pissed off a lot of someones since I came to River City,” Nick admitted. His move to Michigan had been tumultuous for him and for the people his presence had upset. Not just the Paynes but the criminals he’d put away since his arrival in the city.
“Has this been going on that long?” Gage asked. He’d been back in the US only a few weeks—back from the dead, actually, since he’d gone missing on his last deployment and had been presumed dead for months.
Nick nodded. “Yeah. That’s why this is my fourth place in just a little over a year.” He’d kept moving around, but they always found him—whoever it was routinely trashing his place.
“That’s why you’re doing the short-term rentals,” Gage said.
“I was supposed to be here short-term,” Nick reminded him. The Bureau had sent Nick to River City to clean up the corrupt police department. After years of going undercover to expose corruption, he’d become an expert at handling it. But cleaning up the River City Police Department had taken longer than he’d thought it would. It had also made him some dangerous enemies.
“Why would you leave?” Gage asked. “You’ve got family here.”
Nick snorted. “I don’t think they consider me family.” But he had begun to think of them that way. “Especially Nikki.” She was the one who’d told Gage where to find Nick a few weeks ago. She was the one who could track down anyone. He glanced around at the destruction. Did she resent him enough to do this to his place?
“Nikki,” Gage said with a wistful sigh.
Nick shoved him again.
“Don’t worry,” Gage said. “She’s your sister, so she’s off-limits. That would be like you going for Annalise.”
Actually, that would be worse, because Annalise was really Gage’s sister. Other than them both being named for their father, Nick had no connection to Nikki Payne. Gage apparently hadn’t talked to his sister yet. He didn’t know about Nick and Annalise. If he had, he might have pulled that trigger when he’d had the chance.
“You need to call her,” Nick said. Sure, she might tell Gage how he’d treated her. But he didn’t care about himself. He cared about her and how worried she’d been about her brother.
Gage sighed again—raggedly. “I can’t. She can’t hear me like this.” His voice was raspier than it had once been, but Nick suspected that wasn’t what his friend worried his sister would hear. He worried that she would hear his pain—whatever hell he’d endured all those months he’d been missing. “But I sent her an email. I let her know that I’m back—that I’m okay.”
He was alive. Nick wasn’t sure how okay he was. He wasn’t sure if Annalise was okay, either—since he hadn’t talked to her for the past six months. He hadn’t known what to say. “Sorry” hadn’t seemed adequate—although he had told her that, too. He’d made a mess of their friendship. And when Gage learned what he’d done, he would have made a mess of that friendship, too.
So maybe it was fitting that someone kept trashing his place—since Nick kept trashing his life.
* * *
Payne Protection Agency, Annalise read the sign and confirmed she’d found the correct address. The bodyguard business occupied both floors of the brick building in the industrial area of River City, Michigan. The email had come from here.
It had to be real. Her brother was alive. And it made sense that he would have come here. Not to the bodyguard business per se, but here to River City—to Nick. Even after whatever he’d been through in the past six months, he was still intent on following Nick around.
She had once been, too. But not anymore.
Nicholas Rus was the last person she wanted to see. Maybe she shouldn’t have come here. But River City was nearly as big as Chicago. She was unlikely to run into him. She opened the door and stepped into the brick foyer of the building. Another door led to the lobby, but when she reached for the handle, it escaped her grasp as the door pulled open. A man stepped out, nearly colliding with her. Strong hands caught her shoulders and steadied her.
“Sorry,” a deep voice murmured with concern.
She glanced up—into Nick’s handsome face. The jaw, the cheekbones, the nose were chiseled, the eyes so bright a blue they were almost startling. But he was staring down at her as if she was a stranger—as if he had never seen her before.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Nick?” But it couldn’t be. Even Nick couldn’t be cold enough to pretend that he didn’t recognize her. And she didn’t feel the way she usually felt when she saw Nick. Maybe her heart had finally given up on him.
The man’s brow furrowed. And he shook his head. “No. You know Special Agent Rus?”
She’d thought she knew him better than anyone else. But she’d been a fool. For so many reasons...
“He’s not why I’m here,” she said.
“Do you need a bodyguard?” the man asked. “I’m Logan Payne—CEO of Payne Protection.”
“He never tires of saying that,” another deep voice murmured as a second man stepped into the building from outside. Their faces were identical, but this man’s blue eyes sparkled with amusement. “He used to be the sole owner, but our younger brother and I each bought our own franchise. If you want a bodyguard, come see me.” He held out his hand. “I’m Parker Payne.”
“Which one of you does Gage Huxton work for?” she asked.
“He should work for me.” And then there were three. This man had come in behind the other brother. “I’m Cooper Payne, and my team has all the ex-Marines.”
“Unless they’re family,” Logan said. “Then they work for me.”
“Gage isn’t your family,” she said. He was hers. So why hadn’t he come to see her since he’d been back? Why hadn’t he at least called? Why had he only sent that short, impersonal email?
“He’s Nick’s family,” Logan said. “So that makes him our family.”
“Nick’s not family,” she said.
“Finally someone speaks the truth around here,” a female voice remarked. The woman was small, but she shouldered the larger men aside and stepped closer to Annalise. She didn’t look like them. Her hair was reddish-brown instead of black, her eyes brown instead of blue. But she was as much a Payne as they were. As Nick must be...
This was the family his mother’s letter had told him about—the siblings he’d never known he had.
“Who are you?” the woman asked as she thrust out her hand.
“Annalise Huxton.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “Gage’s wife?”
“Gage isn’t married,” Annalise said. While her brother hadn’t been particularly forthcoming in
