“What gives, guys?” I asked. “The two of you go into your bedroom with Melanie for ten minutes, and then she leaves. What aren’t you telling me now?”

I was alone with my brothers, and we had retreated out to the deck. Joe’s dog, Lucy, was out with Jade chasing a ball.

Talon cleared his throat. “Maybe we should just—”

Talon stopped abruptly. Had Joe nudged him? I wasn’t sure, but he could have.

“What is it, Tal?” I asked.

“It’s nothing,” he said.

“It’s not nothing. I’m sick of feeling like the odd man out around here. What’s going on?”

“You know everything we know,” Joe said soothingly. “And right now, I’m really concerned that we haven’t heard from Mills.”

“I am too,” Talon agreed. “Mathias has proved he can get to anyone. Look at poor Colin. I admit he’s an asshole for what he did to Jade—though I’m glad he did, or I wouldn’t have her. Still, he didn’t deserve what he got at Mathias’s hand.”

“You think Mathias has done something to Mills and Johnson?” I said.

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Talon said. “Nothing is off limits to him, and if he found out that Mills and Johnson were working for us…”

“Mills and Johnson can no doubt take care of themselves,” Joe said. “At least I hope they can.”

“I do too,” Talon said. “We don’t need any more casualties because of me.”

I tensed. I didn’t like when Talon put this all on himself. He was the least guilty of all of us, and he’d been through the most. “None of this is your fault, Tal.”

He raked his fingers through is hair. “If I’d just left it alone. Let sleeping dogs lie.”

“Then you wouldn’t be happily married now,” Joe said. “You deserve happiness, Tal. You deserve healing. Don’t take this on your shoulders.”

“Yeah, please don’t,” I agreed. “We all want you to be happy.” I gestured out to the green grass where Jade was playing with Lucy. “Look at all you have to live for now.”

“I know.” He nodded. “I know. Thanks, guys.”

“So,” Joe began. “We need to talk about the elephant in the room.”

I was pretty sure they were talking about Ruby and me. So I started to open my mouth to speak, but Joe continued.

“Dad. We need to figure out how Dad was involved in all of this.”

Good save. Of course. We’d recently found out that our father, Bradford Steel, former lover of Wendy Madigan, had been a member of the future lawmakers club at Tejon Prep School, along with Wade, Mathias, Simpson, Wendy, and Rodney Cates, Gina Cates’s father. In addition, he had been the financial backer for the club’s activities, which, as far as we knew, were masterminded by Theodore Mathias, Tom Simpson, and Larry Wade—Talon’s three abductors. Tom was dead and gone, and Larry wasn’t talking.

“I agree,” I said. “But how?”

“We go back to Larry Wade, for starters,” Joe said.

Tal rubbed at his forehead. “I can’t, Joe. I’m sorry.”

“You already faced him. That’s all you have to do. We understand you can’t do it again, don’t we, Ry?”

“Of course,” I said.

“But I do need someone to go with me. I’ll see if Melanie—”

“What about me?” I interjected.

Joe’s face went white. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Why the hell not? I’m just as much invested in this as you are. Maybe I want to face one of the motherfuckers who tortured my brother. Maybe I want to give him a fucking piece of my mind.”

“Ry—” Talon began.

“You want to stop me too? Really? What the hell is going on here, guys?”

“Nothing,” Joe said.

“Bullshit. You give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go confront our uncle. Just one reason that has merit, and I’ll consider it. Otherwise, I’m going.”

Joe and Talon exchanged a look. What kind of look, I wasn’t sure.

“You were there that day,” Joe said. “It could have been you.”

“So?” Could I face one of the men who’d tortured and raped my brother? Who would have tortured and raped me if not for Talon?

I’d do it. Joe had already faced our half uncle several times. He’d faced Tom Simpson. But Joe was strong. He’d always been the strongest of us.

“So…this might affect you more than you think,” Talon said.

“I don’t fucking care. You two have left me out of this long enough. I’m going.”

Joe sighed. “Since there’s no talking you out of it, how about this afternoon?”

“On a Saturday?”

He laughed. “There are no weekends in prison. Besides, I know the guards there. They’ll let us in.”

My stomach dropped. I was about to come face-to-face with one of the men who’d raped my brother.

Who would have raped me.

I swallowed. “Count me in.”

---

Larry Wade didn’t look anything like our mother, but then they were only half siblings. My mother had been dark-haired, dark-eyed, and gorgeous. Larry was graying-blond, balding, blue-eyed…and pretty far from gorgeous.

