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She’d seen him once when she was in Russia. He would have been about fourteen. The strength of his features hadn’t been apparent then. The height he’d attain nowhere in sight. But it was the same boy, she was sure of it.
What in the hell was Grecia Davinov’s heir doing playing lake bum in Kentucky? Why was he calling himself Brannigan?
Putting the food out on the counter, she made her own plate, fixed her coffee, and moved to the table, where Ethan and Duke joined her, their own plates filled.
Fuel. Food was fuel, she reminded herself. She needed the energy even more than she had before to recover from the infection, but she also had a job to do today.
She was going after that kid and bringing him back here. She was going to find out what the hell was going on and waiting didn’t seem like a good idea.
She ate mechanically, speaking only when she had to. When she finished and placed her dishes in the dishwasher, she waited for Ethan and Duke to do the same before meeting Duke’s gaze with a look she knew he couldn’t mistake.
Her mind was set. Softly, she told him she was going to track down the youngest Davinov and refusing to accompany her wouldn’t stop her. When he finally nodded she felt something loosen inside her soul. She’d expected him to refuse, to count all the reasons why it wasn’t a good idea.
Instead, it seemed Ethan was determined to be the naysayer of the group.
“Hell no,” he hissed, glaring at her, disbelief twisting his features before he turned to Duke. “Dammit, her leg isn’t ready for that kind of stress.”
Duke’s expression didn’t change nor did the ready tension that had gathered in his body.
“Then be ready to fix it,” he suggested. “Call Saul and Seth into the house. We’ll be out of here as soon as we’re ready.”
“Oh, I really don’t think so,” Chaya drawled from behind her, causing Angel to grit her teeth at the sheer lousy timing her mother displayed.
“So you can instead?” Turning slowly Angel faced her, seeing in her mother’s face the same resolve she felt herself.
Chaya stood, apparently relaxed, though Angel could sense the tension in the other woman’s body.
Chaya shook her head. “Saul and Seth can go after the boy,” she stated. Her voice was low but it didn’t change the demand she was making of Angel.
“I know the boy, they don’t,” she argued. “I can find him faster.”
“You’re not the only one that knows him,” Chaya informed her, weariness flitting over her features as she glanced over at the living room doorway. “I know him as well. Trust me, after losing one child, I made certain there wasn’t a part of Bliss’s life or anyone in it that I didn’t know.”
“But you didn’t know he was a Russian billionaire’s son,” Angel pointed out. “And you don’t know anything about the family; I do.”
“No.” Chaya stared back at her with icy eyes. “I will not have that between you and Bliss if anything happens to Bran. I will not have Bliss stare at you, or me, with the look in her eyes that you had in yours that first time I saw you at Graham Brock’s.”
Angel blinked back at her in surprise.
“How did I look at you?” she exclaimed, her hands going to her hips in frustration. “Like we were meeting for the first time?”
The look her mother gave her was both chiding and filled with mockery.
“Ever heard the expression ‘don’t try to bullshit a bullshitter’?” Chaya drawled, tilting her head to the side curiously as she spoke. “Well, honey, don’t try to snow an interrogator. You’re lousy at it, BeeBee.”
“Oh for God’s sake,” she muttered at the nickname, shooting her mother a warning glare.
“BeeBee?” That pure, unholy amusement in Ethan’s voice had her glaring back at Chaya again in irritation.
“Thank you so much, Mother,” she ground out between clenched teeth as Ethan poked her in the back with a whispered, “Buzzz.”
The look Chaya shot Duke’s brother instantly filled with heavy, disapproving suspicion.
“Duke.” The snap in her voice had even Angel looking at her in surprise. “Please tell me you and your brother don’t practice the same wild ways my husband and his cousins used to practice. Because I wouldn’t be happy. I’d be very unhappy over that.”
Wild ways?
Angel blinked back at her mother as the meaning of her statement sank in.
