Page 39 of Edge of Danger

Tessa’s eyes filled with tears. And he realized how unbelievably stupid it was not to believe her. Playing it smart and exercising caution were one thing. But this was a woman with nothing to lose because she’d already lost everything.

And she loved Walker.ThatBrax could have zero doubt about.

“I don’t think you’d make this up,” he had to admit. “I believe Robert would sink to any level to get what he wanted. I couldn’t have guessed he would ever stoop this low, though. I’m sorry he did that to you.”

“Thank you.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not furious with you for lying the way you did. For weeks. Every time I asked you about yourself. Every time I commented on how good you were with him. You pretended to be a nanny. You—”

“I didn’t know how you would react.” Her tears spilled over. She didn’t brush them away this time. “I figured you would take Walker away just like CPS did. Like Robert did. I couldn’t lose him again.”

She wrung her hands together as her eyes met her son’s, and the tears fell faster than ever. “I... I can’t lose him. When you told me I couldn’t work for you anymore, it felt like my heart was literally breaking. There was pain in my chest, I swear. I don’t think I could take it if I couldn’t be with him.”

Walker whimpered.

“Mama loves you,” she said to the baby, but didn’t reach for him.

He felt like a monster. “Here. Take him.” Brax handed Walker over rather than torture Tessa any longer.

“Thank you, thank you.” She closed her eyes, kissing the baby’s cheeks and forehead.

Anyone with eyes could see she adored her son. Brax’s heart softened. If he had been in her position, what would he have done? How many people would he have lied to if he felt powerless to do anything else?

She opened her eyes. “The people looking for Robert are the ones who took my purse at the mall. They were using my phone to track me. They don’t know about you and Robert being brothers, and they don’t know the baby is here. I made sure of that.”

That was enough for him. She could’ve told those thugs about him to get them to leave her alone. Instead, she’d chosen to protect him.

He folded his arms. “No more secrets.”

She shook her head. “No more secrets.”

“Okay.” When he draped an arm over her shoulders and led her to the house, she didn’t shrug away from his touch. “We’ll work this out together.”

Chapter Fifteen

Telling the truth hadn’t been easy. Putting it out there and hoping Brax would understand. Leaving her life in his hands.

Tessa kissed Walker for the fiftieth time since Brax had handed him to her. Coming clean had been worth the fear. And this was her reward.

“Come on, buddy,” she whispered, guiding the bottle to Walker’s mouth. “Let’s have our dinner so you can go to bed.”

Brax was on the phone, pacing the kitchen. She could hear him down there from the nursery, though there was no making out exactly what he said.

It was enough to know he believed her. And she’d believed him when he’d told her so. This wasn’t a game to lure her into trusting him.

“There I was,” she whispered to Walker with a smile, “thinking he’d call the cops before I even finished, you know? I just knew he wouldn’t believe me. That he would take you away. But he surprised me.”

Brax’s deep voice reverberated from downstairs.

“He’s a surprising man,” she concluded as Walker finished his bottle.

She burped and changed him before putting him down to sleep. His fine hair was so soft under her fingers as she stroked his head. “I love you so much. Nobody’s going to take you away again. You know how I know? Because your uncle Brax is on it now.”

He was in the process of wrapping things up on the phone when she went downstairs. “We’ll touch base on that first thing in the morning. For now, let’s look up the paperwork involved in the custody case and follow up with CPS about the reports.”

He turned to her when she reached the doorway leading from the dining room. “They’re on it. And once my brothers decide to get to the bottom of something, consider it done.”

“I can’t thank you enough. For everything.”

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