Page 62 of Bravo

I take a deep breath as Bradyn releases my shoulders and steps back. And because my ankle feels like it’s on fire, I take a seat on the edge of the bed closest to the bathroom, leaving my gun on top of the mattress beside me.

Bradyn leans back against the desk across from me while Bravo lies by the front door.

“You said you’re not Olivia Brown.”

“No.” I meet his gaze. “Olivia Brown is dead. She was murdered two years ago, along with three U.S. Marshals and both of my parents.”

Emotion flicks over his expression before the hardened soldier mask returns. “Then why is it Olivia’s stepbrother accused you of being her?”

“Because they can’t admit that she’s dead. Doing so would raise too many questions.” Tears burn in the corners of my eyes as I reach down and rub my ankle. “The main one being that they didn’t report her missing two years ago.”

“Hang on.” Bradyn heads over toward his pack and kneels, his back to me. Without his gaze focused on me, I can fully appreciate the way it feels to have him here. I’ve spent so many years relying only on myself. Focusing only on keeping my head while I survived day-to-day.

Can he really help me?

“It’s what I do.”I may not know exactly what the brothers do on the side, but is it possible he’ll have contacts that can be trusted? People not on Brown’s payroll?

Pills rattle in a bottle as he carries them over to me, along with a bottle of water. “It’s not much, but?—”

I nearly weep at the sight of the blue-and-white Advil bottle. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” Popping the top, I take two gel capsules and drink down the entire bottle of water he handed me.

“I figured you might be hurting when I found you. Not that I could tell how much you took with you, but I assumed the load was light.”

“What do you mean?” I set the empty bottle beside me as he leans back against the desk.

“Your cabin was tossed. So unless you did that to throw us off?—”

“I didn’t,” I interrupt. They were so close to me. I haven’t been gone a full twenty-four hours and they’ve already tossed my place? “I should have moved on weeks ago. It was a mistake to stay as long as I did.”

“Then why did you?”

“It was the first place that felt like home in a long time,” I tell him truthfully.

The silence between us stretches on. “So, the son of a senator is pretending you’re his sister. Why?”

“He had her killed.” The nightmare from two years ago comes rushing back in a solid wave of pain. Bradyn remains silent while I collect myself. “Olivia was my roommate in college. We’d roomed together our freshman, sophomore, and junior years. She came back from spring break looking like she’d spent the week in hell.” I remember her wide, red-rimmed eyes and the way she’d been constantly checking over her shoulder. “When she finally opened up to me, it was just to say that she’d seen things she wasn’t supposed to and that she’d grabbed proof before running.”

“Proof of what?”

I shake my head then reach into my shirt and withdraw the drive I’ve worn ever since she died. “She never told me. Just thatshe had it and had contacted the authorities. They showed up that same night and took us both into custody.”

“What happened next?”

“It all moved really fast. My parents were brought in and placed in protection as well; since the marshals were worried that they’d be used as leverage against me.”

“But you didn’t know anything.”

“Apparently, that didn’t matter. Klive thought I did, so I was a risk. Olivia was never the same. Whatever she saw—it changed her.”

“What happened after you were taken into custody?”

“They interviewed us separately then placed us in witness protection along with my parents. The four of us were in a safe house always monitored by three marshals.”

“Why didn’t they confiscate the thumb drive?”

“No one knew she had it. Olivia kept it a secret from everyone—including me—until the night she died.” The images come rushing back. The blood. The bodies. People I loved. My family.

“I’m sorry, Sammy,” Bradyn says gently. “I imagine it’s painful, but I need to know everything if I’m going to help.”

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