Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Maybe. But the words I’d said to him were still hanging there, uncomfortably.
Brooke sat up in bed. “Hey, big brother.” She smiled wide, scratching her head, messing her hair further. “Man, wine sleep is the best sleep. I only need a few hours, but those hours are efficient, you know? It’s like.” She snapped her fingers. “Get to sleep. Sleep. Sleep. And bam, wake up. And here we are.” She held her arms out toward Kai, whose back was to her. “Big badass brother is here to order us all around some more.”
She gazed around, frowning. “Where’s Jonah?”
Kai answered, his back still turned to her, “He’s at a hotel.”
“A hotel?! Can I go there too?”
“No.” He finished getting the coffee ready and hit the button, before sending his sister that same annoyed look. “I wanted to give you a chance at saving the love of your life. He’s in Milwaukee, you know.”
She gasped, scrambling to her knees over the blankets. “Really? You’ll let me see him?”
“I said save him, not see him.” He raised an eyebrow, mocking her. “Isn’t that your mission in life? Save the traitor to both our families?”
Her head moved back and her mouth closed. “Why are you being mean?”
“Being mean?” His eyes grew chilled. “How am I being mean? Maybe I’m annoyed that you keep professing your love to a guy who was turning evidence on his family.”
Her cheeks grew red. “They’re barely illegal,” she mumbled.
“Doesn’t matter,” he countered. “That makes it worse. Have you asked yourself why he was doing that? He’s not in line for any power in the Barnes family. He’s not affected by anything they do. He’s far removed, and yet he weaseled his way in just to get dirt on them. Why don’t you ask yourself that question: why would he do that?”
“Stop it, Kai.” She picked at her shirt.
“Brooke,” he said firmly.
And as if feeling the same beckoning I did when he spoke, she raised her eyes. They were filled with pain now.
“I can only think of two reasons why he’d go out of his way to do what he did. Either he’s hoping to open up some positions where he can step in and take over or he’s being blackmailed. Which do you think is the realistic answer?”
She looked down. Her bottom lip trembled. “You’re being mean.”
“Well, I’m also pissed off that you convinced Riley she needed to run from me to come down here.” His jaw clenched again. “You know that’s not the truth.”
She looked up at him, eyes blazing. “It’s not so clear cut, and you know it. You’re not letting me see Levi—”
“Because he’s turning evidence against his family, and I don’t want you to get pulled into that! What do you think they would do? It’s really easy for his deal to go from just his family to being about ours too. Turn in the mafia princess—or better yet, give us dirt on her so we can blackmail her. You were doing something stupid, and you know it.”
“I never would’ve. You have to know that.”
He scoffed. “And I never thought you’d defy your family for a rat either. How can you not look at him and see what he’s doing to his family?”
It was like the bad mood from yesterday had spread so he could torment his sister, but I had to admit he was asking good questions. Hard questions, but ones that needed answering. I also began to realize why he was pushing Brooke.
Because she didn’t want to face it.
She had the wool over her eyes—she’d put it there herself—and she was fine with that.
Even I knew how dangerous that was.
“Because she’s in love with him,” I offered.
“Riley, don’t—” He lowered his voice, though.
“Love is blind. It’s a cliché for a reason. She doesn’t want to see what he’s doing.” I turned toward the bed. “But Brooke, you have to answer him. You have to hear what he’s saying.”
Her eyes went to mine, hurt. “Don’t team up with him.”
I rose from the couch. “But if these things are true, don’t you want to know who it is you’re loving? If he’s like this now, what could he do to you?” I met Kai’s gaze for a moment. “You love him. What then? You get married? You bring him into the family? You run the risk of him turning on you too?”
I hated what I was saying. It was hurting Brooke, but this wasn’t about Levi himself. She had to see that. It was his betrayal. Once a cheater, always a cheater. It could just as easily be once a betrayer, always a betrayer.
“Kai’s trying to protect you from yourself, just so you know. You should appreciate having that in a brother.” I turned and locked eyes with him. “I would.”
An emotion flickered in his depths before he pressed his lips together.