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“
Grew apart when our mother
separated us.”

“
Why did she?”

“
Parents were divorcing and
she needed to get herself back together again. She never did. We
spent the summers together at my grandparents, three weeks every
summer for eight years, plus a few holidays here and there.
Sebastian and Sarah one way, Sin and I another. Clear across the
country from each other. Only family who could take us in. No one
was willing—or able—to take all four.”

She couldn’t imagine it.
She could vividly remember the day Mal left for college, and how
much she’d missed him in the following months. And then when she’d
been assigned away from her parents and both her brothers those
first few years out of the academy. She hadn’t liked it at all. So
when the opportunity came to move closer to Mal, she’d jumped at
it. And her parents had relocated a few months later, obviously
feeling the same. Then Mick had followed six months earlier. “I’m
sorry.”

“
Yeah, that’s the breaks.
Don’t look so sympathetic, kid. We managed. And we’ll continue to.
Unless Sebastian rips my head off my shoulders for taking
Red.”

“
That’s entirely possible.”
She got the message. Time to drop that line of conversation. “He
loves her a lot, and almost lost her once before.”

“
How?”

“
Sociopath. But Carrie’s
stronger than she looks.”

“
Good. Sebastian loves
her?”

“
Very
much. And she loves him.” And Al had always been a little envious
of that connection. Not that she’d ever wanted Sebastian for
herself. They were friends, partners, teammates. But to have a man
look at
her
like
that…had that ever happened?

Certainly not in recent
memory. She dated, she met men she found attractive. She had
healthy views on romance, dating, and sex. But that didn’t mean
that she’d ever met someone she could have
that
with.

Jules and Malachi were an
in her face example of what a real romance could be like. They
loved each other and made a point of showing that to each other
every day they were together. They sometimes fought and hissed at
each other like cats and dogs—Malachi especially seemed to enjoy
getting under his wife’s skin at times—but they loved each other so
much.

They were like two halves
to a puzzle. Like Carrie and Sebastian, and Georgia and Hellbrook.
They
fit
each
other.

Al wanted that, someday.
But she also half felt it was all just
luck
on their parts. And she just
wasn’t that lucky. Maybe someday…And with the
right
kind of man.

“
So what’s our next
step?”

“
Food.”

“
Not
drive through again. I don’t
think I can handle it. I’m used to healthier
options.”

“
I’ll find you something
healthy. Do you always complain?”

“
I’d hardly call this
complaining. So…where were we? Do you think the guy who killed your
friend is on your own team? Or one of the others?”

“
I don’t know. I can see
possibilities for all in the unit except for Liz, Bertram, and
myself, of course.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

***

Her brother was the biggest
damned idiot in their entire family. Was she destined to be
surrounded by people who couldn’t handle
life
without resorting to doing
something that jeopardized everyone else they cared
about?

“
I’m not
giving you anything else, Donnie. Not for a while. I told you from
the very beginning that you’d have to make it last.” At least he’d
waited until
after
the agents had left to let her know. Damn him. Why couldn’t
her baby brother
stop
making so much trouble for her? She had enough on her plate
to deal with, as it was.

“
And how was I supposed to
do that?” He was angry with her, like he’d been on so many
occasions.

But he’d do what she
said—she’d raised him to, after all.

For the longest time it had
just been the two of them, stuck in the middle of their father’s
business.

Business that had made them
targets and magnets for every bit of scum and nastiness that walked
the streets of their city.

She’d done everything she
could think of to keep Donnie from following in their father’s
footsteps. Apparently that hadn’t been enough.

Lately, he’d showed a cruel
ruthlessness that actually frightened her.

Was that why he and Antonio
had always hated each other? Antonio had tried to tell her not to
involve her brother in anything she wanted to keep
precious.

Why hadn’t she
listened?

Maybe then her Antonio
would still be alive if she had.

She grabbed the phone. She
needed to make a call. Because it was her
job
to keep Donnie safe, no matter
what he’d done.

She couldn’t let him go to
jail, couldn’t let those agents find him.

“
Daddy? Donnie’s in
trouble…again.”

Chapter
Twenty-Five

***

Bertram Hughland was a big
black mountain of a man. He might even be as big as Mick. And far
more attractive than the ogre that was Al’s brother.

And
he
didn’t look at Paige that way—like
she was worthless and incompetent. Like Mick did. But Paige had a
sneaky suspicion that both he and this brother Sinclair knew more
than they were letting on. Why?

She followed the two men
out of the PAVAD conference room, but couldn’t follow them into the
men’s room. At least not without getting herself into some serious
trouble. Dammit.

She could watch for them
from the door of Dan’s office, though. It was just a few feet down
the hall and across the way. It would be perfect. She slipped
inside and held a finger to her lips when Dan looked up in
surprise. She hadn’t realized he’d be in his office. She nodded
toward the bathroom. “I’m waiting.”

“
I see.” Dan never
questioned her. He just accepted. She loved him for
that.

She kept his office door
open an inch and watched until the two men in question came out of
the restroom. Why had they felt the need to go to the restroom
together? Men didn’t do that, did they? Just women.

