Page 83 of The Art of You

My brother was eerily quiet, which forced me to search out his eyes again.

“You’re much more forgiving than me,” he said in a low voice. “I’llthinkabout showing mercy. Best I can offer right now.”

“I’ll take it,” I agreed, following his gaze toward the steps to see my guy there.

Hudson slowly finished walking up to us, never losing hold of my eyes in the process.

“I’ll, uh, give you two a chance to talk,” Constantine offered.

“No, stay.” Hudson’s brows drew together, and he pulled his phone from his pocket.

“What’s wrong?” I let go of the blanket and started for him.

“Alfie messaged,” he shared, staring at his phone. “He says we need to talk. In person.”

I reached for his arm. “He say why?”

His blue eyes landed on mine as he revealed in a surprisingly steady voice, “Yeah. He said he has my Glock if I’d like it back.”

“I’m sorry, what?” My thoughts were officially scattered all over the place, and I wasn’t sure how to assemble them and draw a conclusion.

“I’m thinking that means he was the third guy there the night of the accident.” Hudson turned his attention to Constantine, his shoulders collapsing. “He’s our shooter.”

Chapter 31

Isabella

“I know I locked that door.”Hudson stood in the doorway of his bathroom, strong hands parked above the navy-blue towel where it hung dangerously low on his hips.

Hudson in that towel with sexy, mussed-up wet hair and beads of water rolling down to his happy trail was the prime example of how one’s brain could truly short-circuit. And it took me a second to regroup, to remember why I’d picked the lock to his bedroom in the first place.

In my defense, I hadn’t expected to break into his room and find him sosans-clothes-like. I guess he’d opted to take a quick shower in hopes it’d wake him up from what had to feel like a living and breathing nightmare. It did to me, at least.

He’d left us on the deck after declaring he’d be meeting Alfie alone, tossing out the order,“I’m going to pack. Don’t follow me, or try to stop me.”

I was pretty sure that command was mainly for me, and Constantine had told me to let him cool off yet again, but I’d given up on waiting.Andtaking orders. I’d been too overheated to sit around and wait. The only way for me to rein in mytemperature was to talk to Hudson myself. After a bit more pushing, Constantine relented.

“Plan on talking? Or are you here to slow me down from what I plan to do whether you like it or not?” His jaw ticced so hard I’d swear it had a heartbeat.

His grumpy tone reeled me back to the problem—him trying to leave us to lone-wolf a meeting that could very well be a trap. “I plan on talking you out of going. At least, going alone.”

I glanced at the bed off to my left. No clothes in sight. Just weapons he must’ve retrieved from our small armory here. Was he planning to go to war? What the hell?

When he didn’t speak, I did it for him. “Did Alfie say where you’re meeting? What time? You think this has to do with what your father told you about the kidnappers? The terrorists? Did he demand you come by yourself or are you just going solo to try and protect us?”

Nada. Zilch. Zero.

His jaw tightened as his only response.

So, I continued. “Please, enlighten me on all the red flags you’re going to try and turn green. I’m listening.”

Arms folded across his chest now, he leaned into the doorway and casually crossed his ankle over the other. He was buying himself time. Stalling from the inevitable—a fight between us. And yeah, I’d fight like hell to prevent him from marching off to his death. He wanted war? He could have one with me right now.

“With Alfie officially involved, this whole thing is really starting to point to me as the problem. My father may have been right, which means it’s my responsibility to clean up the mess.” There was less grit to his tone than I’d expected, more so somberness.

“We’re in this together. All of us. And like hell is your dadright.” I crossed the room and stood directly before him, but his gaze remained pointed down, now at my black-painted toenails.

“It’s possible there’s another explanation as to why Alfie was out there that night of the accident. I need to find out.” Ever so slowly, he gave in and looked at me. “But if he’s in any way responsible for you nearly dying . . .”

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