Or maybe…
“I need to have a private convo with Liam,” I said, rather than assume. “That going to be a problem?”
Milo cut a look in my direction. “Long as you’re with Liam, he’ll watch your back. I can visit Ivy or talk to Rome and Freddie.”
“You want to talk her out of Eastern Europe.” It wasn’t a question. Knowing Emersyn? It wouldn’t happen. She and Lainey were cut from the same bolt of stubborn cloth.
Yet, I couldn’t fault him for the effort. Emersyn had suffered more than enough at the hand of her bastard uncle. Dangling her like chum for the sharks was not on my list of good ideas. Ever.
“Yes, but I won’t. She’s already made up her mind. She still has to sell it to the boyfriends…” But his long sigh suggested that wouldn’t be difficult enough for his liking.
“Sisters are hard,” I said, pulling out of the garage and accelerating. Another hour and traffic would fill these roads, but we had time to get to the high-end hotel where Liam had parked them. “But worth it.”
“Kind of my feeling on the subject,” Milo admitted. “As much as I want to keep her far away from this dark shit… I know she knows more about it than I do. I also know, she has the right to say what she can and can’t handle.”
“Long as you get the same right,” I told him. “What you can handle, what I can… it’s a far cry from what I’m prepared to see Lainey have to fight. Or Ezra for that matter.” Honestly, now that I’d finally started paying attention, I couldn’t not see it. I’d tried to protect Ezra the same as I had Lainey.
It was why I cut him out when Liam and I faked my death. It was why I didn’t want him following me to Waldemar or any of the other tasks ahead of us… The little shit kept trying to throw himself on the fire for us and that needed to stop too.
All of it did.
We had to be a team. They had to be involved. It was why I left them a note about where I was going. Why I didn’t argue about Milo going with me and why I needed to have this damn conversation in the first place.
“Yeah,” Milo said, then scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’d take every single blow she’s ever had to endure. Every damn one.”
“For what it’s worth… so would I.” I sighed. “I always knew it was bad. I loathed Bradley Sharpe. My father admired him, that was enough to make me dislike him. But there was always… something about him. If I’d realized just how bad it was…”
“You offered to marry her to get her out,” Milo said, the corner of his mouth kicking up. “Could have sunk yourself with Lainey forever.”
“Maybe, but it protected her to protect Em too. Emersyn doesn’t have a bad bone in her body. Lainey… she was never going to stop going to her and trying to protect her.” Bradley Sharpe would have tried to kill her or worse… No, getting Emersyn out and securing her with my name was the only option I had at the time.
“Look,” Milo said as we pulled up to the hotel. It was one of mine. Pretty sure Liam hadn’t realized that when he checked in, but I liked it cause it meant I could keep an eye on their security too. “We agree on more things than we ever fought over in the past. I can’t disagree with a single choice you made where Ivy or Mayhem are concerned.”
“Does that chafe to admit?” I could give him shit. I really could, but this wasn’t about that. Not in the slightest. It was about… finding that common ground. Fuck knew we were finding it with Cavendish of all people. Hardigan was a lot easier to like.
“Nope,” he said, then pushed his door open as the valet opened my door. I handed him my keys.
“Keep it close,” I ordered, then added, “please.” Staff was here to help, treating them with anything less than respect encouraged them to betray you.
“Yes, sir.”
Milo was a half-step behind me as I headed toward the interior. It was still early and a wall of warmth struck as we stepped inside. Liam rose as we entered and folded up the newspaper he’d been reading.
“Coffee,” Liam said, nodding to the gourmet shop that occupied one corner. There was already a line. The three of us stood there, waiting our turn. Then Liam sent Milo up to the room with a tray of coffees for them while he and I took our coffees. “Where?”
I glanced back at the lobby. There was plenty of seating, but I wanted some privacy for this. “Follow me.”
One upside of owning the hotel, I knew it inside and out. We took the escalator up to the next floor. There was a steakhouse here that didn’t open until the afternoon. Like the rest of the hotel, I owned it.
The security guard who kept an eye on the level unlocked the door for me and then absented himself. We carried our coffee in and claimed one of the more luxurious booths in the back. One call and I shut off the cameras to this part of the restaurant.
“The cloak and dagger is getting impressive,” Liam commented in the drollest of tones.
“I’m not quite the exhibitionist you are.” I hadn’t forgotten his particular affinity for cameras everywhere.
“Better to keep an eye on my space when I’m not there.” Liam wasn’t going to apologize for it. Not that I expected one.
We’d been honed by the world, well worlds for him, we’d grown up in.
“I prefer my privacy as well as freedom from potential extortion.”
“You say potato…” He grinned and I rolled my eyes. “Anyway… what’s up?” Raising his coffee cup, he saluted me once before he took a drink.
The day before, I’d sauntered around the point. We’d actually had some business to discuss, but that wasn’t why I’d scheduled the meeting. We didn’t need to talk in person for most things.
“How did you know you could do it?” I cut to the chase. “You, Emersyn, your brother, and all the other guys?” There were seven of them in total. They were all with Em. She was with them. That relationship saw her thrive in a way I couldn’t define nor would I question.
She was good for Liam too. There had always been a darkness in him. A darkness I understood, and respected. He was also…happier. So however they were making it work, it worked.
“I wanted her happy more than I wanted her to myself,” Liam said as if it were the easiest thing in the world. “Almost didn’t happen though… Not because of the guys, but Rome.”
I frowned.
“Rome has never wanted anyone for himself. She was the first person I’ve ever seen him actively seek out. I wasn’t going to fight my brother and I wasn’t going to step on what they could have.” He shrugged. “Eventually, they both smacked me around, but the thing is… I want her to be happy. Her happiness is all I want. Hers and Rome’s. The other guys ‘cause they are family. What we have works. If it weren’t them though…”
Liam shook his head.
“You wouldn’t have ever shared her with me.” It wasn’t a question. The flat look he gave me promised this was not a road we needed to spend much time on. “I never wanted her that way, but even if I had…”
