Murphy?”
“Y-Yes, ma’am,” he whispered, his voice trembling just as much as his body was.
Dad, Uncle Spider, Uncle Jet, and Uncle Hawk were all in the living room with us now, making the small space feel almost claustrophobic.
“Bash, I have to tell you about Santino,” Mom told him. “He’s planning a hit on the house tonight. We need to get Lexa to a safe house until we get this bastard taken care of. I don’t know why he’s suddenly got his sights set on her, but he does.”
“I’ve got it covered, baby,” Dad told her, but instead of soothing Mom, that only made her take several steps away from him.
“What do you mean, you have it covered? I only just told you…” She narrowed her eyes. “You knew already. You fucking knew, and you didn’t tell me our daughter was in danger?”
“I can explain,” he started, but she backed away from him until she was standing only inches from me. “Raven—”
“Don’t Raven me!” she screamed at him. “You don’t get to play God with our child’s life. I’m sick, not dead, you dickhead. If something is going on with one of our kids, I have the right to know.”
“I didn’t want you to worry. The doctor said for you to take things easy. Fuck, babe, you snuck out to come to Murphy’s house, and look what the hell happened. Davis and I had it under control.”
It was my turn to narrow my eyes. Ben met my gaze, but I didn’t see a single ounce of remorse in his eyes. He was going to keep the fact that I was on some sadist’s list from me? Fuck, I didn’t think he could hurt me more than he already had, but I was wrong. I always seemed to be when it came to him.
“I have a suggestion.” A voice I recognized immediately, yet couldn’t believe was actually there, spoke up for the first time, and I turned my head to find Theo leaning in the open doorway.
“Theo!” I cried and jerked away from Ben and pushed past two of my uncles to get to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “What are you doing here?”
“Something told me I should check in on you. Your texts said one thing, but I got the feeling they meant something else.” He hugged me back, kissing the top of my head.
“You have a suggestion?” Uncle Jet reminded him.
“Yeah. The Vitucci jet is at my disposal. It’s at the airport right now waiting on me since I only planned to stay a day or two. I can take Lexa back to New York with me—”
“No fucking way,” Ben growled from right behind me, but I refused to even look at him.
“—until you get the Santino thing dealt with,” he continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “She can either stay with my parents or with Cristiano and Anya. There’s no way Santino could touch her there.”
“He’s right,” Uncle Jet confirmed. “Cristiano will ensure she’s safe, and we wouldn’t have to worry about her while we deal with this.”
“It’s Lexa’s choice,” Dad said after a tense moment. “If she wants to, she can go. If she doesn’t, we have safe houses she can stay in.”
I was surprised he was even giving me a choice, but it wasn’t me he was looking at when he made the offer. He was doing it in an attempt to soothe Mom, but she didn’t seem to be appeased. It was going to take a lot to get him out of the doghouse this time.
Ben’s hands were heavy when they landed on my shoulders, forcibly turning me to face him and pulling me away from Theo. His eyes were back to that same brandy-brown I loved so much as they implored me. “Stay here,” he commanded in a hoarse voice. “I’ll protect you, I swear it. Santino won’t dare to touch you. But, please, just stay.”
Chapter 20
Ben
Holding my breath, I waited for Lexa’s answer. If she went with Theo, I knew in my gut, I would never see her again.
That thought alone made me break out in a cold sweat.