The hushed voice roused Stavros from sleep, and he lifted his head with a grunt, blinking when the overhead light burned his eyes.

“Make it happen,” Daniel growled.

Stavros blinked again and when his eyes adjusted, he spotted Daniel standing with his phone to his ear as he buttoned up his shirt. Stavros glanced at the clock. 4.22 a.m. He lurched upright.

“It is not a request, Agent Hutchins. Do not mistake my calm for forgiveness. That would be a grave error on your part.” He turned then, noticed Stavros watching him, and said into the phone, “You have one hour.” He ended the call and slid the phone into his pocket as he watched Stavros.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” He cupped Stavros’ face. “I have to go.”

For the past week, Daniel had been in his bed every night. A first for Stavros. Except for Bruce, the people he brought to his bed never lasted a full week. He’d prided himself on variety. But who cared about that with Daniel Nieto on his fucking knees and his mouth open?

He stayed silent as Daniel sank onto the bed as he put on his shoes. He must have sensed Stavros’ disquiet, because he turned to him when he was finished, one hand touching Stavros’ knee.

“My brother was attacked.” His gaze was hard, cold.

Shit. “Is Levi—”

“I have more than one brother, you know.” Daniel stood as Stavros gaped up at him.

“Wait. Antonio?” The brother in prison? “Antonio is the one who got attacked?”

“Sí. He is not good.” A ping sounded and Daniel pulled out his phone, glancing at it before nodding shortly to Stavros. “I will be in contact.” He walked into the bathroom, and Stavros called after him.

“You didn’t ask if I’m behind it.” If he’d been in Daniel’s shoes, he’d be his first suspect. He had gone after Levi and the nephew, Toro.

“No, I did not,” Daniel reappeared and approached Stavros on the bed. Bending, he brushed his lips over Stavros’ forehead. When he made to straighten, Stavros caught him by the nape, keeping him at eye level.

“Don’t you want to know if I ordered a hit on your brother?”

“No.” Daniel kissed him. Hard and quick, tasting like toothpaste and banked lust.

Stavros stared at him when he pulled back, searching his gaze. He saw Daniel Nieto in there, the ruthless killer. And he also saw his lover. He didn’t see any doubts or any questions regarding Stavros’ role in his brother’s attack.

Still, Stavros told him, “I didn’t do it.”

Daniel smiled. Smiled as his knuckles grazed Stavros jaw then dipped to his throat. “I know this.”

“How?” How could he know?

“I know you.” One last kiss and he pulled away.

“Wait. Shit.” Stavros shook his head to clear it. “I keep meaning to tell you, Felipe Guzmán wants you dead.”

Daniel held himself still. “Lots of people want me dead, diablo.” His face was expressionless when he said, “You did, not too long ago.”

“Just listen.” Stavros quickly replayed the conversation he had with Guzmán.

“I will handle it,” Daniel said.

“How? He’s her brother. Can you hurt her brother?” he asked softly.

Daniel’s jaw tightened. “I have to go.”

Fuck. Fine. “So go.”

Daniel stood there in the doorway for a few more heartbeats, watching him. Then he turned away, walked off, and Stavros didn’t move until he heard the elevator doors close.

He flopped back down onto the pillows.

Goddamn it.

* * *

Van waved Daniel inside the house, and Levi was right there, concern on his features as he waited for Daniel to speak.

Three days he’d been focused on nothing but Antonio.

“He is stable,” he told Levi shortly. Stable was the best the doctors could do. The full truth of how Antonio got attacked wasn’t known. It might never be. He hadn’t been recognizable in that narrow bed in the hospital they’d snuck Daniel into after hours. Swollen from head to toe.

His eyes were gritty, muscles aching. He hadn’t gotten to sleep much, snatching short naps on an uncomfortable bed in a motel not too far from the hospital. He’d left just to see Levi, to reassure him face-to-face because his little brother needed that. But he’d be going back there, he had to stay close to Antonio.

For Toro.

For himself, too.

He’s stay to make sure his brother was out of the woods, then he’d finish this thing. No more waiting.

In Levi’s living room, he accepted a beer and sank onto the couch with a sigh.

“Talk to me,” Levi said. He sat opposite Daniel, leaning forward expectantly. He was scared, Daniel saw it on his face. Levi didn’t hide his vulnerabilities, must be a side effect of not growing up with their father.

“He was ambushed in his cell.” Daniel stared at the beer in his hand as he recounted what he’d learned from Syren, his go-between with the Feds. As much as Daniel hated to admit it, especially coming after Syren’s betrayal, the man was invaluable. “It is suspected the guards were in on it as well.” He drew in a breath, stretching his legs out in front of him.

Levi sat back, eyes filled with sorrow. He’d never met Antonio, and yet here he sat, worrying over him in the same way as Daniel. Family was family in the end, no?

“What will you do?” Van sat next to Levi. His expression was different. This ex Fed, he understood the thirst for blood and revenge. And he knew, judging from his cautious gaze, what Daniel was about to say next.

“I’ll handle it.”

“Alone?” Levi asked. “Do you even know who’s behind this?” He reached over, grabbing Daniel’s free hand as he shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You can’t do this by yourself.”

Even being married to a man like Donovan Cintron, Levi remained naïve to the game. “Alone is the best way to do most things, hermanito,” he said. “I have been doing that way for a long time.” He would continue to do it that way. “When I leave here, I won’t return,” he told Levi sternly.

His little brother jerked as if Daniel had landed a physical blow. “You can’t do that.”

