Chapter Forty-Three
Elise
Brady’s arms were still wrapped securely around me, but the room felt a little colder.
Evan was alive. That single reality should have made everything simple. It didn’t. Brady was battling with some dark thoughts, and I couldn’t blame him. If someone put Keaton or my father in the hospital, I would want to lash back at them as well.
Could I imagine Alethea taking someone down? Yes. Dominic Corisi, easily. Even Keaton. But Brady? Watching him lose his faith in humanity was like watching the last candle blow out in an otherwise pitch-dark cave.
And although I was someone who strategically considered all adverse possibilities, I could no longer allow myself to imagine my family was responsible. It was simply not an option I could accept.
Alethea’s warning still lay heavy on my heart.
I am right.
We are right.
Brady’s hand moved slowly along my spine, a single reassuring pass before his palm came to rest against my back. “It’s going to be okay.”
I wasn’t so sure. “Yes.”
He let out a tired breath that brushed warm against my hair, the sound turning into a faint, rough chuckle. “That was a terrible ‘yes’, Elise.”
“It was meant to make you feel better.”
His arms tightened around me for one brief, bruising second. “Please don’t try to protect me. I’m sick of people thinking they have to. I’m just a man, with all the faults but also all the strengths of one. This sucks, but it won’t break us.”
I closed my eyes, leaning into his heat. “This is complicated, Brady. I’m doing the best I can.”
“Me too,” he murmured, and kissed me gently.
A nurse appeared at the end of the corridor, speaking in low, hurried tones to Bella before casting a brief glance in our direction. Bella turned toward us, her face pale but held together by that fierce control she used to survive the storm.
“Brady?” she asked.
“Right here.”
“You can go in next,” she said, her voice dropping. “He’s asking for you.”
Brady tensed, seeming unsure if it was okay to leave me.
I pulled back and looked up into his dark eyes. “Go.”
His gaze searched mine, tight with hesitation. “Elise—”
“I’ll be right here, Brady.”
He didn’t move immediately. Then my phone began to vibrate. Once. Twice. In a demanding sequence. The timing had no mercy.
I pulled the device out and looked down at the glowing glass.
Keaton.
Of course it was. Because apparently the universe believed emotional triage worked best when crises arrived heavily stacked in layers.
Brady saw the name on the screen. He didn’t ask me to ignore the text. He didn’t demand to know what my brother wanted. A quiet sort of resignation passed through his eyes. My family was reaching for me while his brother waited behind a hospital door for him.
“I need to answer this,” I said quietly.
“I know.”
“I won’t tell him where we are.”
Brady’s jaw flexed. He jerked his chin toward the inner door. “I don’t like that we can’t be honest with him.”
“Someday we will be. Just not today. One thing at a time.”
He reached up, his large hand cupping the side of my face. His fingertips brushed once over my cheekbone so softly, so briefly, it was completely devastating. “You’re right. This is complicated. But we’ve got this.”
I nodded, blinking back tears. He trusted me. He wasn’t doing it out of naivety, and it wasn’t because he lacked other options; he was making a conscious, active choice to place his faith in me while surrounded by danger.
I forced myself to step away from his touch before the instinct to stay completely overrode my logic. If I remained here, Keaton would escalate, and an escalated Keaton was a problem no one needed that day.
Brady made his way toward his brother while I slipped out of the medical suite. It felt wrong to be heading in opposite directions.
I walked quickly past the staff desk, past two of Dominic’s operatives as I cleared the perimeter and stepped into the public corridor. I passed several people who seemed lost in their own thoughts, reminding me hospitals are full of people struggling, and it was a humbling realization.
My phone vibrated again. Keaton didn’t text this aggressively unless he’d already exhausted his patience.
I didn’t answer until I reached the deepest level of the parking garage. The concrete walls swallowed the hospital sounds behind me, replacing them with a damp, freezing chill and the metallic echo of distant cars. Fluorescent tubes buzzed overhead, flickering against the gray pillars.
I walked toward the far side, away from the stairwell cameras and elevator traffic, until I was completely alone. Only then did I call him.
He answered before the first ring could even finish. “Where the hell are you, Elise?”
No preamble. Just the most direct question available, and the one I was least willing to answer.
“I’m safe,” I said, keeping my tone level.
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“It’s the only answer you need right now.”
“No, it isn’t.” Keaton’s voice was rough with an anger. “You went dark.”
“We’ve gone over this, Keaton. I need time.”
“You have Dad and me worried.”
I looked out over the rows of parked cars, trying to calm myself by focusing on something mundane. “I’m fine.”
I could almost see him pacing in his office or in the corridor outside Dad’s study, one hand shoved through his hair, jaw tight, trying to decide how to change my mind.
“Are you still with him?” he asked. “With Gabe Holliston’s son?”
“He has a name, and it’s Brady.”
“Fine. Are you still with Brady?”
“I’m taking some time for myself, Keaton. That’s all you need to know.”
“It isn’t. Dad is spiraling, wondering if you’ve been compromised.”
“Compromised? In what way?”
Keaton sighed. “He thinks you’re behaving erratically. That if we’re not careful, you’ll jeopardize the project.”
“And you?” My voice lowered with emotion.
