It’s then that I notice a stack a good seven inches high of papers.
What makes me gasp, though, is the ring on top of them. The ring that’s on a chain and has the letters BRETT on it. They’re spaced out differently, though, in a circle.
It’s a typical class ring, but I’ve never seen any other like it.
It’s Brent’s ring, the one Luisa told us about.
I open my mouth but the words get stuck in my throat.
This is thatother thing.
Whatever those papers are, whatever that ring means, that’s what Eian doesn’t want to tell Rory.
Has Eian known all this time? Did he realize what would happen the second Luisa mentioned the ring?
No.
I can’t believe that. I won’t believe that. So I swallow those questions down and wait as Rory says goodnight to everyone and closes the door behind her.
“Did you explainanythingto him?” Harrison’s voice seems distant now.
“No, I just woke him up,” Eian tells him, and it sounds defensive. My gaze snaps up to see him sitting in Rory’s previous spot on the couch.
“Of course you did,” Harrison mutters and sounds just like an older brother.
It only hits me then—like a fucking sledgehammer.
These two arefamily, they probablygrew up together.
The only man who might be more powerful than Eian is his cousin.
And Iris. Iris is Eian’s niece, and?—
“Wait a goddamn minute!” I shout, and the lightbulb lighting up in my brain forces me to stand. “You were testing me!” I point accusingly at Eian.
“What?”
He looks so adorable.No. Focus, Colby!
“When we talked about the bakery, MP, and the baker. You knew it was his son all along?” I point my thumb at Harrison.
“Oh,” Eian says and starts chuckling. “Yeah, it’s a good thing you didn’t tell me who you thought it was, and thanks to you, now we’ve made sure Mike knows to mind his words when he’s not in the kitchen.”
“Yeah, that was some impressive investigative work, Colby,” Harrison says like he’s actually impressed.
“This is such a mindfuck,” I mumble. I can’t freaking imagine Eian and Theo Crawford talking, hanging out.
Unlike Harrison and Iris, Theo shies away from the media, so most people know very little about him. So much so that he wasn’t photographed at all from when he was just a kid—when his mother and father divorced—till about four, five years ago? Yeah I think it was five years ago when pictures of him and Harrison came out.
They were in the hospital, and Theo was crying. His husband—boyfriend back then, I suppose—is a football player and he’d taken a bad hit during a game.
Since then, he’s been more public. He’s always at the stadium of the Kings, in the owner’s box, and from time to time pictures of him and his husband walking around Manhattan show up in society pieces.
Every single thing I know about Theo Crawford tells me that he might be possibly the complete opposite to Eian.
And they are uncle and nephew?
Seriously?
