“So this woman that you met? She’s the one that gave you hope? Did someone stop you from being with her?”

“I thought she was a victim when I first met her. I thought she was hiding out from an abusive ex. The first time I met her, she told me to be careful in the town. She told me there were a lot of bad people. I should have taken her at her word. She warned me from the beginning.”

“Did someone hurt you?” Zane clenched his fist.

“Not physically.” I shook my head and closed my eyes as memories came pouring in from my early days in Palm Bonita. The second time I’d seen her she was in the grocery store, studying the labels on milk. “I’d recommend the whole milk.” I smiled at her as I walked over to her. “People like to recommend the two percent or one percent because it has less fat, but whole milk is a lot better for your bones.” She’d stared at me for a minute without talking before grabbing a bottle of one percent. “I see you take advice well.” I continued with a quick smile and grabbed a bottle of whole milk.

“I didn’t ask you for any advice.” Her eyes smirked at me. “I make my own decisions.” She walked away from me and down to the produce aisle. For some reason I followed her and picked up some bananas as she grabbed some apples. She looked over at me and shook her head before walking up to me. “I thought I told you to be careful in this town?” Her voice was low and she looked around the store to see if there was anyone watching us as she spoke.

“I don’t take advice well, either.” I grinned at her, and she laughed. This time the laugh hit her eyes and her whole face was transformed with beauty as she smiled at me in genuine humor.

“Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?” she’d asked me lightly as if it were no big deal, and I had accepted eagerly and happily, not knowing that that invitation was going to change my whole life. A carton of milk had changed my life.

“Noah, you okay?” Zane’s voice interrupted my thoughts and I nodded.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry.” I sighed. “I was just remembering the day she let me into her life.”

“You still miss her?” His eyes searched mine.

“No, I don’t miss her.” I shook my head honestly.

“But you still think about her a lot.” He wasn’t asking a question, but I still nodded.

“Everything changed in my life when I met her and she brought me into her life. I was no longer the boy morphing into the man. I became the man.” I spoke with conviction. “She made me a man.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Zane looked at me thoughtfully. “Lucky made me realize that I was still acting like a boy a lot of the time. She brought out the man in me; all I want to do is love her and protect her. That’s what we’re made for, you know. To look after our women and to love them as best as we can.”

“I’m glad that Lucky has brought the love back into your life.” I answered him honestly. “Family is so important.  I’m glad you’ve added someone else to our small group.”

“We missed out on a lot, didn’t we?” Zane sighed. “No mother, no father to talk of. No real love. We had nothing. I’m surprised we turned out this well.”

“We’ll always have each other.” I grabbed his arm and squeezed it tightly.

“That’s all we can really ask for, isn’t it?” He nodded slowly. “To have a family that truly loves and accepts us.”

“That’s all that matters.” I agreed. “You made a good pick with Lucky, she’s amazing and I already love her like she’s a part of the family.”

“Yeah, I’ve been blessed.” His eyes shone with emotion. “I’m glad you love her; she’s already the central part of our family. She loves you like a brother, you know. She really loves and cares about you. It’s funny that you’re not even related, but she always talks and worries about you.”

“I guess you don’t have to be related by blood to love someone as a family member.” I stared at him, my eyes blazing. “Sometimes they worm their way into your heart and they become a part of you. And when someone becomes a part of you, they automatically become your family.”

Chapter 3

“You can’t tell anyone.”

“I just need to tell my brother.” I made a face. “He’s a hothead, but he’s trustworthy. He won’t tell anyone. Not even our dad.”

“No.” Special Agent Waldron shook his head. “If we go forward with this, you can’t tell anyone.”

“I can’t just leave and not tell him.” My heart stilled. “It would kill him. I’m all he has.”

“That’s what we’re counting on.” He stared at me with blank eyes. “You cannot tell him.”

“You don’t understand. It’s always been us. We don’t have a mother, our father doesn’t care about us. And Zane, well, he’s already closed off. I can’t just leave and not have him know. He won’t stop searching for me.”

