Page 86 of Born for Starlight

"One's arguing with the concierge in English and Portuguese."

"That's Jase. The other one?"

"Big. Quiet. Standing by the elevators like he owns the building." Vargas cleared his throat. "That one's smiling."

Bruno.

I closed my eyes, and the clock in my head ticked once, loud. One hundred and ninety-five minutes to showtime, a steel box waiting, and the Drakos brothers were already at the elevator.

"Don't stall them," I said. "You can't. Call the room and tell Angelica her brothers are on the way up."

Then I told Beto to drive faster.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The phone by the bed rang while I was zipping the garment bag closed.

"Ms. Drakos, so sorry to disturb. There are two gentlemen at the front desk. They say they are your brothers." The concierge's voice dropped into apology. "They are, ah, already coming up. We could not⁠—"

"It's fine. Thank you."

I hung up and looked at the woman in the mirror. Hair was done. Make-up was done. So part of the armor was up. I was going to need it.

Dammit!

“Take a breath. In. Out. In. Ou⁠—”

The pounding started, a fist that could take a door off its hinges if it decided to, and I already knew which brother it was.

Jase.

I crossed the sitting room in my robe, and Layla looked up from the room service cart between us, unbothered, a fork of papaya halfway to her mouth. We'd spent the last hour being almost friendly over lunch, which had been its own small miracle. Now she was settled back looking at the door like she had bought a ticket to a movie and just needed some popcorn.

Great.

I opened the door.

Jase came through it before it was all the way open, Bruno a half step behind. Vargas trailed them both with the face of a man who had tried and failed to stop a tornado.

"You're alive." Jase grabbed me and crushed the breath out of me. He held me at arm's length to inventory the damage, then pulled me in again. "You're alive, you're okay, nobody's touched you."

"Jase—"

"Grandma Maureen called me, then Bruno, at practically midnight last night." His hands were still on my shoulders, and they were shaking, just slightly, the way only family ever saw. "Said you had concerns. About the guy. Said you cared about him. You know what a nine-hour flight does to a man sitting on the word concerns, Angel?"

"Jase, I’m so sorry. She wasn’t supposed to blab and worry you. Either of you. I didn’t want any of you to worry. I’m handling this."

He rolled his eyes. I hated when he did that. It meant he wasn’t taking me seriously. He let go and looked past me. His eyes stopped on Layla. "Who's this?"

"A friend. She's helping me down here."

Bruno had come in quiet, the way he came into every room, slow and easy, checking out every nook and cranny. Checking every exit and entrance, then the people. He stopped on Layla. Not a normal stop. It was just a beat, but I could have sworn it was one of recognition, but then it was gone, and he went back to his scan. Then he gave me his normal easy smile and leaned back against the wall, arms crossed. That was him, my brother Bruno.

Jase and Bruno both had guns out before Pinto even had the connecting door opened. Pinto held up his hands.

Layla laughed.

“He’s with me,” I said.