Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(22)

“Maybe it’s the battery?” Kylie said, worrying her bottom lip as she looked from the engine that she had absolutely no idea how to fix to the large house behind her as she debated going back inside and telling Hunter, the large man who had made it perfectly clear how he felt about excuses, that she couldn’t do her job. She needed to get to the post office before it closed, call Mr. O’Mallery’s latest court-appointed therapist and reschedule the appointment that he’d canceled, again, and run to the store, but she might have to put everything off until tomorrow.

Knowing that wasn’t really an option, she shifted her attention back to the battery, trying to remember if the guy that sold her this car had mentioned anything about when she was supposed to replace it. Sighing, she placed her hand on the car and knelt down so that she could get a better look under the-

“Good afternoon, Miss Davis,” a vaguely familiar voice drawled, drawing her attention up to find the District Attorney that she’d interviewed with, standing next to her car, looking bored. “Is Mr. O’Mallery inside?”

“Yes,” Kylie said absently, as her attention was drawn to the two large police officers joining them.

“And did Mr. O’Mallery have therapy today?” he asked, already gesturing for the officers to head to the front door.

“Well, no, but-”

“Thank you, Miss Davis. That will be all,” he said dismissively, cutting her off before calling after the two officers, “Arrest him.”

---

“So, what do you think?” Ryan asked, as he dropped down on the couch next to him.

“They’re full of shit,” Hunter said, tossing the thick folder onto the coffee table.

“They really seem to hate her,” Ryan murmured thoughtfully as he grabbed the folder and skimmed through all the bullshit his men had collected on Kylie.

“Yes, they do,” Hunter said, drumming his fingertips on the armrest as he thought about everything he’d found out today and realized that he still didn’t know a damn thing about her.

“They made some pretty serious allegations,” Ryan said, gesturing to the folder with a lazy flick of his hand.

Yes, they had.

They’d accused Kylie of…everything.

Absolutely fucking everything.

Her family had done one hell of a job destroying her life and they’d apparently been doing it since she was a little girl. His parents had been useless, but at least they’d never gone out of their way to make sure that everyone hated him. He’d done that all on his own. But Kylie…

He doubted that she’d ever done a damn thing to deserve this.

“They’ve accused her of being a drug addict with a history of identity theft,” Ryan pointed out. “I don’t know if you want to ignore that.”

“And yet there’s never been any charges pressed against her. She also doesn’t have a record, never been arrested, and pays her bills.”

“Her father claims that they didn’t press charges because they didn’t want to get Kylie in trouble,” Ryan said, sounding like he didn’t believe that line of bullshit either.

“How considerate of them, and yet that didn’t stop them from telling everyone about it and how much they hated Kylie,” Hunter drawled before adding, “You know, it’s funny that her parents go out of their way to make sure that everyone knows that Kylie is a mentally disturbed alcoholic and drug addict that can’t be trusted even though there isn’t a single shred of evidence, but they don’t say one bad word about their other daughter who actually has a seriously fucked-up criminal record.”

“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” Ryan said, sighing heavily as he roughly rubbed his hands over his face before dropping his hands away and adding, “To be on the safe side, I think it might be a good idea if we requested a new assistant. I think given the circumstances that the D.A. would probably agree.”

“Probably,” Hunter murmured absently, as the sound of the front door opening drew his attention.

“Mr. O’Mallery?” an officer said, as he walked inside the house and headed towards them.

“What’s going on?” Ryan asked, as they came to their feet, but one look at the District Attorney walking inside the house told Hunter everything that he needed to know.

“Hunter O’Mallery, you’re under arrest for violating the terms of your house arrest,” the D.A. explained, as one of the officers reached back and pulled out a set of handcuffs.

“I didn’t violate anything,” Hunter bit out as his arms were yanked behind his back and he felt the cold bite of metal close around his wrists.

“I’ll handle this, Hunter,” Ryan said, sighing heavily as he gestured for the cops to wait as he moved to speak with the D.A. in private and-

“Your assistant confirmed that you missed another therapy session, Mr. O’Mallery,” the D.A. explained, as he felt his stomach drop the same time that Ryan released a curse that let him know that he was truly good and fucked.

“The therapist cancelled the appointment,” Hunter bit out.

“According to who exactly?” the D.A. asked with a condescending smirk as he gestured for the officers to grab him.

“Miss Davis,” Hunter said, shaking his head in disbelief with a humorless chuckle.