Stepbrother Thief(44)

Gill stands up suddenly and buries his fingers in his hair, closing his eyes against a grimace of pain. The expression crosses his face suddenly and without warning, fading away just as quickly. It could be that whatever he's trying to tell me is taking its emotional toll on him, but …

“Let me see your shoulder,” I tell him, standing up and tossing my blanket back on the couch. Gill takes a step back from me, almost like he's afraid of what I'm going to do to him. Silly that, though, because I don't think Gilleon's afraid of anything at all. “Did something happen today?”

“Nothing that I couldn't handle,” he says, but he doesn't pull away when I close the distance between us, reaching my hands up and sliding my fingers under the short sleeve of his shirt. It's tighter on this shoulder than the other, something I should've noticed when he first walked in. Underneath the dark blue fabric, a square of white is taped to Gill's skin, just the faintest hint of red peeking through. Obviously the wound's been doctored, probably by someone far more adept at this sort of thing than I am, but I feel my heart start to pick up speed.

“Did you …”

“I got shot,” Gill says, matter-of-factly, in a voice I might use if I was telling a girlfriend about a cat scratch. “Well, more like I was grazed by a bullet. It's not a big deal.”

He reaches up and takes my hand with such gentleness that my breath hitches. With all of the power in his body, he could snap my fingers with a squeeze of his fist. But he doesn't. And he won't. Not to me anyway. At least, I want to believe that, that some of the old Gill is still in there keeping this new badass persona of his in check.

“It's a big deal, Gilleon,” I tell him, wondering if the person who tried to shoot him was the same one that tried to shoot me. “What's going on? Please, I know you like to keep things to yourself, but I have a right to know if there's a serious threat to my family.”

“Am I still included in that?” he whispers, his voice far too husky, too intimate for the close space we're currently occupying.

I make myself take a step back.

“That's one of those questions that sounds so simple, but in actuality, it's the most complicated thing there is. I don't have an answer for you right now, Gill. I'm sorry.”

When I look up at his face, I can see the walls crashing back into place, hiding his emotions away behind a safety blanket of steel.

“I guess it's time for the bad news then?” I ask, trying to smile, to lighten the mood. I feel like my muscles are made of molasses, slow and heavy, refusing to obey my command. Gill stares right back at me, his eyes darkening like the sea before a storm.

“Karl. You've heard the name before. That's the man whose employee took a shot at you. He's got a grudge against me, a hundred million in missing diamonds, and the means to get them back.”





“I know you don't want to betray Gill's confidence, but I need to know if I made a mistake in coming here. I …” I glance back at the hallway door, leaning against the wall in Gilleon's office while I watch Aveline do whatever it is that she does on the computer. “I need to know if dragging my aging stepfather and my daughter to the States is going to get them killed.” I hiss the last word and then run my hands down my face.

I tried to sleep last night, but couldn't get my eyes to close without a conscious effort. Even then, my brain swam with what-ifs and whys, trying to convince me that this'll all be worth it in the end. Whether that'll be the case or not, I don't know, but what I do need to know is this: why did Gill need my help in the first place. I know why I gave it, but why did he want it? After his cryptic declaration last night, Aveline came into the living room and the two of them started talking security concerns, leaving me to puzzle out his words alone.

So. All I know is this: the man who tried to have me shot has a grudge against my stepbrother, a grudge that goes beyond the missing jewelry if my intuition is dead-on. And it usually is.

Aveline pauses, shuts her laptop and then swivels to face me, leaning back and letting her red hair trail across the desk behind her.

“Gill and I, we won't let anything happen to you guys. Besides, Seattle is our home base. We've got more than just me and him on this one. You'll be safe here, even if it is getting a little old, sitting inside all goddamn day.” I wonder if she's talking as much about herself with that one as she is me. “Truthfully, I don't exactly know the whole story, only that this job, this heist, it was what Gill needed to break ties with Karl.”

I blink in surprise at that one.

“Gill was working with Karl?” I ask, trying to figure out what could've happened for Gilleon to turn on the guy, to decide that involving his family was worth the risk. Or maybe he doesn't think of us as family? Me, I'm just the stepsister/ex-fiancée while Solène … and Gill barely even keeps in contact with his own father.