“Love?” several voices said simultaneously.
“Yes, love,” Dalton said. “And I love Jules, as well.”
Jace and Caden just stared with dropped jaws. “Please close your mouths,” Dalton said, grinning. “The two of you can fall in love—so why can’t I?”
“It’s not that we thought you couldn’t,” Jace said, recovering from shock. “We just figured you never would.”
“I thought so, too,” he said, looking down at Jules. “But she is a woman a man can’t help but love.” He leaned over and kissed Jules’s lips.
“Thanks for calling Marcel, you guys,” Dalton added.
“We didn’t call Marcel,” Shana said. “I wonder who did.”
Marcel grinned. “I got a call this evening from an informer. He came with journals, audio and enough information to help shut down the whole network. Seems like he took it upon himself to infiltrate the organization to help blow their cover.”
“Who was it?” Caden asked.
“Me,” a deep voice said. They all turned around.
“Sedrick!” Shiloh exclaimed, rushing over to her brother. “But how? What are you talking about?”
“After Dad died, Harold Owens approached me with his crazy idea, but I wanted no part of it. Then they threatened to harm you and Cassie if I didn’t cooperate. I knew that I had to do whatever I could to shut them and their organization down. The first thing he and his group asked me to do was to make sure Richard Granger didn’t survive his heart attack.”
“You’re kidding. Granddad?” Jace asked.
“Yes. But Richard died because his heart gave out, not because I gave him the injection to kill him, which they had ordered me to do. But they didn’t know that.”
“They actually wanted you to kill Granddad?” Caden asked, not believing what he was hearing.
“Yes. Richard was determined to free Sheppard, and they figured sooner or later he would find out too much. They also killed Marshall Imerson. I recently got wind that they were going to kill Jules.”
“B-but I had no idea,” Shiloh said, smiling up at her brother.
“That was my plan. That’s why I tried keeping you and Cassie at a distance and acted like a jackass to drive both of you away. Harold and Helen were always watching and listening. Trying to find my weakness. But no matter how mean I was to you, you put up with it, and Cassie refused to leave me.”
“Because I love you. And Cassie loves you, too,” Shiloh said, reaching up and patting her brother’s cheek.
“I love you, too. And I love Cassie. I can’t wait to get home tonight, tell her everything and apologize. I think I’m going to take a few days off from the hospital and take her somewhere. And propose.”
Shiloh gave her brother a big hug. “That’s great, Sedrick, and it’s about time.”
“Well, we appreciate your contacting us tonight and unloading all those goodies,” Marcel said. “Dr. Timmons even has a list of names of some of the players. Thanks to him, we have a good chance to arrest most of those involved.”
Marcel paused a minute and then added, “We got here as quickly as we could, but it’s those guys over there who were already poised and in place to handle things.” He tilted his head toward Stonewall, Striker and Quasar. “They are something else. I wish they would come work for me.”
“Sorry,” Roland Summers popped his head in to say. “They’re already taken.”
“Maybe we can negotiate,” Marcel said, grinning.
“Or possibly work together from time to time,” Roland countered.
*
“She killed Mom,” Dalton said, a short while later as he stood alone with his family and Jules in Jules’s office. His gaze was on Jules as she stood a few feet away, showing Shana her wall.
“So now we know what happened,” Jace said. “Dad will be set free.”
“Yes,” Caden said, nodding his head. “Dad will be freed.”