Page 56 of Everything We Found

Ian would fight for her.

And James? He’d remain where he was. Hidden within witness protection. Safe. They’d all be safe.

Ian opened the door. “You driving?”

“Yes, but you’re waiting outside while I talk to Aimee, ease her into the idea of you going with her, or she’ll think we’re ambushing her.”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing?”

Nadia grumbled under her breath, moving by him. She couldn’t believe she was going along with this. Aimee locating James and returning home with him was only a remotepossibility, especially when Thomas got wind of what was happening. More likely, the trip would be a bust. Aimee would return home, convinced James was dead. She’d finally move on. And if Ian had his way, she might even notice that someone very special adored her. Probably more than James ever had or could.

What she’d foolhardily and uncharacteristically dismissed had been Thomas’s assurance James had been well hidden. Because two days later, she was sitting in her office stunned, having just gotten off the phone with Kristen. Aimee had found James.

She’d found him.

Or she believed she had. She’d told Kristen that he looked different, which tracked with what Thomas once told Nadia. James had had reconstructive facial surgery since he’d been beaten near to death. He didn’t look like his old self, and that had been intentional. Thomas had wanted his brother unrecognizable.

But Aimee had found him.

What did this mean for them?

Gawd. Would Nadia be able to look at her again, especially with James at her side, without confessing she’d known about him all along? The urge to spill her secrets, to grovel on her knees apologizing, begging her forgiveness that she’d let her suffer for months, bubbled up her throat. Thick and viscous.

Her office door opened and closed. She spun her chair away from the window she’d been staring out to face who’d dare enter her personal space without knocking.

Thomas stalked across the tightly woven carpet she’d personally selected for its calming hues. He planted his fists on her desk and leaned in until their noses almost touched. Underneath the notes of whiskey and cigar smoke, the woodsy scent of him enveloped her.

“What the devil is she doing in Mexico?”

Nadia’s spine stiffened upright, putting several inches between them. “Get out of my face.”

“Nadia!” He pounded her desk.

She refused to react. “I assumed your question was rhetorical. We both know why she’s there.”

“Did you know?”

She met his hot, paranoid gaze. “Yes,” she said after a beat. She pushed back her chair and stood to her full height. Thomas sprang upright. She wore four-inch heels which put her at almost eye level with him as he glared daggers at her.

“You should have warned me.”

“I don’t answer to you.”

“In this matter, you do,” he shot back. “This is bigger than us, Nadia.” He ran his hands through his hair which was grayer than the last time she’d seen him. More months than she cared to count. He’d been contending with the raid at Donato Enterprises, doing what he could to remain one step ahead of the damage, but rapidly falling behind from what she’d read. The news all but destroyed the company and family’s reputation.

She should have called him, checked in. Let him know she cared. Given what he’d sacrificed for her mom and her, she did owe him, at least that much.

Thomas paced.

“I’m very much aware of that. But Aimee wasn’t moving forward like you and me both tried to coax her to do. She’s apparently been convinced James never died. She never shared that with Kristen and me. In all honesty, I didn’t think she’d find him. You said he was well hidden.”

“Obviously not if Aimee of all people figured it out.” He whipped around and prowled back to her, fuming. “You swear you didn’t tell her?”

Nadia nodded tightly.

“Who did?”

She came around to his side and leaned back against her desk, her hands grasping the edge, legs crossed at the ankle. “She didn’t say.”