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“I’ll walk you to your truck,” Adele said, leaving us on the porch without another word.
Hazel rested her head on my chest while I took in the view. It was getting cool and the stars were bright. After so many months of obsessing about all the things I didn’t have, I was suddenly struck with just how much I did. My family, my town, my girl. Nothing else mattered.
“What the fuck are you doing palling around with a Hebert?” Paz called, rounding the side of the house.
Adele ignored him, instead taking the porch steps two at a time. “I got some good photos of the trails,” Adele explained. “The canopy is dense in some areas, but I was able to get some GPS coordinates. They probably aren’t exact, but it should help.”
“Thanks.” I hugged her, even though I knew she would hate it. “You tell the cops?”
She dipped her chin. “I did.”
“I owe you, sis.”
Before she could snap back with a sarcastic response, Paz interrupted.
“You didn’t answer me.” He was close now, his fancy cologne wafting around us. I closed my eyes, suddenly feeling way too tired for his shit.
But Adele, as always, had plenty of fight left in her. She wheeled around, pinning him with a glare. “He’s prior service Navy and got us a plane,” she said. “No further explanation needed.” With that, she stomped into the house, leaving us alone with an angry Paz.
“Henri should be back soon.” He had stayed at camp to deal with law enforcement up there and interview members of the crew. In the years that traffickers had used our forests to move their product, this was the closest we had ever come to actually catching them. And there was no way Henri would not let up now that we’d had a break.
“They haven’t found them,” he said. “They cleaned out everything.”
“I still don’t understand how they knew we were there. We radioed on our private channel,” Hazel mused.
“Did someone intercept our radio frequency?”
“Bet they did,” Paz snarled. “Which wouldn’t have happened if you’d come back to camp and used an actual fucking phone to call the cops instead of broadcasting it over the radio.”
I clenched my fists, itching to fight him. After what Hazel and I had been through, he had some goddamn audacity starting shit.
“Actually,” I said, standing a little straighter, “aren’t you the one in charge of working with law enforcement on keeping our land safe?”
“I’ve got a shit ton on my plate. I’m the CFO,” he hissed. “You know, a real job?”
I cocked a brow. “You could have consented to let them search the old camps.”
“We didn’t even know this camp existed before today. Dad’s chicken scratch Post-it notes aren’t exactly official documents. We had no idea that any of those trails were even cleared. Besides,” he took a step toward me, his eyes flashing, “you’re the one who’s lived up there for months at a time. You’re supposed to know these woods like the back of your hand. You’re the fucking forest child who climbs trees and skips out on real responsibility.”
I gritted my teeth, silently chantingI will not hit my brother. Especially with my wife standing here.
Blowing out a breath, I shook my head. “You’re a sad, angry person. And you know as well as I do that we’re all doing a shit job living up to Dad’s legacy. Maybe you should get your ass out of your cushy desk chair once in a while. Take off your thousand-dollar motherfucking loafers and get in the woods.”
He sighed, staring down at his feet. I saw it then. He was tired and worried and defeated. The past few years had taken a lot out of all of us, and he was too pigheaded and stubborn to admit he had been worried about me.
“I’m okay,” I said, trying to make peace. “And so is Hazel.”
He stared at me with his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. I had no idea what was going on in his head, except that he was clearly in pain. I had been so obsessed with my own stuff, so focused on my pain and my losses, that I hadn’t stopped to think about what he’d been through.
“Boys,” my mother shouted, in herI mean businessvoice. She turned to Hazel. “I think we should get you home. You shouldn’t be standing out here in the cold. The nice police officers are going to keep a patrol outside the cabin tonight, just in case.”
She glared at me. “Let’s get your wife home.”
I stood up straight. “Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter41
Remy
