Chapter Twenty-One
Brady
We had actually found something. Real, tangible proof that my dad, Cody, and Thomas Steele had once dreamed big together. Those loose notebook pages, the excited handwriting, and the “rule Silicon Valley” line were exactly the kind of breadcrumb I had been hoping for.
Not enough to solve anything, but enough to know we were on the right path.
I left every single page right where we found it, tucked back inside the manila envelope and slid it gently into the hidden drawer. I wasn’t building a case against Thomas Steele. I wanted to understand the man well enough to bring him to Evan’s wedding.
Elise was quiet on the drive back to her apartment. Not her usual thoughtful quiet. This was heavier. She stared out the window, fingers tapping a slow rhythm on her knee that didn’t match any song I knew.
I kept stealing glances at her. “You okay over there?”
She turned and gave me a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Just tired. It was a long day.”
I nodded like I believed her, even though I didn’t. “I know. I’m exhausting.”
That earned me a real laugh, soft and surprised. “You’re not.”
When we reached her door she paused, keys in hand.
“How did you know how to do all that back at the house? The keypad. The desk. The little wooden knot thing?”
I rubbed the back of my neck, still half in disbelief myself.
“Honestly? I’m as shocked as you are that any of it worked.
I just . . . thought about how the guy who built the desk would have done it.
Carpenters think differently than tech guys.
They plan ahead. I figured they might make a simple mechanical access point. Like they do in the movies.”
She studied me for a long second, like she was trying to decide whether to believe me. Then she stepped in close, slid her hands up my chest, and kissed me.
It started sweet.
It didn’t stay that way.
Her fingers curled into my shirt. I backed her against the doorframe, one hand cupping the back of her neck, the other at her waist. For a few perfect seconds the whole world narrowed down to the taste of her and the way she pressed into me like she was trying to memorize the moment. Heat flared fast and bright between us.
Then she pulled back, breathing hard, eyes darker than usual.
I rested my forehead against hers, thumb brushing her cheek. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m sure.” Her voice was a little rough. “Lunch tomorrow?”
My grin came easy. “Yeah?”
“I can cook something,” she said. “Here.”
I kissed her again, softer this time, lingering long enough to remind myself this was real. “I’ll be here. Text me what time.”
She nodded, slipped inside, and closed the door with a quiet click.
I stood there for a second, smiling at the empty hallway like an idiot, before heading down to the car.
The second I pulled away I dialed Bella.
She answered on the second ring. “Brady. Please tell me you have good news.”
“I do,” I said, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice. “I’m in the right town. I’m close to the right Thomas Steele.”
A pause.
“You’ve found him?”
“I think so.”
“And he’s agreed to talk to you?”
“Not yet.”
“Brady . . .” That familiar big-sister sigh traveled all the way from the East Coast. “Oh, Brady.”
“I know, I know. But we found some old notes today. Dad, Cody, and Thomas—they had big plans once. Dream stuff. It’s real, Bella. There’s something here worth uncovering.”
She was quiet for a beat. “You need me to come out there? I can clear a few days. We can do this together, the way we should have from the start.”
The offer surprised me less than how quickly I wanted to refuse. “No.”
“Brady.”
“I have leads.”
“You’ve had leads before.”
“This one feels different.”
“Because you’re closer to Thomas Steele?”
I opened my mouth.
Then closed it again.
Bella made a sound on the other end of the line. “Oh no.”
I laughed despite myself. “What?”
“You met someone.”
I stared out the windshield.
There was absolutely no point pretending otherwise. Not with Bella. “Yeah.”
“How serious?”
I thought about Elise laughing on the jet ski. The way she’d slipped her hand into mine in the truck. The way she’d asked me to stay and simply hold her. The way she had just kissed me like the rest of the world didn’t exist.
I smiled before I could stop myself. “Potentially very.”
Bella groaned. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“It’s not a bad thing.”
“No,” she agreed. “It’s just not why you went to Nevada.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“I’m not forgetting why I’m here,” I said quietly.
“I know.”
“I’m making progress.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“And I really like her.”
Bella laughed softly. “Yeah. I believe that too.”
The tension eased. “Everything is working according to plan,” I told her.
“Since when do you have a plan?”
I grinned.
“Oh, Bella . . . you know how I work. You’re right, I don’t.”
She groaned, but I could hear the smile in it. “Be careful. Please. And call me every day.”
“Every day,” I promised the same way I promised the rest of my family. Did they really think it necessary? “Love you.”
“Love you too, little brother.”
I hung up and leaned back in the driver’s seat, windows down, warm desert air rolling in.
The manila envelope was still sitting back in that old house exactly where it belonged.
Elise was upstairs, probably already overthinking everything that had happened today.
And tomorrow she was going to cook me lunch.
Not because we were investigating Thomas Steele. Not because she needed something from me. Just because she wanted another afternoon together.
And that felt like all that mattered.
I started the Chevy and pointed it toward the hotel.
No one believed I could solve the mystery of Thomas Steele. No one except Elise.
I drove toward the hotel humming “Don’t Stop Believin’” the whole way.