for a second before continuing. “I see.” Michael looked over at the photo gallery. “I’ll make this brief because I have to get back to work. Brayton isn’t going to say anything about me to the police because there’s nothing to say. If you mention this wild theory I’ll not only continue the investigation into your family and make it public, I’ll make sure you never work in this town again.”
I couldn’t help smiling at the classic threatening phrase.
Michael frowned. “I’m not joking. As for your relationship with Bran, his mother and I will be having a discussion with him as regards his future in general and specifically with you. While I realize you played a part in his...rehabilitation, you have to understand the Hanover name stands for security and safety. Having a loose cannon spewing rumors and theories in the family wouldn’t be good for us. Or you.”
“You’d make him choose between me and you?” I smiled. “Really?”
“Bran has had the best of everything up to this point. Schooling, training, access to anything and anyone he’s wanted.” Michael touched his fingertips together. “True, he turned his back on honest journalism for a bit but he relied on the family name for his rent money. What do you think he’ll do if I tell him to choose between staying with you and utter poverty?”
“He’d choose me.” I had no doubt in my heart.
“Really.” Michael smirked. “You might want to reconsider what you know about my son.”
My cell phone buzzed. I ignored it.
“You may want to answer that,” Michael said. The sly smile begged to be slapped off.
I grabbed at the slim technological wafer.
WHERE R U?
AT WORK. B HOME SOON.
NO.
I stared at the screen.
IM IN LOBBY WAITING 4 YOU. COME DOWN. NOW.
I closed the connection without replying and tucked the phone back into my pocket.
Michael stood up. “Perhaps my son can talk some more sense into you.” One eyebrow rose. “Since you don’t keep any secrets from him, right?”
* * *
The elevator ride down was slow and agonizing. If I was lucky the cables would snap and send me down to the hell that waited for liars.
It didn’t break.
I spotted him the second I stepped off the elevator despite a swarm of businessmen and women clotting the lobby.
Bran stood inside the front doors, waiting with arms crossed.
“I’m over in Yorkville at a little café, having a coffee with a magazine editor who wants a series of articles on Toronto street life, and I get interrupted by a message from my mother asking why my girlfriend was hanging out in a police station.” The fury in his eyes could have torched half of Rome. “Especially when I thought you were doing a fast security system check for a client and there was no reason for you to be with the cops. So I have to explain to her about how I’m not your keeper and how there must be a good reason even though I can’t think of one right now. And then I get a call from my father’s office telling me to come pick you up here. So what is going on?”
I held up a hand. “Can we at least get home before you toss me over your knee? Let me get into the school girl outfit.”
This earned us a guffaw from the security supervisor and curious looks from the other guards and bystanders.
Bran didn’t smile. He crooked a finger at me and walked out. I gave a shrug to the audience and followed.
He was silent the entire way home in the back of the cab.
I shuffled my feet, not daring to make small talk. There was no way to be gentle about what I had to tell him, no way I could think of.
I’d have rather gone on a hunt against a rabid boar with a toothpick.
Bran paid off the cab driver and led the way up to my house and inside, using his own key to unlock the door. His leather duster flew onto the back of the couch.
I added my coat and messenger bag. The oversized purse slid onto the floor.
I didn’t move to pick it up.
Jazz flew by us in a white blur heading for the
I couldn’t help smiling at the classic threatening phrase.
Michael frowned. “I’m not joking. As for your relationship with Bran, his mother and I will be having a discussion with him as regards his future in general and specifically with you. While I realize you played a part in his...rehabilitation, you have to understand the Hanover name stands for security and safety. Having a loose cannon spewing rumors and theories in the family wouldn’t be good for us. Or you.”
“You’d make him choose between me and you?” I smiled. “Really?”
“Bran has had the best of everything up to this point. Schooling, training, access to anything and anyone he’s wanted.” Michael touched his fingertips together. “True, he turned his back on honest journalism for a bit but he relied on the family name for his rent money. What do you think he’ll do if I tell him to choose between staying with you and utter poverty?”
“He’d choose me.” I had no doubt in my heart.
“Really.” Michael smirked. “You might want to reconsider what you know about my son.”
My cell phone buzzed. I ignored it.
“You may want to answer that,” Michael said. The sly smile begged to be slapped off.
I grabbed at the slim technological wafer.
WHERE R U?
AT WORK. B HOME SOON.
NO.
I stared at the screen.
IM IN LOBBY WAITING 4 YOU. COME DOWN. NOW.
I closed the connection without replying and tucked the phone back into my pocket.
Michael stood up. “Perhaps my son can talk some more sense into you.” One eyebrow rose. “Since you don’t keep any secrets from him, right?”
* * *
The elevator ride down was slow and agonizing. If I was lucky the cables would snap and send me down to the hell that waited for liars.
It didn’t break.
I spotted him the second I stepped off the elevator despite a swarm of businessmen and women clotting the lobby.
Bran stood inside the front doors, waiting with arms crossed.
“I’m over in Yorkville at a little café, having a coffee with a magazine editor who wants a series of articles on Toronto street life, and I get interrupted by a message from my mother asking why my girlfriend was hanging out in a police station.” The fury in his eyes could have torched half of Rome. “Especially when I thought you were doing a fast security system check for a client and there was no reason for you to be with the cops. So I have to explain to her about how I’m not your keeper and how there must be a good reason even though I can’t think of one right now. And then I get a call from my father’s office telling me to come pick you up here. So what is going on?”
I held up a hand. “Can we at least get home before you toss me over your knee? Let me get into the school girl outfit.”
This earned us a guffaw from the security supervisor and curious looks from the other guards and bystanders.
Bran didn’t smile. He crooked a finger at me and walked out. I gave a shrug to the audience and followed.
He was silent the entire way home in the back of the cab.
I shuffled my feet, not daring to make small talk. There was no way to be gentle about what I had to tell him, no way I could think of.
I’d have rather gone on a hunt against a rabid boar with a toothpick.
Bran paid off the cab driver and led the way up to my house and inside, using his own key to unlock the door. His leather duster flew onto the back of the couch.
I added my coat and messenger bag. The oversized purse slid onto the floor.
I didn’t move to pick it up.
Jazz flew by us in a white blur heading for the
Similar Books
