His feet slowed. On the other side of the room, Nick stood like a sentinel guarding the narrow passage between two black leather sofas. Marcus and Spencer sat on one of them.
He’d just walked into a fucking ambush. “What’s up?”
Show no fear. He’d learned that as the baby of the family with three older brothers. Marcus was usually on his side, but it looked like he’d joined forces with the enemy. At least for today.
Nick gestured to the unoccupied sofa. “Sit down.”
“Good morning to you, too.” He flopped onto the one facing his brothers, sank low, and propped his feet on the glass-top coffee table. “I found the problem with Whitaker. The new figures should be in your inbox.”
“I’ll take a look.” Nick tossed something at him.
Avery caught it on reflex and glanced at the flash drive resting in his palm. “What’s this?”
“A dossier on Jo.”
“A what?” Avery’s feet hit the floor as he sat up and waved off the explanation Spencer opened his mouth to offer. He knew what a fucking dossier was. “What gives you the right to dig into my personal life?”
“Because everything you do, everythingwedo”—Nick pointed at himself and his brothers—“affects Preston Enterprises.”
“Jo has nothing to do with the company.”
“Since the shit show we went through last summer with one of our employee’s involvement in Ben Reese’s schemes, I quit taking chances. Dave Hardy is investigating all new employees and anyone doing business with or getting close to the family.”
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
The information on the drive might offer better insight into what made Jo tick, but the invasion of privacy made him feel like shit. He’d rather get to know her on his own, to peel away layers to reveal the softer woman inside that tough outer shell. “That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?”
Spencer cocked a brow. “Is it?”
Wary, Avery asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Nick answered for Spencer, “you’ve never shown interest in anyone past a few hours, and suddenly, you’re bringing Jo home to meet the family.”
“Mom invited her. What was I supposed to do?” Avery cringed inwardly at his defensive tone.
Marcus leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “So, you’re not serious about her?”
Sinking back against the couch, he shrugged. “We’re…having fun.”
“That’s a relief,” Nick said, his voice growing deadlier with each word. “For a minute there, I thought you were doing something stupid, like hiring her to be your plus one to keep Mom off your back.”
A shock of cold washed over him, his skin tingling with betrayal. They knew. How could they fucking know? Only the Sigmas—
Bryce. But not directly.“Was it Kate? Did she tell Melody?”
If Jo found out the girls knew, she’d back out of the contract with Charlotte. Pride would demand it. And she’d never forgive him.
Spencer shook his head. “The girls don’t know.”
“And we want to keep it that way.” Marcus’ warning landed like a velvet gauntlet, soft but with an edge of reckoning.
“Then how did—”
“It wasn’t hard to figure out.” Nick slashed a hand at Avery. “She was fired the night of the engagement party. Hardy said it was because of some incident with you in the back of a catering van in the fucking parking lot, for Christ’s sake.”
Avery’s gaze swung from one brother to the next. “Nothing happened.”
Three sets of brows shot up.
