Beautiful Bounty (The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros. Book 1) by MJ Nightingale

to get her out of this mess.
    “No, Mom. I will,” Ronnie interjected.  She witnessed the play of emotions across her mother’s face. She knew this expense could break her. It made her feel even guiltier for ending up in this situation.
    “Honey . . .” Lou interrupted trying to assuage her daughter’s fears.
    “Mom,” Ronnie started firmly.
    Then Ana was speaking.  “Monica and I were going to do something for your graduation. We talked about it, and we don’t want either of you to worry about this.”  Monica was nodding her agreement.
    “No, it’s too much,” Ronnie stated forcibly. Lou was nodding her agreement. “This is more than a graduation present.  Hell, who knows if I’ll even be able to graduate now.”
    “Hush now, Ronnie. We won’t hear of it. And of course you will graduate.  You completed all the course work, passed the exams.  The ceremony is only a formality. I didn’t go to mine,” she added when she saw Ronnie wince.
    “But,” she started. She hoped that was true. Still, this much for a gift, she just couldn’t accept it. “I . . .”
    Andreas interrupted. “Ladies. Why don’t you discuss this later?  We don’t want to keep you, and we just have a few other things we would like to clear up.”
    The women all stopped talking and looked to him. Ana’s eyes narrowed slightly. Something about this man rubbed her the wrong way, Monica’s new cousin or not.
    “Yes, go ahead,” Monica prompted, effectively ending this conversation for now. When the women settled down he began again.
    “Okay, so this is how it works.  If you go to court, and show up for your case, and do what you are told by your lawyers, no harm no foul.  You have your day in court, and hopefully get acquitted.”
    “Yes, we understand.”  Jay interjected.
    “Good. But, there is more . . . If you don’t,” Andreas paused, and his blue eyes, so like his brother’s, and his cousin Victor’s, pierced hers, “your mother loses this house. Do you understand that?”
    Ronnie gulped.  Her eyes registered panic. Good, he thought. He watched her watching him.
    The man held nothing back. His eyes were so much like Nikko’s, but icier, fiercer. She nodded.  “Anything else?”
    Andreas had to give the girl credit. She was tough. She didn’t waiver, or look away.  Most women did. “Normally, we need collateral, in the amount of the remainder. But, since your mom didn’t have it, and Victor’s our cousin, we accepted what she had. With the house, and Jay’s motorcycle . . .”
    “You didn’t?” Ronnie asked with astonishment, her head whipping up to peer at Jay. He just shrugged, sheepishly smiling at her, then looked with nothing but love at her mother.
    “Yes, he did.  Now what you need to know is that if you show up on your court date all is good.  You will have your day in court, and hopefully get acquitted.  Your mom and your step-father will be able to keep their house and motorcycle. So, you need to listen to your attorneys, and do what they tell you.” Andreas paused for a moment and all eyes were still on him. “Now, we work with some insurance companies, and they back our bonds.  We have a good name and a good reputation.  We want to keep it that way.  The bail was a quarter million.  Your mom’s house and the motorcycle weren’t even close to what we needed.  But Victor’s our cousin. So we took this, and left it there. But if you run,” he pointed at her, stared her down with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. “Your mom loses the house, your step-father his motorcycle.  I am out 150K.  And, I won’t be happy. I’ll be pissed.”  The room was quiet despite the number of people in it.  “See my brothers?” he indicated the three other Marinos in the room, Gio, Blaze, and Nikko, standing along the kitchen counter, wearing similar cargo pants, similar black t-shirts except Nikko.  She turned and looked back at Andreas, and nodded again.  “Well, they will be