Complex Trust
Wyatt
When I get close to Tom’s hospital door, the sound of their laughter hits me all at once. Relief pounds through me. I take a deep breath. They’re okay. That’s all that matters.
I push open the door and two sets of green eyes turn on me. Smiles dance on their faces.
Maybe it’s stupid of me to love Tom like a brother after everything he did. But on some level, I thought I deserved it. That I fucked up everything good in both our lives and deserved to pay for that in some way.
“Hey there, Cap.” Sara’s eyes sparkle with mischief.
Such a brat. I just shake my head and walk over to the only chair in the room. The chair that Sara sits in. I lift her and sit down, bringing her down on my lap. When I lean back, she rests against me with a contented sigh.
Tom clears his throat but doesn’t look upset I’m holding Sara.
“I was an asshole,” he says.
I arch an eyebrow and put my hands on Sara’s stomach. Of course he was an asshole. He’s Tom.
He takes a breath and his eyes turn serious. “We went through trauma together and I used it to keep you away from my sister. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s in the past.” I’m happy now. I have Sara. Tom isn’t dead. That’s all I need.
“Is it?” Tom glances down at his lap before lifting his gaze to meet mine.
“I saw your face today. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.
We both lost our father that day. Not your biological one, but the man who took you, Finn, and Dante under his protection.
I don’t regret telling Dad about you going off to meet with your biological father.
But I do regret not telling him before you left.
I never should have let you go then. Blaming you made it easier to not blame myself. ”
“We were children.” It’s the only excuse that makes sense.
“By the time you showed interest in Sara as more than my little sister, we weren’t children.” Tom swallows. “I never should have carried that guilt or put that guilt on you. It just seemed easier than having a conversation about how I didn’t want you to fuck my sister.”
Sara scoffs. She weaves her fingers with mine and says, “Not your decision.”
“I know that now. But—” Tom cuts himself off and runs his good hand through his hair.
“What I mean to say is I’m sorry. I continued to act like a child long after I should have grown up.
I’m sorry I stood in your way. There’s no way to go back and smack some sense into my younger self, but I hope you know I will never stand in your way again.
And I’ll do anything to protect all of my family, which hopefully will include all of Sara’s boyfriends.
Which I don’t know whether Mom will love or hate, but I can’t wait to find out. ”
“First you have to tell her you eloped and have a kid on the way.” Sara chuckles, but I feel the tension in her. Telling her mom isn’t going to be easy. None of us wants to disappoint Bitsy.
“You’re my best friend and brother, Tom,” I say.
“If I thought I deserved Sara, nothing you could have done would have stopped me. Your words wouldn’t have affected me if I didn’t feel deep down it was my fault.
That I could have done something different to prevent it from happening.
All I knew was my actions caused your father’s death and there was no way Sara would ever forgive me for that. ”
Sara slides her hand against my jaw. I breathe her in and kiss her palm.
“You don’t need forgiveness, Wyatt.” Tom cocks his head to the side. “I do. From all of you. I’ve been trying to do things without you guys for too long. Running away might have removed me from stressful situations, but it never solved anything.”
I nod. “Finn and Dante need time, but they know they’ll forgive you for Sara’s sake.”
I can’t promise him that it will be like old times, because it won’t. The guys have lost their trust in him. He put Sara at risk.
Tom’s mouth presses into a thin line. “I really fucked this up.”
“Yes, you did.” I relax into the chair with Sara. “We have about thirty minutes before Finn calls to ask when I’m coming back. So what had the two of you laughing?”
We’ll be fine. As Tom tells me the joke he shared with Sara, I know time will heal our friendship because Tom’s still a major part of our lives. Maybe if the three of us weren’t with Sara, we’d grow apart, but Tom is Sara’s brother. And mine. That won’t change.
Dante
We’re in Peter’s apartment. This one isn’t on the books. It isn’t on any of his books and is buried under layers of subsidiaries to hide it from everyone. It’s their safe house if things ever went badly.
Theo went through to make sure it was secure and no one else was in residence.
When he came back, Natasha walked in like she always knew she’d end up here.
“How are you doing? Do you need to rest?” I ask as Theo heads down the hallway. With the pregnancy, she’s been napping in Tom’s office when she’s there. Today has been stressful. If she needs to rest, she should rest.
Natasha sighs. “I’ll be good. I just want to get through with this so I can be at Tom’s side.”
“We’ll try to make it quick.” I walk into the space. It’s a nice-sized apartment with good views of the city. I don’t explore it because we have a finite amount of time. If what we want isn’t here, we’ll be forced to check more properties. “Where’s his office?”
Natasha gestures for me to follow her and leads us down the hallway. Theo is already there. She walks through the double doors into a very masculine office with heavy leather furniture. Theo is at the desk already logging onto the computer.
Natasha moves to a picture of her father and a pregnant woman who resembles her. She swings it open to reveal the safe. “He always said he’d leave me everything I needed in this safe. He didn’t realize I’d be the one to give the Feds information to take him in.”
There’s a sadness surrounding her. Maybe she regrets that now. Thinking that with her dad out of the way, she could have a peaceful life with Tom.
“You were protecting your family.” I place a hand on her shoulder.
