“Let me guess, a half-naked woman just threw herself at you.”
“It was my intern, and she—”
“Your intern!” Crawford crows. “Of course it was. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the likes of you.”
“Fuck you,” I roar, throwing myself at him.
He blocks the first punch but takes the next one to the ribs, then he takes a swing at me. I pivot, and it glances off my jaw.
“You’re just like Dad.” He laughs, blood running down his face—a face eerily similar to my own, similar to our father’s.
“Fuck you. No, I’m not.”
“You find some innocent woman, claim you’ll be her knight in shining armor, and make her fall head over heels for you, then you abuse her and dump her.”
I charge at Crawford, tackling him. Flipping me over, he throws us both into the glass wall. Having finally taken enough abuse, it shatters, spraying us with sparkling shards of glazing.
“Stop it!” Hawthorne grabs me in a headlock while Fitz and McCarthy each grab one of Crawford’s arms, hauling him back.
“Hawthorne, let me go.” I shake my head, glass flying out of my hair.
“Get the fuck out, Crawford,” McCarthy says.
My brothers line up with me. Crawford surveys the odds, six against one.
“Fuck him,” Fitz tells me. “We need to find Mandy.”
“You?” Crawford snickers. “The dipshit brigade?”
Faulkner throws himself at Crawford, but Fitz hauls him back.
Outside, it’s big and dark. Mandy could be anywhere.
Hawthorne hands me a notepad and pen. “Make a list of all the places she could be.”
“Even if we find her, she’s not going to want to come with me. I ruined it.” I have this horrible feeling, a sixth sense honed by living in my father’s house of horrors, that something bad is about to happen.
“He’s right. We’re not going to find the stalker,” Fitz says nervously.
I’m still staring out the window.
I am not going to be able to save Mandy, just like I couldn’t save my sisters or my mother or the rest of my brothers.
“Crawford, please?” I ask him quietly. “She’s in danger.”
The office is still.
“I’m begging you, Crawford. I love her. I want to marry her.” I laugh sadly. “Though I’m pretty sure she hates me. She’s in trouble. Just help me find this guy who’s after her. I really…” I take a shuddering breath. “I really need your help.”
Crawford regards me.
Hawthorne frowns. “Even Crawford’s not going to be able to find this guy in the next hour.”
“You are all fucking idiots, as per usual.” Crawford smirks and pulls out a tablet. “I already have a tracker on him.”
“Hell yeah!” Faulkner whoops.
I can’t help it. I spontaneously hug my half brother. “How?”
