His Ransom 6(8)

“You’re right, in part,” Sean said breezily. “I thought he would be more likely to come in person instead of sending someone in his place. I wanted to meet him.”

“So you are his brother?”

“Yes.”

“What… can you prove it?”

“Maybe. Why?”

“Why? Because you’re his brother!”

“As far as I’m concerned, he’s just another billionaire asshole looking to protect his money. He didn’t seem particularly anxious to meet me when I told him we were related.”

“That’s because he didn’t believe you!”

“And you believe me?” Sean asked.

I stopped and thought for a moment.

I did. Without a doubt, I believed. And I thought that if Jake had seen Sean in the light—if he had taken even a second to consider his claim, then he would believe, too. It wasn’t just how he looked, although their builds and faces looked similar. It was the way he talked, the way he moved.

“Yes,” I said, letting out a breath. “I believe you.”

“Then let me ask you once more. What do you want?”

“I want you to talk to Jake again,” I said. The answer had come to me out of the blue, but I thought that it made sense.

“I don’t think I understand.”

“Jake doesn’t have a family,” I said. I thought of my brothers, Tim and Connor. I thought about them tumbling through corn fields together. “You’re his family. He doesn’t know what it’s like. I want him to know what it is to have a brother.”

“He doesn’t want a brother like me,” Sean said. I thought I heard a note of sadness in his voice.

“If you’re his brother, I know he would want to meet you.”

“I’ve met him. We’ve met. He hated me, I think, for taking his money.”

“He didn’t believe you were his brother.”

“Does that change things?” Sean laughed at the other end of the phone. “Doesn’t that make it worse, if it’s his brother who did this to him?”

“I just want you to talk to him,” I said, not bothering to hide my desperation.

“How do I know it’s not a trap?”

“You don’t. Look,” I said, the plan coming together quickly in my mind. “You call me and tell me a place, and I’ll bring him there right away. No police, no escorts.”

There was a pause on the other end. I thought for a second that Sean had hung up. Then he spoke again.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll think about it.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re doing this so that Jake can have a family?”

“Yes,” I said.

There was a pause, and I thought I heard Sean tapping his fingers on the other end of the phone. One of Jake’s mannerisms.

“You don’t know what kind of a family you’re getting yourself into,” he said. Then he hung up.



When Jake came home that night, I had a secret to keep from him. Sean had told me that he would call me soon, from a different phone, once he had a plan in place. I didn’t know what he was planning, but I didn’t feel too frightened. Jake’s security team wasn’t going to let anything happen, I knew.

But if I wanted Jake to see Sean for who he really was. If he had a brother, I wanted him to know about it.

“Good news!” Jake said, walking through the door.

“What is it?” I asked. For a second, I thought that Sean had called him to talk.

“The negotiations are close to done,” Jake said. “They’re putting the contract through the lawyers tomorrow. So we have a whole day to ourselves!”

“That’s wonderful!” I said. I leaned into his embrace as he hugged me tightly.

“I was thinking we could head out to Versailles to see the gardens there. It’s a beautiful palace, and the art inside is incredible, but the gardens are really something else.”

“Sounds great,” I said, nuzzling his hard chest. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I missed hugging him when he was gone all day. The feeling that he gave me when he curled me into his body, holding me like I was a precious, fragile thing. I missed his touch.

“How was your day?” he asked.

I shrugged.

“Stayed in. Relaxed. It was boring.” I didn’t want to say anything about the phone call to his so-called brother. There wasn’t anything to say that he hadn’t heard already, anyway.

“Well, then,” Jake said, pulling me up over his shoulder. “Let’s make things more exciting.”

I squealed as he carried me all the way to the bedroom.





Chapter Five

“Here,” Jake said.