Insatiable (Steel Brothers Saga #12) - Helen Hardt Page 0,53
and my first inclination was to teach them how to protect themselves from him. As it turned out, Cade had already taught them both how to expertly handle weapons. As for the rest, they were both quick studies and had enormous potential. Now they work for me.”
“So you don’t coach baseball.”
“Not currently,” Dominic said. “But I love the game, and I’m good at it.”
“Do you collect baseball cards?”
“Some. Why?”
How much of this was I allowed to say? I had no idea. “No reason,” I said, and then I turned back to Brad Steel.
“How long have you known about my father?”
“I’ve known for a long time that some of his activity was criminal, but I only found out about the trafficking, and what he did to his victims, after Talon was taken.”
“Right about the same time you stopped letting Joe go on our camping trips.”
He nodded. “Do you blame me?”
“No. But you have to know. My father never touched me or Joe.”
“I believe you, Bryce. He touched a lot of others, though, including one of my sons. I’ll never forgive him.”
“Neither will I. And you don’t have to anyway. He’s dead. There was no faking that one.”
“All three of Talon’s captors are dead. I’ve double- and triple-checked it all.”
“Yet you’re still here.”
“I am.”
“Why stay away again? Wendy’s gone. My father, Wade, and Mathias are gone. The threat to your children is gone.”
“If it were, Bryce,” he said, “we wouldn’t be here talking.”
I swallowed. He had a point. “Where do Colin and Ted Morse fit into this?”
“Colin is the unfortunate result of Ted’s greed,” Brad said.
“So he’s right, then. Colin, I mean. My father…” I couldn’t finish.
“Bought Colin, just like he bought your friend Justin Valente, who, as I’m sure you’ve already figured out, now goes by the name of Cade Booker.”
Nausea crept up my throat. This was what pure disgust felt like.
“I thought…” I cleared my throat. “I thought they just stole kids and women. Why would my father…?”
“Your father was a sick man. Sometimes he stumbled upon a certain person he had to have. Justin was one of those unfortunates. So was Colin Morse.”
The nausea again. My throat swelled, and I inhaled deeply, trying to get air into my lungs.
Fuck. I was hyperventilating.
“Easy,” Brad said. “You’re a strong man. I helped raise you myself. I know what you’re about. Breathe.”
I put my hand over my mouth to force carbon dioxide back into my body. Soon I was breathing normally.
You’re a strong man.
I didn’t feel very strong at the moment.
“Once your father died,” Brad said, “I knew Cade would come out of the woodwork and seek revenge any way he could. I needed to protect those who were the weakest, so I paid Dominic and Alessandra to take Daphne, Marjorie, and Colin.”
“Marjorie would hate that you called her weak.”
“Trust me. I know.”
“Why not Jade and Melanie? They were carrying your grandchildren.”
“They would have been next. I needed to make sure the safe houses were equipped to deal with pregnancy, and now they are. Plans were being made when… Well, you know how it all turned out.”
“Why Colin?” I asked.
“Colin’s in as much danger as anyone,” he said. “Cade knows about Ted and Colin and their ties to your father. Ted’s a mercenary, and he’s been in touch with Cade.”
Yes. It was all starting to make sense now. “I was wondering how Ted knew about Justin.”
“He heard it from Justin himself, who is, of course, Cade.”
“Why would Cade be interested in talking to Ted? Ted did the same thing to Colin that Cade’s father did to him.”
Rustling began in the nearby trees.
“You should go,” Dominic said to Brad.
Brad nodded, covering his face once more with the black ski mask. “I’ll be in touch.” He disappeared quickly.
“I trust you’ll be discreet?” Dominic said.
Being discreet meant lying to Marjorie about her father being alive. It was a promise I wasn’t comfortable making, but I’d make it on one condition.
“You two keep Marjorie safe above all else, and I’ll keep that promise.”
Chapter Forty
Marjorie
I was waiting in the guesthouse kitchen when Bryce returned.
“How’s Dominic?” I asked, a little sardonically. Okay, a lot sardonically.
“He’s fine.”
“Of course he’s fine. He should be in police custody like his bitch sister.”
No response from Bryce.
“What did he need to talk to you about?”
Bryce cleared his throat. “Mostly stuff I already knew from what you and Jade uncovered.”
“Mostly?”
“Yeah.” Another throat clear. “But he didn’t know… He didn’t know my father had paid off Cade’s father for him. That freaked him out.”