Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 74379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Mostly we decided that my genes were dominant seeing as they both had my facial structure, dimpled chin and blue eyes.
The only features that seemed to be Krisney’s on both children were their heart-shaped mouths.
By the time we arrived at the house, we’d spoken non-stop for a whole five minutes, and there hadn’t been a single awkward pause.
At least not until we pulled into the driveway and saw my brother, Dante, as well as Rafe standing there.
Dante was a surprise.
He’d been making himself scarce after an accident had claimed the lives of his children and wife—an accident that had been caused by our sister.
I couldn’t blame him for his withdrawal, though. I’d almost experienced that myself just a couple short weeks ago, and just living a few hours of my life thinking that Krisney wouldn’t be in it for much longer had felt like I’d been repeatedly punched in the chest.
How Dante lived it, day in and day out, was a phenomenon to me.
“Dante,” Krisney breathed.
I looked over at her as I shut the truck off.
“That’s his daughter,” I murmured.
Dante was holding his child—a little girl by a woman who was no longer in the picture—and staring at us through the windshield of my truck.
“Hmmm?” she breathed.
“Nobody told you that particular little tidbit?”
She didn’t answer, completely forgetting the box of leftovers that she’d insisted we bring home.
She climbed out and then shuffled the length of the driveway that separated her from Dante, walking straight up to him and wrapping her arms around him.
My breath caught in my throat at the sight.
Dante looked broken all over again for a few long seconds as he held Krisney closely, and then patted her gently on the upper back, whispering something softly in her ear as he did.
The jealousy that I would’ve felt with any other one of my brothers wasn’t there. All that was there was a sense of hope. A tiny little flicker as I hoped and prayed that maybe, just maybe, Dante was healing. And when he was done healing, he would come back to us.
The moment was there and gone in less time than it would take to recite the alphabet, but the hope that was taking root in me, despite the perilous situation we were in, was enough to make me feel happy.
“I had your place wired.”
I looked up to find Rafe staring at me expectantly.
“Thanks?”
He snorted.
“I had a guy install it. Came down from Kilgore to do it. He’s going to be monitoring this off site, and any problems that he sees while he’s monitoring it, he’ll forward straight to the police department, Detective Cree’s phone, as well as mine and your brothers.”
I blinked.
“So, I have nannies?”
Rafe shrugged.
“If that’s how you want to look at it,” he shrugged.
My eyes narrowed.
“What are you really doing here?” I asked. “You’re not here because you’re working for my brother and need a job.”
His eyes held mine. “No, I’m not.”
I growled.
“Rafe…”
“Rafe can’t talk to you, just like he can’t talk to the rest of us. When it’s done, he’ll be leaving. Until then, just let him do what he does best.”
“And what the fuck is that?”
Krisney placed her hand on my chest, and all anger fled.
I didn’t even know why I was mad.
I just knew that I had to be mad at someone, and both of the men standing in front of me were convenient targets.
“I don’t have the answers you’re looking for right now,” Dante said. “But when I do, you’ll know.”
Which pretty much meant he had some information that he wasn’t willing or able to share.
Typical Dante.
“Whatever,” I muttered. “Can you at least tell me what it has to do with Caria, Krisney and me?”
“That,” Dante said, “has nothing to do with him. Rafe is here for a completely different reason.” He paused. “He’s just willing to help out while he’s here when he has some downtime.”
Rafe looked like he would’ve added more, but the little girl in my brother’s arms—my niece—stirred.
She was a little bit of a thing—or at least I’d have thought that before I’d met my children.
Dante started to bounce her, but Krisney put her hand on his forearm. “If I go inside, can I hold her? Let y’all talk for a minute?”
Dante looked like he was reluctant to give her up, but he nodded once and followed her inside, leaving Rafe and me alone long enough that I could say a few words.
“If my brother’s in trouble, I want to know.”
Rafe nodded once.
“Is he?”
Rafe’s eyes studied me.
“Not yet,” he said. “But he’s right. I don’t have any information. Not any more than when I came here. But I’ll find it.”
With that he disappeared into the shadows until he blended in with the night.
“Rafe leave?”
I looked over my shoulder at Dante. “Yeah.”
“Did he tell you anything?”
I looked at my brother, studying how he’d changed over the last year.