Page 58 of Edge of Danger

Not that it mattered.

“You can’t change your mind. What about this isn’t getting through to you? What happens if you decide to change your mind again? That’s not how this works.”

“Where is he?” Robert’s eyes narrowed. “I went to the house but it was empty. It looked like there was a fire there.”

Brax’s jaw tightened. What would’ve happened if there hadn’t been a fire and Tessa had been at the house with Walker when Robert had showed up? The thought made him sick.

“He’s somewhere else, with the nanny. They’re doing fine. The fire was just an accident, but it didn’t spread beyond the living room.”

“That’s good to hear. I hate to think of my son being in danger.”

“Accidents happen,” Brax muttered, teeth clenched at the nerve of the man in front of him. “He’s perfectly safe and happy right now.”

“Where’s he staying?”

“Why does it matter when I have legal guardianship and you don’t? You handed him over to me, and I take that seriously. When you decide to float in and out of his life, I have to question why.”

Robert laughed. “I’d think you would be happy to be free of him. No more daddy duty. You should be thanking me!”

Brax held onto the arms of the chair to keep from throwing a punch. “I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out, actually. Sorry if you thought I’d throw the kid at you and run in the other direction, but that’s not how this is going down.”

Robert swallowed, eyes darting back and forth over Brax’s face like he was trying to sense whether this was a game or not.

It was like magic. Robert deflated bit by bit. The shoulders slumped. His mouth tugged downward at the corners into something like a sad clown’s grimace. He slouched in the chair.

“I need him back.”

They were getting closer to the truth, finally. “Why? Why now? What changed?”

“There’s people after me. Bad people.”

What a big surprise. Brax glanced at one of the cameras, knowing what his brothers would be thinking then. It took long enough for him to admit what they’d known for days, ever since Tessa had revealed all.

“That’s all the more reason to leave Walker with me, isn’t it? To protect him from the people after you?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Are you kidding? How else could it possibly be? You’re in danger. Why would you want to bring your son back into it?”

Robert shook his head, looking at the floor. “It’s complicated.”

“When is it not?” Brax leveled his gaze, staring straight at Robert. “Who are these people?”

He drew a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering. “The Solomon family.”

Brax rocked back for the second time that day. He hadn’t expected this. “The family that owns casinos all over the country? That Solomon family?”

“Yes.”

“They’re insanely wealthy.”

“I know.”

“And you got on their bad side? I mean, I can see rubbing elbows with them, but you’d have to be a real idiot—”

“Okay, okay. I don’t need the insults.”

Brax gritted his teeth. It was one thing to be a professional gambler, but to get on a casino owner’s hit list? It took a special kind of stupid to cross a family with that kind of power and influence.

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