Take - Page 83

“You mean sexually?” Anger swelled inside me. “Did he abuse you?”

Reath squeezed my fingers. “Settle down, tigress. He never did, but he might have one day.”

“How did you get out?”

“Tucker was beating me badly one night. The others broke the door down and beat him back. We all took him down. Then we left.”

I could hardly imagine five traumatized boys who’d had such a hard start to life going out on their own as teenagers.

“We were determined to make something of ourselves. And that night, we decided to be brothers. Not because we shared blood, but because we’d spilled it together. We were all so angry, and that’s how we picked our name. Fury. We became the Fury brothers.”

I hugged him tighter. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Reath. But I am glad you found your brothers.”

He patted my hand. “Me too.”

“You all made yourselves into incredible men. Thanks for telling me.” I paused. “What set the nightmare off tonight? Is there a trigger?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Not always, but tonight, Auclair called me. Talked shit.”

About me. Baiting Reath. “I feel like this isn’t even about me anymore,” I said carefully.

“It’s not. He wants revenge.”

“Why?”

Reath swiveled to face me, his face swathed in shadows. “Remember I said I crossed paths with him when I was with the CIA?”

I nodded.

“His team was planning to blow up the US Embassy in Berlin. I was working undercover there. I stopped their plot by killing the woman planting the bomb.”

“You saved lives. How many would have died if the bomb went off?”

“A lot.” He pulled in a breath. “Frankie, that woman was Auclair’s wife.”

My heart sank. “Oh, God.”

“That’s right. He blames me for her death, and he’ll do anything to get revenge. This isn’t about your project anymore, it’s about me.”

I cupped his cheeks. “We aren’t going to let him win. There will be no stealing my project, and no hurting any of us.”

Reath’s lips quirked. “So fierce.”

“That’s right.”

He stroked my cheek. “I will keep you safe, Frankie.”

“I know.” And I’d do everything I could to keep him safe as well.

“We should try and get some more sleep.”

I could tell there was no way he’d get back to sleep easily. “Any chance you could make me some of that whiskey-laced hot chocolate?”

He rubbed his thumb over my lips. “Yeah, I could do that.”

35

FRANKIE