Page 92 of Rough Fantasy

Jillian smiled. “You will call me. Don’t hide in the house and pretend nothing is wrong.”

One of the best and worst things about having your best friend as your sister-in-law is that she knew Maura too well.

“No. I promise. I don’t think this is Peterson. Even if it were, coming here apparently did not help one bit. They found me—whoever it is. I want to go back to familiar surroundings.”

The door opened and Conner stepped inside. His face was pale, his eyes cold. Zeke and Rory followed. They didn’t look much better.

“We have a problem,” Conner said.

At first, she thought it was her relationship with the guys but apparently not. “What?”

“Peterson has disappeared and the FBI doesn’t know where he is.”

“Didn’t they have protection on him?” Jillian asked as she stood up.

“They were trying to back him into a corner and since he would not turn on his former bosses, they left him out to dry. They had a car on his house, but sometime during the night, he disappeared.”

“You mean they think the Mafia got a hold of him?”

“That’s not the really bad news.”

“Dammit, Conner just tell me.”

“The name of the company, your name in particular, came up in some documents.”

She frowned. “Documents?”

“Bloody hell, this is painful,” Rory said as he stepped forward. His expression softened as he took her hand. “Love, there were some transcripts of bugged phone conversations. Peterson mentioned you to his lawyer more than once.”

“Yes. He told his lawyer it was you that brought the FBI in,” Zeke said.

“What? How did they find that out? There’s the confidentiality thing with the lawyer. That’s against the law.”

“Not when the lawyer is on the take,” her brother said, his expression turning even darker. “They arrested him a day ago.”

“What are you saying?” Jillian asked.

“Maura might have a hit out against her because the FBI is planning on bringing her in to testify.”

“I want to go home.”

“We’ll get you out of here as soon as we can, love,” Zeke said as he sat on the bed next to her hip.

“No. I want to go back to Miami.”

He shared a look with Conner. “It might be better to stay here.”

“Fat lot of good that did me. No. I want to be home.”

She needed her house, the one she felt secure within. Conner opened his mouth to argue but Jillian shook her head. Thank God her best friend at least understood.

“We can wait until tomorrow, but I want to go home, be in my house. The doctor said since I had a private jet where I could recline she was okay with it.” She looked at Rory and Zeke. “You can stay if you want, but I’m going home.”

forty

By the time they got Maura settled in her bedroom, Rory was sure Conner was ready to kill them all. There was no doubt her brother had picked up on the relationship they all shared. He had never thought to keep it private. He had only done that because Maura had wanted him to.

Jillian had stayed by Maura’s bedside probably because she didn’t want to see the argument.