Fierce Defender: Book 2, Hard to Handle trilogy by Janine Kane

made Hank want to piss his pants when he’d first met him. Now… well, he hoped it still made him want to piss his pants.
    “You want to know what your other options are?” he asked. “Okay then, let me be the one to share this with you. You messed with some bad dudes here, Hank. Did you miss that part when they tried to kill you, or when they kidnapped your sister? Your choices are as follows: Witness Protection or death.” He smiled and said, “You pick.”
    Eva shifted in her seat. Zack ignored her, so she elbowed him softly in the side. When he finally turned her way, she gave him a look that said, “Why are you being so mean?”
    “I…” Hank looked from one man to the next, and then at Eva. With wide, pleading eyes, he said, “I don’t want to leave my sister. She’s the only family I really have.”
    Zack sighed. “By staying, Hank, you’re putting your sister in as much danger as you are in. I know that you don’t want that. I remember how upset you were when they took Eva.”
    “I have a question,” Eva said. “Will he be able to leave Witness Protection once these guys are caught?”
    Lewis and Gray glanced at each other, and then Gray said, “It will ultimately be up to him and the Marshalls. But, you have to remember that the reach of someone like Vincent Heston extends beyond the walls of a prison. If Heston is alive, and you’re on his list, you’ll likely stay there.”
    Zack knew Gray was trying to explain it in terms he thought Hank would understand. Finding Hank and getting rid of him, Carl, and the others who, in Vincent’s opinion, were to blame for the collapse of his operation was a priority. Hank’s inflated sense of having things his way was getting in the way of him fully grasping that.
    “Where would he go?” Eva asked.
    “The U.S. Marshalls would handle that part of it,” Lewis told her. “Once he’s gone, we wouldn’t even know where.”
    “So I would never be able to see my brother ever again?” she said, the reality of it setting in for her.
    Neither man said anything, and that alone spoke volumes. Zack could see the tears forming in Eva’s eyes. Shit! he thought. This idiot will never stop hurting her . He reached for her hand, but she slid it back in her lap. He failed to understand how he always ended up being the bad guy when it came to Hank.
    Sighing, he looked at Gray and said, “Are you guys anywhere near catching Heston?”
    “He’s been a pro at avoiding us so far,” Gray said. “The reality is that it may take us years to find him, and once we do, more years to build a case against him. If and when he does go to prison, I don’t doubt that would make him want to reach out even more. I’ve seen cases where witnesses started to drop like flies as soon as the kingpin was taken down.”
    But Vincent’s not an actual kingpin, not the way his father was, Zack thought. He’s more of a pretender to the throne.
    Eva looked anxiously at Zack. It broke his heart to see her like this, but he held his ground. “Eva, you came to me and asked for help keeping Hank alive. I went to Gray and asked for the same thing, for you. We’ve done that, but now you and I have a life to get on with, and Gray and the rest of the DEA have other jobs to do. No one will be able to follow Hank around and keep him safe for the rest of his life. This is his best option.”
    ***
    Eva knew Zack was right. She wasn’t mad at Zack or Gray or Lewis. She could never be. If it weren’t for them, Hank and herself wouldn’t be sitting here today. The entire situation just felt so hopeless. She had told Hank she would back him up on his decision to stay, and he sat there now, waiting for her to do just that. But she wasn’t sure she could follow through. She would have an empty place in her heart if she was never able to see her brother again, but knowing he was alive and safe would ease her heartache. If he died because she had encouraged him not to go away…
    “Can I talk to