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“Just once, little sister, pause and pay attention.” He turned his back on the coffee to fold his arms. Great. Lecture time. Her dad did the same pose. “Vex Manzani is dangerous. Not in your league. Not even close.”
“How would you know?” she asked, going closer. “You don’t know anything about my league.”
“I know it includes cops and Manzani is so far away from that—”
“Lachlan might be a cop, doesn’t make him a saint,” she said of her ex. “And who was talking about sex?”
Her brother flinched with instinctual disgust. “No one. What the hell, Im?”
“I had sex with Lach. I dated him. That’s not related to what I want from Vex Manzani. I don’t even want Vex Manzani; I just need to get into his club.”
“Which club?”
“Hustle.”
His brows rose. “And you wantmeto go with you?” He snorted a laugh. “Good call, sis.”
When he returned to making his coffee, her irritation spiked. “You spend so much of your time judging me, you never listen.”
“You think I judge you?” he said, filling the machine with water.
“Yeah. We came from the same place you and me. You and your friends look down on me—”
He laughed and spun to face her again. “Down on you? Want to know how many of us rejected the Ivy League?”
Why was he always like this? Always determined to piss her off. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“You had a chance to make something of your life, little sister. Something far away from here.”
“I didn’t want to be far away from here.”
“You should be far away from any conversation that involves Vex Manzani. You should be far away from that shitty local section, far away from that boss of yours that sends you on these insane, dangerous jobs—”
“He didn’t send me,” she asserted. “I found this story. I want this story. No one else has even noticed. I noticed. And I am not going to let it go because yet another man is short-sighted. People are dying—”
“And I don’t want you to be one of them!”
Why did they fight so much? It hadn’t always been this way… had it?
“Forget it,” she said after a tense pause. “I shouldn’t have come.”
“Im,” he said when she turned for the door. “Immie, I’m sorry, don’t run out of here.” She stopped. He sighed. “You’re my kid sister. I don’t want you near guys like that.”
“I’m not looking for a date. This is my job. You don’t think it’s important, I do.”
“If you think about writing a story on Hustle or the Manzani—”
“It’s not a story about the club. Why would I waste my time writing about that?”
Scrutinizing her, he took his time. “Aren’t there people better suited to this type of thing? What about the woman that wrote that other Manzani story? The one that’s been all over. She’s gotta be the go-to gal for shit like this.”
Her eyes cut to him over her shoulder. “Your father is my father, Ford.”
Shaking his head, he approached. “I was raised with Dad. Dad’s way. You stayed with Mom.” They’d made their choices when their parents separated. Having been only five, she didn’t remember, but that’s what she’d been told. At that same time, ten-year-old Ford was already a handful. He only wanted to be with their father: famed thief and general scoundrel. “This isn’t your world. Dad and me worked hard to make sure of it.”
They fought. They were different. Both true. But she loved her brother and never doubted he loved her too.
Breathing out, she let her shoulders fall, showing him what he wanted to see. “You’re right.” He smiled. “I get into these things and… I just want to be good at my job.”
