Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(48)

So the kid didn’t want her to know his business? “I’m a paralegal, and I may be able to help you,” she said softly.

He met her gaze then, his looking much older than it should. “Ryker’s correct that you’re a nice lady, and I appreciate your offering to help me, but there’s nothing you can do. It’s better if you don’t know about me. Please don’t mention me to anybody.” He turned and headed for the door. “Let’s get this over with.”

Heath followed him into the hallway.

Ryker didn’t move and caught her gaze. “The kid is right. I don’t know his story yet, but I will, and something tells me it ain’t going to be pretty.”

She lifted her chin, her heart aching for all of them. “You said you wanted something real with me.”

“I do.”

“Then you can’t leave me in the dark. Not like this.” Everything in her wanted to soothe that desperate look in Greg’s young eyes. She’d never been very maternal, but there was something about him she wanted to heal. “I might be able to help.”

“You’re a paralegal, and part of your job is keeping confidences. My job is the same way, and I can’t talk about many of my cases.” Ryker spoke evenly, his body relaxed, his tone as firm as steel. “Our work doesn’t define our relationship, and you know it.”

Yet something told her that he was leaving way too much out. She didn’t even understand enough about his past to know what questions to ask him.

He shoved away from the wall. “Do you want help with making breakfast?”

She tried not to smile. Ryker was a disaster in the kitchen, and she knew that firsthand. “Thanks, but you go get the story from Greg.” If the kid needed privacy to tell his story, she’d give it to them. For now.

He nodded, amusement tilting his lips. “Fair enough. Give a shout when breakfast is ready.” Turning, he paused at the doorway and looked back, his eyes warming into a soft green, banishing the blue. “It’s really nice of you to cook for everybody, and I hope you know how much I appreciate it.”

Well now, if he was going to be all sweet with her, she’d have to struggle with remaining protective of her heart. Unless he’d finally let her in? “Secrets can’t work between us, Ryker,” she mused.

He paused. “If I have secrets, they need to stay buried for both of us. Trust me.”

Denver showed up with two boxes in his hands. “I have pots and pans as well as some mixing bowls.”

Ryker frowned and took the boxes. “Jesus. You are nesting.”

Why did that sound like such a bad thing?

Ryker loped into his office, where both Heath and the kid had already dropped into guest chairs.

“I like your office,” Greg said, his gaze on the picture of the Fat Boy.

“Thanks. You’ve seen it before when you bugged us.” Ryker went around the desk. “Isobel Madison. Who is she?”

Greg sat back, a myriad of expressions crossing his face. “She’s a super smart neurobiologist who studies kids with high IQs and special gifts. She studied me and my brothers in a kind of military school in Utah.” He gave quick coordinates, and Ryker typed them in.

He read the screen, his instincts flaring hot and fast. “Those coordinates lead to a former military depot that was used for storing vehicles and weapons.” He scrolled down. “There was an explosion last year, and the place burned down.”

Greg swallowed. “It was also a training and research facility. I lived there with my brothers.”

Ryker narrowed his gaze and studied the kid. “You and your brothers.”

“Yeah,” Greg said. Emotion, dark and deep, echoed in his low tone. He glanced toward the nearest exit, and his body stiffened.

Being truthful scared the shit out of him, now, didn’t it? Ryker wanted to protect the boy, but first they needed answers. How could they get him to trust them?

“Where are your brothers now?” Heath asked.

“Dunno. You find Madison, and you’ll find them,” Greg said. Hope and despair crossed his face, and he visibly struggled to subdue all expression.

Ryker sat back as images of the exploding army depot filled his screen. Could be a cover-up. “Since you really want us to find your brothers, why not give me their names? I could search for them and skip the doctor.” But he was sure as shit going to find that woman, and not just for Greg’s sake.

Greg shook his head. “There’s no record of me or my brothers. You’ve already tried to track me down, right?”

“Yeah,” Ryker said. How could the kids not exist on paper?

“Find anything?”

“No.”

“Exactly.” Greg ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “Believe me, you won’t find them either.”

Denver entered the room and leaned against the door frame, his gaze thoughtful. “There have to be records from before you went to the depot.”

“Nope. Not even birth certificates,” Greg said.

Ryker frowned and tried to click facts into place. The kid seemed to be telling the truth but definitely not all of it. “Let me get this straight. You and your brothers were put into a training and research facility because you have high IQs, and this Isobel Madison studied you, and for some reason she had your histories wiped.”