She looks back at me with sad eyes. “My father is my family.”
I can’t imagine what she’s going through, so I nod. She had to make a choice and chose Tom and their baby over her father. But even she said there were worse things she could have given the Feds. Things that would guarantee hard time.
She taps the code on the keypad and pulls open the safe. Inside are some stacks of money and a couple leather portfolios.
“May I?” I ask.
She steps away. I take the leather portfolios over to a chair and open them.
There are bank accounts listed with all the information we might need to access them.
All we have to do is download the statements and we might be able to match deposits to the file Tom found.
If we find out Peter was skimming off the top, maybe we’ll have a way for Alexander to keep his empire even if Peter gets out, without having to marry Natasha.
Natasha talks to Theo for a few minutes about possible passwords for the computer before she heads down the hallway.
Even though Theo cleared the apartment, I stand and follow after her. She’s sitting in a bedroom plastered in purple. I lean against the doorframe as she sits on the bed and plucks at a doll’s outfit.
“Did I do the right thing?” Natasha lifts her gaze to mine, looking so lost. “I could have prevented all of this if I just did what my dad asked of me.”
“He wanted you to marry someone you don’t love.”
“I could have at least tried.” She runs her hand down the doll’s frilly dress. “I panicked. Tom...”
My eyes narrow. “Tom what?”
She lifts her gaze and they shine with unshed tears.
“He saw me. He saw me fading into the background, trying to become invisible. Trying to be the daughter my father wanted.” A tear falls down her cheek and she gives a sad little laugh.
“I’ve seen the way you all look at Sara. Like you can’t believe she’s yours.”
I don’t say anything because Sara was always an impossibility. Something we wanted but couldn’t have.
“That’s what Tom is to me. He’s this great guy.
He makes me laugh. And he loves me in spite of my father, not because my father wants him to take over and he needs to use me as collateral.
” Natasha looks down at the doll. “My dad was doing what he thought would protect me and his grandchildren. But I want to live my own life. And I want to share that life with Tom.”
She covers her mouth as she breaks down. “I should have never involved him. He almost died. And it would have been my fault.”
“Tom knew the risks.” I’ve known him most of our lives.
I know how his brain works. “Being with you was always a risk. Your father could have found out and taken care of him. Alexander could have made moves to make sure you didn’t get together with him.
Tom is a lot of things, but he’s smart. He knew what he was getting into. ”
Natasha nods and wipes at her tears. “I told him this wouldn’t be easy, but he’s worth it.”
Tom tried to warn us Sara might be in danger. He didn’t prepare us for the level of danger she’d been under, but he wouldn’t have told her to come to us unless there was a damned good reason.
I’ve seen the way Tom and Natasha look at each other. If Sara were in the hospital, I would be by her side, holding her hand.
“Let’s go to the hospital.” This trip was necessary, but it’s enough for now.
She lifts her gaze to mine. “Really?”
“Yeah, what we have here will be plenty for us to go through tonight.” I rub the back of my neck. “He’ll want to make sure you’re safe with him.”
Natasha stands and wipes her hands down the sides of her slacks.
She turns and looks over the room. “My father isn’t a bad father.
Alexander follows my father’s lead in business, but he’s not my father.
Hopefully, we can negotiate with him. He wants the kingdom, not me.
So giving him the power to maintain the empire should be enough to make him not need me. ”
“We have two days to do that.”
Wyatt
Sara fell asleep in my lap, so when Finn texted, I told him I was staying put for the time being.
Tom and I chat like his sister isn’t curled up on my lap. Like old times, until he starts to fade too. I’m glad I came.
The door opens slowly. With the guard outside it, I’m not worried it’s someone intending harm. Natasha comes in and heads to sit on the bed next to Tom, taking his hand. Dante puts his hand on my shoulder and his other hand runs over Sara’s hair.
“How’s it going?” Dante asks softly.
“Tom’s good.” I breathe in and Sara clings to me a little tighter. “We’re good.” I lift my gaze to Dante’s. “It’ll take you and Finn time to digest, but Sara and I are good with Tom.”
Dante nods. “He protected Sara when she was at risk. That’s what matters.”
“I did take a bullet for her.” Tom’s eyes are open and he grins. “I guess that makes me her hero again.”
“She wouldn’t have been shot at if it weren’t for you,” I point out.
He sighs. “Yeah. I’m just glad it wasn’t one of you out there.”
“They might have only been looking for a redhead.” Dante leans against the wall and crosses his arms over his chest.
Natasha runs her hand through Tom’s messed-up hair and he turns his gaze to her with a smile. He captures her hand and kisses it.
“We’ve got information to go over.” Dante straightens. “We need to head back to the house. It’s getting late and we need all the time we can spare to figure this out.”
“To figure what out?” a new male voice says.
We all turn toward the door where Roger stands with his arms crossed. His eyes don’t miss anything.
“Bitsy’s with Caitlyn in the bathroom, so you have—” He glances at his watch and continues, “ten minutes to explain everything before she goes into full mama bear mode.”
Sara stirs on my lap, but I don’t try to wake her. She’ll be awake soon enough. Roger takes in how all of us are positioned.
Roger lifts an eyebrow and says, “Nine and a half minutes. Out with it, boys.”