“You really think he’s in love?” I asked as I tried to figure out where I wanted to sit.

Being home again was…strange. Especially since not much had changed. The only concession I could see to Jax’s presence was the abundance of electronics. Grandfather had always been old school. No gaming systems, no cell phones, no tablets. The only reason he’d conceded to a computer had been when he’d realized we needed one for school.

“I think he sounded exactly like you did when you called me about Addison,” Jax said.

He bypassed the old leather chair that had always been Grandfather’s and sat in a chair I didn’t recognize. It fit with the décor but was newer. I finally settled at the near end of the couch, an eerie sense of déjà vu coming over me as I remembered sitting in this exact seat hundreds of times through my childhood and adolescence.

A short, curvy brunette waltzed into the room and leaned down to give Jax a brief kiss. “Your brother now thinks he’s quite the expert on love.”

He reached up and caught the back of her neck, pulling her back down for a deeper kiss that left her flushed and flustered.

“Tell Gilly I said that if she convinces you to buy more of that lingerie I like, she can buy herself some shoes on me.”

Syll darted a look at me, embarrassment staining her cheeks red. “That’s a dangerous bargain,” she said. “You know how she loves her shoes.”

Jax grinned, gripping his fiancée’s hip possessively. “I do, but I love you in that lace and silk even more.”

“I need to go,” Syll said softly. She leaned forward and kissed him again. “And you need to talk to your brother.”

It could have been an innocuous comment, stating the obvious, but something in her tone had me shifting in my seat. When Jax asked me to come over, I’d assumed he wanted to talk about my move, but now I wondered if there was something more behind it.

“It was nice to meet you, Cai,” Syll said as she walked away. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon.”

“Good to meet you too,” I said. As she disappeared, I turned back to Jax. “She’s great.”

He gave me an easy smile that I hadn’t seen on his face since before our parents and sister died. I made a mental note to thank Syll for making this possible. If it hadn’t been for her, I didn’t doubt that Jax would’ve stayed the way he’d always been, hiring lawyers to try to get around Grandfather’s stipulations rather than being willing to try to patch things between us.

“How did things go yesterday?” Jax asked, sipping his glass of scotch.

Highland Park, I assumed. It had been Grandfather’s favorite.

“Really well,” I answered. “Dr. Fenster isn’t happy that I requested a transfer, but he talked to his contacts here and got things moving. He gave me a great recommendation too. The meeting went well. Dr. Harmon said he’d give me the official confirmation by Monday afternoon, but unofficially, the transfer has gone through.”

“That’s great,” Jax said sincerely. “And Addison?”

Just the mention of her was enough to make me smile. “She’s coming with me. I hadn’t been certain I could get her internship transferred, but once I explained how her thesis and my own work were closely related, Dr. Harmon agreed to make room for her up here.”

“I look forward to meeting her,” Jax said.

“I think she and Syll are going to get along. They’ll bond over having to take care of us.”

He laughed and nodded. “That sounds about right.” He took another drink from his glass. “If you need any help finding a place, let me know.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that.” Then I added, “I’m just glad my lease is up at the end of the month.”

“What about your girl?” he asked. “Are you two looking for separate places, or together?”

I held my glass between both hands and stared down into the amber liquid. “I want to ask her to live with me,” I admitted, “but I think it’s too fast.”

“Cai, you’re talking to the man who proposed to a woman after knowing her for a month. And most of that month, she was pissed at me.”

My mouth lifted in a partial smile. “Good point.”

“Do you know where you’re going to stay if you don’t have a place before you start work up here?” he asked. “Because you’re both welcome to stay here. I’ve cleaned out most of Grandfather’s things from the floor he used. It has its own private entrance, and we put in a kitchenette in one of the rooms.”

I swallowed hard, touched by the surprising offer. “Thank you. I’ll probably take you up on that.”

Jax drained his glass, his expression becoming serious. This was it, my gut told me, the real reason he asked me to stop by before I returned to Atlanta. He stood and walked over to the curio in the corner. He took something out of the middle drawer and brought it over to me.

“I received this in the mail three weeks ago.” He returned to his seat.

I recognized the handwriting, and my heart gave a painful squeeze. Grandfather had left Jax a letter. Why, then, hadn’t I gotten one?

I took the letter out of the envelope and began to read, hoping for an answer to my question.

Jax,

Upon the event of my death…

The longer I read, the more I wished this was some awful joke. But I knew that neither Jax nor Grandfather had that sort of sense of humor. When I finished it, I slumped back in the chair and looked up at my brother.

“What the hell?”

Jax nodded, his expression grim. “That was pretty much my reaction too.”

“He hired a PI because he thought the car accident wasn’t an accident.” I felt like I needed to repeat it, as if it would make a difference.

“Bartholomew Constantine,” Jax said. “I’ve talked to him.”

I had hundreds of questions, and the one that popped out surprised me. “It’s been twenty-four years. He’s still around?”

“He’d just opened his business when Grandfather hired him,” Jax explained. “He’s in his fifties now, and he’s got a thriving practice. Nothing dicey in his past, nearly one hundred percent client satisfaction, and the few complaints I could find seemed like petty things.”

“I don’t see what that has to do with Grandfather’s suspicions,” I said. “He clearly didn’t find enough evidence to convince Grandfather that he was wrong.”

Jax was silent for a moment, his hands clasped in front of him, his posture tense. His eyes met mine, and they burned with an intensity I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“The thing is, Cai, after talking to Constantine, I don’t think Grandfather was wrong at all. I think someone killed our family.”