Sins, Lies & Spies (Black Brothers #2)
Lisa Cardiff
PROLOGUE
Trinity
Age Ten…
Until last week, my life revolved around my mom. Her golden hair reminded me of the sun. When she smiled, her red lipstick was like a beacon drawing every gaze in the room. Her dark eyes managed to look both happy and sad at the same time, and I loved her more than anyone in the world. She was my world.
So when my mom walked out the front door of my uncle’s house last Tuesday with a bright smile on her face promising our life was about to change for the better, I believed her. I believed we’d finally have a home of our own, and we wouldn’t have to live with my grumpy uncle who grunted more than he spoke. I believed we’d have enough money for me to take all the dance lessons I could ever want. I believed she’d finally have more than a few minutes to spend with my sister, Faith, and me. Except she still hadn’t returned.
“Staring at the window won’t make her come home,” my uncle grumbled, tossing a slice of pizza on the coffee table. Grease pooled on top of the cheese, making my stomach churn.
“She promised me,” I mumbled, keeping my gaze glued out the window. I couldn’t see anything except miles of inky darkness peppered with tiny pinpricks of light.
No headlights.
No lampposts.
No homes.
Even the moon couldn’t be bothered to make an appearance tonight. My uncle lived in the middle of nowhere.
He drummed his beer bottle against his thigh. “Yeah, well, people lie. Get used to it.”
I swiveled around and folded my arms across my chest. “My mom isn’t a liar. She’ll be back.”
My uncle snorted, rubbing his hand down his reddish-blond beard. “Listen, Trinity. Your mother isn’t coming back. You’ll never see her again.”
Tears snuck out of the corners of my eyes and my throat closed mid-inhalation. “But she gave me that music box and told me we’d have enough money to do whatever we wanted. She loves me. She loves Faith. She’d never leave us. We had plans.”
“Honey,” he sneered, tapping me in the middle of the forehead with his meaty index finger. I stumbled backward onto his stinky olive green couch. “The people you love the most will disappoint you the most. That’s the way life works. Got it? By the way, that life lesson is free of charge.”
“You’re wrong. You don’t know anything,” I cried, shaking my head back and forth.
He twirled the hair under his chin into a sharp point until he resembled a comic book villain. “Believe what you want, but I don’t want to hear any more talk about your mom.” He aimed the mouth of his beer bottle at me. “Not one word. Not even her name. She’s gone. The best thing we can do right now is pretend like she never existed. We’ll be safer that way.”
“I’ll never forget my mom,” I vowed between strangled sobs.
He stared at me pointedly. “Then you’re a bigger fool than she was.”
CHAPTER ONE
Knox
Present day…
“You look nice,” a female voice murmured. “Where are you headed?”
Stifling a groan, I froze mid-step as I opened the front door of my apartment. “Brenna, what are you doing here?”
Her gaze darted to the side and she sucked her lower lip into her mouth. “You haven’t returned my calls for over a week. I’m beginning to think you’re avoiding me.”
Beginning to think I’m avoiding her?
Pushing up the cuff of my shirt, I glanced at my watch. Ten minutes until the fundraiser at Representative Lang’s house started. Fuck! I didn’t have time for this.
“I never promised to call. In fact, I remember telling you on no less than four separate occasions that I’m not a relationship type of guy and not to get your expectations up.”
Her mouth dropped open, and her bluish-green eyes narrowed. “Are you serious? After last weekend, I thought I meant something to—”
I clenched my teeth. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I grumbled under my breath. For the most part, I considered myself a patient man, but I couldn’t deal with this shit right now. She knew the score. I never hid my intentions from her. I didn’t play games. It wasn’t my style. We discussed how I didn’t want anything serious, and she assured me that she didn’t either. Only, here we were. “Did I tell you that I changed my mind?”
She opened and closed her pouty, red lips. “No, but when I asked you if I could stay Saturday night, you agreed.”
Casually buttoning the top button of my black tuxedo jacket, I stared at the oatmeal colored wall over her head. She was right. I should’ve known better, but I had worked my ass off all day and I was too tired to call her a cab. Give a woman a teaspoon of hope and she’d twist it into a white picket fence and two-point-five kids. I barely stifled the visible evidence of the shiver that ghosted down my spine.
I shoved my hands into my pockets, struggling to reel in my frustration. “I didn’t have a choice. It was three in the morning, and we’d been drinking. If I’d thought you’d read anything into it, I would’ve called you a cab.”
Her eyelashes fluttered, blinking away a few tears. “So that’s it then?” She waved her hand back and forth between us. “You’re not going to give us a chance?”