Page 67 of Two Steps Ahead

Weston woke up hours later to Kayleigh’s soft breaths against his chest as she slept. He could see the gentle curves of her face in the light they had on in the bathroom. This feeling of having her wrapped around him was something he could get used to.

He glanced over at his phone and saw that it was still early morning. The lack of windows in this place made it a little disorientating.

The merger was set to take place in ten hours at an office across town. They needed to keep Kayleigh alive and safe ten more hours, then the worst of the danger will have passed.

She was still going to need help picking up the pieces of her life—figuring out what was going on with Leo’s health, replacing everything destroyed over the past week—but at least no one would actively be trying to kidnap her.

Weston wanted the chance to have a normal relationship with her, one where they weren’t running or hiding out. He wanted to see how she took her coffee and if she liked to sleep in on the weekends. He wanted to take her to his favorite places and watch her eyes light up behind her camera.

He didn’t care what they did, he just wanted to be with her.

Ten more hours and then he could be.

Luke had brought by the materials needed for the darkroom yesterday and they’d set it up in the corner. But by the time Luke had left, Weston and Kayleigh had gotten caught back up in being with each other, and actually developing the photographshad been forgotten. But it would help pass the time today before going to the merger.

His phone vibrated next to him on the bed and he carefully separated himself from Kayleigh’s sleeping form to grab it.

Chance.

“Give me a second,” Weston whispered into the phone. He pulled his pants on and slipped outside so he could take the call without waking Kayleigh.

Even though he wasn’t far, he locked the door behind him just in case. Kayleigh could still get out if she needed, but no one else could get in.

“I’m here. Is everything okay? Leo?” The hospital would call if there had been a change but probably not as quickly as his brothers.

“He’s fine, no change. But we have a situation. There was an attack on Dean McClintock about an hour ago.”

“How bad?”

“Could’ve been much worse—they were trying to take him out. Attacked his car on his way into his office.”

Weston muttered a curse. “Why was he going to his office today of all days? We agreed everyone needed to hunker down and stay safe.”

“Yeah, it was a stupid move on his part. If he hadn’t had extra security, he’d be dead right now.”

“Anybody hurt?”

“Yes, but not on our team. Jasper was there and took a bullet. He’s in critical condition. Another one of his men was killed.”

Weston dragged a hand down his face. “Damn. I guess we know for sure what side Jasper is on now.”

“Last word was that he’ll pull through.”

“Good. We need to tighten everything.”

“Agreed,” Chance responded. “Brax has Dean locked away. Luke basically has all of Leo’s portion of the hospital on lockdown.”

“Ten more hours, Chance. We need to keep everyone alive for ten more hours then this should all blow over. We can figure out who’s behind it all after that.”

“I don’t think we’re going to have to wait that long to figure out who’s behind it. We caught one of the guys in the attack against Dean this morning. He’s got ties to Beau Kesler.”

“What?” Kesler was the man on the other side of the merger. “Let me make sure I understand. One of the guys who tried to kill Dean is connected to the son of Leo’s business nemesis?”

“Yep.”

Weston frowned, trying to put the puzzle pieces together and failing. “Couldn’t Kesler just walk away from the merger and stop it himself?”

“Evidently it’s a hostile takeover, just like what Leo did with his father. So, while it looks better for Brighton Pharmaceuticals if Kesler shows up and leads his people through the merger, it will happen with or without him.”

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