Page 60 of Edge of Danger

He looked up, his face hard. “He does. When he finds me, he’s going to kill me. He’s made that clear to everybody he knows.”

“And you thought what? Get Walker back and make up with Gabrielle? Or use him as a human shield, hoping this Jakob would change his mind when he saw the baby? That was your big plan? What if this Jakob found you and killed you anyway? What would happen to your son?”

Robert had no answer for that, which hardly came as a surprise. Brax knew he hadn’t thought about his son, not really. Walker’s future meant nothing when compared to Robert getting himself out of the latest crisis.

No way would Brax let that happen. Robert wasn’t about to get his hands on Walker, not ever again. Even if he hadn’t known about the history with CPS and Tessa, this situation on its surface was more than enough for Brax to keep Walker as far from his father as possible.

Still, the longer the Solomon family was after Robert, the longer they’d be after Tessa. He couldn’t let that continue. Especially since they’d asked her where Walker was when they’d threatened her in the mall parking lot.

Did they want to use Walker as a pawn to get to Robert?

Brax wouldn’t let that happen either.

“Well, I don’t have the money, if you were wondering.” Brax stood. “But I think there might be something I could do for you.”

Robert’s eyes lit up. “What’s that?”

“Give me forty-eight hours. I was lying about the nanny having Walker right now. My parents do, and they’re out of town. It’ll take time to get him.”

“Your parents?” Robert scoffed. “Great. I hope they don’t take him out anywhere, or people might wonder.”

Brax’s patience snapped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hey, hey!” Robert held up his hands in mock self-defense. “I’m not the one saying it. I just bet other people are, is all. Like why are they out with a little white kid? You need to get a sense of humor.”

He grinned on his way out of the conference room. “See you in forty-eight hours, bro.”

It took every scrap of self-control not to break Robert’s head open. He waited until he heard the front door open and close before leaving the room.

Weston’s office door opened at the same time, and his brothers filed out. They didn’t say a word about Robert’s comments, though the set of their jaws made words unnecessary.

Chance cleared his throat. “Weston found information on this Jakob Hawkins.” He nodded toward the laptop Weston had brought with him.

One look at the photo on the screen was enough. “That’s the guy. I recognize the pockmarked skin.”

“Now we probably have a good idea why he hates Robert so much,” Luke muttered. Everything about him screamed tension, from his voice to his folded arms.

“Yeah, imagine the sort of so-called jokes Robert made at his expense.” Brax’s lip curled in disgust. “You have no idea how much of me wants to let him get what’s coming to him, but as long as he’s on the run and they’re not finding him—”

“It affects Tessa,” Weston confirmed.

Brax sank into a chair and blew out a long breath while looking at the ceiling. There were bits and pieces of a plan moving around in his head, but it was still shadowy. Sketchy. He didn’t have much time to solidify things.

“Do you think the Solomon family itself want Robert dead?” Chance posed. “Is this coming from them, or is it strictly because Hawkins hates Robert and wants an excuse?”

“The Solomons are rich,” Brax mused. “But not stupid. And they’re powerful, but they’re not a crime family per se. I don’t know whether murder is in their bag of tricks, but wouldn’t we know if it was? Word spreads.”

“Odds are they don’t care one way or another about Robert,” Chance decided. “The money is a drop in the bucket. A lot to us, but nothing to them. They probably wouldn’t blink an eye if he ended up dead. Especially after he cheated on Gabrielle.”

“An honor thing,” Weston muttered. “But if they’d put their money behind finding Robert, he’d be dead by now. No question. This sounds like Hawkins and a buddy of his working on their own.”

“Not to rain on anybody’s parade, but you have bigger problems than this Hawkins guy being after Robert.” Chance offered a shrug when Brax looked his way. “Prince Riviera?”

“Of course, but this Hawkins might be a threat to Tessa, and I can’t let him hurt her. I can deal with the cartel after I know she’s in the clear. Besides, there’s still the idea of me having to go away. I don’t want to, but if things come down to that, I’ll need to know Tessa and Walker are free of Robert forever. I couldn’t stand it otherwise.”

He stood, slid his hands into his pockets, and looked at his brothers. “I have a plan.”

He turned to Weston. “I think you were right about involving the police in this. Can you call some of your old colleagues with the San Antonio PD?”

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