“WHAT the ever-loving f**k?”
Sam stopped shoveling cereal into his mouth long enough to cast a suspicious eyeball at Garrett, who was reading the paper.
Garrett slapped the newspaper down on the counter with enough force to slosh milk over the side of Sam’s bowl.
“Chill out, dude. What’s got your panties in a knot this morning?”
Garrett scowled back at Sam, his eyebrows drawn into angry thunderclouds. Oh yeah, Garrett was pissed. This went beyond his usual grumpy-ass demeanor.
Garrett drew in several steadying breaths. Worried now, Sam shoved the bowl aside and reached for the paper.
“Spill for God’s sake.”
“Page three,” Garrett seethed.
Sam thumbed over to the page in question and quickly scanned the contents. He stopped when he saw the Kelly name splashed predominately across the headline.
“Whoa.”
“Yeah,” Garrett said in disgust. “Read it.”
Sam read through the article touting Rachel’s miraculous return from the dead. When he got to the part about the role KGI had played, his fingers tightened until the edges of the paper crumpled in his fists.
“God damn.”
“Keep reading,” Garrett said grimly.
Nothing was left to chance. Rachel’s drug addiction was mentioned, but nowhere did it say the drugs were forced on her. Just that she battled the effects of cocaine and heroin addiction. It was even suggested that her memory loss wasn’t real, that it was a ruse to incite sympathy.
Sam couldn’t think beyond the rage building. “Who the f**k told them all this crap?”
Garrett snatched the paper and then stabbed a finger at part of the article. “Read!”
The words wobbled back and forth until Sam grabbed Garrett’s wrist to steady the paper. There in the article it cited a close family member as the source.
“That’s bullshit,” Sam exploded. “No f**king way. There is no goddamn way one of us sold Rachel out like that.”
He got up, knocking the stool over, and paced back and forth in the kitchen, so furious he wanted to break something. He yanked his gaze back to Garrett, who didn’t look any happier.
“Who do you think did this?”
“It wasn’t me. It sure as hell wasn’t you. It wasn’t Ma or Dad. It damn sure wasn’t Van, Nathan or Joe. Who does that leave? No one knows this kind of shit. How the f**k would they know that much about KGI?”
“Sean does,” Sam muttered.
The two brothers exchanged looks and both reached the same conclusion.
“No way he did it either,” Garrett said. “He loves Ma and Dad. He’s practically one of the family.”
Sam stared at Garrett as sudden realization swept over him. “Rusty.”
“Son of a bitch,” Garrett swore. “I’ll kill her. Mom can’t save her ass this time.”
“This’ll hurt Ma,” Sam said.
“What did the little bitch think she was doing?”
Sam sighed. “Rusty has seen Rachel as a threat from the beginning. She’s young and messed up and she resented the attention Rachel got when she came home. I guess this is her way of taking her down a notch or two.”
“She goes,” Garrett said coldly. “No one betrays the family like this. I don’t care what Ma says. Once Dad finds out, he’ll agree. Rachel will be devastated when she sees this.”
“I need to call Ethan. He’ll need to know, and he’ll want to confront Rusty with us.”
Garrett nodded, his lips still a tight line of fury.
“Morning,” Donovan called as he sauntered into the kitchen.
He eyed Sam and Garrett suspiciously as he opened the fridge and took out the orange juice.
“If I interrupted violence, by all means I’ll step back. Always nice to see bloodshed first thing in the a.m.”
“Rusty sold Rachel out,” Sam said bluntly. “It’s all over the paper.”
Donovan frowned, shut the fridge and walked over to pick up the paper. As he read, his frown deepened.
“Son of a bitch.”
“Yeah,” Garrett said.
“What’s that you’re holding?” Sam asked Donovan, noticing for the first time the papers in Donovan’s left hand.
Donovan glanced down as if he’d forgotten them.
“An email I printed off. Possible job. I know we said we were laying off for a while, until things are good here with Rachel, and Cole and Dolphin have had time to heal.”
“But?” Sam asked. “I hear a definite but in there.”
Donovan flushed guiltily. “I might have told them we’d take it anyway.”
“What the f**k?” Garrett’s face went red and his cheeks puffed out as if it was all he could do not to explode. “Am I the only dumbass who still thinks this is a partnership around here?”
Sam held up a hand before Garrett went completely apeshit. Guilt ate at him. Garrett would have a coronary if he knew what Sam had ordered Rio to do and that Sam would be going back to South America.
“Okay, tell us, Van. What’s the gig and why did you already agree to it?”
“It’s a kid,” Donovan said painfully. “An abduction case. Parents are frantic. No ransom demand. Cops have exhausted all leads. Wife is convinced it’s her ex-husband, an avenue the cops have pursued but hit a dead-end. The ex lives out of the country, so she wants someone to whom that wouldn’t pose a problem.”