“Fuck you!” Stew hissed, spittle coming out of his mouth, his face turning purple.

“I need to know you get me,” Layne pushed, squeezing harder.

“Get off me!” Stew choked.

“I need,” Layne squeezed harder, laying all his weight into his hand, “to know you get me.”

“I get you, get the f**k off!” Stew wheezed.

Layne pushed off, took a step back and Stew righted himself from the car, bending over, he put his hand to his throat.

“Gabby’s,” Layne ordered and turned to his SUV, swung in and still choking Stew had to jump out of the way as Layne drove out of the alley.

Then he headed to Gabrielle’s grocery store to do something that he was looking forward to only slightly more than dealing with Stew Baranski. But she’d find out eventually and Rocky was right, Layne had to suck it up and he might as well take the shit she was going to lay on him now rather than enduring a surprise attack when she found out.

He found her at the customer service desk and her eyes came to him when he was five feet away.

“You’re takin’ a break,” he informed her when he made it to the desk. He ignored the customers in line and finished, “Now.”

Gabby stared at him a second, turned to someone with her and said, “Give me a minute.” Then she moved from behind the desk and Layne followed as she led him to the back, through a door, down a hall and into the break room.

Two employees were sitting there. One a zit-faced kid who really needed an appointment with a dermatologist, the other a blonde who really needed to lay off the eyeliner or learn how to put it on better.

“We need privacy,” Layne announced when he and Gabby walked in, he watched them both start then freeze so he ordered, “Now.”

They moved then and shot to the door.

The minute it closed behind them, Gabrielle turned to him. “Jas –?” she started.

Layne shook his head and cut her off. “Boys are good.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out the envelope and handed it to her.

She took it, bent her head to it, opened the flap and, even with her head bent, Layne saw her mouth drop open.

Then her head shot back, her eyes bright and hopeful. “What?”

Fuck. She thought he was bailing her out.

“That’s not from me,” Layne told her, the hope died and she looked confused and wary. “It’s from Stew. He’s gone. You go home tonight, he’s left a pair of tighty whiteys, I wanna know.”

Her face started getting red before she snapped, “What’d you do?”

He gave it to her straight and didn’t waste time.

“Stew’s an enforcer for a guy called Carlito. He doesn’t owe him shit, he works for him and gets paid big. He’s been playin’ you, Gabby, but he’s not playin’ you anymore.”

Her torso jerked back.

“That’s… that’s impossible,” she stated but he knew by the look on her face, her anger dying, understanding dawning, she knew that was a lie.

“Well then, I watched his twin beat the shit outta some guy last night while I was takin’ pictures. Then I watched him celebrate with a chick he keeps at the trailer park on the southwest of town.”

Layne watched the blood drain out of her face and she was a bitch and he didn’t much like her but she was the mother of his sons and he f**king hated doing this to her. But he had to; she’d given him no choice.

“He’s bad news, Gabby,” Layne went on. “We don’t need our boys around that and I don’t need my boys’ Mom around that. You deserve better. So I made it so he did right by you with that money,” he tipped his head to the envelope, “and now he’s gone.”

She stared at him and then her hand clenched the envelope. “Tanner –”

He shook his head and interrupted her again. “We don’t need to process this. It’s done. The boys stay with me this week and you go stay with Brandy. The whole week. You put two K of that in your account and you use that, your pay and what I pay you to take care of your bills. When you buy groceries or anything else that takes cash, you use that money. You put no more than two K of that in your account, Gabrielle. The rest of that money stays under the radar. Are you clear on all that?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“I’ll keep an eye on your house and get a quiet word out to the boys to do the same. Jas will be checkin’ in with you regular. You got problems, you say, ‘I’m fine, honey, everything is just fine,’ and he’ll know it’s not and he’ll know to get in touch with me.” At these words, her face went completely white but Layne kept on. “You wanna say you’re okay, you use other words, not those. Can you remember that?”

“Are the boys in danger?” she asked.

“No,” Layne answered.

“Am I?”

“No,” Layne repeated. “That doesn’t mean we aren’t gonna move forward smart.”

Some color came back into her face and her eyes started to get squinty. “Did you bring Jasper into this?”

“Yeah, I did. He’s seventeen, he’s f**kin’ smart and he doesn’t like his Mom gettin’ walked on. I didn’t take care of this shit, there would come a time when he’d feel the need to step in. I stepped in before that time came. And if you think Tripp doesn’t know somethin’s goin’ down, you’re wrong. He’s as smart as Jasper and just as worried about his Mom.”

She pressed her lips together and couldn’t hold his eyes so hers went to the floor.

“I need to know you’re clear on all this before I go, Gabrielle,” Layne prompted and she forced her eyes to his before she nodded.

“Good, you go home tonight, check things out then get your ass to Brandy’s. And find time next week to change the locks,” Layne finished and turned to leave.

“Tanner,” she called, Layne turned back, bracing because he knew she was going to hit him with it and he froze when he saw standing across the room a Gabrielle Weil Layne had never seen before in his life.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and, f**k him, he knew she was about to cry.

Shit.

He’d never seen her cry except tears of being extremely pissed off.

He turned to face her but didn’t walk back into the room.

“You f**ked up,” he said gently. “I f**ked up so I know it doesn’t feel good when you figure out you did it. But it’s done, it’s over. Now you move on.”