Engaging his Enemy (Shattered SEALs #4) - Amy Gamet Page 0,9

in my way. I loved her, damn it.”

“You left her without even letting her explain. I was there for her. I helped her through her pregnancy. I was at the birth.”

Zach sneered. “You make yourself out to be some kind of saint, when in reality you’re nothing but a goddamn loser. Why weren’t you back at college? Did you ever finish school?”

“Somebody had to be here to take care of Davina and the baby.”

“So you dropped out. Did you make it into the military?”

“Same answer, you arrogant fuck.”

“And you’re the same old jealous brother, failing at everything and pointing the finger at me.”

This time Ben came at him, fists flying. He got several good punches in before Moto got the upper hand, twisting Ben’s arm behind his back, but Ben wrapped his leg around Moto’s, toppling them to the ground. The brothers grappled and swore, pummeling each other with punches and jabs as each regained their footing. With a rage fueled by fury, Moto sent Ben flying into a tall glass lamp that had belonged to their mother. The lamp fell, shattering into a thousand pieces.

The men stood several feet apart, breathing heavily. “Why now?” asked Moto. “Why me? You could have called anyone in here to do this job, trace this shit and find out who’s after you. Why did you call me in now, after all these years? Just to torture me with a son who hates me for not being in his life? To show me you got everything that mattered?”

Moto was overwhelmed with emotion he didn’t know what to do with. He mourned for the loss of it all. The senselessness. He’d missed out on knowing his son, being a part of his life. It hurt more than anything he’d ever felt before, and his own brother had done it to him deliberately.

“Because I can’t protect them on my own. The people I work for are dangerous. They already killed a federal agent who got in their way. They say if I don’t do what I’m supposed to, they’ll kill Davina and Wyatt, too. I don’t know who I can trust.”

Moto had never needed to look out for anyone but himself, and the realization that Davina and his son were in danger sent a rush of protectiveness through him like he’d never felt before. “You can trust me.”

“Yes.” Their stares met, a tacit understanding passing between them. “This is your big chance, an opportunity to get back in their lives. Prove to me you aren’t going to fuck this up, that I really was wrong to lie to you all those years ago. Show Wyatt you care about this family.”

If Zach truly wanted a relationship with his son, he needed to save his brother, no matter he’d rather carry him across the River Styx and into Hades himself. He nodded slowly, acknowledging he was well and truly fucked. “Did you kill this guy?”

“Hell no.”

God only knew if that was true. Not that it mattered anymore. All that mattered was the family he never knew he had, and his only chance to fix the past. “Then give me your computer. Show me what you’ve got.”

“The cops took it. But I’ve got everything saved on the cloud.”

5

Moto sat at Ben’s dining room table, a streetlamp shining through the window as rain pattered on the air conditioner. An empty pizza box separated them, the screen of a brand-new laptop shining brightly in the dimly lit room. Every file had been restored, every setting, as if Ben’s actual computer had been replicated in every way and now sat before them.

Moto had calmed down, his earlier anger dissipating as he went through the damning files that had gotten Ben arrested. This was what Moto was good at, searching root directories and email headers, tracking down spoofed email addresses and hacked bits of code. Ben was good at it, too, though not as good as his brother, Ben’s natural affinity paling in comparison to some of the best computer training in the world.

Still, it made Moto sad to think what Ben could have made of his life and hadn’t. Ben had been every bit as capable as he. But they were different men, and they’d made different choices. Ben took a beer from the refrigerator and held it out to Moto.

“No, thanks.”

Ben opened it himself and took a long pull. “Lawyer’s going to meet us at the crime scene tomorrow.”

“Good.” Moto wanted to get as much information about the murder as possible.