Suspicions (The Battling McGuire Boys Book 3) (16 page)

“You heard...Davis... McGuires are...fighters...” She would fight for him—for their chance at a life together—with every bit of strength she had.

He loved her. She loved him. And Ty
didn’t
get to win.

* * *

A
VA
DIDN
’
T
OPEN
her eyes. Not yet. She knew she was in a hospital. She remembered the frantic ambulance ride there. The way Mark had clung so tightly to her hand. The way he’d said—

I love you.

Over and over again.

The bullet had been taken out. She’d been stitched up. Things were really foggy after that point.

She expected pain. But...there wasn’t any. Just a heavy lethargy that seemed to weigh down her body.

“Mark.” She whispered his name because he was the first person she thought about. The one she needed most.

Warm fingers curled around her hand. “I’m right here.”

She opened her eyes. He was beside her. Stubble lined his jaw, and dark shadows swept under his eyes.

“Right here,” he said, “with you. The one place I always want to be.”

Happiness spread within her. They’d made it. They’d— “Sully?”

“Right here, sis,” said a low voice. She turned her head to the left. There was another bed in that hospital room. Sully was there, looking tired but still managing to smile. “You know I’m hard to kill.”

Her breath heaved out in a sound that was a cross between a sob and a laugh. Yes, he was hard to kill. He was a fighter.

A McGuire.

And they’d won.

Mark’s fingers swept back her hair. His touch seemed to sink right through her. “I want to date you, Ava.”

His words—after everything that had occurred—had her shaking her head. “What?”

“I want to date you, properly. The flowers and the dinners and anything and everything you want.” He swallowed, cleared his throat. “And when you’re ready, I want to marry you. If you’ll have me.”

If?

“Because I do love you, and I’d like to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”

Her lips parted.

“Aw, man, Ava, I should’ve gotten my own room!” Sully groaned.

She ignored him and focused on Mark. “You don’t need to date me.”

Worry flashed in his eyes.

“But you do need to marry me.” They’d been through hell together, and they’d come out stronger for it. “Because I don’t want to spend any more days or nights without you.”

A wide smile spread across his face.

“Definitely my own room,” Sully muttered.

Mark leaned forward. “I love you.”

And Ava knew that the nightmare was over. Finally, everything was going to be all right.

Epilogue

Mark walked into the small interrogation room at the Austin Police Department. Davis was right at his heels. He didn’t know what kind of strings Davis had pulled in order to get this little one-on-one chat, but Mark figured he’d owe his brother-in-law-to-be for this one.

Ty glared at him. His ex-foreman and friend was handcuffed to the little table. He wore a garish orange prison uniform, and hate burned in his eyes.

Mark stared at him a moment as the past swam in front of him. Those brown eyes...filled with burning hate...he’d seen them before.

Eyes in another man’s face. The same hate reflected in a gaze just as dark.

“You’re his son,” Mark said. Because he’d put all the puzzle pieces together after he talked with Ava and Davis. “Gregory Montgomery’s son.”

“His
real
son!” Ty shouted. He tried to surge forward, but the handcuffs yanked him right back down. “You were nothing to the old man, but he still left you everything! He gave you everything!”

And he had. Gregory Montgomery’s will had stipulated that all of his holdings were to pass directly to Mark. There’d even been some legal mumbo jumbo about no additional heirs—even biological offspring— ever being able to claim his assets. At the time, Mark hadn’t paid any attention to that clause, but now...
it makes sense.
“He knew about you.”

“He never thought I was good enough!” That hate just burned hotter in his stare. “Never thought my mom was good enough. But I showed him!”

Davis propped his shoulders against the wall on the right. “Just so you know,” Davis murmured, “you’re being watched and recorded.”

Ty’s gaze slanted toward the one-way mirror. “You think I care?”

He should. He was about to talk away any chance he had at ever seeing the outside of a prison.

“I’ve been robbed my whole life, and I’m
glad
to tell the world now.” His chin jutted up. “That old bastard? The one you let punch you around? I’m the one who was strong enough to stand up to him.
I
killed him.”

Mark had already suspected as much.

“Then I found out about that bull he’d put in his will. He’d told me—weeks before!—that I was gonna get what I had coming to me. He
lied
!”

“No.” Mark shook his head. “He gave you exactly what he wanted you to have.”

Nothing.

Gregory had always been a twisted bastard.

Davis pushed away from the wall and headed toward the table.

