I opened it to find a neatly folded piece of paper inside. My chest was tight, my hands shaking, but I took the paper out and unfolded it. If I waited until I was ready to read it, I knew I never would.
Jax,
Upon the event of my death, I have asked Mr. Constantine to send this to you. I will spare you any sentimentality, as I know that we are both unaccustomed to such displays between us. This letter is not to explain the changes to my will, though I am sure they came as a surprise to you and your brothers. I know that you will come to understand them with time.
The purpose of this letter is to explain something that I have never spoken of to anyone outside of Mr. Constantine.
Bartholomew Constantine is a private investigator. I hired him twenty years ago to investigate the car crash that killed your parents and sister. I do not believe that it was an accident, and now that I am gone, I ask that you continue the search for the truth.
When I finished the letter, I went back and read it again. And again.
But the words just couldn’t compute.
Because they were crazy.
They couldn’t be real. None of this could be real. The accident wasn’t an accident? Grandfather wasn’t given to flights of fancy. But he’d hired a PI. And he’d been sure enough that he sent me a letter to make sure I kept up the investigation.
“Jax?”
I looked up to see Syll coming into the room. She wore one of my robes, the soft flannel dwarfing her. I patted the seat next to me, and she came over and sat down, a concerned expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Concern filled her eyes. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
“In a way I did.” I held up the letter but couldn’t bring myself to hand it to her. “It’s a letter from my grandfather.”
“Really?”
“Apparently, he hired a private investigator years ago because he didn’t think the accident that killed my parents was an accident.”
“What?” She put her hand on my arm.
“Yeah, I’m as surprised as you are. He never talked about it, never gave me a hint that he ever thought it was something other than a car accident.”
“How much do you remember?” she asked gently.
“Not much.” I shook my head. “I was a kid, so no one wanted to tell me much about what happened, and I didn’t want to upset Grandfather, so I never asked. The more time that passed, the less I thought about it.”
She ran her fingers through my hair, her touch soothing. I leaned into her, needing the comfort even if I didn’t want to admit it.
“Cai, Slade, and I were at a friend’s house when it happened. We didn’t know until it was all over. Grandfather came from the hospital after…it was over, sat us all down, and told us that our parents and sister were dead and that Blake was going to be okay. He just said it was a car accident.”
“That’s awful.”
I looked over at her now and saw tears in her eyes.
“I never knew he thought it was anything else. Why didn’t he tell me?”
She squeezed my hand. “Maybe he didn’t want to burden you with it.”
I gave her a half-smile. “Trust me, protecting me wasn’t something Grandfather really did.”
“Yes, he did,” she countered. “I’m sure he didn’t want to tell you until he knew for certain what happened. He didn’t want you to have the pain of not knowing.”
She leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to me. I could feel my desperation in the kiss, but I didn’t feel the need to hide anything I was feeling. She understood without me needing to say a word.
I’d contact this Constantine fellow and get the facts. If I thought he was on the level, I’d do what my grandfather asked and continue to look for the truth.
I’d just wait to tell my brothers. No point in bringing up painful memories if there wasn’t anything there.
Thirty-Five
Syll
Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day, but I wasn’t expecting anything since Jax had already done so much for me. Besides, we hadn’t even really solidified that we were in a relationship until last week.
I thought we might go out to eat, or order in something special. What I hadn’t expected was him to say we were going out, especially after everything he’d just learned. He’d said a distraction was exactly what he needed, and of course, I hadn’t been able to deny him. The weather wasn’t bad, at least. Cold, but not bitterly so.
As the car pulled up to the curb, I caught my breath. “I hadn’t realized they’d cleared it already.”
“I may have mentioned a bit of incentive if they finished the job before today.” Jax held out a hand to help me out of the car.
I stood in front of the lot and stared at the place where my home used to stand. I’d come by once after the fire, but the sight of the charred bones of the building had been too much. Now, it was smooth ground, everything gone.
“I also hired men to salvage anything they could. It’s being packed away for whenever you feel up to going through it.”
“Thank you.” I gave him a tight smile, emotion clawing its way up my throat. “It’s just hard to believe it’s gone, you know.”
He put his arm around my waist and pulled me to his side. “I do know.”
If anyone knew what it was like to have something there one day and gone the next, it was Jax.
“We haven’t really talked about what you want to do,” he said. “You have the insurance money, but that doesn’t mean you have to rebuild.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder. If that wasn’t an invitation to tell him the idea I’d had floating around in my brain, nothing was.
“I think I might like to rebuild, but not as a bar. And I might need a partner for what I have in mind.”
I felt him stiffen as my words sank in. “Syll, are you sure that’s what you want?”
I pulled away enough to look up at him. “I am. If you still want to build a club here.”
“I do,” he said. “And I would love for you to be my partner.”
