Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
GREYSON
My phone shattered when it hit the floor, causing Riley to jump. I smoothed my hand over her leg, taking breaths to calm myself.
“Your brother?” she asked, her green eyes rimmed with concern.
She had come in mid-call, perching on my desk as she listened to my side of the conversation. Her soft skin calmed me, and I pushed my hand higher, the silky material of her nightgown scrunching with the movement.
“Unfortunately.” Something was off. I sensed it in my bones, in that annoying connection I still had with Emerson, even after decades of our rift.
“Hey.” Riley took my face in her hands and searched my eyes. She was too attuned to my moods. “Tell me what he said.”
I brought my hand up and slid hers from my face, taking it in mine. A nagging thought kept returning to me and I let it churn in my head.
“Grey, is Ava all right?” Riley asked, too impatient to wait for my answer to her initial question.
Exhaling, I said, “I’m certain she is.”
A frown marred her features. “Then why did he call?”
I sat back, taking her hand with me, the move forcing her into my lap where she curled up. My hand aimlessly caressed her leg as I spoke. “To ask me about her stepfather.”
Her eyes crinkled as she tried to figure it out.
“You’ll have to ask Ava when we have her back. It’s her secret to tell, not mine.” One she had clearly shared with my brother. But why?
“Then how would your brother know about him? I’m her friend and I don’t,” she said, voicing my thoughts.
My hand smoothed lazily over her leg, her soft skin soothing me.
“I don’t know. Den and I are the only ones who know.
” He had no choice but to tell me, getting my blessing to retrieve Ava when she was just a teen.
She’d never known, but I funded everything, ensuring she had anything she needed after what the bastard had done to her.
She assumed it was Den, although now that she knew me and knew Den worked for me, I was sure she had put the pieces together.
“Why would he need to know about her stepfather?”
“Good question. The man’s been dead for fourteen years and before you ask, I can only tell you he deserved every bit of torture he received.
” Understanding lit her eyes, but as much as we shared everything, this was Ava’s past, not mine.
“It’s out of character for Emerson to bother to ask something like that. ”
“Unless…” She chewed her lip, and I could see her thinking through it just like I was. It was a shame Mason hadn’t brought her into the business earlier. She was smart, often seeing things from a perspective I didn’t.
“Unless what?”
“Well, Ava is…well, Ava.”
Even with the strain in my muscles, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “And what does that mean?”
“It means she’s fearless and captivating. Maybe he’s falling in love with her just like I did.”
This time, my laugh cascaded through the room. “Do I need to worry that you just confessed your love for Ava?”
She smacked my chest, and I pulled her in for a kiss. “A move like that has repercussions, baby girl.”
Her blush was glorious.
“I think a few handprints on that delicate ass of yours are in order.”
And it turned a violent crimson.
“Shush. I love her as a friend. You can’t help but adore her and maybe he got into more than he expected by kidnapping her.”
“He did because he thought it was you.” The thought turned my mood, and my jaw ticked.
Riley rubbed her thumb over it.
“You forget who you’re talking about, Riley. My brother doesn’t have emotions. He’s a heartless bastard who wants me for a stupid vendetta he has against me from when we were young.”
Her sly grin had me scowling at her. “Sounds like someone else I know,” she teased, her hand rubbing over my chest.
“I’m adding another smack to that punishment,” I said, hating that she was doing what she did best and seeing things outside of my sphere of thinking.
I was inclined to think she had been reading too many of the dark romance books I bought her.
I’d had to convert my spare room into a library for her after she’d moved the collection I’d bought from her apartment and the one she had in Treemont.
Not what I’d ever expected, but I would convert every room in my house if it meant I was on the receiving end of her reaction when I’d shown her the room as an engagement present.
Priceless and embedded in my memory for life.
But that inclination to write off her thoughts warred with the two weeks my brother had given me and the feral tone in his voice when he’d asked about Ava’s stepfather.
That tone he usually directed at me the few times we’d spoken, but this time he hadn't. Throw in the fact that he insisted I wait two weeks before stepping foot in his territory and that he wanted to discuss an agreement with me, and I couldn’t help but think something was off with my brother.
I picked Riley up and set her on her feet, rising to retrieve my phone from where it had hit the floor. The shattered screen was a reminder of my temper, but I could still dial Mason’s number.
“Yeah,” he answered, voices in the background.
“Are you with Raines?”
“Yeah. He and Angie are having a drink with us.”
“Are you someplace we can talk business?”
“I can be. Want Tyson with me?”
