Who was Ari? Brannigan only knew their code names.
Pulling out a chair at the table, Kyou dropped heavily into it, still answering questions and getting his own in. Brannigan left him to it and went to the other side of the room, carefully away from the front window, and made his own calls. First to Gideon, to apprise him of the situation.
His head of security was, needless to say, less than thrilled. Somehow telling him that K had Brannigan well in hand failed to reassure him.
With that difficult call out of the way, Brannigan went on to the next not-so-fun call he needed to make.
Mattias answered on the third ring. “Hello, my son. I hope you’re out enjoying this beautiful day.”
Brannigan winced. “I wish. I was, in fact, but something happened. I’m, ah, in a little bit of trouble.”
There was a pause. “Brannigan. The last time you said that, you were adopted by a hacker. What’s happened this time?”
“I’ve got a contract out on me.”
Mattias slipped into his native tongue and swore expressively in Italian. “Porca putanna!”
“Good news is, K’s on top of it, as usual. He, ah, came to get me himself.”
Nuance was an amazing thing. His father swore again, but it was with clear amazement this time. “Cazzo! Davvero?”
“Yeah. It still feels a little surreal. But I’m really happy, too. He’s pulled me out of the line of fire, I’m at one of his safehouses. His family’s coming to help.”
“Family?” Mattias repeated in surprise. “Wait, wait, I need to sit down. I feel like it will be one of those conversations. Alright, I’m settled. K has family?”
“Family of choice. His family includes a thief, an assassin, a mercenary, and a little girl he’s helping to raise as another hacker. I met some of them the other night. They helped protect me and my construction crew out in Roxbury. The O’Conners sent men out to rough us up and probably torch the place, and they stopped them.”
“And now, because of that, the O’Conner family is coming after you.” Mattias reached the correct conclusion without any help from him. Then again, he knew how the criminal world worked very well after having been a mafia boss most of his life. “What’s the contract for? Terms?”
“It’s for a million. Open contract.”
Mattias growled in wordless vexation. “I’d prefer you come home for this, but…”
“No one knows where K is. Or has ever been able to locate him. I’m safer with him than anywhere else.” Brannigan’s mouth kicked up wryly on one side. “And I wouldn’t want to bring this trouble to our family. It’s better for me to stay away right now.”
“I don’t like it. It’s hard trusting strangers to take care of you.”
“This isn’t a stranger. It’s K.”
“You’re a little too delighted right now,” Mattias informed him crossly.
Brannigan couldn’t stop the grin. “K said the same. I realize I’m in danger, but it’s not really impacting the bubble of happiness right now. I’ll be fine. K and his family will make sure of it. When has danger ever touched me?”
“Not as long as he’s been guarding you,” Mattias grumbled, but it had a resigned tone to it. “Alright. You tell me if you change your mind.”
“I promise I will, Papà.”
A beat, and then Mattias asked mischievously, “Is he what you hoped for?”
“He’s incredibly cute, in fact. I’m surprised by it.” Brannigan turned so that he could put his back to a wall, keeping an eye on Kyou, who was still seated at the table and speaking to someone else. “He also looks like he hasn’t slept properly in days. I’ll need to make him rest somehow.”
“I can hear it in your voice. You’ve latched onto this one.”
“Papà, I did that before I even met him.” Brannigan didn’t quite roll his eyes.
“True enough. I’ll tell your mother the news. Keep me updated, I don’t like being in the dark on this.”
“Cross my heart.” Brannigan hung up and slipped back to Kyou’s side. He was arguing hard and heavy with someone.
“—no, no you may not bring your bedsheet. You’ll get hurt. Let me be clear, if you bring your bedsheet, I will hurt you. Take this seriously, Ivan. Pretend it’s Aiden in the line of fire. That’s what I’m feeling right now. Yeah, fine, see you in five.” He hung up and dropped the phone on the table before burying his face in both hands.
Brannigan put his own phone aside to free up his hand, and then put both on Kyou’s shoulders. The hacker jumped for a second before Brannigan’s thumbs dug into his tense neck, and then the man groaned and let his head flop forward again.
“Where did you learn to do that?” Kyou groaned in pleasure.
“See? You don’t know everything about me,” Brannigan teased him. “And what’s this about Ivan and a bedsheet?”
“Long-standing argument. Ivan uses unusual tools to get past security measures. He wants to break into the O’Conners’ headquarters and wreak some havoc.”
“I’d really rather he didn’t.”
“Makes two of us. I told him not without proper backup, and right now we’re not set up for it.”
So the option was still there? Just not right now. Brannigan stared at the back of Kyou’s head, not sure what to make of this man. There was so much he didn’t know about him. The one-sidedness of their relationship irked him.
The back door opened and before it could get very far, a cheerful voice called out, “Don’t shoot, it’s just us chickens!”
“Thank fuck,” Kyou said under his breath. Turning in his chair, he left Brannigan’s hands, a tired smile dragging the corners of his mouth up. “Get in here. I’m going through withdrawals without my tech.”
The first one through the door was a darkly handsome man. He was slender and graceful, the beat-up leather jacket hugging his body, almost hiding the gun strapped underneath. He appraised Brannigan with sharp, dark-brown eyes, but there was a hint of satisfaction in his expression, too. Behind him was another man. This one had salt-and-pepper hair with tanned skin, and he was ruggedly attractive.
And then there was Widow.
She couldn’t be anyone else, and Brannigan was fascinated by her. She came through with a spring in her step, a large laptop bag clutched in her arms, hair the color of good butterscotch floating about her in soft curls. She was beautiful and innocent looking, her pale skin a perfect contrast to the red sweater dress she wore. Then her chocolate brown eyes landed on him, and mischief lit her expression up in a gamine expression of pure glee.
“Bran,” Kyou did the introductions with a wave, “this is Malvagio, Smiley, and Widow.”
“Ari,” Malvagio corrected, offering a hand. “We met sooner than expected.”
Brannigan took the hand, not surprised by the calluses and strength in it. “We did. Thanks for coming so promptly.”
“Our pleasure.” Ari shot a wink at him before turning. “This is Carter, my fiancé, and our daughter, Remi.”
Brannigan was mid-shake with Carter when Kyou spluttered out, “Wait, when did you two get engaged?”