“How long has he been gone now, a week?”

“Nine days,” I replied, taking a sip of my spiked lemonade. It wasn’t nearly spiked enough for the day I’d been having.

Apparently, the knowledge that his mate was in a different hemisphere did things to an Alpha’s ability to function as a remotely productive human. I was keeping it together at work, if only barely. Normally, juggling all the CEOs I had to oversee on my end of the family portfolio was easier than I’d ever admit to my father or brothers, but I wasn’t myself without Ellis around. I found myself wondering if it had always been that way and I’d just gotten used to what it was like without him.

“Right.” Jayce eyed me warily, like he was trying to figure out what I knew they’d all been talking about behind my back ever since that family dinner. He probably knew something was up because I’d asked him to meet me at his old place in the city where he still stayed overnight from time to time if he had to work late. I was pretty damn sure that was where he and Wren really went when they dropped the kids off at my place and announced they had an “urgent visit” to pay one of Wren’s family members. Janie and I had pulled that trick too often to ask questions.

As far as my brothers knew, Ellis was still just the guy I’d bullied in high school and all the time I’d spent helping him through his crisis was my attempt at repaying some karmic debt. My father had kept his word about keeping my confidence, and I intended on keeping my word to Ellis. I’d hid my grief from my brothers for years, so it wasn’t like keeping secrets was anything new.

“Don’t give me that look.”

“I’m not giving you any kind of look,” he said, turning his attention back to his beer. It took all of four seconds before he added, “It’s just a little weird that you’re so bent out of shape about a guy you haven’t seen in fourteen years. That and the way you jumped down Wren’s throat about setting him up…”

“I didn’t jump down his throat,” I muttered. To be fair, if anyone so much as looked at Ellis the wrong way these days, I was ready to fight them. I was still arguing with myself about hiring someone to follow him around and document everything he did in Guatemala, but the small part of my brain that was left to reason told me that definitely qualified as stalking.

I just wasn’t sure I cared.

“Whatever is going on, you know you can tell me, right? Gray’s the judgmental prick in the family, not me.”

“And here I thought you two were getting along.”

“We are. He still drives me crazy,” he snorted. “But we’re family. Family does shit for each other. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you and anyone you cared about, big bro. You know that.”

“I do.” I cleared my throat. “That’s actually why I’m here.”

Curiosity mingled with concern on his face, but he listened intently. “What’s up?”

“You know that crew you were with in college? The ones you made me promise not to mention to Gray or dad?”

He snorted. “Yeah. Hard to forget. Still got a few scars from running with them, but that’s all in the past now.” He grinned. “Family man and all that.”

“Would it be un-family like if I asked for Pete’s number?”

“Pete?” Jayce cocked an eyebrow. “And here I didn’t think he was your type.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s all business, trust me on that.”

“What kind of business do you have with a hired gun, Reece? That’s a little beyond the scope of project management.”

I looked over my shoulder to make sure we were alone even though no one else would have reason to be at his old place. “The less you know, the better.”

Jayce’s eyes narrowed. “What have you gotten yourself into, Reece? Whatever it is, Pete doesn’t have any answers a guy like you needs.”

“It’s either him or I handle it myself.”

He fell silent, letting my words sink in. He took his phone out and turned it off, leaning over the table. “If you’re even willing to talk about this, I know there’s a reason, but you have to be honest with me. Who fucked up bad enough that you’d be willing to go to these lengths?”

“Like I said, it’s better if you don’t know the details.”

“You’ve gotta give me something, man. We’re talking about someone’s life.”

“All you need to know is that he has it coming.”

“So do a lot of people. That’s different from actually doing something about it.”

I clenched my jaw. “It’s Drew.”

“Drew Richards, that prick you used to be friends with?”

“He hurt someone I love. As long as he’s out there, that person isn’t going to feel safe.”

He went silent again, folding his hands and resting his elbows on the table in deep contemplation. “This is about Ellis, isn’t it? He’s not just part of your past. Something happened to him…”

The rage consumed me again and I nodded, afraid that speaking would let it out before it was time.

“Fuck,” he muttered, running a hand down his face. He stood and paced to the other side of the room. “Does Ellis know you’re planning on doing this?”

“No, and I’m only asking Pete instead of taking care of it instead of handling it myself because I want to keep him and Anika as far away from it as possible.”