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him soundly on the mouth. Instead of deepening the kiss, however, he raised his head.
“My sweet Syll, I brought you here to talk about the future, but not just the future of your business.” He brushed back my hair. “I want to be your partner in everything.”
I stared at him. What was he talking about?
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but I want you to live with me. More than that, I want to marry you.”
“Are-are you serious?”
He smiled widely. “I am. And if you’ll let me go, I’ll get the ring out of my pocket.”
Holy shit. He wasn’t kidding.
* * *
I could feel the cool metal of my engagement ring on my finger, but I still couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was engaged to a man I’d known for only a month. A billionaire who was going to be my partner in every way.
And that wasn’t all I couldn’t believe.
My current position was also more than a little unbelievable.
I was on my knees, bent forward so that my cheek was on the soft carpet. My arms were stretched out behind me, legs spread wide so every bit of me was exposed. But I couldn’t change any of that thanks to the leather cuffs connecting my wrists to my ankles.
Not that I would’ve wanted to change anything. Not with Jax going to his knees behind me, his cock hard and bare. When he asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate our engagement, I told him that I wanted to feel him inside me with nothing between us.
He’d fingered me to two climaxes in the back of the car before we’d gotten home, and then we’d gone straight to the playroom, where he’d stripped me and tied me up.
That had been ten minutes ago, and I was still wet and ready for him.
He grasped my hips, the tip of his cock nudging my entrance. The anticipation had my entire body tight and quiv
ering, so when he buried himself inside me with one hard thrust, I felt it in every cell of my body. I let out a cry that became a wail when he set a punishing pace, driving the air from my lungs and all reason from my brain.
My mind scrambled to keep up with all the sensations coursing through me, but the one word that dominated my thoughts was love. All-encompassing, all-consuming. A fire that burned through me faster, brighter, and hotter than anything I’d ever felt before.
Pressure coiled in my belly, tightening every time Jax bottomed out. With my hands restrained, my climax was completely in his hands, but I trusted him not to leave me unsatisfied. Then he worked a thumb into my ass, and all I could do was whimper.
His hips jerked, rhythm faltering, and then he was coming, emptying inside me as his fingers dug into my hips. With a groan, he draped himself across my back. He moved one hand beneath me to where our bodies were still joined, fingers finding my clit, skillfully manipulating it until I came with a shout.
“My sweet, sweet Syll,” he murmured as he pressed a kiss to my skin.
“I love you,” I said when I could manage words. “And I can’t wait for us to start our life together.”
“I love you, too. And that life is going to begin with me spending the rest of today, and all of tomorrow, showing you just how much I love you.”
As he reached down to unhook the cuffs, I took the opportunity to let my body come down from the high he’d given me. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Every last minute of it.
The Hunter Brothers continues in Cai’s story, His Control, releasing March 28th. Turn the page for a preview.
Prologue
Manfred
I wasn’t sure which was worse, watching my beloved Olive standing by the portraits of our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter while sobs shook her frail shoulders, or seeing my grandsons standing next to her, each face heart-breakingly stoic. All except for Blake. He’d been furious with the world from the moment he’d woken up in the hospital, and nothing Olive or I had been able to do had changed that.
A part of me still felt like this was all some horrible nightmare, that I’d wake up and find my wife sleeping peacefully next to me. She’d tell me that none of it was true, that Chester and Abigail were safe at home with Aimee and the boys. I’d go back to sleep, making plans to see them all soon so I could put this terrible dream to rest.
Except, only the real world could hurt this much.
And it couldn’t be a nightmare because that would’ve meant I’d been able to sleep. In the past few days, I’d barely managed twenty or thirty minutes a night. Every time I closed my eyes, I was back in the hospital, standing next to my son’s bed, listening to the doctor tell me that he’d never wake up, that I had to decide if I wanted to keep his body alive, or let him go. Or I was in the morgue, identifying Abigail and Aimee, both barely recognizable.
As awful as that had been, the worst moment was when I had to tell the boys. Blake was only four. He didn’t really understand what it meant that his parents and sister were gone. For him, I didn’t think it had sunk in that they would never return. Slade was only a year older, but he was starting to put things together. When I tried to leave the house yesterday to come here and deal with the paperwork that inevitably came with death, he wrapped his arms around my leg and begged me not to leave. When Jax had come over to get him, Slade had started screaming that if I left, I’d never come back.
I watched Jax now as he leaned over to Slade and fixed his brother’s tie. He’d been helping with his brothers, most of the time without even being asked. I hated seeing such a weight on his little shoulders, but I didn’t know how to tell him it was okay to just be a kid. I’d never been someone who’d expressed emotions easily. Olive had always been best at that, and Chester had been like her.
I was just grateful that I wasn’t doing this alone.
“Mr. Hunter.” Officer March drew my attention away from the boys. “If I could have a moment of your time.”
