I awoke, stretching. The aroma coming from the kitchen was making my mouth water. Smelled like eggs and coffee. And that sounded great.

I sat up and looked around.

Ruby was over by the dresser, staring at her phone. She was wearing my black cotton shirt, and oh my God…she couldn’t have looked more delectable in sapphire silk and lace. My cock hardened, but before I called her over, I stopped myself. Something was wrong. Her body looked tight, and not in a good way.

“Everything okay, baby?” I asked.

She cleared her throat. “Yes. Fine. I made breakfast.”

“So I smelled.” I smiled.

“I let the dog out and fed him too.” Her voice was stilted. “I’ll go out in the kitchen and get the food ready for you.”

I got up, used the bathroom, and then put my jeans on. I wandered out to the kitchen barefoot.

Ruby was seated already, and two plates and two cups of coffee sat on the table.

“Looks great,” I said, taking a seat.

“Mmm,” she said, taking a sip of coffee.

The omelet was lukewarm but was still delicious and perfectly made. She had said she’d been cooking forever. Not everyone could make an omelet. God knew I couldn’t. I screwed it up every time.

I was nearly done before I realized she hadn’t touched hers.

“Not hungry?”

She looked up as if startled. “Not really. Hey, I’m sorry to do this to you, but I have to leave. Something has come up at work.”

“Oh.” I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice. “If this is about last night…”

“No. I promise you it isn’t. It’s work related. Something I have to look into right away.”

“All right. I’ll miss you.”

She smiled timidly. “I’ll miss you too. I really will.” She finally took a bite of her eggs and ate about half of the omelet before she stood. “I’ll clean up in here. Then I need to get moving.”

“Baby, don’t worry about it. I have a housekeeper.”

“Oh?” Her brows arched. “I keep forgetting how loaded you are.”

“It does come with some benefits. So don’t worry about the mess.”

“All right. If you say so.” She wandered down the hallway.

I got up, put our plates in the sink, and then went to the bedroom, thinking I might catch her in the shower. By the time I got there, though, she was nearly all the way dressed.

“No shower?” I asked.

“No. I mean, I already washed the world from my shoulders—or tried to, at least—in the middle of the night. I figured I could skip it this morning. I’m in a hurry anyway.”

I pulled her to me. “You’re not getting out of here without giving me a kiss.” I smashed my lips down onto hers.

She struggled for a bit but then opened for me.

What was wrong?

Surely this still wasn’t about last night.

I drew her out with the kiss, and the old Ruby seemed to be returning, until she pulled away abruptly.

“I’m sorry. This can’t wait.”

“All right. Can I see you tonight?”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to play that by ear.”

“Baby, what’s going on? You can tell me.”

“Official police business.” She looked down at her feet.

Ruby wasn’t one not to look me in the eye. Was she lying to me? I lifted her chin with my finger and forced her blue gaze to mine. “Official, huh?”

She looked downward. “Yeah.”

“Look at me,” I said.

She met my gaze.

“Don’t lie to me again.”

“I’m not—”

I shushed her with my fingers. “You’re about to do it again. Look, if you need to leave, I get it. But don’t lie to me.”

She sighed. “All right. It’s not official business. It’s unofficial business.” This time her gaze was not deterred.

“About your father?”

She looked down again.

“Hey,” I said. “It’s okay.”

She cleared her throat. “Not exactly about my father, but he is definitely involved. I just have to look into some stuff. Get a few numbers traced.”

“Do you have anyone in your office working with you?”

“No.”

“Then how did this come up first thing in the morning?”

She pulled away and grabbed her purse and her jacket. “I don’t have any more time to discuss this. Just…call me later. Okay?”

And without another word, she left.

---

I invited myself over to Talon and Jade’s for lunch and then invited Joe and Melanie to join us. Marj was in the city for her cooking class and wouldn’t be home until the evening. I wanted to pick their brains about Ruby and Theodore Mathias. I hadn’t heard any news from Mills and Johnson since we’d gotten back from Jamaica, not even on the number I’d asked them to trace.

“That’s odd,” Melanie said, as we sat in the kitchen eating sandwiches Talon’s housekeeper had prepared for us. “He got right back to me when I asked him to trace the number Jonah was getting those stalking texts from.”

“I know,” I said. “That’s what’s so troubling. I’ve left several voice mails for him and his partner, but nothing.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard from them since before we left either,” Talon said. “And he usually checks in every couple days, even if there’s nothing new to report.”

