Brando Vitale and I had a mutually beneficial working relationship. He called me when he needed a trace or information he couldn’t get elsewhere. In return, he made sure the right judge got the information when I inevitably found messed up shit on people’s computers.
Then we sat across from each other at dinners with our wives, as if we were a normal family.
We weren’t.
But that was the beauty of it.
Everyone was fucked up in their own way. We just owned it—secrets and all.
“Is there a time constraint?” I asked, seasoning the salmon for dinner.
“The next few days.”
My gaze went to my wife. I watched as she bent down, aiming her perky ass my way.
She was trying to distract me from the fact she was sneaking Mister extra sweet potato treats.
It didn’t work.
I knew what she was doing. I always knew because I paid attention to everything she did.
But I never called her on it. Partially because I wanted her to keep trying to distract me with her ass or tits. But mostly because I didn’t give a shit that she spoiled him. It made her happy. That was all I cared about.
Anxious to end the call so I could grab that ass she was taunting me with, I said, “I’ll get it to you tomorrow.”
“Appreciated. See you Sunday.”
I’d lost my parents when I was young. Briar might as well not have had any parents to begin with. Now we had family dinners a couple times a month. Sometimes we went out, but usually Brand or I cooked.
Never Briar or Aria. The sisters had a lot going for them, but cooking skills? Not unless we liked our cereal flambéed.
Which Briar had done once when she’d accidentally turned on the burner while pouring a bowl.
We clicked off, but before I could round the island to go to her, Briar was already on her way to me.
And I wasn’t sure I liked the expression on her gorgeous face or the worry in her pretty blue eyes.
I liked it even less when her hand and voice both shook. “Can you put the salmon away?”
I opened the fridge and put it in—cutting board, knife, and all. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I… I want to give you something.” She brought her hand from behind her back and handed me something long and thin.
A straight razor.
Her straight razor.
The one she’d stolen from her father when she was a teenager.
The one she’d planned on killing herself with.
My brows lowered at the piece of steel in my hand.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d cut Briar. Couldn’t remember the last time she’d needed it. I still cuffed her throat with my hand or pulled her hair or fucked her like I was trying to fuse our souls together. That’d been more than enough release for us both. Or so I thought.
Studying her, I looked for any of her usual tells that she was upset or depressed or anxious. There were none.
But something was off. She was being cagey.
“What’s wrong, flower?” I repeated.
“I want you to get rid of it.”
Although the rest of her cut kit was long gone, Briar had held on to that razor. Not to use it, she’d sworn, but as a reminder that she was in control.
“Why now?” I asked, still lost.
“I don’t need it. And we don’t need it for, uh, release.”
Pocketing it, I didn’t try to hide how happy and proud I was.
“Plus…” She hesitated.
I braced, forcing myself to be patient.
I didn’t brace enough.
“Plus, I don’t think cutting will be good for our baby.” Her other hand came from behind her back and she handed me something else long and thin. It was the antithesis of the blade.
One could end a life.
The other was a symbol of the beginning of it.
“Say something,” she tried to order, but there was no venom in her wobbly voice.
“I wanted to save you.” My own voice sounded off. I cleared my throat. “To see you happy. I wanted to give you a reason to live.”
“You did.”
“But I never realized how much I needed saving, too. And just when I think our life can’t get any more perfect, you prove me wrong.” I held up the pregnancy test. “You give me something else.”
Happy tears rimmed her pretty eyes as she face planted into my hold. “It’s why I’m your favorite.”
“Forever.” Fisting her hair, I tipped her head back. “Thank you for trusting your heart to a stalker tech nerd. I’ll live the rest of my life making sure you never