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“Your brother i
s strong,” Jade said, “but he’s not invincible.”
“You think he doesn’t know that? He was tortured and abused. If anyone knows he isn’t invincible, it’s Talon.”
“He was a child then. He went off to war and tried to get himself killed, but he came back.”
“Doesn’t make him invincible.”
“I know that. I’m saying he thinks he is.” She took another sip and then set the mug down on an end table. “He’ll do anything to protect me and those boys, and if anything happened to him…”
“Nothing will happen to him.” I tried to make my voice sound calm and reassuring.
But I wasn’t convinced.
“He’s in there talking to his son,” Jade said, “and I’ll bet you anything when he comes out, he’ll be going on a full-force manhunt to track that hoodie guy down. You watch.”
I didn’t have the heart to try to disagree.
Jade was right. Talon would get Joe and Ryan, and the three of them would sniff this guy out or die trying.
The latter was what concerned Jade and me.
I swallowed my fear. “Well, if the guy is someone from Dale’s past, he should be found. We don’t want him hurting anyone else.”
“Of course we don’t. I just thought…”
She didn’t have to complete her sentence. I understood. She’d just thought what we all thought. The FBI had raided the compound, the bad guys were dead, and this nightmare was finally over.
And now we had to face the fact that perhaps it wasn’t.
Donny came in, and I made him a quick snack. Talon was still speaking to Dale in the bedroom. He’d been gone a half hour when he finally emerged. He ruffled Donny’s hair and smiled, and when the little boy retreated back outside, he turned serious.
“I need to talk to Joe and Ryan.”
Jade and I exchanged a worried glance.
Again. It was all starting again.
Chapter Thirty–Eight
Bryce
I sat in Joe’s office—not his home office but the office in the ranch business building. That had been my choice. I wanted privacy. Not that Melanie wouldn’t give us our privacy, but I didn’t want the chance of anyone walking in. I’d even managed to convince Joe to let his assistant and secretary leave early.
His dark eyes were heavy-lidded and troubled when we finally sat down together—alone—in his office.
Even then, I was freaked. Was this office bugged? I still wasn’t sure Ted Morse had been straight with me. He could be playing games, trying to get a payoff. I had no idea. But at this point, given the vague memory that had popped into my head, I couldn’t chance it.
“What is it, Bryce?” Joe asked. “You’ve got me a little on edge.”
Joe on edge was not a pretty sight. He had a hot head and a quick temper. I’d seen it in action many times, and I needed him to remain calm.
“Can we get out of here?” I asked.
“What? You just made me send my staff home so we could speak privately. There’s no more private place on this ranch right now.”
I couldn’t say anything more, not here. My whole body tensed and tingled, as if myriad eyes and ears were watching and listening. Probably in my mind, but given what Joe and I needed to discuss, I wasn’t willing to take the chance.