“When?”

“He’s in town for the reunion next week. People drink, accidents happen.”

His face was unreadable. He was my little brother, and I hated myself for getting him involved in this shit, but there was no one else I trusted.

“You’re sure?” he demanded, looking me hard in the eye. “You’re absolutely sure?”

“I’m sure of Ellis, and I’m sure he’s not the only one Drew’s hurt.” He had a reputation that had preceded him into our thirties, but I’d never thought it was that bad. There had always been rumors among the omegas he associated with, but I made a vow to myself that I was going to start taking notice. It was obvious my own instincts wren’t enough to go off of. I could be sure I knew someone as an Alpha, but that didn’t mean I knew who he was behind closed doors, or that the way he was with me was how he was with omegas.

He nodded solemnly. “I’ll make the call.”

“I don’t want you any more involved in this, I mean it. Just give me Pete’s number.”

“Do you think this works like takeout, where you just call up and order a hit on a guy?” he scoffed. “Pete’s not gonna give you the time of day.”

“Forget it, then. I’ll handle it myself.”

“Oh, yeah? How? You gonna shoot him?” he challenged. “Poison his drink, cut his brakes?”

“I don’t —“

“I’m willing to bet Ellis is the only one who’s not gonna show up at that reunion. You think they’re not gonna think it’s weird timing that he just so happened to book a flight to Central America a couple of weeks before Drew dies under suspicious circumstances while attending a reunion at their old high school?”

“I didn’t think of that,” I grudgingly admitted.

“Of course you didn’t. You’re not a killer,” he muttered. “If we’re going to do this, we do it my way. When it’s done, it never happened. Do I make myself clear?”

I swallowed hard. I’d always been the one looking out for him and Gray, and I hated the way that dynamic had shifted upon Janie’s death. I’d shut them out for years because if I couldn’t be the big brother they needed, the last thing I wanted to be was a burden. I nodded and reminded myself that this was the only way Ellis could get the justice he deserved without facing the consequences of someone else’s crimes yet again. “Yeah. Crystal.”

“Good.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know how he’s gonna want to do it, but I know he’s going to tell you to go to the reunion. If you think you’re going to change your mind when you see him, I need to know now.”

“I’m not,” I said firmly.

“Then it’ll be taken care of.”

“When?”

“That’s not for you to worry about. My way, remember?”

I worked my jaw, fighting the pride that made me want to argue. “Yeah, alright.”

Once the matter was settled, the conversation drifted to lighter topics. I felt weird about discussing family dinner when we’d just made plans to end a man’s life, but I knew keeping this compartmentalized was the only way.

As I lay in bed that night, after reading my daughter a bedtime story and tucking her in, I stared up at the ceiling and asked myself if I was making a mistake.

For the first time, the answer was no.

* * *

I showed up at the reunion and, to my relief, Ellis was far from the only one missing. Drew was there, but he kept a distance from me, as always.

Now I knew why.

How could I have ever been that blind? He caught my eye from across the room where he had his arm around an omega who sure as hell wasn’t his fiancee and the one reason I had to wonder if what I was doing was wrong went out the window. He nodded and I raised my plastic cup in his direction before rejoining the conversation going on around me.

I didn’t see Pete anywhere, but if he was as good as Jayce claimed he was, that was probably a good sign. Drew was three sheets to the wind by the end of the night, like most of the guests, but he was the only one who decided to get behind the wheel. It was a quiet night and the reunion had run late, so I knew there wouldn’t be anyone else on the road.

It wasn’t until the next morning that news of the wreck that had taken place just half a mile away from the campus started spreading through town. I told myself there was a chance Pete hadn’t done anything at all. That karma or whatever equalizing force there was in the universe had finally just caught up to him.

It was a paltry attempt at assuaging a conscience that wasn’t all that troubled to begin with. At least, not on Drew’s account.

The next family dinner, Jayce’s eyes met mine for a second, and that was the closest we ever came to speaking of it. I’d always imagined I would be haunted with fitful sleep and fevered dreams, but I slept sounder than I had since Ellis had left town. In the end, it wasn’t all that hard to pretend like it had never happened. There was no vacuum caused by Drew’s death. It was as if everything had simply been restored to its natural balance.