“Listen, Marcus…”
“No, you listen.” He spoke into the phone, then held it by his side. “I’ve got more money than I know what to do with, and you and Lillie are my family. So get down from that high horse of yours before you fall and break your neck, and do what’s best for her, not what makes you feel like a better man.”
Damn. “We’re your family?”
Marcus’s face softened. “Yeah. And I take care of my family. Please, Ty.” He was begging, and Tyler had never heard Marcus beg before. Not outside of the bedroom at least. “Let me do this for you.”
They faced off across the room, and every last bit of Tyler’s resistance crumbled.
“Give the guy a break, Tyler.” Josh whispered in his ear. He startled Tyler, who’d forgotten Josh’s presence, he’d been so caught up in Marcus.
“I live with a man like Marcus. It takes a lot out of them to ask permission or to not step in and take control.”
“I’m not used to people who want to help and don’t expect anything in return.”
Josh gave him a wry smile. “I think he already has everything he ever wanted, don’t you?”
Tyler walked over to Marcus and slipped his arms around him.
“Okay, then. Do it for us.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
‡
“Go over itone more time, please.” Sam not only took copious notes but recorded their meeting. Marcus had every confidence that if anyone could find Tyler’s sister, it was Sam.
Looking more wiped out than he’d ever seen him, even after a night of dancing, Tyler lay stretched out on the sofa, his head pillowed in Marcus’s lap. Without opening his eyes, he spoke as Marcus massaged his head, sliding his fingers through Tyler’s silky locks. Josh had left in the afternoon and agreed to have Lillie stay at his house so they could meet with Sam without fear of interruption.
“One morning, about a year after she and Lillie came to live with me, Amber said she was going to do some shopping and she’d be back in a few hours. I know that should’ve tipped me off, since she didn’t have any money.”
“Did she say where she was headed? Try and recall.”
“I have; don’t you think that’s all I’ve been doing?” Frustration edged the anger in Tyler’s voice, and Marcus bent down to murmur in his ear.
“He’s only trying to help. Don’t get all upset.”
Tyler exhaled and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to take it out on you. I’ve replayed that morning a thousand times. She spoke about some boyfriend named Dante who lived in the Bronx, but other than that, I’m clueless. I didn’t know Amber would leave Lillie with me and disappear.”
Being the people watcher that he was, Marcus looked to Sam’s facial expression for clues as to his inner thoughts, but the man’s stony expression gave nothing away. Sam flipped his notebook closed and tapped it with his pen for a moment, staring into space.
“So, can you help us?” Marcus couldn’t take the silence any longer. “Or is it hopeless?”
The smile Sam gave them was filled with unexpected charm. “I never say anything is hopeless. I’m going to make a copy of all the papers she left behind.”
Tyler sprang up and headed into the bedroom. “I have copies of everything—all of Lillie’s health records, her birth certificate and social security card. Amber left behind an expired food-stamps card with her picture, so that should be helpful, right?”
His voice faded as he entered the bedroom, but he reappeared almost immediately. Marcus knew Tyler kept the information in the drawer next to the bed, and it wouldn’t take long to find what he needed.
Once again, Sam flashed that disarmingly sweet smile. Marcus wondered if that was how he managed to get all the information he collected from witnesses and other people he questioned in his line of work. A handsome man can get a lot of answers with the right kind of arrows in his quiver. Idly, he watched him go through the papers Tyler brought out.
“These are perfect, Tyler. I’ll start looking into it immediately.” Sam took the papers and slid them into a manila envelope, which he then put in his briefcase. “Give me your cell phone number. I only have Marcus’s.”
Sam collected all his notes and rubbed his eyes. It had been a long afternoon. “Hopefully with all the information, we can pinpoint where Amber is, and maybe she’ll come back.”
“Oh, she’ll be back, if I have to drag her here myself,” muttered Marcus to himself.
Tyler walked Sam to the door, and Marcus collected their coffee cups to bring to the kitchen when he saw Sam pat Tyler on the shoulder, offering him comfort, and Tyler returning a shadowed smile. Once Sam left, Tyler’s smile immediately fled, and Marcus’s heart hurt for how he held himself together even as his world shattered around him. His strength, especially when it came to Lillie, was what he loved most about Tyler.
