“Yeah,” he said, but there wasn’t much joy in it. I was sure there would’ve been, if he’d found out any other way. “I have a brother.”
I could tell the shock was pervading his system.
And I could kind of see now why he wore that cold exterior. It was protection.
He deserved more from people than what he’d been given. He’d been given money and power, yes. But how much unconditional love had he ever had?
He didn’t even know how right he was when he told me that people had been trying to take what was his all his life. Not only that… his own family had decided for him what truth would be his and given him only that, instead of the full story.
“You don’t need to worry about this now,” I assured him. “It’s over. Now that Laurinda’s been caught… the Kings picked her up, Dane. She knows the cat’s out of the bag. She won’t come after you again.”
“I’ll need to talk to Lex,” he said again. “And security.”
“Maybe you should come home. Back to Vancouver, I mean,” I said, because all I wanted to do was see him. “Can you do that soon?”
“I need to deal with this first. Talk to my family about this. We need to deal with Laurinda. Make sure this threat goes away. Whether it’s with money or a law suit, I don’t know. Or whatever Lex has told her… the Kings… maybe she’ll be too scared to try anything again.”
“I can send you a copy of the recording if you want.”
“Not yet. I’ll let you know if we need it. Let me consult with my team and talk to Lex first.”
“Okay.”
“Devi,” he said, his voice rough, “the fact that you took this on for me… I won’t forget it.”
“I know.”
“But stay away from those friends in dark places, okay?”
“Okay.”
“First thing I’m doing is making sure we have our best available guy on you. If that’s not Darrell, we’ll pull him. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thank you. But I’m not in danger, Dane.”
He sighed. “I’m fucking tired.”
“I know, babe.”
He didn’t say anything else.
“Dane… take care of this however you need to. And then fly back, okay? Or… maybe I could come out there. Whatever you like.”
“Okay,” he said, but his heart really didn’t seem in it. He sounded distracted and yes, tired. Traumatized.
I couldn’t blame him.
But it broke my heart just a little. That maybe he wasn’t aching to see me, like I was aching to see him right now. That he didn’t want me by his side right now to deal with this with him.
“I have to go, Devi. I need to talk to my family.”
“Of course. Call me when you can.”
“I will. Good night.”
“Good night.”
We hung up. And I sat up for a long time, just watching Katie’s dog sleep and wondering what the hell was going to happen.