I shook his hand, then motioned for him to follow me away from the long line of people still waiting to offer their condolences. Chester and Abigail had been well-liked, and everyone had loved Aimee.
“I’m sorry to approach you like this,” he said, pitching his voice low enough that no one else could hear. “But I’ve been ordered to close the case and stay away from you.”
It took a moment for his words to process. “What, exactly, do you mean?”
Officer March scratched the back of his head, his eyes darting around as if he was still worried about someone overhearing us. “My partner wasn’t too keen on me telling you that I thought what happened was no accident.”
“I remember,” I said, “but I believed you would be investigating anyway.”
He nodded. “I was; and I did, actually. I visited the crash site again. Looked over the autopsy reports. Something was off, but I was still trying to figure it out when my captain called me into his office and told me that I needed to stop stepping on the detectives’ toes.” Another furtive look around. “The thing is, I spoke with the detectives yesterday, and they told me that they were getting ready to sign off on the accident report. My asking questions apparently made it look like they weren’t doing their jobs.” He looked away and then back again. “Or, at least that’s what my boss said.”
“You don’t think that’s the case?”
“I think someone doesn’t want anyone looking too closely at what happened.”
I shifted on my feet, my mind racing. I’d been going over this in my head every moment that hadn’t been consumed with planning and business. A true accident – black ice, an animal crossing the road – would be awful, but the idea that someone had done this on purpose…it was unimaginable. What sort of person could put a plan into motion that would not only leave a family without their father, but almost guaranteed collateral damage? I knew that Chester’s investigative journalism had created enemies, but I doubted any of them had the impudence to take a life.
Still, despite all those doubts, my gut said there was more to what happened than most people were seeing. I hadn’t managed a multi-billion-dollar business from the time I was twenty relying only on visible logic. I’d always had good intuition, and now it was telling me that something smelled fishy.
But I was still going to be smart about it.
“What makes you think that you can’t take the request from your captain at face value?” I knew Captain Hartman, and he was usually a straight-shooter.
“Because the order about staying out of the case wasn’t all he said.” Officer March leaned closer. “He told me to stay away from you specifically, that you didn’t want me poking around in things.”
My stomach sank. I hadn’t spoken to Hartman about Officer March. In fact, the only conversation we’d had since the crash had been when Hartman had said It’s a hell of a thing, losing members of your family like that.
Idiot.
“You’re right,” I said. “Something isn’t right about it.”
“If I keep looking into this, it could be my job,” he said. His eyes were wide. “What do you want me to do?”
I scrubbed a hand across my chin.
“Grandfather.” A tug on my sleeve made me look down as much as Cai’s quiet voice. His little face was solemn, bright blue eyes clear. “May I be excused?”
I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat and nodded. Cai didn’t run off. He walked, calmly and like he knew exactly where he was going and why. It wasn’t a seven-year-olds way of doing things, but Cai had never been a normal child. Out of all my grandchildren, he was the one who reminded me the most of myself. Focused and serious, never showing how he felt about anything. Not even after losing three members of his family.
“How are they?” Officer March asked. “I mean, I know they aren’t fine, not after what happened, but…dammit. You know what I mean.”
I nodded. I did know. “They’re as good as can be expected.”
Cai disappeared around the corner, and I found myself wondering where he was going, and if I might join him. Cai had asked if he could go back to school this week, and I understood the sentiment. It had been difficult this week not to throw myself into work and escape that way.
“Mr. Hunter,” Officer March spoke again. “What would you like me to do?”
I didn’t look at him as I answered, “I don’t want you to lose your job.”
I heard his sigh of relief over the chatter around me.
“I’d hoped you’d understand.” His hand touched my arm, and I turned to see him holding out a piece of paper. “I took the liberty of writing down the name and contact information of a private investigator I know. He’s a good guy. Knows his shi-stuff, and he’s discreet.”
I glanced down at the paper before putting it in my pocket.
Bartholomew Constantine.
After all of this was done, I’d give him a call, see if he could find anything.
If there was anything worth finding.
One
Cai
Twenty-Four Years Later
I shoved my carry-on into the overhead bin and wondered if I’d made a mistake in not asking my brother if the company plane could fly me back to Atlanta. I wouldn’t have asked him to arrange a private plane again, not when it wasn’t an emergency, but the company plane belonged to Hunter Enterprises, and since part of my trip had been spent dealing with issues related to the business, I could’ve justified it to myself.
Who was I kidding?
No, I couldn’t have.
I felt guilty even thinking about the meeting with Germaine Klaveno, Grandfather’s attorney, as business. It had pertained to the company, but only because the inheritance of Grandfather’s shares – as well as the rest of the estate – were dependent on a few things.
Like my brothers and I reconciling our differences.
The Hunter Brothers Complete Box Set Page 17