“Do you want to know why I’ve made myself untouchable? Why I’m suddenly back in the light, walking the streets instead of being locked up alongside Antonio? It’s not because I haven’t done every single thing they accuse me of.” He shifted closer, sitting right on the edge of the couch as he stared into Levi’s eyes. “There’s a silent threat hanging over their heads, a threat that I’ll kill everyone they love and leave them alive just to experience that pain. That guilt.”

The shock in Levi’s gaze hurt him deep inside, but his brother had a right to know who he was. What he was capable of, and why in the end he had to disappear again. He ignored Van’s glare, and continued.

“It works, because to them I have no one to live for. Nothing to lose.” But that wasn’t true at all, was it? “I went from having no one to having you and Toro and—” Stavros’ face flashed in his mind. “I knew better,” he admitted grimly. “But there’s nothing like the draw of the warmth of family to make you want to come in from the cold.”

“Daniel—”

He held up a hand with a shake of his head. “You need to not be my brother, because being my brother means things will happen to you. Like what Stavros did. Like what’s happening with Antonio.” He looked to Van. He’d understand and he’d make Levi get it. “Your family comes first. It must come before my wanting to have you in my life. I can’t have you in my life and keep you safe. I must choose.”

“No.” Levi jumped to his feet.

“Babe, listen to him.” Van grabbed Levi’s hand, holding him in place. “He’s right.”

“I don’t accept that.” Levi jerked Van’s hand away. Familiar stubbornness glinted in his brown eyes. Their mother’s eyes. He stared down at Daniel. “Van, give us a minute.”

Van did, stroking a soothing hand down Levi’s back, murmuring into his ear something too low for Daniel to hear then walking out the room. The love Van obviously had for Levi was a tangible thing, which made it possible for Daniel to accept the man in his brother’s life after everything he’d done to hurt Levi.

When Van disappeared from view, Levi sat back down. Gaze heavy on Daniel’s face, he asked, “What about Stavros, are you walking away from him, too?”

Stavros was the very last thing Daniel wanted to discuss. He’d forced himself to focus on nothing but Antonio since he left Stavros sated and rumpled in his bed, refusing to break down and contact him even though he wanted to. So very badly.

“Answer me,” Levi said sharply.

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “Does that tone work on your husband?”

“Yes.”

“Then use it on him. I am not talking about Stavros.”

Levi regarded him for countless moments. “You care for him.”

Daniel cared about the abused animals they showed on the late night infomercials. He cared about the impending storm that might impede his flight back to California. What he felt for the man who’d put his wife in her grave and lifted Daniel up out of his was impossible to explain. He didn’t bother trying.

“Daniel.”

Something in the way Levi said his name reminded him of Stavros. The way he stared at Daniel with everything vulnerable in his eyes. He shot to his feet.

“Sí. I am walking away from him, too.” Disappointment filtered through Levi’s gaze, and Daniel frowned. “What is it?”

“Just…” Levi shrugged. “He’s good for you.”

Daniel barked a rusty laugh. “The man who killed my wife. Who kidnapped you? That man? You think he is good for me?” How did that make sense? How could it be true?

“He gets you.”

“He touches me with hands stained red with my wife’s blood.” His voice got all gritty, like loose rocks sliding over each other. Just as rough. He tried to make Levi understand what Daniel still couldn’t. “His eyes, they’re the last thing she saw. And when he looks at me, I disappear.” He knew his gaze was pleading as he looked at his brother, probably hoping Levi could make sense of what Daniel couldn’t. “Her absence created this deep black hole inside me.” Hand on his chest, he told Levi, “But his presence makes that hole not so big. Or deep. Or dark.”

A small smile touched Levi’s face. “You love him.”

Did he? “He is—” His voice broke and he glanced away, failing at an attempt to compose himself. “He is my want, and my need, and my danger.”

“Yet you want to walk away.”

He met Levi’s gaze again. Whispered, “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s easier.” The cold coil of dread in his gut put doubt to those words, but he knew better. He’d experienced it before. “Because I cannot lose again.”

“Daniel.”

“Because I’m afraid that what I feel for him might burn brighter, hotter, than what I felt for her.” Simply the thought of that threatened to put him on his knees. She deserved better. After everything he’d put her through, all the ways in which he’d betrayed her, she deserved better. Daniel gathered himself and patted Levi on the cheek before pulling him into an embrace. “It is better like this.”

For whom, he didn’t yet know. But it had to be true.

Levi’s arms came up to wrap around him.

Daniel kissed his temple, then whispered. “You have our mother’s eyes. And her soul.”

Levi made a wet sound and clung to him. Daniel clung right back. Their mother had instilled a love of family in the two sons she raised. Maybe ironic since she’d hidden a pregnancy, birth and their third son from her husband, but Daniel knew it was that sense of family that drove her actions. She wanted more for them than the life their father offered.

She’d succeeded with Levi. He was the best of the Nieto brothers, but she’d never know that. Levi would never know her. That last part had Daniel hugging his brother because he’d thought—

He slapped Levi’s back then released him as he cleared his throat. “I will have someone keep you up to date on Antonio.”

Levi blinked red-rimmed eyes at him. “Okay.” He nodded. “Yeah.”

Despite the difficulty of walking away from his brother, Daniel smiled at him as Van walked back into the room. “I’m proud of you. Antonio is, too. Our mother—” His voice broke when Levi’s chin trembled. “She would be too.”

“Everything okay?” Van glanced at Levi then frowned. “Babe, what—” He clutched Levi, and Daniel took that as his time to exit.

“Take care of him,” he told Van. He left as Levi turned into his husband’s embrace.