by Jana Leigh
Junior frowned and picked up the phone and said, “Get Sam in here now. We have a few things to discuss.”
“Yes, sir,” the harried secretary said.
“Oh and tell her she is fired while you have her on the phone,” Lily said smugly, and Junior growled and whispered something into the phone. Lily heard the lady in the outer office scream and then she threw something against the door.
She grinned when she turned back, then instantly wiped it off her face, and paused when she saw the intense look her men were giving her. Well, she had a lot of explaining to do. Sitting in the chair at the head of the table, she folded her arms and looked at her men pointedly. She was not going to back down. Dammit, she knew she was right.
Her siblings needed to feel safe, come out of hiding, and stop looking over their shoulder, just like she was. Hell, they couldn’t even go out to the store without planning days in advance. It sucked. She wanted to be able to go out to dinner with her men—romance and stuff.
Junior was slamming things into a box behind them, one of the men was watching intently to make sure they could see what he was taking with him. She really hoped it wasn’t the hard drive to the computer, but when the man grimaced, she knew something was off.
The rest of them all spoke lowly about what was going to happen, her men remained unusually silent.
“Lily, you played this perfectly, I will bet they will make panicked moves before the night is out,” one of the men said—he was the one she contacted. His name was Mr. Riley; he worked as an investigator with the Prosecutor’s office. When she called in and demanded to speak to someone about the Digrossi family, she was instantly patched to Mr. Riley, who was the lead investigator. When she explained who she was, along with the situation she was in, the poor guy almost freaked out. She was like Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July all tied into one. The fireworks were certainly going to blow when the brothers discovered what she was really doing.
“Junior, what’s up?” Sam said gruffly from the doorway. Lily looked over her shoulder and saw the large idiot. Lily knew that he was nowhere near as smart as Junior and was basically, his brother’s puppet. However, Lily wasn’t so sure Junior was dumb. How the hell could Junior pull this whole thing off? They were missing something, and Lily thought it was Sam.
“‘Her’ is what is up, brother,” Junior said, pointing to Lily. Sam turned and looked at the people at the table with a lift of his eyebrow. He was no thug, she thought, as she watched his eyes skim over the people.
“What about her?” Sam said, and Lily thought they were going to see the true Sam for a moment, but then it was as if a curtain dropped over the large man’s eyes. He turned to look at Junior then back at the table and a confused, dumb expression was on his face. Oh, he was good, she thought, and looked around the table to see if anyone else caught what she did. Bear and Trent did, but the other men were still focused on Junior. Just like Sam liked it.
It was brilliant, and with a sinking feeling in her stomach, she knew they would not find a damn thing on the computer that was sitting in front of them. They targeted the wrong brother all along, just as she had wondered. All of the information that was sent to her was too neat and tight. Sam was mentioned in passing, but Junior is actually the one who arranged and paid for the hit on their father. He was the one whose name was plastered across the news. Shit.
Lily smiled big and turned back around—never let them see ya sweat, she thought, and looked at her brilliant brother, Sam. The one they had all over looked—including their father. The true puppet master.
***
Sam had to control himself; he wasn’t about to blow this already. He had plans and they had just begun. This stupid bitch was going to make waves where he didn’t want them. Turning to look at his brother, who was packing, Sam said quietly, “What about her?”
Junior knew that tone Sam used. It let him know that he wanted an explanation immediately. At least the dumbass could still play the part though. “That woman is our long lost half-sister, and our loving father gave her an updated Will that was filed with the state, and legal. She was given everything. We get allowances.”
Sam felt the anger rise in him, there was no way this was happening. He had plans, and it included the much-needed money he was using from the company. Hell, he was even taking from the investors. Who cared, this was important. By the time they were done, he would have several federal judges in his pocket as well as high profile politicians, but it required money—and lots of it. If he was suddenly stipend on what he could get his hands on, this whole plan could be screwed.
Sam stepped closer to his brother and glared at him for just folding so quickly. “Did you call our lawyers? Did you have anyone check it out?” Junior blanched and then shook his head. Sam sighed and then pointedly looked at the phone and turned around.
“I am sorry, we have not been introduced. I am Sam Digrossi,” he said with his kinda stupid male role he adopted years ago.
The woman who was sitting at the head of the table was smirking at him, at him! he thought, and watched as she stood and straightened the black business suit she wore. If he didn’t think about her being his half-sister, he would have thought she was hot, but apparently they were related—even Sam wasn’t that sick.
“Lily Digrossi,” Lily said smiling and looked up at her half-brother.
“Really? The old man gave you his name?” Sam said with a shocked expression. He would never have done that, monthly, weekly, daily, hell, hourly, the old man pounded into their heads that they were his only children. They hadn’t even found out until ten years ago that they actually had other siblings. Their father shrugged it off as a mistake—or several. However, when they discovered the crazy-ass old man just kept reproducing with whatever chick he could, Sam and Junior planned. They were not sharing a damn thing.
