Page 40 of Last Resort

He didn’t mind. He liked taking care of her.Wantedto take care of her. Wanted to make up for lost time when he hadn’t taken care of her.

Chance had spent the morning holed up in his office, mostly because he needed to catch up on the intel his brothers had been gathering while he’d been gone. He read about Bert and Ernie—real names Daniel Neweth and Miles Dary—although official questioning of them hadn’t led to much more info than what they’d said the first night. Someone had paid them; they didn’t know who nor had they seen a face.

Dead end.

He also spent time writing up the report for Maci’s attack and the car chase. He forced himself to tamp down the terror that still wanted to overwhelm him just at the thought of finding her lying so still on the floor. And that was before he’d known she was pregnant. He got the report done and sent it out.

But the real reason he was hiding in his office was because he knew his brothers were waiting to pounce. They wanted the details about Maci and the baby.

He couldn’t avoidthe talkforever, but he could avoid it for now. They were scheduled to meet Nicholas LeBlanc today for an update.

By the time Chance came out of his office, it was past lunch and time to leave for the meeting.

“He lives!” Luke joked, but slid him a travel mug of coffee and a deli sandwich. “Thought we were going to have to smoke you out to get you in the car.”

“Just trying to get caught up on everything. Especially paperwork.”

Luke’s pronounced shudder at the word made Chance laugh into his cup. Coffee in hand, the pair found their way to the SUV out front where Brax and Weston were already sitting.

“So, Maci...” Brax said as he drove. “She feeling better?”

Chance hoped this wasn’t the start of the inquisition. “No residual issues from the attack. She’s feeling tired and sick, but said it’s just normal pregnancy stuff.”

He took a sip of his coffee and made a note on his phone to pick up a pregnancy book or two. “I promised to grab food on the way home if she’d just stay home and rest.”

Home. He’d let himself drift off to the idea of walking through his door after a long day and finding her in his house more than once. It was almost too much for Chance, especially when he’d woken up that morning with her hair on his pillow and the utter certainty that she belonged there. With him and their baby. Always.

“Good. Let’s get this meeting over with quickly,” Weston said. “The sooner we finish this, the sooner you can get home. No one wants to make a pregnant woman wait.”

His brothers let it go with that—no further questions. Chance shouldn’t have been surprised. They wouldn’t push if he wasn’t ready to talk. Especially when they needed to be focused on the case at hand.

They parked at VanPoint Tower and headed up to Nicholas LeBlanc’s office, finding him with both Dorian Cane and Rich Carlisle.

Chance tried to hide his distaste for Rich as best as he could, but all he could see was the other man’s hands on his Maci. It left a sour taste in his mouth.

LeBlanc shook everyone’s hands, despite the obvious tension surrounding him. “Dorian let me know about your teammate’s injury. The woman who was impersonating Stella. Will she be alright?”

“She’s recovering, but we won’t be using that style mission anymore.” There was no way in hell Chance was allowing that. “Her cover was blown anyway, so it’s a moot point.”

“That’s a shame.” Rich’s charming smirk covered his face, as always. “I enjoyed spending time with her. She’s feisty.”

Chance’s hands clenched into fists at his side. It was only Weston’s hand squeezing his shoulder that helped him remain focused rather than leap across the room and knock the smirk off Rich’s face.

Dorian stepped forward. “Did the teenagers who were paid to get you to chase them provide any usable intel?”

The idea that teenagers had been paid to send grown men on a car chase throughout the city didn’t sit well with any of them. What if they’d crashed? What if they’d hurt someone?

“Nothing.” Luke shook his head. “No phone number or contact information for the person who paid them. They never saw his face.”

“We have contacts with the San Antonio PD so we called it in with them,” Weston continued. “Kids were brought to the station, but they ultimately were only held for driving under the influence.”

While his brothers talked, Chance kept his eye on Rich. Chance’s dislike was definitely personal, but it was also more than that. Something about the man was beeping all over Chance’s threat radar.

Rich’s background check had come back clear when they’d run it, but something still felt off.

“How much did the guy pay them?” Dorian asked.

Weston shrugged. “Enough to get high a few times. That’s all they cared about.”

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