No. They’d wanted to be
alone because they knew something she didn’t. And she couldn’t
stand that.

She was just about to open
Dan’s door and sneak out behind them when the men’s room door
opened again.

Great.

The ogre
himself.

Had he heard anything?
Only one way to find out.

Paige waited until he had
almost passed Dan’s door and then opened it widely. She grabbed his
arm with one hand and sank her nails into the skin of his forearm.
“Get in here.”

“
Bossy today?”

“
Tell me. What were they
talking about?”

His expression turned
stormy. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

“
Did they know you were in
there?”

“
A men’s room isn’t
exactly the most private place for conversation.”

“
But they were in there
together. Don’t tell me they needed to hold hands to pee. Somehow I
don’t believe it.”

He glared down at her.
Like he always did. Why did this man, more than any other, make her
feel so small and pitiful? She hated that about him. She really
did.

“
Look, Mick, we both want
the same thing here, don’t we? Did they say anything that made you
think they know more than they are saying?”

This time the glare
narrowed and turned to speculation. “You think they do?”

“
Yeah. I
do. But how to
get
that information from them completely escapes me.” She was
still holding his arm; why hadn’t she realized that
before?

She dropped her hand,
fast.

“
You think Sebastian
knows?”

Paige thought of her team
leader, and the closest thing to a brother-in-law she’d ever have.
“No. I think if he did, first thing he’d do would be to share it
with us, Jules and Mal. He wouldn’t keep anything from us, because
he knows the fear. I think
they’re
hiding something from us. But I can’t figure out
why. And they won’t let me in to talk to Carrie about
anything.”

“
You
think
she
knows
more than she’s telling?” Dan asked from somewhere behind her. She
glanced at him quickly. He’d moved to stand at her back without her
noticing. “That’s not like her.”

“
Oh,
Carrie can keep secrets when needed.” Paige remembered quite a few
secrets they shared between them. Remembered the tone in Carrie’s
voice when she’d called. They hadn’t let Paige see her yet. “And if
she thinks she’s protecting Al by keeping quiet than
nothing
will budge her.
Nothing. She
might
open up to me or Sebastian. Maybe even Georgia, but that
would be pushing it.”

“
But she wouldn’t tell
this brother-in-law of hers?”

“
Not until she was sure
she could trust him. And let’s face it, what kind of brothers don’t
even bother calling when Sebastian got married?”

A pang of longing for the
brother she’d never met hit her, as it so rarely did. He’d been
seven when she was born. And out of her life by her third birthday,
when her mother had sold them both to a bunch of perverts. She’d
been found before anything could happen to
her,
her location traded to get a
lowlife drug dealer out of a five year jail term. Her brother, not
so much. He’d already been long gone, taken by some men the day
before. Paige would always remember what those men looked like.
They were the start of the nightmares Paige would never
forget.

Would her brother have
come to
her
wedding if she’d had one? That was something she’d never
know. He was probably long past dead by now. He’d not had too great
of a life to begin with.

“
Then we’ll get you in
there to talk to her.” Mick had that bulldog look that often
irritated the absolute shit out of her, but at least this time it
was directed against someone else.

“
And how do we do that?”
Paige asked.

“
I’ll knock and get you
in. Ed is still in there with them. He’ll understand.” Dan smiled.
He and Ed Dennis were close friends and had worked together for
years. “I can somehow get him to empty the room for a few
minutes.”

“
Dan, that’ll put you
right in the thick of things. Are you sure that’s something you
want? With what’s been going on around here…” Mick was actually
concerned. Paige studied him for a longer moment. Why? What did he
know?

“
Son, no matter how I look
at it, I’m involved in whatever B.S. they want to bring. But this
isn’t about Keeney and his audit of the division. It’s about
finding your sister. And Lorcan’s brother. Before someone else gets
hurt. Let’s do it.”

Chapter
Twenty-Six

***

Blondie had the files
spread out over her lap, the dashboard, and the console between
them. She even had a set of post notes settled on his thigh while
he drove. Seth figured
what the
hell.
Maybe she could find something. The
quicker the better. But he really didn’t like the silence. “Find
anything?”

“
From my
best estimate we’re looking at either kickbacks or blackmail. But
we’re really going to have to sit down and go over
everything
with a
fine-tooth comb. It’s too easy to miss something with this hit and
miss stuff. I think we should get another hotel
room.”

“
It’s three o’clock. We
can make it to Amarillo by later this evening, if we get our asses
in gear.” And the sooner the better. Seth didn’t like having all
the pieces of the puzzle.

“
Somehow I knew you’d say
that.”

“
Getting predictable, am I
now?”

“
Somehow I don’t think so.
You pride yourself on being an enigma.”

“
Sure
do. Have to do something to stand out when you’re one of a
three-piece set. Sin’s the leader, the all-around perfect one.
Sebastian’s the
good
one, the peacemaker. The one people depend on. Me? I’m the
trouble-maker.”

“
Somehow I buy
that.”

“
Knew you’d understand.”
He blew her a kiss, then laughed when she sighed and shook her
head.

“
Can’t you focus on
anything other than being a jerk?”

“
When you’re around...?
Not so much.” He glanced in the rearview mirror.