Growing up with that bastard entitled them to all the fucking money he had. He was a cruel son of a bitch. He would make them sit for hours just to listen to him and his buddies explain the business, plus how it worked. When he was ten, they took him on his first hit. He loved it. From then on out he played stupid so his father would assign him to be the muscle—he loved that.
Junior always was a little more of a whiny, prissy bastard. He wanted the money, the cars, and the women. As long as Sam provided him with the information, Junior was happy to play the frontman. Even their father didn’t know how intelligent Sam was. Apparently, that was a good thing, because he shared all of the family secrets with a stranger.
“Uh yeah, really,” the small woman said and Sam gritted his teeth. Bitch.
“I didn’t know we had a sister?” Sam said.
“Yep. And one who is now your boss,” Lily said, stepped closer, and leaned over. “I don’t think our other brother is taking this so well,” she whispered to him, as if they were conspirators or something.
“Yeah, well Junior is the head of the company. Of course, he would be upset to be outted,” Sam said with a shrug.
“My lawyer is on his way up,” Junior yelled and stomped over to stand by his side. Sam would have rolled his eyes if it wasn’t so transparent the dumbass had no clue what the fuck was going on. Shit, when Junior went to kill their father, Sam had to coach him for weeks with the plan. Junior still had to throw in his two cents in the end, but the outcome was the same. Sam made sure there was no trace of him hiring anyone to kill anyone. He preferred the up close and personal slaughter, one he was going to love doing to their sister. She would be sorry she ever thought she could waltz in here and take over.
One of the men in the black suits stood. “Ms. Digrossi, if you please, we need to talk to you for a moment.”
Sam glared at the man. He looked like he was ready to kill him—ha, like that could happen. “And you are?” Sam growled.
“My name is Mr. Bronte. I am Ms. Digrossi’s new security head. From now on, we will be responsible for her safety, if you get my meaning. Now, Ms. Digrossi, if you would please come o
ver here so we can discuss a few things, that would be great,” the man said brusquely and looked pointedly at his ‘sister’ who looked like she was a bit nervous at the man’s look. Hmmm, something was going on here.
***
Bear and Trent knew where their little lovely was going. Their friend, Mr. Riley, informed them of Lily’s call right after she hung up. They waited to see if she would tell them about the situation and what she planned. However, she seemed to think she could do this on her own. They had plans to show her what being in a relationship with them meant the moment they had privacy.
While they were waiting in the outer office, Bear had been stewing, Trent was also, but he hid it better. Bear just growled and glared at everyone who approached him. When the door finally opened, Trent had been relieved to see Lily. He wanted to rush into the room and grab her and leave, but he knew he couldn’t. So he took a few deep breaths and listened as Lily continued playing her part. When the time came and they stepped behind her, he could feel her tension until she realized who was actually behind her.
The shocked look on her face when she turned and stared at them for a moment would have been something he would laugh at if it wasn’t such a serious situation. Bear and Trent played their parts well until Sam all but threatened their woman. They could see the look in his eyes, and knew given half a chance that he would kill her.
Trent didn’t stop Bear when he stood and announced they were her private security. Trent watched with narrow eyes as Junior announced his lawyers were coming. This could turn into a pissing match, of course one that Lily would win, because she apparently had all the documents in place. Why hadn’t she told them?
“Fine, we can wait for them over here. Just let us know when they arrive,” Lily said formally, and turned her back to the brothers and chewed on her lip with worry. She had done brilliant so far, but Trent was worried she was going to begin showing the stress. Anyone would.
Lily walked calmly toward them and she flashed a smile of relief when she stepped up to him and leaned against him deliberately as she sat back down. Trent was on the edge of scooping her up and running as far away as they could or waiting it out and seeing where this went. He didn’t want to be constantly looking over her shoulder for the rest of their lives. They needed closure—it just sucked how they had to get it.
“Do you have all the documentation?” Lily whispered to the men who were sitting there from the Feds. Mr. Riley sat at the end, looked at the threesome shrewdly, and then nodded.
Bear leaned over and said, “Wanna tell us how deep you are in now?”
“Nope, I think I will wait until this is done.” Lily laughed back at him. Her voice shook a little, she was more than ready to leave this room and get to the large hotel room she booked for herself so she could continue to play the role. But is seemed like everything was against her, a group of men walked into the room and looked across to them before pulling Junior and Sam to the side and began to whisper.
It didn’t take long for one of them to separate themselves and come over to the table where Lily was sitting with her men and the FBI. She put a smile on her face when the slick-looking lawyer stopped by the corner where Lily was sitting. She thought he was trying to intimidate since he came so close to her shoulder, loomed above her, and looked down at her with a frown.
“We need the papers you have. I am sure we can sort this out, Mr. Digrossi Senior had already signed over the company to my clients, and he was not in the position to actually give you controlling interest in the company,” the man said smugly.
“And you are?” Lily smiled.
“I am the lead attorney for the Digrossi family, Mr. Brainwight,” the man said smugly.
“Well, these are my attorney’s, Mr. Riley is the lead, you can deal with all of this. For now, I think maybe we need to lock the office up, no one should be allowed in here until it is decided,” Lily said. “I have an appointment with the spa at the hotel. I trust, Mr. Riley, you and the others can deal with this for now?” Lily said, knowing she was about ready to scream from having to play this game, so she needed to let the stress out.
