Page 30 of Fractured Hearts

“I am, Maverick. Once Ezra handed over everything to protect you, it left me little choice.”

“I didn’t ask him to do that. I didn’t even know he was here,” I say quietly.

“I know you didn’t,” Gavin says with a sigh. “It was honestly time for all of this to be over. I just wish he had discussed how to do this with me.”

“What are you doing for Sinclair?” Kai asks. “I doubt it’s just tracking down Eva.”

“I’m trying to figure out why his father hid Gianna.” We all wait for Gavin to elaborate, but he doesn’t.

“Because she was a love child?” I say tentatively, because it seems obvious, but it can’t be if there’s an investigation happening.

Gavin chuckles, and it’s a much darker sound than I expected. “If only. Anderson has four siblings, five if you include Gianna. He’s the only one born within a marriage. Malcolm had no problem claiming the rest.”

The first thing I think is that Jo and Harlow would figure it out. I miss Jo like a missing limb, but hearing that she and Ezra are both safe has my shoulders relaxing for the first time since I saw them last. I can’t get that image out of my head. Ezra’s look of anger and betrayal when I begged him to save Jo. Her look of desperation and despair. They keep me up at night and haunt me during the day.

“So what do we do, Dad?” Kai asks. “Just keep playing hotel hop and hope you figure this out before Patrick finds us?”

“I’ll find Eva before the end of the week.” That’s all Gavin says. I can hear tapping in the background. I’m guessing his focus is back on finding her instead of this conversation. “I’ll contact you with the next steps,” he says distractedly, then he’s gone.

“I remember your dad being . . . warmer,” Belle says, cuddling up to Kai’s side.

“He can be. That was how he always was if we called him at work or if he worked from home. It’s like a switch flips, and his brain is turned into a computer.”

“Your mom made him softer,” I say, again, without thinking before I speak. I really need to work on that. Now is not the time to bring up Adira, but I can’t suck the words back into my mouth.

“She did,” Kai confirms, thankfully not upset at the topic. “I need to talk to him about her. There’s something off there. I just always assumed my mom was lost to grief, but now I’m not so sure.” Belle and I both nod in agreement. There is definitely strange going on with Adira.

“Who’s up for some rummy?” I ask after I can’t handle the silence anymore. We have a deck of cards, and that’s about it to entertain us. Kai groans, but Belle grabs the cards and starts to shuffle.

“First to five hundred wins.”

twenty-seven

JO

“Quit holding back!” I yell, breathing heavily. Sweat is dripping into my eyes, and my ankle is sore, but I’m getting so sick of Ezra pulling punches.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says. At least he sounds just as out of breath as I do.

We’ve been at this for two hours. It’s only the second time we’ve sparred, but I don’t need to know his every move to know he’s going easy on me. Nothing pisses me off more than a man thinking he needs to handle me with kid gloves because I have a vagina. Just to prove my point, I sweep a leg out and take Ezra out at the knees. His legs fly up in front of him, and he lands on his back with an oof.

“Patrick isn’t going to care about hurting me, Ezra. He’s not going to play defense and throw weak punches. He’s going to overpower me, incapacitate me, and then slit my throat. And that’s the quick and easy outcome,” I say to him. He’s still lying flat on his back, my sweat dripping from my nose onto his already soaked shirt. Ezra lets it happen. He has the decency to look remorseful and not argue with me. “Don’t. Pull. Punches.”

Holding out my hand, he takes it, letting me pull him to his feet. I hold his stare, trying to convey how serious I am. He nods, then backs up to assume a fighting stance.

“You asked for this, Bambi,” he says, not even giving me a chance to respond before he attacks. There’s no holding back this time. His hands are quick, and his feet are even quicker. He lands a jab to my ribs and a kick to my thigh before I have time to react. I’m down on one knee, holding my ribs, staring up at Ezra. “Starting tomorrow, we work on your speed.”

Ezra’s halfway up the stairs before my brain even registers what just happened. I knew he was holding back, but not how much. Laughing, I get up and follow him. This is exactly what I needed. A challenge. And to maybe get a few punches in along the way.

“Want to watch a movie?” I ask Ezra as he loads the last of the dishes from dinner into the dishwasher. He turns to face me, brows furrowing. I get it. We’re not friends, but hating him is just going to make me lose Maverick in the end. I’ve had too much time to think about it, and being friends with Ezra, or at least civil, is the only outcome that doesn’t make everyone miserable. I’m also running with the utter delusion that I can be friends with Maverick and watch him be with Ezra.

“Sure?” he says like a question. He moves like he’s going to join me on the couch but pauses before sitting. “Why?”

“We’ve been here for weeks, and it’s been miserable. We’re acting like enemies, being forced to coexist, and Maverick would hate it.”

“He would,” Ezra agrees, sitting next to me on the couch. Not that he has much of a choice. It’s a small couch, and he’s a large man. The chair is facing away from my laptop and too far away to see the small screen, so he wouldn’t be able to sit there. This place needs a TV.

“There’s a movie that just came out based on one of my favorite books. Are you cool if we watch that?” I ask. I’m forcing a lightness into my tone that I don’t feel. There’s always this lingering resentment hovering around the two of us. It’s suffocating, and I refuse to let it continue. I grew up in a house full of resentment. Me resenting my parents for how much they worked and little time they had for me. My parents resenting me for existing.