His sharpened. “I think you’re being reckless. If you’re somewhere safe, why cover your tracks as well as you have? Dad is furious that I can’t tell him where you are.”
“And I’m furious that you feel you need to know where I am at all times.”
He sighed. “You could have chosen to shack up somewhere we could protect.”
“I’m capable of protecting myself. Isn’t that obvious by how I can outsmart even you and Dad when I want to?”
He thought Brady and I were hidden somewhere private. A hotel, an island, a cabin, maybe some soft, romantic escape from my father’s fury. I would bet my life that Keaton didn’t know what had happened to Evan. He wasn’t that good of a liar.
“No one is questioning your intelligence, only your judgment at this point.”
“This is good for me,” I stressed. “I know that’s difficult for you to understand.”
“Come home, Elise.”
“I will. But not until I’m ready to.”
He went quiet. That hadn’t been the answer he expected.
I needed to move the conversation before he dug into it. “Can you handle Dad?”
Keaton paused. “I can try.”
“Will you tell me if he sends anyone after me?”
Keaton made a deep sound of frustration. “If it gets to that point, I’ll be the one coming for you.”
“You promise?”
Keaton let out a frustrated huff. “Did something happen?”
“No,” I said, letting out a relieved breath. “I’ve never seen Dad as angry as he was when I brought Brady to see him.”
“You did nothing to prepare him, and it’s not as if you’ve brought anyone home before.” After a moment, he added, “Plus it sounds like he has history with the Hollistons. He was rambling about being worried they might be coming for him again, but this time through you.”
“They’re not. And I would hope my loyalty is above question.”
Keaton exhaled slowly. “It is. That doesn’t mean Dad’s not tightening the protocols. You know he has to prepare for all possibilities.”
“Of course.”
I loved my brother. I loved my father. Love didn’t evaporate because the walls got too high. It stayed trapped inside, pressing against both sides of the glass.
But Brady had held my hand in a room full of people who would have every reason to reject me if they knew the name I carried. He hadn’t demanded coordinates or compliance before deciding I was worth believing.
Keaton sighed. “I asked you something at your apartment last week.”
My heart dropped. Of all the places he could have gone, of course he chose the one vulnerability I had left unguarded.
“I asked if you were happy,” he said.
“I remember.”
“You couldn’t say yes.” I stared at the oil stain on the concrete near my shoe. His voice softened, and that made the impact worse. “I’m not blind, little sis. You’ve been pulling away for months. More time downtown, more time alone, more silence during briefings. I know you’ve been lonely.”
That was the problem with siblings. They didn’t need authorization to access old wounds. They had root permissions whether you granted them or not.
“I want you to be happy,” Keaton said. “But you’re making poor choices.”
My hand tightened around the phone. “Am I?”
“Brady showed up, paid attention to you. I get it. That feels good.”
“Stop, Keaton.”
“He’s probably saying all the things you’ve been wanting to hear from someone. Men do that and for all sorts of selfish reasons. Don’t let him use you.”
My breath went shallow. “You don’t know him, Keaton,” I said.
“I know enough. Do you think I haven’t looked into him and his family since you left?”
The temptation to hang up on Keaton was strong, but that would only make the situation worse. I needed to either win him over to my side or defuse his curiosity. “When did you become Dad?”
“Ouch.”
“Keaton, you’ve traveled all over and do you know what I’ve never done? Not once? I’ve never questioned your loyalty to the family or the people you’ve chosen to associate with.”
“Listen Elise—”
“No. You listen. I love you, but I can’t breathe at the compound anymore. I haven’t had the same freedoms you’ve had. When I’m there, I’m watched. When I’m not there, I’m watched. It’s suffocating, and all I’m asking for is a little time and for you to have some faith in me.”
Keaton was quiet for a moment. “Has it been that bad?”
“Yes. The more you traveled, the more Dad’s attention fell onto me.”
Another long beat. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
He cleared his throat. “I don’t like anything I’ve uncovered about the Hollistons or the people they surround themselves with.”
The crack was there; I needed to continue to apply the correct pressure. “Do you trust my judgment?”
“Normally, but—”
“Then cover for me with Dad. Give me time to get this right or get this wrong. I need this.”
He swore quietly, but the heat had left his voice. “I’ll handle Dad,” he said finally. “But you cannot ignore my texts and calls. If you do, I’ll find you and I will drag you home.”
Relief moved through me so fast I almost had to lean against the pillar. “Thank you.”
“I’m serious. Real check-ins, Elise. I don’t like not knowing where you are.”
A tiny, tired smile touched my mouth. “Would it make you feel better if I told you that I spent the day today doing crafts with a bunch of children?”
This time, the sound he made was much closer to an actual laugh. “Only if it’s true.”
“It is.” Just not the whole truth.
“That doesn’t sound dangerous,” he said softly. “And I’ll admit that out of all the Hollistons, Brady has the least alarming reputation. He seems to be universally liked.”
“Because he’s a good guy. I’ll talk to you soon, Keaton.”
“Every day.”
“Soon.”
Keaton groaned and we ended the call.
Firebrook Valley was loud, messy, complicated, and dangerously under-protected. And, God help me, it had me.
I was in love with Brady Holliston and falling for the town his family chose as their battleground. Nothing about it made sense, but it didn’t make any of it less true.