“Yes.” I thought about how keen Casey had been when we’d talked before. “And bring your girl.”
“Then you’re getting Tyson’s, too. They come as a package deal now…much to my frustration.”
“Just like you and Raines,” I mumbled, responding to Riley’s frown with a wink.
“Asshole,” he grouched. I heard him yell to Raines, then the muffled sounds of them moving to another room.
Riley came over and looked up at me. “What’s going on?”
“Just a hunch.” I kissed her nose. “You’re too observant to ignore.”
“So you think he might be falling for her?”
Grimacing at the thought, I said, “Doubtful, but something’s going on.”
“We’re all ears, Tides,” Tyson said, on speakerphone.
“Give me the rundown again on your suspicions about the Omens.”
“That was Casey,” Mason said, giving credit to her as if it were a natural thing.
“Like I said, they’re off,” Casey’s voice came through the phone.
“Hey Case!” Riley added over my shoulder.
A round of shouts of her name followed, and I rubbed my head.
“Can we focus? Tell me why again. Run the facts by me.” I hadn’t been involved in the Armina situations, so everything I knew came from Mason.
Pacing, I listened to what she said, putting her on speaker when Riley threw her hands on her hips and gave me a look that told me I’d regret not including her.
Since I had plans for her after this, I acquiesced to her demands.
Casey explained her thoughts on how sloppy the last attacks had been, confirming my thoughts on what had happened with Riley. Telling us that given everything she knew of the Bad Omen this didn’t hold up to the reputation. There were too many mistakes, and they were too easy to defeat.
I scratched my head, her suspicions voicing my own.
“Rogue,” I muttered, repeating what I’d said when Emerson had first taken Ava.
It was a dangerous word in our world. “Clint Randall was the key. The place everything started. I know my brother. We’ve been enemies for longer than we were brothers, and he doesn’t put up with sloppy men.
Randall would have been dead after screwing it up the first time. ”
“So he went rogue,” Mason said.
“Or maybe he didn’t. If it’s anything to know about Emerson…Cade, it’s that he doesn’t screw around and he doesn’t make mistakes.” Even when we worked together, he had been relentless.
“Then what’s going on?” Mason said. “Both attempts in Armina failed and the reputation of the Omen is that they don’t fail.”
“Exactly.” Riley let out a little whine when I released her, and I gave her a scolding look. “There’s something off. The Omens don’t give time, and my brother doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself.”
“Yet he called you about Ava’s stepfather,” Riley mused aloud.
“What?” Raines was so loud, he sounded like he had grabbed the phone.
“Settle down Raines. Ava’s stepfather was a bastard who my man cut down when she was a teenager. But it’s not something anyone knows. Not even Riley.”
Silence on the other end lasted longer than I had expected, which told me they were all as confused as I was by the question.
“What did he want to know?” Angie asked.
“He wanted to make sure he was dead.”
“How does that make any sense?” Raines asked, and I heard someone take a hard seat.
“So…” Casey started. “Either he’s torturing her or falling for her.”
Just like Riley had said. “What is it with you women that that’s where your mind goes?”
“Let me guess, Ri said the same thing?”
“Yup,” she answered Casey.
“Forced proximity, kidnapping. The perfect combination!” Casey’s excitement was too much, and I had the urge to hang up on them.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” grumbled Mason.
“I’m inclined to agree, Brinks. But his tone wasn’t menacing.
If anything, it was protective.” And he had to have known I would catch the difference.
My head shot up, and I met Riley’s eyes.
“Maybe this is all connected. My brother wants to talk to me. That was his reason for the kidnapping. If someone’s gone rogue… ”
“Then he wants to ensure he takes them down without getting pinned for the sloppy mess they’ve made. The tarnished reputation they’re making of the Omens,” Mason finished.
“Exactly.”
“And where does Ava fit into this?” asked Angie.
“I’m not sure, but if Casey and Riley are right, then this just got even more complicated and dangerous than it already was.”
Riley’s eyes grew large, as if she hadn’t considered it.
“What do you suggest, Tides?”
“We stick to the plan. He gave us a deadline for a reason.” A deadline that was difficult to honor.
Keeping Den from barging into Seagate wasn’t easy, but I knew my brother well enough to know he would be true to his word and kill her if we moved early.
Although now I wasn’t so certain he would.
Regardless, I would honor the deadline because I suspected that reason had more to do with the woman he currently held hostage than anything else.
Complication was an understatement. If my brother was in trouble, if his empire was being sabotaged and Ava got caught in the middle of it, then I didn’t want to think of the repercussions on all sides of the battlefield.