Mr. Riley stood and nodded. “Lily, go back to the hotel, we will call you when we are done, and I will have the keys for you by tonight. Tomorrow we can begin to look at the books.”
Lily nodded. Looking at the books was not her issue, she wanted to find her baby sister and the info was somewhere in this building. She just had to find it. Alex and the others deserved to be safe, and she was going to make sure it happened.
Bear and Trent stood with her and when she paused to speak to Sam and Junior, they stood right at her elbows, one on either side, looking at the men and daring them to try something. Bear was itching to beat the shit out of Sam.
“Brothers. I will see you in the morning, eight a.m. sharp at the café across the street, we can discuss the changes that are going to be made before we come into the building.” Lily smirked and then laughed when Junior and Sam both scowled at her. “Oh come on, you guys need to relax. We are family after all, right? We stick together.”
Lily smiled, swung around, and walked out the door with her men following her. She made it to the limo that was waiting below before she began to cry. When the door shut, she turned and began sobbing as Bear and Trent surrounded her on each side and comforted her.
Chapter Two
Lily kept her head bent when they walked into the lobby of the hotel, her men on either side—she must look like a mess. Lily was certain her make-up smeared in the limo during her breakdown. She probably looked like a raccoon.
Trent took her key and led her toward the elevator while Bear went to the desk and began talking to the manager.
When they got to the elevator, Lily sniffed and looked up at Trent. “Where is Bear going?”
“Arranging for our floor to hold the others, they are on their way,” Trent said slowly and Lily gasped.
“Security, what about Alex, we can’t let them know we have him,” Lily said with tears in her eyes again, she had this all planned out. Nothing was happening as she planned, well, except for her brothers’ reaction—they were totally what she thought would happen. In fact, if she ventured to guess, they were probably more pissed than what she predicted.
Deep in thought, Lily didn’t realize they were in the room until she was standing in front of the huge living room. Wow, she really had picked a nice hotel. It was supposed to be classy, but Lily never dreamed it would be like this. Mr. Riley had checked her in. She saw her bags sitting in front of a door she presumed was the bedroom. The living room was enormous, and decorated in silver and greys. The furniture seemed to gleam in the sunlight and the tables were a deep, rich, cherry finish.
Lily turned. There was a small kitchen area that held everything they would need. She grinned when she saw the white roses with silverish bows on the clear glass table that was set out for them to dine on. One hundred percent decadent. She would have been in hog heaven if it wasn’t for the fact she was certain that as of an hour ago, there was a huge price on her head. Junior and Sam would want her taken care of swiftly.
Trent stood with his arms folded, looking at her as if she was in big ass trouble. “What?”
“Well, we can start with why you lied to us, and finish with what the FUCK were you thinking?” Trent said calmly.
Lily frowned, put her hands on her hips, and went and stood in front of him. With her height and the heels she was wearing, they stood eye to eye. “I think I was trying to protect my family, and finding my baby sister.”
Trent sighed and ran his hand across his face, he didn’t want to fight with Lily, but she really needed to actually believe in their relationship, she didn’t trust them for some reason.
“You are not alone, you have us and the family. Why did you leave without talking to anyone first?” Trent growled and the door behind them opened, Bear walked in and glowered at her.
“I would love to know the answer to that question myself,” Bear said.
Lily bit her lip and took a step back. Shit, she was going to have to come clean with them finally. She hoped they wouldn’t hate her for being so stupid.
“I received a letter a few years ago from an attorney saying he was my birth father’s best friend. This was way before I knew that Senior D was my father. I wasn’t sure how to tell all of you. I mean, hell, I have been talking to him in letters for like years and he seemed so nice. I really thought he was my father, until Jazz came to the farm. I was completely shocked. I was gonna show everyone what the letters said, but then he was killed and with everything that was going on, there just never seemed the right time to announce, “hey, by the way, I have been talking to our psycho father who left me all of the company.’ I mean think about it,” Lily said desperately.
Bear looked at her with a frown and said, “You don’t have much faith in us, do you? I really thought that you understood when we asked you to enter into a relationship with us we would have no secrets. They can destroy a relationship. I have to tell you that I think you need to learn a lesson about this.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “I know we have to share everything, and this is the only secret I had, but seriously, I thought I could handle this. I mean, I know you are pissed, but I trusted you enough to hope you would remain on the outside and be ready to find my sister. She is just a baby, and they have a hit out on her. It is sick. I also think they have something else planned for Andres. I have to help. I have been quiet and silent for too long.”
“Babe, we know you need to declare your independence. We back you one hundred percent, but you just put a big ass bulls-eye on your back and we are the only two who protect it. No one else has your back like we do,” Trent said.
Lily looked at her men warily and saw they had both come on either side of her. Shit, what were they doing?
Bear whispered in her ear, “When I said that you needed to learn a lesson, I meant it. I also intend on giving you the lesson in the bedroom.”
