He waited, staring at the office door he stupidly left open. Just when he was about to tell himself he’d imagined the noise, Nicholas jumped into the office, a stapler raised high in his hand.
“Cade?” His eyes widened. “Is that really you?”
Cade stood, his emotions all over the place. “Nick.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?” Nicholas crossed the room in three strides and pulled Cade into a hug. “It’s so good to see you’re all right.”
When Nicholas stepped back, Cade smirked and pointed to the stapler he still had clutched in his hand. “What were you going to do with that?”
Nicholas blushed. “You tripped the alarm, man. I had no idea who was in the building.”
“And you were going to ward off an intruder with a stapler?”
“You’re right. That was stupid.” He set it on the desk. “I’m going to call the service and tell them some animal tripped the alarm.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
Cade watched his brother as he talked on the phone, his chest feeling heavy. Had his brother really sent a murderer to kill him? Cade couldn’t imagine anything of the sort. His brother seemed genuinely relieved to see him.
Nicholas got off the phone and sat on the edge of the desk. “What are you doing here? If you would have called, I could have let you in. You didn’t have to break in, you know.”
Cade swallowed. “The day I called you, some guy showed up at the mansion with a gun. He tried to kill me and Meg.”
Shock registered on Nicholas’s face. “What?”
Cade nodded and sat back down in the chair. “I struggled with him and the gun went off. He’s dead.”
“That’s terrible.” Nicholas shifted slightly and fiddled with his phone, and Cade couldn’t tell if he was uncomfortable with the conversation because he had sent the man, or if he was nervous that Cade was lying. In the end, Cade decided it didn’t matter. He was there for one thing.
“I have to find the file I was working on before I left.”
Nicholas pointed to the computer with his cell phone. “Everything’s in there.”
Cade scanned the files again. “No. It’s missing.”
“What?” Nicholas stood then bent over behind him, grabbing the mouse. “I kept all your files in here.”
“It’s not there.”
Nicholas huffed. “Well, I don’t understand. I didn’t delete it. And no one else has access to these files except for Zane.”
A slow, cold feeling crept over Cade. “What did you say?”
“I said I didn’t delete your file. I swear!” Nicholas held up his hands in a surrender motion.
Cade stared at his brother, realization finally sinking in. It wasn’t Nicholas. Of course. He should have known. Then panic set in. “Did you tell Zane where I was? At the mansion?”
Nicholas swallowed, and his eyes darted around the room. “Well, yeah. But it was only in passing conversation. He asks about you all the time.”
Cade didn’t want to ask the next question, but he knew he had to. “And does he know the alarm went off here tonight?”
A movement near the door made Cade jerk around. Zane stood just inside the room, a gun trained on them. “He does.”
Nicholas jumped back. “Woah, man. What’s going on?”
Instead of answering Nicholas’s question, Zane stepped further into the room, his gaze never leaving Cade’s face. There was a hardness in his gaze. Something Cade had never seen before. “You’re a difficult man to kill.”
“What are you doing?” Nicholas said, his voice climbing in pitch. “Have you gone mad? This isCade.”
Once again, Zane ignored Nicholas. “I thought maybe you would stop digging where you didn’t belong after Angie died, but no. You wouldn’t. You forced me to send those men after you.” Zane twitched, his eyes closing for a second before he took another step closer. “But somehow, you managed to stay alive.” A look of disgust filled Zane’s face.
