Roman-1(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(2)
Jared looks green but nods once and starts pulling me towards the kitchen where he shoves me into a seat before starting to pace like he’s training for a marathon.
“We found him just under two weeks ago. He was murdered, Mel, though we’ve kept that out of the reports thus far because we don’t want to create a panic while the investigation is still going.”
Movement catches my eye and I turn to see Miah Lane shaking his head with a weary sigh.
“We’re so sorry.”
“Yeah? Really? Not too long ago you were one of the biggest naysayers against my father.”
So what if I’m being unfair right now? I think I’m allowed a tantrum or two thanks to what has happened. Not only did I lose my one and only remaining parent, but I’m about as far from getting anywhere near Roman as possible now that the Lanes have found me.
They won’t allow me to go looking, and I’m pretty sure from the looks they keep exchanging that my chances of getting out of here without one of them on my ass will be impossible.
“Mel—”
“Don’t you ‘Mel’ me, Jeremiah Lane. I’m not stupid and I know exactly what went on with you and Dad before your brother got his knickers in a twist and decided to hide me in the freaking boonies. You hated—”
“Yes. We hated each other and that’s no secret! But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with what went down here and you should know that, Melissa. We may not be friends or anything, but you know my family and you know we are not okay with this shit. Chief Dobson wasn’t a great man, but he didn’t deserve this from his compatriots,” Miah grits out and I feel myself deflate once again beneath his hard-eyed stare.
No matter how much I want to dislike these men, I just can’t. I can’t blame them for the strong feelings that Miah and the rest of the Lanes surely have for Daddy. It just is what it is and I know that no explanation will change their views.
Like Daddy told me months ago, just because he was being forced to make the decisions he was making, it did not make them right. Despite all the reasons I loved him, my father was still involved in a terrorist organization that’s bent on harming innocent people to prove a point; namely that racial and cultural differences are destroying the American way.
Or some such shit. I’m not really that caring about the whole situation. I just know that any animal who’s willing to kill just because they hate others, or to profit from it, is no one I want to know.
Unless I’m putting a bullet in them myself.
It kills me that Daddy was forced to live with this for so long. Knowing that Roman is in a worse situation, I’m about ready to slide right out of my skin with nerves.
“Look, I don’t want to argue right now, okay? I just found out my dad is dead and I haven’t heard anything else for so long that I’m starting to think something really bad has happened to that fool brother of yours.”
The way Miah stiffens has alarm bells going off in my head, and I’m about ready to start screaming before Jared goes down on his haunches beside me and takes my hand in his.
He and Miah look so much like my Roman that it hurts just to look at the man, especially when his austere face softens as he looks down at me.
“Sweetheart, Roman is just fine, or as fine as he can be while swimming around in that tank of rabid sharks. We have been looking for you, though, because we know Roman would want the family to protect you.”
“What? No, no I really do not need protection right now. What I need is for him to come home.”
“I know, honey. I know. It’s just that with everything that’s happening around us, we really can’t afford for one of our women to be exposed the way you are.”
I feel my skin crawl at the looks they keep exchanging.
The trouble I have with most men is that they tend to look at my small frame and think that I need protecting in case my delicate state overwhelms me.
Now I’m not saying I’m not scared of what’s happening, but I’m the daughter of a cop. I know how to shoot, disarm a man in hand-to-hand combat, and I sure don’t need some big strong man to protect me from the truth.
That’s what brought me and Roman together; the man is not a coddler and wouldn’t dream of stepping on my independent toes for anything in the world. In fact, he’s so liberal that he cooks more than I do. And is certainly better at it.
“I am not a Lane woman and you all know it. Roman and I had a shaky fling, if that.”
“Oh come on, now. We know better, sugar, so don’t even try and convince us otherwise. If you were nothing more than a way into the Patriots’ organization and a fleeting piece of tail, he’d have split and left you for your daddy to take care of. Nah, I know my brother and I know that he wouldn’t have put in the effort to keep you out of harm’s way if it were just a fling.”