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Remember to ask her everything. Okay?
“Well at least we can count on her,” Brooke said, raising her eyes to meet Ember’s. “Predictability is good, right?”
“And she’ll kill me if I don’t get some details. So give me something to work with. How many times?” Ember batted her eyelids and made Brooke laugh again. In the distance she could hear the rumbling of Lucas’s voice as he spoke with Nick. Way too far away to hear this conversation.
“Okay. Four. Is that enough for you?”
“The point is, was it enough for you?”
Brooke couldn’t help but laugh at Ember’s question. “Yeah. It was enough. For now.”
* * *
Aiden looked up from the report he was holding. Two thin pieces of paper – the typing double spaced. Not a whole lot of information for the amount he was paying the PI up in Northern California.
“Sorry for springing this on you over the weekend,” Mark said. He was wearing a polo shirt and chinos – the perfect lawyer-at-leisure attire. He looked as though he’d run out in the middle of a round of golf.
“I appreciate you coming to meet me,” Aiden replied, still holding the report. “Especially on the weekend. I hope I didn’t drag you away from your family.”
The lawyer shrugged. “It’s fine. I knew this couldn’t wait until Monday.”
He looked down again, his eyes scanning the typed words. “I can’t believe they gave him parole so soon. Do we know why?”
“They don’t have to give a reason. They can just grant it.” Mark shrugged. “There are no limits on his release either. Your brother’s free to come and go as he pleases.”
Aiden felt his stomach drop. Mark had called him as Brooke was leaving his place. They’d been talking about their next date when Aiden’s phone started to ring. If it had been anybody else he would have ignored it, but Mark never called unless it was important.
And yeah, this was definitely important.
“So he can come here without us knowing?”
“He can go anywhere. He’ll have a Parole Officer he’ll need to check in with regularly, but apart from that, his time is done.”
“Shit.” Aiden shook his head. “If he comes near Brooke or Nick I’ll…” he trailed off. He’d what? He had no goddamned right to stop his brother from seeing his son. Damn, this was so messed up.
“Is there any reason he might come here?” Mark asked. “You know him better than anybody. What’s the first thing he’ll do when he gets out?”
Aiden swallowed, though his mouth was as dry as the desert. “He’ll want money. I guess he’ll look for me first. Now that Mom’s gone, I’ll be the obvious person to tap.”
“And if he doesn’t find you?”
“I’m not exactly hiding.” Aiden felt his body slump. “Fuck, I’m going to lead him straight to her, aren’t I?”
“Not if we get to him first. How do you feel about being pre-emptive? Maybe offer him a payment to leave you alone?”
Aiden leaned his chin on his hand, thinking. “Would that work?”
“It’s worth a try. If all he’s after is easy money, we can do that. I’ll ask my guy on the ground to approach him once he’s out of jail. I can even get some papers drawn up.”
“What kind of papers?”
“The kind of papers that buy his silence. We could pay him to rescind any claim on his son, if you think it might work.”
“No.” Aiden shook his head, his voice short. “He doesn’t know much about Nick, and I’d like to keep it that way. This thing should stay between him and me. I don’t want Brooke knowing anything about this.”
“So we’ll make it a geographical thing. Money in exchange for him staying away from Angel Sands. Yo
u think he’ll take it?”
