“With gluten and syrup?” Hadley asked, peering over the railing from the second floor.
“Get inside,” Brick snapped at William. A rage so fierce bubbled in his blood he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to control it.
His own father baited the trap. Warren Vorhees would track his wife right to Brick’s door. Right to Remington.
“Come on,” Remi said softly, coaxing Camille across the threshold.
Brick watched, helpless, as she walked stiffly, carefully, like a woman decades older. There was a pained weariness in her gaze as it landed on his face.
“I’m so sorry to drop by unannounced like this,” she said. Even through a split lip and bruised jaw, she had polish and breeding written all over her.
“Kimber, can you take my friend Camille back to the kitchen and make her some tea while I get her room ready?” Remi asked.
“Tea with bourbon. And my sister and kids made cookies yesterday,” Kimber told Camille as she guided the woman away.
Brick’s throat was closing in on itself, fury choking him. He couldn’t even look his father in the eyes.
Before he could force out any of the words that clogged his throat, Remi had walked into his father’s arms and wrapped him in a hug. “Thank you, Mr. Callan,” she whispered. “Thank you for bringing my friend to me. You saved her life.”
It was the tears bright in Remi’s eyes that had Brick putting a stopper in his anger.
His father hugged her back awkwardly, a myriad of emotions flickering over his face. Awe. Embarrassment. Gratitude.
His Remi didn’t see a criminal, a con man. She saw a man who brought her friend home.
“I know it’s not ideal,” William said. “But he went after her, and I couldn’t walk away. Couldn’t leave her there.”
“You did exactly the right thing, and I’ll be grateful to you for the rest of my life. You knew she’d be safe here. You knew Brick would keep her safe.”
His father bobbed his head before looking to gauge Brick’s reaction.
Remi pressed a kiss on his whiskered cheek, then did the same to Brick. “Be kind,” she whispered to him before running up the stairs.
William Callan II looked much older than the last time Brick had seen him. His hair had gone gray, and it was shaggy and thinning on top. He’d put on some weight. A little paunch around the middle. He looked how a doting grandfather should. Not a felon.
“What the hell happened?” Brick demanded harshly.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on Vorhees like you asked. He comes and goes, flies to D.C. a lot. But this is the first time she’s been out of the house on her own. No husband, no security. She just went shopping. When she got back to the parking garage, he was waiting behind her car. He grabbed her. There wasn’t anyone else around, and he just lost his damn mind. He hit her in the face, and she went down.”
“What did you do, Dad?”
“I did what I had to do. I called 911 and then hit the son of a bitch over the head with the bat I keep in the car. I picked her up, helped her into my car, and we took off.”
“You drove straight here?” Brick ran the calculations.
“Straight through. Six hours. Police scanner picked up a mugging victim in the parking garage about forty minutes after we left.”
“Fuck.”
“He’s a goddamn monster, son. I witnessed it firsthand. I’ll say it in any court of law.”
“You better hope you get the opportunity. Do you know who you’re messing with? Do you know who you just brought to my island? To my doorstep?” To his woman. His future.
“I do know.” William’s tone was serious. “But what else was I supposed to do, Will?”
“It’s Brick,” he corrected automatically.
His father blinked. “Brick? As in brick wall?”
“Pretty much.” He rubbed a hand over his forehead. He had too many things he needed to be doing right now. Too many preparations to make to have this conversation. “Look, make yourself at home. Or whatever. I need to make some calls.”
“Sure,” William said. “If you don’t mind, I’ll go check in on Cami. We bonded a little bit on our drive.”
“Fine. Whatever,” Brick said, already lost in preparations.
His father hurried off in the direction of the kitchen.
“Uncle Brick?” Hadley appeared on the bottom step, hand wrapped around the newel post.
“Yeah, Had?” he said wearily. He had a houseful of women that needed protecting. A houseful of women who would deny that until the bitter end. And his own father had goaded a madman.
“Are you mad at that man for bringing Aunt Remi’s friend here?”
Yes. “No. I’m...concerned.”
“Is she in trouble?”
He was big on protecting kids from ugly truths whenever he could. But in this instance, innocence needed to take a backseat to vigilance.
“She is. And that trouble could come here, Hadley. So I need you to keep an eye out. You’re a good observer. If you see anyone paying too much attention to this house, or to your aunt Remi, I need to know. Got it?”
She nodded solemnly. “I’ll keep watching.”
Going on instinct, he gave the girl a one-armed hug and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “We’ll all be okay,” he promised.
She gave him a small smile. “I know we will. You’re here.”
“Go check on your brother, okay? Make sure he isn’t brushing Mega’s teeth with my toothbrush.”
She shot him a smile and disappeared up the stairs.
He gave himself a beat to think and then fished his phone out of his pants pocket.
Brick: Emergency. My place. How soon can you be here?
Chief Ford: Is there blood or do I have time for coffee?
Brick: No blood. But get it to go.
Chief Ford: Be there in 5.
Brick locked the deadbolt on the front door and bounded up the stairs two at a time. He found Remi in the guest bedroom next to theirs. She’d laid out some of her own clothes on the bed and was karate chopping the bed pillows with more violence than style.
He watched her as she moved around the room. Tension in her jaw and shoulders. Every few moments, she’d stop and take a deep breath. Over and over again, the tension built and rose until she breathed it out.
“Fuck,” she muttered under her breath. She hurled a useless pillow against the wall and brought her hands to her face.
He went to her, banding his arms around her and holding on tight.
“None of this would be happening if I had gotten her out earlier,” she whispered against his chest. “If I had talked her into it. Hell, if I had kidnapped her and thrown her in my trunk and driven to Rhode Island.”
“None of this is your fault.”
“It’s not your father’s either,” she shot back.
He clenched his jaw. “He’s going to bring Vorhees right to you.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “We both know he was always going to come for me. I never should have led him here.” Her voice broke, and it took a jagged piece of his heart with it.