Page 34 of Wilde and Deadly

The words hit harder than they should have.

Images of the explosion that killed several of his men and ripped his leg to shreds flashed across his mind, but he shoved them away, locking them back inside that vault where they belonged. He tugged his pants back up. “Well fucking aware.”

Tessa’s eyes held something softer now—concern, understanding, something too close to pity for his liking. “I know you are. But you need to take care of yourself too—not just everyone else.”

He nodded, knowing it was easier to agree than argue. “Thanks for coming. I owe you one.”

“You owe me several,” she corrected with a wry smile.

Unable to stop himself, he looked toward the stairs. The urge to get back to Rowan was overpowering. He needed to make sure she was still breathing.

Tessa followed his gaze. “She’ll be okay.”

He nodded, his jaw locked tight. “She has to be.”

His cousin studied him for a moment with her dark, all-too-knowing eyes. “You care about her, don’t you?”

He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. His silence spoke volumes.

“Yeah, I thought so.” Tessa let out a quiet breath as if she’d just confirmed a suspicion, then sat beside him and reached for his hand. “You okay?”

He scowled. “You just looked at my leg. I’m fine.”

“I wasn’t talking about your leg.” She squeezed his hand. “Your jaw’s clenched so tight it looks like it might snap, and you’ve been walking around with a storm cloud over your head since Christmas. Is it Cade? I heard you two got into it again at the office.”

He sighed and pulled his hand from hers, scrubbing it over his face. His eyelids felt coated in sandpaper. “He’s been a pain in my ass since I took over.”

Tessa’s lips compressed into a thin line. “Cade’s... complicated.”

“That’s putting it mildly.” He glanced at her. “You’re his sister. You’ve got to see it, too. The guy’s got a chip on his shoulder the size of the Hudson.”

She didn’t deny it. “I don’t think it’s just about the company, Davey. You know how he is. He keeps everything bottled up until the pressure builds and builds, and then he explodes. He was already under so much pressure trying to prove himself to Dad and the uncles, and then he found out he was going to be a dad. Then Nova was born, and he lost Emma. And then Brennan—” She paused, swallowing hard. “He doesn’t talk about it, but I think losing Brennan was the last straw. It broke something in him that was already cracking, and now all that pressure is releasing, and we’re getting that explosion.”

Davey leaned back, feeling like shit all over again for his comment about Brennan earlier. Brennan’s death had fractured their family. Where they’d once been a tight-knit unit, now cracks and fissures ran through all of their relationships.

And the uncles had trusted him to somehow heal the wounds. It should’ve been Elliot, with his mind for strategy, or Bridger, with his cool head and talent for diplomacy, or even Tessa. She was the healer in the family.

But no, they handed the reins to him, expecting him to hold the family together when he could barely do it for himself.

“I get that,” he said finally. “Cade’s been through hell. But it doesn’t give him the right to take it out on me. I didn’t ask for this job. I didn’t want it, but you try telling the uncles no when they corner you with the paperwork all ready to go.”

He hadn’t even had a chance to breathe before the decision was made. No discussion, no time to think. Just signed, sealed, and shoved onto his shoulders like a goddamn boulder.

Tessa’s eyes softened. “I know. And I think, deep down, Cade knows, too. But he’s always felt like he had to prove himself—especially after Brennan. And now, seeing you in the position he thought he was working toward…” She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. “It’s a reminder of all the ways he feels like he’s failed.”

Davey exhaled sharply. “I’m not his enemy, Tess.”

“I know you’re not,” she said quietly. “But Cade doesn’t see it that way right now. He has a lot of anger, and he doesn’t know what to do with it.”

“Well, I’m not his damn punching bag.” The words lacked the heat he’d been going for. He was just… fucking tired. Tired of the fights, tired of the tension, tired of walking into a room and seeing Cade’s barely concealed resentment burning behind his eyes. Like Davey had stolen something from him.

“I’m not saying you should be,” she replied gently. “But maybe... just try talking to him. Not about work, not about WSW.” She paused. “Have you ever even met his daughter?”

The question made him blink. Had he?

“I saw her briefly at Christmas.” It had been a blur of a night—booze, tension, their uncles watching every move like he and Cade might come to blows over the mashed potatoes. But he remembered Nova. The baby had been cute, with chubby little cheeks and spiky black hair tied up in pigtails.

And Cade…

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