Bobby is already sitting in the chair opposite Vinny and his desk. I sit beside him.
“This about Payton?” I ask.
They share a look before Vinny speaks.
“In a way.”
He turns his laptop around and pushes a button. There, in black and white, is security camera footage of my girl. No surprise, since it’s at the club. But the part that’s theissue is the fact that she’s taking money. Not out of the till from the cash box, but from my office. Next to the books that should be locked away.
“I think I found your thief.”
I watch the video, and instant disbelief bubbles up in protest. No way is what I’m seeing true. It can’t be.
Right?
I look at my brothers, and there are no smiles on their faces. No jest in their eyes. Just concern. Not for the thief, but for me. For how I might react. How I might break from this. They expect a reaction from me. Which speaks volumes.
My brothers are the men I’ve looked up to my entire life. Men I trust more than I trust my own mind some days. They wouldn’t pull a stunt like this just to have fun. If they believe it, then it has to be true.
It kills a part of me that I was just getting back. The part that believed I could be happy again. And this time, I don’t think I’ll ever recover from it.
With a deep breath, I steel myself, what’s left of my tattered soul, and shut down my emotions. Sadness and rage battle inside me, but to my brothers, I’m calm and collected.
“What else do you have for me?”
Vinny slides over a very thick file, and any flicker of hope I had left dies when I flip to the first page.
Chapter 30—Payton
“Thank you,” I say with a soft smile as Danny sets a glass of water in front of me. I sip at the cold drink and set it back down on the coaster on the coffee table between us.
I try to relax as I look around. The room he brought me to after Tommy went to see his brothers is nice, just like everything they own. It’s spacious enough but feels stuffier than a true home. Quiet. It smells like leather and cleaning products. Like a parlor compared to a living room.
Still, I try to keep my thoughts to myself on the matter and enjoy the moment with Danny. This is Tommy’s brother. Someone who I might see more of if Tommy and I continue to see each other.
I blush at the thought and look away. It feels wrong to look at a family member while memories of his brother still linger in my head.
“You and my brother have gotten close.”
I nod as I push any sexual thoughts out of my mind and look back at him. He’s an imposing man. Not only in size but stature too.
He doesn’t seem like the conversational type, but I find hope in our future relationship that he’s talking to me at all. He barely spoke at lunch. At first, I thought it was just me being there that set him off, but it wasn’t that at all. He’s just quiet. Like me.
A common interest, something we can maybe share in future family lunches.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His question surprises me, and a feeling of unease trickles up my spine at the lack of a smile on his face.
“Because we care about each other,” I whisper.
He leans his head to the side and gives me a slow once-over. I know I’m covered in every way possible. I still have on Tommy’s sweater and leggings I wore to the gun range.
Gun range. Jesus, I still can’t believe I held a gun, much less fired one. Just thinking about it makes my hands shake a bit, and I push them under my legs to keep Danny from seeing them. But I know he noticed. He notices everything, I bet.
He might think the tremor is because of him and not about what happened. And from the slight twitch of his mouth, I wonder if he finds enjoyment in seeing me uneasy.
