From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(110)

“I thought you told Kori you loved cheesecake and pasta.”

“I love them,” Jared shot back. “And I totally lied about eating them. No one wants to know how hard it is to keep this body. I have to stay relatable and that means lying about eating pizza and cheesecake. The great news is I don’t have to do that anymore. I can be really relatable and gain fifty pounds of pure flab.”

When had his sunny brother turned into Mr. Pessimism? Probably right around the time he’d been falsely accused of murder. Kai didn’t like it. Jared was supposed to be the eternally optimistic one. “You don’t know that. Have you talked to the network? Hell, for that matter, have you talked to your agent?”

“Earlier this morning. He explained he couldn’t work with me anymore. At least he had the decency to actually talk to me on the phone. Tad texted me his resignation. Said it wouldn’t look right for him to stay. And then he sent me a teary emoticon. I want to punch him in the face.”

Kai could totally understand that, but it might have to wait. “Karma is your friend in this, brother. Just wait and he’ll end up getting his. Let Simon and Jesse do their jobs. You never know. Maybe Tad killed her. Or his brother.”

Someone in Jared’s entourage had offed Lena. There was no question in his mind. The only real question was why. He’d thought about it all night long and well into this morning.

“Karma stinks then.” Jared opened the fridge and rooted around until he came back with a carton of milk. “I try hard to do the right thing. I give money to charity. A lot of it. I visit sick kids. I try to help the people around me. You know what I get? Arrested for murder. Awesome. Yay, f*cking universe. Where’s the sugar?”

“Cupboard above the coffeepot.” Where Kori had stashed it. “Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways. Just because you’re down doesn’t…”

“Mean you’re out.” They finished their mom’s favorite phrase together, a moment of harmony only siblings could understand.

No one else in the whole world knew what it meant to be loved by their mom. No one knew what their shared world had been like. He’d pushed his brother away for a lot of reasons, some understandable, others selfish. Only now did he realize what he’d missed. He’d missed the comfort of familiarity, the warmth of understanding.

“I miss her. Every day,” Jared said solemnly.

Grief welled inside Kai, as pure and visceral as it had been the day she’d died. His mother had been complex, as complicated in her methods and meanings as any human being. She’d made decisions that put them all in a hard place, and yet she’d managed to give them exactly what they needed. Love. Each other.

Take care of your brother, Kai. He needs you more than you know.

She could have said something different, likely would have if she could have seen the future.

Take care of your brother, Kai. You’ll need him more than you know.

“I do, too. Jared, you won’t believe me, but I missed you, too.”

Jared nodded. “I do. You were always a little slow.”

Kai laughed and thanked god he’d had a brother because a sister would have made that moment way too real. He stood up and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s me. Is there any coffee in that coffee?”

Jared spooned in way more sugar than any adult should start their day with. “Doesn’t matter. I no longer have a trainer either. Besides, if I get really fat, maybe no one will want me to be their bitch in prison.”

“You’re not going to prison. And you would still have that face. You would totally still be someone’s bitch. No way around how pretty you are.”

That got Jared grinning. “I can’t help it. I was born this way.”

“I’m not letting you go to prison. I’ve already talked to Harrison this morning. You have to let him help you.”

Jared nodded. “I will and I’ll answer any questions the McKay-Taggart guys want me to. I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I’m sick over it. I knew those women. I liked them.”

“Yes and that’s a key. That’s something they all had in common. I need you to think about them and your relationships with them. What else did they all have in common?”

Jared held up a hand. “But that’s what doesn’t make sense. I had flings with those women. Most of them brief, one of them lasted a month or so. I’ve never touched Lena. Not once in my life. She’s not even close to being my type. It’s one of the reasons I hired her. I didn’t want to get attached. So why break the pattern now?”

“Unless she figured something out. Or she challenged him. I’m going to go back over all the files and see if I can come up with something. The obvious fact is this is a man who hates women.”

“Or he hates me in particular. With the exception of Lena, losing every single one of those women hurt me. Everyone around me knows my ‘call me’ rule. When they didn’t call, I got hurt. What if this is all being done to hurt me? It seems to me I’m the real common denominator in this equation.”

Kai stared at his brother, wondering who the hell had said something so very insightful.

Jared rolled his eyes. “I’ve got a brain, Kai. I just don’t have to use it often.”

Not often at all. It was refreshing. “I think you’re right. In fact, I was thinking about this last night and while I believe this man hates women, I think he hates you, too.”