“Then you’ll die.” He nodded and took out a pad. “That’s probably the better idea anyway.”

“Die?” I shrunk back and shivered. “I don’t think Braydon knows that I heard anything. Do you think they’re going to put a hit out on me?”

“I don’t mean that Sanchez is going to kill you.” He looked up at me and sighed. “I mean we’ll fake your death. It should motivate your brother to help us.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, he’s in that crowd as well. He knows Braydon, Angelique, and the others. I’ll approach him at the funeral and see if he can help me.”

“I don’t want him involved.” I shook my head. “If you need help, I can do it.”

“No.” He shook his head vehemently. “They’ll suspect you too easily. We need someone else.”

“I don’t want Zane involved in this.” I stood up. “Sorry, but I’m not interested in helping anymore.”

“Stop.” His voice was commanding, and I paused as I walked to the door. “It’s not safe for you or anyone else. We need to get these guys, Noah. I know that you know how dangerous they are. That’s why you came to us.”

“I can’t just disappear, though.”

“It won’t be forever.” He sighed. “We’ll have you disappear in a small town I know. Stay low and you’ll be safe. Unless you change your mind about witness protection.”

“No, I’m not going forever.” I bit my lip. “I don’t understand why you can’t call Zane and ask him to come in now. We can tell him the plan. He can still help us.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t risk him slipping up. If he thinks you’re dead, and he thinks Braydon is responsible, he’ll do more. He’ll go looking for the truth. We need that.”

“You don’t know what he’ll do.”

“We’re pretty sure.” He smiled at me, tight-lipped, and I looked at the folders on his desk. I saw one with my name and underneath it I saw a label that said “Zane Beaumont.” I shivered as I realized that they must have been investigating both of us.

“So what’s in the files?” I nodded towards his desk with a frown.

“Everything that exists outside of your minds.” He shrugged. “I like to know who I’m dealing with.”

“That explains the file about me, but not about Zane.”

“What can I say? I had a feeling he was going to be helpful.”

“I don’t want to go away without telling my brother.” I shook my head. “I can’t that to him. I can’t involve him in something this deep without him knowing the truth.”

“You don’t have a choice, Noah. Sometimes when you love someone, the best thing you can do is keep them in the dark. Loving someone doesn’t always mean telling them everything. It means knowing when it’s best to keep your mouth shut and when it’s best to open it. And this is the time to keep it shut—that is, if you love your brother as much as you say you do.”


“I still want to know about Mom.” Zane cleared his throat. “I’m not going to push it right now, but I still want to know.” His voice was light.

“You’ve changed.” I cocked my head and studied him. “You’re calmer than you were before. I was expecting you to put me in a headlock to get an answer.”

“That’s coming if you don’t give me an answer tomorrow.” He grinned at me.

“I’m not keeping it to myself because I want to. Trust me.” I made a face. “Just like I didn’t leave and not tell you because I wanted to keep you in the dark.”

“How could you do it?” He peered at me with hurt eyes. “I would never do that to you. I could never just leave and have you think I’m dead.”

“I didn’t want to just leave.” I sighed. “It’s always just been us. I begged to be able to tell you. But Special Agent Waldron convinced me that it was in your best interest for me to not tell you.”

“I know you didn’t do it to hurt me.” He sat on my bed and played with his fingers. “Don’t hate me, but I am kind of glad that you didn’t tell me. I know it sounds twisted. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if it wasn’t for you going away, I would never have met Lucky. And I don’t know what my life would be like if I didn’t have her in my life. Do I sound like a complete asshole?” He looked up at me with a twisted smile. “Am I the world’s worst brother?”

“No.” I laughed lightheartedly. “In fact, it makes you human and very honest.”

“I love her so much, you know.” He made a face. “It hurts me to be away from her. Like I feel a physical pain. It’s crazy.”

“That’s love. It provides as much joy as it does pain.”

“She really hurt you, didn’t she?”

“Not in the way that you think.” I paced in front of the bed. “It’s funny, our roles are reversed now. I used to be the one that believed in happy endings, and you were the one with the tortured soul.”