I stared at him. He didn’t look so scary.

Of course, as a ten-year-old boy, and with Larry wearing a black ski mask, Talon had no doubt seen him as a menace.

I cringed as acid slid up my throat like hot lava. I had to get hold of myself. I’d wanted to do this, after all.

Larry was gaunt, his cheeks hollow. One eye was blackened. Joe had prepared me, but still, his appearance shocked me.

He sat down with a plunk and looked at me. “You must be the other one.”

“I’m Ryan,” I said shakily.

“Great. Another Steel. Perfect.” He looked me over. “You have your mother’s nose.”

I did? No one had ever said that to me before. Marjorie was the only one of us who resembled our mother in the slightest.

“Enough, Uncle Larry,” Joe said. “We’re here for answers.”

“Then you’ll be disappointed, as always,” Wade said.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Joe said. “You already know how difficult I can make your life when I don’t get what I’m looking for.”

“I’m not talking about Wendy Madigan,” he said.

Wendy Madigan? Why would he bring her up? I looked to Joe, but he didn’t meet my gaze. “We are not going to talk about Wendy Madigan. Not at all.” He rolled his eyes toward me for a second. “Do you get my meaning?”

Wade arched his brow just a touch. “Sure. I get it.”

I didn’t. But whatever. I’d let Joe take the lead here.

“We’re here to talk about our father,” Joe continued. “We have reason to believe that he backed you, Simpson, and Mathias in your business—and I use the term loosely—dealings. I want to know how much money he gave you and what that business was.”

“This could take a while.”

“I don’t have anywhere to be. Do you?”

Wade sighed. “I was about to go there with you last time. Are you sure you want to do it now?”

Joe looked at me. Was I sure? Hell, no, I wasn’t sure. But we needed to figure out the role our father had played with these three. The role he might have played in Talon’s abduction.

Just the thought nauseated me. Our father might have played a role in our brother’s abduction.

What kind of a man had Bradford Steel been? Truly?

I’d known him as a strict disciplinarian but loving in his own way. He taught all his children the value of a job well done and of a dollar earned. He taught us the business of ranching and to not take our fortune for granted. He was tough on us. But he was fair.

Never had I imagined there might be more to him than met the eye.

He was a good man. A good father.

How could he have gotten involved with three psychopaths?

“Find Simpson or Mathias. They can tell you more about your father than I can.”

Joe scoffed. “You don’t know? Tom Simpson is dead.”

Larry jerked backward, his eyes wide, forehead wrinkled. “How?”

“Shot himself in the head, rather than face what he’d done.”

Wade shook his head. “Lucky bastard.”

Jonah went rigid, and I knew why. If Larry killed himself or was killed in prison by another inmate, we couldn’t use him to get information. Not that he’d been overly forthcoming so far, but he had led us to the future lawmakers club and our father’s involvement.

“Lucky? Maybe. Mostly he was a coward. After all was said and done, the iceman couldn’t face the music,” Joe said. “At least you’re facing it.”

Buttering Uncle Larry up? Interesting move, Joe.

“Look, we’re going to figure this out with or without you,” I said. “With would be easier. I know Joe has offered to get you legal counsel. That offer still stands. Why won’t you roll over? One of the guys is dead. What does Mathias have on you?”

“You have no idea what he’s capable of. What they’re all capable of.”

“All?” I asked. “Who do you mean?”

“The future lawmakers, of course.”

“Oh, we know,” Joe said. “An innocent woman is dead because she got us the yearbooks we needed. Yearbooks that had been erased from the online database and stolen from the school library. She stole them from the archives, and she paid with her life.”

For a moment, Larry Wade almost looked like he felt something akin to sorrow, but it faded away seconds later. “It went too far. All of it went too far.”

“What?” Joe said through clenched teeth. “What went too far, Larry?”

Wade shook his head. “I can’t do it. I can’t. Not even for the children of my sister. I barely knew her, you know.”

“For God’s sake,” Joe said. “We mean nothing to you. Don’t try to play the sister card.”

“Besides, Simpson is dead,” I said. “He can’t get to you.”

“Mathias isn’t dead. And he isn’t even the most dangerous.”

“Then who is?” I asked.

He stared at me eerily. “You have your mother’s nose,” he said again. Then he stood and motioned to the guard. “We’re done here.”