by Lexi Blake
“Are you talking about the research on the business? That was easy to get my hands on.”
“No, I’m talking about the deep stuff. I didn’t realize you were so good with computers. According to Drew, you practically hacked into county records to get our files. He’s spent the whole week trying to hunt down everything you looked into. That’s why I’m saying he might be intimidating at first. He’s been a little pissed at you all week.”
She grimaced, her mouth turning down. “I didn’t do that. Not even close. I had a friend send me some archived newspaper articles and some stuff on the business. I didn’t look into anything personal. It seemed rude. I honestly wouldn’t know how to hack into anything. I’m competent when it comes to a computer, but I’m not that good.”
“I was sure it was you.” Damn, if someone else was looking, this could get tricky. He hadn’t talked to Drew in a few days. He’d intended to drive out to Palm Coast, but that had gone on hold when Carly had called. He’d spent the last week getting to know her, inserting himself into her world.
“It might have been my friend.”
It was his turn to grimace. She’d told a friend? “Your friend? Sweetheart, please tell me you didn’t bring someone else into this.”
She waved him off. “Of course not. Not directly. I have a friend who’s writing an unauthorized bio of Patricia. I haven’t talked to her specifically about this and I won’t, but I do send her the occasional disgruntled employee. I asked her about the business and how it had gotten started. She sent me some articles. I didn’t realize she would go digging this soon.”
“You brought a reporter in?” He could have sworn the air had taken on a chill. He wanted to look around and make sure there was no chance of Drew having listened in to that tidbit of information. This would be one of those times his big brother likely went purple.
She bit into her bottom lip, a gesture that made him want to tug her back into his lap and try the whole kissing thing again. “I don’t think of her that way. She’s a close friend of mine. I swear I didn’t tell her anything about what’s going on. I asked for some information. I couldn’t go into this completely blind.”
He understood. Whether his brother would understand was another story entirely. “Maybe you shouldn’t meet Drew.”
“I can handle him,” she said with a confidence Bran wasn’t sure she should have. “I handle Patricia Cain on a daily basis. How bad could he possibly be?”
So much worse. Drew likely thought she was some kind of hacker at this point. “Just stay close to me at all times when Drew’s around. I’ll explain the situation to him.”
After all, what was the worst that could happen? He picked up his sandwich and started to eat. If Drew was going to murder them both, they might as well enjoy the day.
Chapter Six
What do you mean she brought in a reporter? Are you telling me the person I’ve been tangling with online all week is a damn reporter?”
Bran winced. Yeah, there was murder in his brother’s tone. “Carly didn’t bring anyone in. She asked a friend of hers who happens to be a reporter for some articles on the company Dad started. She was doing some research that I told her to do before she made up her mind. I don’t know what her friend is doing. She was supposedly working on a story about Patricia. Not us.”
His brother stood in Carly’s pretty living room and stared at him. Bran was fairly certain it was the way a cobra stared at a bunny rabbit before striking. This was precisely why he’d decided to get all this horrible predatory shit over before Carly came home. He’d called and asked Drew to bring him something to wear to tonight’s art show and waited to tell him in person that Carly wasn’t the mystery pinger. Maybe he would be able to put his brother in a calmer mood and he wouldn’t scare her off.
Or he would murder Bran and then it would all be over anyway.
“I find this utterly fascinating,” Case said from his place on Carly’s couch. His massive linebacker-sized brother-in-law didn’t fit any better on her tiny couch than Bran had all week long. “See, my big brother would have been screaming by now. Or offering to show me my own entrails. He likes to talk about entrails a lot. Drew just stares like he’s going to do something really bad.”
He and Case had something in common. They both had to face big brother. “He won’t. At least he never has in the past.”
“Perhaps I should take a page out of the eldest Taggart’s handbook and explain what I intend to do to your new girlfriend once I get hold of her.” Each word out of Drew’s mouth was clipped and nasty.
Bran felt every muscle in his body go taut. “You’re going to stay away from Carly. If you can’t speak civilly to her then you won’t speak at all.”
Drew’s eyes closed. “Shit.”
“I told you,” Case said.
“What?” Somehow he’d fallen into some kind of trap.
Drew’s eyes opened, narrowing on him. “You’ve spent one week with her and now you’re defending the fact that she brought a reporter in. Do you have any idea what kind of chaos she’s going to cause? She came damn close to putting Drew Lawless and Andrew Lang together. None of this works if national news starts running stories about how four homeless orphans became billionaires. If they get even a hint of the story, everything we’ve worked for gets blown out of the water.”
He hadn’t thought that much about it. He’d been too busy with Carly. “You stopped the reporter, right?”
Drew sighed and sank into the lounge chair across from the sofa. “Yes, for now. And I’m working on hiding all the records that link us to who we used to be, but it’s not easy. I can bribe the right people, but you know as well as I do that there’s always a trace left.”
“Maybe we could talk to the reporter.” If she was friends with Carly, she might be helpful.
“I’m not talking to her,” Drew said with an irritated snort. “I’m going to destroy her. What do we know about her?”