“I was gonna show him,” Ty said, his words coming out so fast and hard. “I was gonna take Ava...he couldn’t get her mother, but I would get her. Ava was even prettier. She was perfect. She was—”

Davis slammed his hands down on the table in front of Ty. Ty flinched.

“If you say that my sister was going to be yours,” Davis told him, “then I will slam my fist into your face and break your nose again.”

Because Ava had broken his nose the night of the fire, and Mark’s bullets had kept the man in the hospital for over a week.

“Do you think I had it easy?” Mark asked him, curious now. “You know what he did to me.”

Ty’s lips twisted. “I guess you’ve never seen my back. He did the same thing to
me.

“You won’t let me go to prison.” Ty leaned forward. He seemed cocky now. So confident. “You’ll make a deal for me.” He inclined his head toward Davis. “Because if you do, then I’ll tell you what I saw that night. I’ll tell you who killed your parents.”

Silence.

Then...

“You attacked my sister,” Davis said. His voice was low and cutting. “I don’t care what you know. You’re going to rot in jail.” He looked back at Mark. “I think we’ve got everything we need. The cops heard him confess to killing Gregory. They already had him dead to rights on the other attacks. He’s done.”

Then he turned his back and walked away.

“No,” Ty whispered. “No!” He tried to shoot to his feet, but once more, the handcuffs just pulled him back.

Mark stared at him. He wanted to hurt the man. To destroy him the same way Ty had tried to destroy everything Mark held dear, but...

Ava was waiting for him.
Life
was waiting.

“Goodbye, Ty.” They’d gotten the confession that the cops needed.

Ty was screaming when they left him.

* * *

T
HE
RANCH
HOUSE
had been saved. Mark figured that was pretty much a miracle. His men and the firefighters had been able to contain the blaze. The den, Davis’s bedroom and the hallway were charred, but the structure of the place was fairly intact. The home could be repaired. Rebuilt.

“How much pain,” Davis asked quietly as he gazed at the house, “do you think one place can stand? How much...before you just have to walk away?”

Mark put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Ava is here.”

Davis’s head whipped toward him.

“She’s on the bluff.”

Davis shook his head. “Ava...doesn’t like this place.”

Mark just stood quietly with his friend.

A few moments later, Ava joined them. Davis stared at her as if she were a ghost.

“I have some ideas,” Ava said as she cocked her head and studied the house. “About how we can repair this place.”

“You...you want to rebuild?” Davis’s voice was strangled.

Ava nodded. Her left hand reached for Mark’s. Their fingers threaded together. “Yes. After all...it’s home.”

Davis was still as stone.

Ava’s right hand reached out to him. Her fingers threaded with his, too. “Home is important,” she told Davis. “So is family.”

“Nothing’s more important than family,” Davis agreed, his words a rough rasp.

Ava smiled at him, she winked at Mark and then she looked at the house once more. “I have some ideas...” she said again.

A few minutes later, Ava climbed into the car. They were about to head back to Mark’s ranch, and he couldn’t wait to get her back there and into his bed. But first...

Mark looked over at Davis. “You know you aren’t going to let things end this way.”

Davis was staring at the house. “Ava wants to rebuild.” He sounded dazed.

Mark shook his head. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Davis turned to face him.

“If Ty knows who killed your parents, we have to make him talk.”

Davis smiled then, and the sight was chilling. “Oh, don’t worry, he’ll talk.” His eyes glinted. “I’ve already put plans in motion.”

A cold chill slid up Mark’s spine.

“I
will
find out who killed my parents. Before I’m done, Ty Watts will be begging to tell me everything he knows.”

Staring into Davis’s cold gaze, Mark believed him. But then, he knew just how deadly Davis McGuire truly was. “If you need me,” Mark told him, “you know where I’ll be.”

Davis nodded. “With my sister...protecting her with your life.”

“Always,” Mark promised him. Then he turned and headed toward the car—and Ava.

* * *

D
AVIS
WATCHED
A
VA
and Mark pull away. Mark loved Ava. Of that, Davis had no doubt. Ava was happy, safe.

And now—now he could focus on the past once again. Every day he felt as if he learned a new piece of the puzzle that was his parents’ murder. Every day he got closer to the truth.

Yes, Ty would talk...sooner or later.

The guilty would be found. Davis wasn’t going to rest until he gave his parents the justice they deserved.

McGuires were fighters, and he still had plenty of fight left within him.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
McCULLEN’S SECRET SON
by Rita Herron.

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