Mace drums his fingers over the printouts in front of him. “The main structures are up, and Quinn’s sent an instruction to have everything completed by the end of the month. But even if work stopped tomorrow, I don’t imagine Ilya would care if the buildings are finished to an acceptable standard, or not. They’re usable as is. We’d have to burn them down to cause any meaningful disruption.”
“At least this time we’d actually be responsible for starting the fire,” I grumble.
“Do Barrett’s staff really believe we burned down the factory?” asks Ash. His eyes bounce between me and Mace. We’re the ones who heard the accusations leveled at us.
“The housekeeper’s hatred was visceral,” I reply. “They believe whatever he’s told them.”
“Clara and her husband moved to Poulton Springs last year,” Mace informs us. “He was a security guard at the factory.” His lips thin and I have a horrible feeling I know what he’s about to say. “He’s the one who was killed in the fire.”
“Fuck,” says Hunter.
I recall how Clara’s hand had been shaking with fury. I’m only now appreciating how close she came to ending me. “I was pissed off at the time when she called me a kid, but maybe I did have a lucky escape. She said if it had been any of you three, she’d have pulled the trigger.”
Ash shakes his head. “Barrett really has done a hatchet job on our reputation.”
“While he plays the hero by offering to employ the grieving widow,” Mace adds. “A woman who wouldn’t be a single mom now if he hadn’t been playing with matches.”
“There’s no doubting her loyalty to him now,” I say. “She was ready to kill for the bastard.”
“If you want to know how close a call it was, you should listen to the recording,” Mace offers Ash. There’s a glint in his eyes when he adds, “I have all the edited highlights.”
Of course he does. And I know his carefully selected edits will include my exchange with Quinn while she was trying to grab my hardening dick.
“We could review your technique, Reid,” Hunter suggests a little too innocently.
I look between my two brothers. They wear matching smirks. “Mace has already played it for you, hasn’t he?”
Hunter struggles to keep a straight face. “Ash hasn’t heard it. Yet.”
My second oldest brother used to be a surly bastard like Ash – who’s presently grinding his teeth as he watches us. There was a time when I’d feel blessed to get a smile from either of them, but Hunter’s stupid grin irritates the hell out of me.
“Since when did you and Mace like sharing sweet nothings?” I ask, then shake my head as if disappointed in them. “Now you’re both hitched, it’s like you’ve formed this little bromance. You’re adorable.”
Hunter’s grin widens, but this time it’s not directed at me. His wife is standing at the office door, and he gestures for her to come in.
“Who’s adorable?” asks Maddie.
“Your husband and the moody asshole previously known as Mace,” I reply. Sick of looking at their stupidly happy faces, I pick up my coffee, but my drink is cold.
Lily follows Maddie, and goes to take the seat next to Mace. He immediately wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her onto his lap.
“Have you been teasing your brother?” she asks.
“I simply offered to play back the recording from the other day,” Mace replies.
“Shade, that’s not nice,” she scolds, using her pet name for him.
They’re insufferably sweet, and I never thought I’d see the day when I’d consider anything about Mace sweet. He’s opened up to Lily in a way he never would with anyone else. She’s his person. And it’s obvious he’s shared my recording with her too. I grab my cup and go to stand.
“Sit!” Ash barks at me. “The meeting isn’t finished.”
My thigh muscles strain as I hold myself between sitting and standing. I’d be walking away by now if it was Mace issuing the order, and maybe Hunter too, but not with Ash. Not a chance. But I’m not a child to be ordered about. I wait a beat before I sit back down.
It’s Lily who breaks the awkward silence. She’s the newest addition to the family and is still navigating our complicated dynamic. “Sorry, I thought it was OK for us to come in.”
“You have every right to be here. You’re family,” Ash assures her. “It’s my brothers I take issue with. We should be discussing how a widow has every right to hate us if she thinks we’re responsible for her husband burning to death, leaving her to raise her children alone. Instead, these idiots have been behaving like fucking toddlers.”
“She’s only got one kid,” Mace says because, even if Lily has turned his heart to mush, he’s still the asshole who has to prove he knows more than anyone else.