“Her name is Shelby. I don’t know if I should give you her last name if you’re planning on annihilating her.” It was a real risk with Drew.
“She’s a snarky little thing. I was actually coming here to pull you out because that woman is dangerous. I thought she was Carly. I’m happy to discover that Whovian639 isn’t Carly.”
“Whovian? Like the Whos in Whoville?” Someone had read him that story a long time ago. The Grinch. Sometimes that dude and Drew had a lot in common. Drew was known for working through Christmas dinner.
“I think she’s a Doctor Who fan. Which is ridiculous because everyone knows that there is zero scientific basis in that show,” Drew said with a frown. “Star Trek is much more reality based.”
God, sometimes he forgot how much of a nerd his brother was. If he ever got his revenge, he would likely bury himself in playing geeky board games and arguing about Game of Thrones. “Yeah, her choice of sci-fi is not a reason for murder. Maybe we should figure out if she can help us.”
Wasn’t there always room for more allies? Case Taggart sat on the couch like a big old sign for how allies had helped them out. They’d started on opposite sides of the fence, and now Case and Mia did it like five times a day and everyone was happier for it.
Drew didn’t seem to take the same lesson from his sibling’s marriage that Bran did. “No. We are not bringing anyone outside of family into this. I don’t like that this Fisher girl knows our plan.”
How many times did they have to go over this? “Hey, she’s fine, and let’s face facts. I don’t even know the whole plan. Unless you want to let me know what you’re doing tonight.”
“It’s going to be fun,” Case said with a grin.
Drew held a hand out. “Don’t. He’ll probably go on social media and make it his freaking status. He’ll definitely tell his new girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. She’s my partner.” That kiss hadn’t been real
. Oh, it had felt real and he definitely wanted to kiss her again, but he didn’t do the girlfriend thing. He didn’t deserve it.
Drew’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me you didn’t sleep with her. You haven’t been home all week. I assume you spent it in Carly’s bed.”
Bran pointed to the couch. “As for last night and every night before, my ass slept right there, brother. Well, it hung off there because I’m way too tall for that sucker, but I absolutely have not slept with her.”
“But you stayed here.”
“She had a scare and she didn’t want to be alone.” He wasn’t sure if he was ready to go into an explanation on that one. Soon enough he would have to write that check, and there was no way that didn’t get back to Drew.
“Is this why you wanted the report on Tommy DiLuca?” Case asked, suddenly getting serious. “Because I had a friend run up some information on him and he’s a serious dude, Bran. If she’s involved with DiLuca, she’s got mob connections.”
Bran was fairly certain Drew was going to blow an artery or something. His eldest brother turned a lovely shade of purple while Bran turned on Case. “Dude, I thought we were on the same page. There are things big brother doesn’t need to know. I swear the next time I get something on you, I’m running straight to Big Tag.”
Case put up his hands in a conciliatory fashion. “Sorry. I thought he knew.” The big guy sat back. “DiLuca has serious mob connections.”
“Mob? Like the Italian mafia? Carly Fisher has ties to the fucking mafia?” Drew spat the questions out in rapid fire. “Is there anything else you want to tell me? Maybe she’s pregnant with an alien love child and we’ll have to stave off an invasion in order for this operation to work.”
He could totally handle his brother’s sarcasm. “Good news. She’s one hundred percent alien-free. It’s just the mob ties and the reporter.”
The best way to deal with Drew was straight on. Well, his preferred method was to hide all fuckups until he absolutely had to tell, but Case had made that impossible.
“Why do I find myself on the set of The Godfather?”
At least his brother sounded more reasonable now. “Carly’s ex was a gambling man. They want her to pay off his debts, and last week they broke in and had a talk with her. Hence all the new security equipment I had installed.”
“They broke in?” Case asked, his tone going low.
“They scared the shit out of her,” Bran explained. “It’s why I spent the week here and I’ll probably spend more until I can get her out of this.”
“How do you plan to get her out of this?” Drew asked.
Shit. “I’m going to write them a check and they’ll go away. It’s not a big deal.”
Don’t ask how much. Don’t ask how much.
“How large is this check you’re writing?”
Double shit. He couldn’t lie to his brother. He could be a bit negligent with the truth, but he wasn’t going to outright lie. “It’s a million. It’s not a big deal.”
Drew’s eyes widened. “A million dollars is not a big deal?”
“Yeah, I’m never going to get used to that,” Case admitted. “My brothers have money but not shrug-off-a-million money.”
“I’m using my own money.” He hated this feeling. He hated the way Drew was looking at him. Like he was a kid, and not a particularly smart one at that. “I’m not asking you for a dime.”
“I gave you that money.”
He wanted to play it that way? “Then take it all back and I’ll figure out another way to help her.”
Drew sighed. “No, it’s yours to do whatever you want. It’s your part of the company. I’m sorry. I don’t like to see you being taken advantage of.”
“She’s not that way.” How could he make Drew understand? Drew was the most cynical person Bran knew. He always saw the worst in people. “She’s kind.”
