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“I don’t like this,” he said.
A chill ran down my spine.
Raphael had uttered the same words to me in the past, right before our father tried to sell me off. My brother had been secretly communicating with Gabe, who’d already broken away from the family business. On Raphael’s warning, Gabe had rescued us both.
“The video panicked me,” I admitted. “But it doesn’t necessarily mean that someone’s after me.”
“Seriously?” Jackson’s voice cut through the hubbub of the others talking and drawing their own conclusions.
I brought my gaze to his.
He raised a hand to count on his fingers. “Worst-case scenario is someone who wants to do ye harm has an alert out on your name and saw the video. They find out the area where ye work and the car ye drive. They proved that by showing up and getting in a lucky hit. It’s no big stretch from there to finding out where ye sleep at night.”
There was nothing of heat or any kind of recognition of what we’d done in how he looked at me. Why the hell had I kissed him?
It made me want to be argumentative.
I cocked my head. “So many guns being jumped. Following that logic, he doesn’t actually know where I work. There are three ski and snowboarding centres around here, and Bridgette’s video doesn’t show which. Next, my car isn’t registered to the castle, so he can’t find out where I live.”
“Daisy was almost kidnapped. A man came after her who once was interested in ye. Landon Larson. Employee of an organised crime business.” Jackson’s gaze bored into me.
Ben took Daisy’s hand, the reminder presumably affecting him.
I shrugged. “Right, so let’s say Larson pieced together the clues and came here. If he had any skills, he wouldn’t have blown his only lead.”
Jackson paused like he was considering my point. “When I drove past, I couldn’t tell if there was anyone in your car. It was too dark.”
For a moment, everyone went quiet.
Well, shit.
The picture he painted was pretty scary. Some guy out hunting for me spotted my car and crashed into it, with only bad intent.
“Then the trail goes cold for him. I’ll be careful at work,” I said slowly. “Make sure I’m not followed home.”
His forehead crinkled. “Why put yourself in danger at all?”
“You mean cancel my lessons?”
“Exactly. Stay out of sight until we’ve worked this out.”
I knew something he didn’t. Well, I suspected something. My employer at the snowboarding centre was Effie, my older brother’s wife. A few months ago, Gabe had said something in passing about kids that made me think he and Effie were trying to get pregnant. Then last week, she’d cleared her schedule of the more challenging classes and gave up the chance of a rare winter paragliding trip, despite the conditions being perfect.
I was pretty certain that soon, they’d make their announcement.
I’d be an auntie.
There was no way I’d leave her high and dry and forced into a bigger workload. I’d also never steal their thunder or guess in front of an audience. Their secret was safe with me.
“I can’t just quit based on this. Your scenario was the worst case. There could be a hundred other explanations.”
“Luckily, information gathering is our bag,” Ben interrupted. “Jackson, what did ye see of the other car?”
His employee flattened his lips. “Next to nothing. I was focused on getting Leo home. Couldn’t even be sure of the colour.”
Ben drummed his fingers on his knee. “But you’ll have dashcam footage.”
Jackson took in a sharp breath then leapt to his feet. He exited the room, my brother jogging after him. Daisy said something to Ben about some kind of safety routine for me, but I inched forward to peer out of the living room door. In the octagonal hallway, the two men were speaking. Jackson’s hostile demeanour had dropped, and pure emotion played out in his expression. Raph said something to him that made him shake his head, a hand to his eyes.
