Page 8 of Perfect Bragg

“Hey, sweetheart,” he greets and kisses my cheek.

My knees tremble but I keep them locked. No swooning over a man. Especially a man I don’t deserve.

“How’s the party going?” I ask as I retreat a step.

Elder chuckles at my retreat. He thinks I’m playing hard to get and this is all a game. It’s not. Not even close. But I can’t tell him why not. Not unless I want to reveal my past. Something I have no intention of doing. Ever.

“Where’s Eden?” I scan the crowded room but I don’t see my friend.

He waggles his eyebrows. “Where do you think?”

I hold up my hand. “I don’t need to know.”

His nose scrunches. “I wish I could unsee what I saw the time I walked in on her with Miller.”

“Liar. You knew what they were up to and barged into the supply room anyway.”

He smirks. “I thought Miller was going to kill me.”

“And yet you’re happy about it. Brothers. I’ll never understand them.”

Pain slashes through me at the idea of never getting the chance to understand my brother. I force those thoughts out of my mind, but obviously not quick enough considering Elder’s guiding me with a hand on my lower back toward his office.

I shake him off. “I’m fine.”

“You don—”

He’s cut off when someone yells my name. “Harmony Kingsley!”

The crowd quiets down. “Harmony Kingsley!”

I wave my hand. “I’m Harmony. Can I help you?”

“Oh, thank goodness I found you. When you weren’t at home, I went to your neighbor’s house and they suggested I come here,” a woman says as she approaches me.

“Do I know you?”

“I’m Ms. Cross, the social worker.”

The social worker? The way she announces her title makes me think I’m supposed to know who she is and why she’s here.

She frowns when I don’t respond. “Did Mr. Craven not contact you?”

“Who’s Mr. Craven?”

“The executor of Amy Kingsley’s estate.”

I must have heard her incorrectly. “The executor?”

“Oh dear. You don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?”

She clears her throat. “I’m sorry to inform you of the passing of your cousin.”

My heart stops. Amy, my only living relative, is gone? No, it can’t be. “Amy’s dead?”

I sway to the side and Elder wraps an arm around my shoulder to support me. I lean into him and his arm tightens around me.

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