Be With Me(96)

That’s my girl. Thank God she was so damn ornery. Now that he’d seen Daniel, he didn’t know how the hel Reggie had managed to escape with her life.

“And your business partners. Do you cal them your brothers? You were al raised together.”

“They’re my best friends,” Hutch said quietly. “They didn’t know about you either, Daniel. They had a rough childhood just like you. It’s me you’re angry with. Deal with me. I’m the only one to blame for leaving you.”

“Yes, you are,” he said simply. “But if I kil you first, you won’t suffer. I want you to live long enough to suffer the knowledge that the people most important to you are dead.”

Helpless rage boiled over him, bubbling up and threatening to explode. He was completely helpless.

Unable to do a goddamn thing but lie there and listen to his own brother plot to kil the people he loved most.

“Daniel, what can I do to make this up to you, to make things right?” Hutch said as calmly as he knew how. His only chance was to reason with him, though God only knew how he was supposed to reason with someone who’d obviously lost his grip on sanity a long time ago.

“Where is our father now?” he asked, trying a different tack and subject.

An eerie calm settled over Daniel. His eyes lost some of their wildness, and an element of peace seemed to cloak him. It was chil ing.

“I kil ed the son of a bitch.”

Just like he’d kil ed Misty Thompson, whose only sin had been going to Hutch’s senior prom. His throat ached when he imagined her husband and children, alone now, al because of a mistake he’d made when he was just a boy. Just a kid. Scared out of his mind and no longer able to take the brutality of his father. He’d barely been able to take care of himself. How could he have been expected to take care of a younger brother?

You should have tried.

He closed his eyes. It was too late. Al the guilt in the world, al the coulda shoulda wouldas in the world wouldn’t change the fact that his brother hated him with enough passion to take someone else’s life.

“I’l help you, Daniel,” he said gently. “We can be a family again. Just promise me you won’t hurt anyone else. I have money. We can buy a house. Just you and me. Go fishing. I remember how much you liked that.”

Daniel put his hands over his ears like a child and shook his head vigorously. After a moment, he dropped his hands and moved closer to Hutch. His face was drawn in anger. Dark menace lurked in the brown eyes so much like Hutch’s own.

Hutch twisted his wrists, trying to loosen the ropes.

They cut into his skin, but he didn’t care. He had to try something, anything to escape. There were too many people at risk.

Daniel curled his fingers and reached menacingly toward Hutch.

“Back away or I’l shoot!”

Reggie. Jesus Christ, what the hel was she doing here? His gaze flew to the door where she stood, legs apart, her gun aimed at Daniel.

Daniel leapt toward Hutch and, true to her word, she shot. Daniel grunted as he landed on Hutch, knocking the breath out of him. They rol ed with Daniel’s momentum, and Hutch landed on top of his brother.

Daniel scrambled to his feet, and Hutch felt the warm smear of blood. Reggie had hit Daniel.

A cold blade pressed to Hutch’s neck, and he held his breath for fear any movement would send the knife slicing through his skin.

“Put the gun down or he dies,” Daniel snarled.

Hutch’s gaze found Reggie across the room. Her gun was trained on Daniel, or maybe it was him.

They were meshed so close together, Daniel’s arm wrapped tight around Hutch, that for al practical purposes she was aiming at both of them.

Her eyes narrowed in intense concentration as she walked forward.

“Put the knife down,” she said in a voice that would intimidate even the biggest guy. For the first time, Hutch appreciated what a badass she was when she was in cop mode.

“In a few minutes this place wil be swarming with cops. You won’t get out alive,” she said coldly.

“As long as he dies, it doesn’t matter,” Daniel said with an edge of desperation to his voice.

Reggie stalked sideways now, adjusting her grip on the gun, trying to get a better angle to take Daniel out. As much as Hutch wanted out of his current predicament, his heart sank at the idea of his brother dying. Such a goddamn waste.

The knife cut into his skin and a trickle of blood slithered down his neck. Reggie stopped in her tracks and held the gun in unwavering hands.

“What have you got against Hutch?” she asked in a calm voice. “I mean I know he can be a pain in the ass, but surely that isn’t worth the death penalty.” Gee thanks, Reggie. He glared at her, but she didn’t so much as look at him. Al her attention was focused on Daniel.

“Tel her who you are, Daniel,” Hutch rasped, careful not to send the blade any deeper into his neck. “She’l want to meet you.”

“Daniel. Nice name,” Reggie commented. “Got a last?”

“It’s Bishop,” Daniel snarled.

Hutch saw Reggie’s eyes widen as she made the connection.

“Wel you obviously aren’t his father. I’m gonna guess you’re his younger brother. You know he used to talk about you al the time.”

Daniel stiffened and Hutch almost groaned. What the hel was she doing? He’d never mentioned his brother. Hel , she hadn’t known he had one until the other night.