“Yes, she’s kindly asking you for a million dollars. Case, you need to see if this is some sort of scam. Perhaps she’s working with this DiLuca person.”
Case shook his head. “There’s zero chance of that. It would have come up in our initial reports about her. I’ve had the best investigators in the world working on this. They would have figured out if she was a con artist looking to take out billionaires who came around asking for help with their revenge plots. Do you understand how paranoid you sound right now?”
“Yeah, well, I’m the son of a man who wasn’t paranoid enough,” Drew shot back. “And my brother is far too optimistic for his own good. He’s known her for a week and he’s already paying off her debts?”
“I’m smoothing the way for your plan to work, Drew. If she’s grateful to me, she’ll be a better partner. I would think a million is a drop in the bucket compared to what you’re willing to pay. Hell, you’ve already paid in years of your life.”
“I didn’t come here to fight,” Drew said quietly. “You’re right. If a million will smooth the way then I’ll pay for it myself, but be careful. If they figure out she’s an easy mark, they’ll come back for more and you won’t be around to protect her again.”
He intended to make certain DiLuca understood Carly was off-limits after this. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve got other things to worry about. I’m fairly certain Patricia Cain is attracted to me.”
“Whoa, are you all right with that?” Case asked.
Drew suddenly looked like he gave a shit. “Of course he’s not. What happened? Did she try something with you?”
Well, at least he got some sympathy on that front. “No, it was more of a feeling. I know when a woman is interested and she definitely was. It made me sick, Drew. Touching her made me want to puke. I didn’t think I would have that reaction. Carly saved it, though. I’m worried about what will happen if . . . What if she makes a move on me?”
“You’ll handle it,” Drew said, leaning forward. “Bran, you have this. It’s all right that you had that reaction.”
“It occurs to me that getting close to Patricia might be a good way to get where we need to go.” He hated to admit it, but maybe his brother had been right all along. Maybe Drew would have been the better choice.
“If you think for one second I would sleep with that woman to get revenge, you need to think again. And if you think I’ll allow you to do it, you don’t know me, brother.”
“Riley slept with Ellie.”
Drew rolled his eyes. “Riley wanted Ellie the minute he laid eyes on her. I offered to switch with him and he damn near took my head off. The truth of the matter was it was always Riley’s choice how he got close. He had no qualms about spending time in her bed even before he’d met her. Riley really was a manwhore. You’re different, but I don’t think your reaction to Carly is different.”
“I want to sleep with her because she’s attractive.” That wasn’t the whole story. “I like her.”
“And that’s why she scares me.”
Before he could say anything else, there was the sound of the alarm chiming as the door came open and the woman in question stood in the doorway, her eyes wide, and carrying way too much for only two arms. She had her purse, her laptop bag, some sort of grocery bag, and what looked like a dress from the dry cleaners.
“I don’t remember the code. I know I should. I’m so sorry.” She looked at the other men in the room as the alarm kept chiming. “Wow. Your parents had seriously good genes, Bran.”
He hopped up, happy to see her. The conversation with Drew had taken a turn for the way-too-real, and Carly was like a breath of fresh air. He quickly inputted the security code and eased the grocery bag and dry cleaner bag out of her hands. “I’ll go over all the new security stuff, but this is my brother Drew, and my brother-in-law, Case Taggart.”
Case stood and offered his hand. “I don’t share any genes with this lot. Their sister just has amazing taste in men.”
Drew shoo
k his head. “You praise the day she even thought to look your way, Taggart.” He glanced back at Carly. “And I rather thought you didn’t like my family genes since you intended to send me away.”
Carly blushed. “I kind of thought you were too attractive. And honestly, I think it worked out better this way. Bran is sweet. That’s more my speed. Did you get the notes I sent you on arrival times and where the security will be placed?”
Carly had been hard at work this afternoon, and not only for Cain Corp. She’d sent over notes that would help them all tonight. His brother now knew when and where Patricia would be every step of the evening.
“I did and they will work quite nicely,” Drew said, shaking her hand. “I think after this evening she’ll be desperate to find a new security company. Don’t worry about anything. We’ll handle all of it. I would, however, stay a few feet away from your boss this evening.”
Case was grinning again. “It’s going to be fun. Juvenile but fun.”
Bran didn’t even want to know. “We should get ready. Thanks for the suit. I’ll be in touch after Carly and I get home.”
Drew nodded. “See that you do. And remember what I said about the other stuff. Be careful. Take someone with you when you make the payment. And not her. Someone who can watch your back.”
“I watched his back earlier today,” she said with a nod, and then she blushed as though realizing what she’d said. “Only because he was walking away and I couldn’t see his front.”
Drew shook his head and led Case out.
“Watched my back, huh?”
She was still the sweetest shade of pink. “I can’t believe I said that in front of your brother. What’s wrong with me? I think being a spy has made me too sassy.”
He kind of thought being a spy was making her more confident. It could happen to a person. Carly was finally doing something that might change her situation. She was becoming more aware of her own power. It looked good on her. “I think you’re exactly as sassy as you should be. Now, what’s this?”
“My dress for tonight and our dinner.”