shook her head. “My mom was given up for adoption. She told me how much she wished that she could have met her biological parents. No. No. She wouldn’t have lived a life with me and not—”
Voice gentle, he said, “Sometimes people have to make very hard choices in this world. Choices that tear them apart. There is more at play here than you realize. There is more to—”
“Open the door!” Roman shouted.
Her gaze held his. “Dex…”
“You don’t have to talk to him right now.” He whirled for the door and the pounding prick. The pain in her stare was making him crazed. He frowned at the spider-web-like cracks in the wood of the door. He flipped the locks and yanked the door open—
Then had to shove his hand against Roman’s chest when the other man barreled forward. “I want Lacey!”
Dex’s jaw locked. “You’re not getting her.”
Roman tried to shove past him. Dex shoved back. Harder. He pushed the other man into the hallway.
“Let me see her!” Roman bellowed.
“You’re scaring the hell out of her right now.” Dex’s voice was low. Hard. “Is that what you want?”
Roman glanced toward the suite, then back at Dex. “I…want my family. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
Dex knew that. He’d originally intended to use that longing against Roman. But that was before—before, hell…Lacey. “She just found out that her father killed her mom and the only dad she’s ever known. I had to deliver that news to her—”
“You should have told her from the beginning!” Fury darkened Roman’s face. “You’re an asshole and you had no right to—”
Dex surged toward him. “She’s hurting. She is not ready for you right now. I told you not fifteen minutes ago to give her a little time. Your bodyguard shot her in the chest this morning! In the chest! Now she got this news from hell thrown at her. It’s too much. Lacey wants time, and I’m giving it to her.” I’m giving her whatever she wants.
“I didn’t know about Heather! She knocked me out in my room last night, and then I woke up tied to that chair.”
Yes, and that was another problem they had to face. No way did Dex buy that Heather had been able to transport Roman all the way from the lodge to the remote cabin by herself. Had to be at least a two-person job. Which means there are more players involved.
“I am not leaving until I talk to her.” Spittle flew from Roman’s mouth.
“How do you even know she’s the right woman?” Maybe he could throw some doubt at Roman. “Have you run some DNA test that I don’t know about? Hmm? Have you considered I was lying to you when I said I found her? Come to think of it, you assumed Lacey was your sister. I said that I’d found ‘her’ but I never specified who—”
“Dex.” Lacey’s voice. Soft but firm and coming from behind him.
“It’s okay,” he reassured her without glancing back. “Roman is going to calm down and take a walk.”
Roman tried to rush past him. Dex grabbed him, shoved his arm under the guy’s chin and pinned him against the nearby wall even as the two agents who’d been ordered to guard the suite just stood there and gaped from a few feet away—
Way to be helpers, fellows.
“Don’t.” Lacey’s fingers slid over Dex’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t have told you to send him away. Let’s go inside. We all need to talk.”
Roman glared at him. Dex glared back, but when he turned his head toward Lacey, he made sure his expression showed no rage. “Are you certain?”
She nodded and said, “Absolutely not.”
Aw, Lacey, baby, you make me feel—
“But I think we have to do it anyway,” she finished quietly. Her fingers pressed into him. “Let’s go inside.”
If that was what she wanted, then okay. Dex let go of Roman. Stepped back. At first, Roman didn’t move. He just stared at Lacey. There were so many emotions swirling in his eyes. It was hard to read them all but…
Longing.
Fear.
Fury.
Dex moved subtly closer to Lacey. That fury of Roman’s wasn’t a good sign, and it was something Dex had worried about. He’d feared that Roman might not truly be the loving brother who’d finally found the sister he’d sought for so long.
After all, Roman had been raised by a sadistic bastard for most of his life. He’d only gotten to see his mother on rare occasions. He’d been told that she chose her daughter over him. That she’d