Page 58 of Luke

“I haven’t noticed any threats so far. That has been our main focus and one of the reasons she’s been able to get a head start. We run backgrounds on everyone around her and she hates it. So while getting the information, she dips.” Carter tried to keep his tone matter-of-fact, but a bit of annoyance slipped out.

“It started out entertaining, but you need to tighten up and try harder with her. Hand over all the background checks to Matt and he can fill you in if there’s anything important.” Ryker was already typing on his phone before he’d finished talking.

“Yes, sir,” Carter replied.

“Matt said she’s at the gym. Do better,” Ryker snapped and then ended the call. “Your sister is something else,” he said.

Cade chuckled and gave Luke a pat on the back. “That makes sense.”

Luke shrugged. “She was always like that. The number of times she snuck out when we were younger is proof that she was much better at this than we gave her credit for. Any idea how she got out of her apartment this time?”

“Matt’s looking into it,” Ryker grumbled without looking up from his phone.

“Okay. We need to get her to see sense. Any ideas?” Luke asked the room, but Paisley had a feeling it was directed at her and all the women sitting on the sofa.

“You need to be gentler,” Catherine said. “Nothing bothers me more and makes me want to do the opposite of what I should than when a man thinks he knows best for no reason.”

“So, what? Sit her down, again, and explain it to her? I don’t think she’s getting the gravity of things.” Luke paced in the opposite direction of Cade.

Paisley wondered how no one had noticed that those two were related. They had the same mannerisms. Now that they knew they were, she felt like the group probably wondered how they didn’t see it.

“How long do you think we should let him look for her before we call her again?” Cade asked.

“Matt’s waiting for them to catch up to her and will let us know,” Ryker said.

“Let me talk to her? I think maybe I can get her to at least come out and have the conversation in person,” Catherine asked.

Luke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Go for it. At this point, I’m not sure it’ll make anything worse than it already is.”

“Thanks for the confidence,” Catherine said sarcastically.

“It’s not you, it’s definitely her,” Luke promised.

“Spoken like a big brother,” Catherine whispered just loud enough for the women to hear, who all giggled.

“Matt says there’s a guy that she’s been talking to. Said the guy seems interested but she doesn’t really. He’s persistent. We checked him before but I’m having Matt dig deeper to see if there’s a connection that we’re missing.”

“Is he rich?” Cade asked. “That’s enough of a connection. Or, more importantly, is his family rich?”

“He’s not poor. Not sure how deep the money goes, though.”

“I can explain to her what happened with me and maybe that will get through to her. We aren’t really worried about Father in this situation, but the people he will send after her that won’t give up.” She shuddered and Ryker was there, pulling her to stand and wrapping his arms around her.

“It’s worth a shot,” Luke agreed.

Paisley thought it made more sense than anything else they’d talked about. A different approach was needed here.

“If she comes out, how will that stop anything, though?” Paisley asked.

“It won’t,” Cade admitted. “It will just show our united front to whoever is trying to interfere with her life. If we get Father cut off from communication, then it should be enough to interrupt the plans because he won’t be able to follow through on whatever he promised.”

“That will be hard to show, though, because if he’s got someone else doing the dirty work, then it will still happen.”

Evan and Kayla arrived and Cade let them in. They took a moment to get them caught up on everything before they went back to ideas. Mr. Smith called to let Luke know that Mary was checked into the facility and that his father’s lawyer was reviewed and would be disbarred.

All in all, it was a productive evening, even if they had more questions than they did answers.

“Hello?” Luke answered his phone. “I actually wanted to have you talk to Catherine if you’re willing. I have a lot of things to talk to you about, but I think she can handle the most important aspects and we can discuss the others when I see you.”

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