Page 56 of Edge of Danger

He jerked his chin toward the phone. “What’d she say? How are things?”

“She says all is well over there. She and Maci dropped off the supplies.”

“Great.” That was one load off his mind, anyway. Maybe he’d overdone it with the list he’d given the women before sending them out, but Tessa and Walker’s comfort meant too much for him to care.

“Claire likes her.” Luke grinned. “And she thinks Walker’s so cute she might want to reconsider her whole no-kids stance.”

That got a laugh out of Brax. “She should’ve met him a few weeks back when all he could do was scream. Man, was it only a few weeks ago? It feels like a lifetime.”

“A lot can happen in a month.” Luke spread his arms. “Again, I know all about it.”

A buzzing sound cut through the air, surprising them all. The front door normally wouldn’t have been locked, but this wasn’t a typical workday, and their office manager wasn’t at the front desk to greet visitors. It had made sense to keep things locked up.

For that and for other reasons. Which was why they’d given Maci a little paid time off. If Riviera decided to pay a visit to the office...

Chance headed out there. “I’ll see who it is.”

“We don’t get a lot of walk-ins, do we?” Luke asked, sitting up straighter than before, like he didn’t trust the situation.

“Could be a delivery. Maci would have a better idea than we would of whether something was on its way.” Weston started out like he wanted to back Chance up, but Chance’s voice floated their way from the front door.

“Brax? Could you come out here?”

Brax looked at the others before going out to see what Chance wanted. He didn’t sound panicked or even anxious. If anything, his voice had sounded...flat.

It took all of three seconds for Brax to understand why. The sight of somebody very familiar told him everything he needed to know.

“Hey, bro.” Robert offered one of his typical greasy smiles. “Long time, no see.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Brax rocked back on his heels. Not much in life had the power to render him speechless, but the sight of his lying, stealing, cheating, runaway half brother standing in front of him with the nerve to smile and act like nothing was wrong came pretty close.

Close enough to leave Brax at a loss for words.

Fortunately for him, he wasn’t alone. “What do you think you’re doing, showing up here like you didn’t turn Brax’s entire world upside down?” Chance demanded.

“Not just his world either,” Luke muttered, dangerous and low, his hands curling into fists.

That made two of them—no, four of them, because a look around the entry area told Brax that all of his brothers wanted to take a swing at Robert.

Robert, meanwhile, glanced around and sighed. “Can we talk privately?” he asked Brax, ignoring the others.

Brax’s blood only simmered harder than before. “If you have anything to say to me, you can say it in front of them.”

Robert smirked. “Yeah, but you know how certain people are. Hot-blooded. Not able to listen to sense.”

Weston’s short, nearly silent hiss spoke volumes at Robert’s racist comment. Brax lunged forward, taking Robert by his shirt collar and dragging him to the conference room. “You’re lucky I need information from you, or else I’d let the three of them pull you apart while I watched and laughed.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The fact that he could feign ignorance after his racist comment ratcheted Brax’s fury to another level. He threw Robert into a chair and slammed the door behind them, knowing his brothers would be able to watch and listen to everything through the surveillance equipment installed in there. They’d probably be observing from Weston’s office.

“So,” he grunted while turning to face Robert. “What’d you come back for? You here to saddle me with more kids?”

The remark had its intended effect. Robert winced. “Hi to you too.” He adjusted his clothes like Brax might’ve somehow hurt them.

Everything Robert did made Brax more inclined to kill him. His attitude, his racism, then preening like he was the injured party. Of all the nerve.

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