Talon was the one who’d originally hired Mills and Johnson to figure out who’d left the rose on Jade’s pillow all those months ago. Turned out it had been Felicia, threatened into doing so by who we now thought had been Theodore Mathias. He’d been trying to frame both Larry Wade and Colin Morse, Jade’s old boyfriend, for the break-in. Why? Larry Wade was obvious. He was a scapegoat—and guilty as hell anyway, as one of the three who had abducted and abused Talon. We’d ended up catching him on our own. But Colin Morse—we hadn’t figured out that part of the mystery yet. He was just some poor sap who’d left Jade at the altar.

Colin had ended up being kidnapped, raped, and tortured by Mathias and Tom Simpson, who was now dead. Joe had found him in the old house where they’d kept Talon all those years ago.

Colin had some part in this… Or his father did. Ted Morse had turned out to be some kind of mercenary who’d tried to extort money from us by claiming that Joe had been the one who raped and tortured Colin.

Some piece of work.

Would we ever find all the answers? Find the pieces to complete the puzzle?

I wasn’t sure.

I’d been wondering lately if we’d be better off just letting it die. Talon was healing, Jonah was healing, and they were both happily married now. We’d brought two of the culprits to justice.

Why tempt fate?

But Ruby had changed my mind. The last of the three, Theodore Mathias, was Ruby’s father. He had to be caught. Even if Talon no longer needed that closure, Ruby did.

So by God, I would see Mathias behind bars…or better yet, in his grave.

“That’s not like them,” Joe was saying.

Like what? Oh, right. We’d been talking about not hearing from Mills and Johnson for a while.

“We could go to their offices,” I said.

“What offices?” Joe raked his fingers through his hair.

“You mean they don’t have…”

Talon shook his head. “Nope. All they have is cell numbers, which change every now and then. Mills has changed his twice since we’ve been working with them. Johnson once.”

“And it never occurred to either of you that that was a little, I don’t know, weird?”

“Nah,” Talon said. “They explained it when I first hired them. They work on the good side, but they have to break some rules to do it. The police know it. That’s why they recommend them. They can do things the police can’t, and they get away with it.”

“So they break the law.” I shook my head. “They’re criminals.”

“Yeah. And we’re good with that, Ry,” Joe said. “It’s not like they commit murder. They hack into databases. They break into records. They don’t assault people or hurt anyone in any way. Sometimes the end justifies the means.”

Ruby would hate this. She was a cop, for God’s sake. Then again, she wanted to bring her father to justice.

“I’m really sorry we didn’t discuss all this with you at the time,” Talon said. “It was your busy season. No one wanted to bother—”

“For fuck’s sake! I’m your little brother. I’ve seen what all of this has done to both of you. You didn’t think I’d let the fucking wine wait?” I shook my head. “I can’t believe this. Why would you keep shit from me?”

“We didn’t,” Joe said, his voice calm. “We didn’t keep anything big from you. Just that Mills and Johnson sometimes leave their scruples at home. What’s the big deal, as long as they get the job done?”

“The big deal is that I would have liked to have known. You’re springing this on me now, and…” I sighed. And what? I was pissy because Ruby was lying to me? Because my brothers had lied to me by omission?

“I’m just sick of the lies,” I said. “All the goddamned lies.”

“Ryan,” Jonah said, “just what are you talking about here? We haven’t lied to you. You know that.”

No, they hadn’t, although Joe’s voice was a little off. I attributed it to him being a little miffed that he thought I was accusing him of lying to me. “I know that. But…”

“What is it?”

“I think Ruby is lying to me.”

“About what?” Melanie piped in. “Are things getting serious between you two?”

“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. “I just know she’s lying to me. She doesn’t look me in the eye when she’s lying. She left earlier today—”

“Wait a minute. You were with her last night?” Jonah said.

“Yeah, not that it’s any of your business.”

“That’s great, bro,” Talon said.

This was getting way off track. “It was just one night. Anyway, we were supposed to spend the weekend together, but she decided she needed to leave to handle something work related. Then she said it wasn’t work related, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was.”

“Probably something to do with her father,” Joe said.

“Then why wouldn’t she tell me that? I, of all people, would understand. We want her father caught too.”

“Maybe she was just in a hurry,” Melanie suggested. Then her phone buzzed. She looked at it. “Sorry. I have to take this.” She left the kitchen.