“Shit. I brought her back. Did she recover her memory?” Travis asked urgently, sitting up and placing his hands on his desk.
“Yeah. What difference does that make?” Kade asked warily.
“It makes all the difference. I have something I needed to tell her as soon as her memory returned. I needed to tell her not to run. She doesn’t have to anymore,” Travis said angrily, although Kade could see it for exactly what it was...fear.
Kade’s jaw clenched as he rasped, “You helped her disappear the first time?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me she wasn’t dead?” Kade wanted to get up and pound his brother to within an inch of his life. Travis, his own damn twin, had let him think his sister was dead. “Why?”
“She was in trouble. Her life was in danger and so were yours and Max’s. If keeping my mouth shut to keep everyone alive was what I had to do…I did it.” Travis’ fist crashed down on the desk, making every item on the surface tremble and roll. “Do you think it was easy for me not to say anything, to watch everyone grieve? Contrary to what you might think, brother…I don’t enjoy seeing you or Max suffer.”
“You weren’t close to Max; you didn’t see how much he—”
“Because I couldn’t,” Travis answered angrily.
Travis could be a coldhearted bastard when he wanted to be, but Kade knew he loved his family. Although he was still pissed, Kade had to know what happened. “Tell me everything. And start at the beginning.”
“We don’t have time for that right now. I’ll tell you everything later. We need to find Mia. She has to be scared. She doesn’t know the man who was threatening everyone’s life is no longer a problem.” Travis stood and reached for his suit jacket, pulling it on in jerky motions, acting nothing like his usual calm, controlled self.
“And why is that?” Kade replied, rising to stand beside his brother.
“He’s dead,” Travis remarked with deadly calm. “Unfortunate accident.”
“You should have shared this with me. You’re my goddamn brother,” Kade told him, his tone hostile. That Travis had kept this knowledge to himself for so long still made Kade want to throttle him. Travis always thought he knew what was best for everyone, spent more time trying to fix everyone and everything else except himself.
Travis turned to him abruptly, piercing him with a cold stare. “Why? What would you have done? Gone to find her, thinking we could protect her? Told Max so he could go find her?”
“Probably. She didn’t need to do this. We have security—”
“Agents who failed to protect her from a madman,” Travis informed his brother bitterly. “Max was gone, you were gone…and I was left to make a decision. So I made it. So go ahead…beat the shit out of me for trying to protect our little sister, for never wanting to see her debased and abused again. Had you or Max gone after her, she would have never stayed hidden, never been safe. I’ll live with your hatred if it means you’re all alive,” Travis finished with the ruthlessness of a man who had always done whatever he had to do, his blue eyes glacial and dangerous as he eyed his twin.
Kade flinched, hating it when Travis drilled him with that eerie, arctic glare. “I suppose I need to hear you out. I want to know what happened. You’ll tell me about it on our way to find Mia,” Kade grumbled, knowing he wasn’t going to like what his brother had to say. Much as Travis could be a pain in the ass, he was the glue that kept their family together, the problem solver, the doer of dirty jobs that had to be done.
Travis nodded once curtly and walked toward the door. “I’m pretty sure I know where she is. We’ll have awhile to talk.” Travis stopped at the door, his eyes traveling down Kade’s chest and torso as he mentioned casually, “That’s probably the most butt-ugly shirt I’ve ever seen on you. Congratulations on topping the puke green one with the ugly frogs.”
Kade grinned. “I knew you’d like it.” He followed Travis out the door and to the elevator.
“Are you ever going to grow up?” Travis asked blandly as he stepped into the elevator.
“Not if I can help it.” Kade’s grin grew broader as he watched his twin’s disgruntled expression.
“You’re changing your shirt, right? I’m not traveling with you if you’re wearing that shirt.”
“Sure. I can change. We just have to stop by my house after we tell Max,” Kade answered with a deadpan expression. “I can pick up some extra clothes if we’re going to be gone overnight to go get Mia.”
Travis looked relieved. “Good.”
Kade had no problem with changing his attire. He had a whole closet full of similar shirts at home that he could change into. Despite the urgency of the situation, he snickered quietly as the elevator doors closed.
Later that day, Mia arrived at her grandmother’s forty-acre ranch in Montana, exhausted and deflated, her heart completely shattered. Two weeks ago, she’d gone to Tampa because Travis had sent a team of security to get her, telling her he needed her to come back to Florida. She hadn’t even had a chance to find out why he had contacted her and wanted her to come back. She hadn’t had any contact with Travis, or anyone else from Florida for that matter, since she’d fled the state, bound for Montana, over two years ago. Not until recently, when she’d finally seen them again, not knowing that she hadn’t laid eyes on any of their beloved faces for over two years.
Coming back to Montana this time had been so much different from the time she’d come here to hide, to disappear. No one had been here for years before she had come back to the ranch over two years ago, and even Travis had needed to be reminded that she did have a home here.
She hadn’t been sent on Travis’ private jet in secrecy this time. She’d flown commercial under her own name, leaving a trail so obvious that anyone could find her. It had been done intentionally, to draw attention to the fact that she’d left Tampa. The media had uncovered the fact that she wasn’t dead, and she’d need to lead evil away from the people she loved. If that led malevolence in her direction, it was all for the best. It was better that Danny Harvey find her rather than someone she loved. Let him come after her. She no longer cared. If he knew that she wasn’t dead, he would find her, but it was better to be as far away as possible from her family. She’d be the bait, the lure that brought Danny here, far from Max and her brothers.