Page 95 of Impossible Love

“Is that Declan?”

Evander nods.

“Tell him to please keep track of what he’s taking and from where. I…I don’t want…” she quickly glances my way. “Nobody likes their files rearranged.”

“What’s weird?” I ask Evander.

“Finn says that his file cabinets were spotless, perfectly organized and dated, nothing out of order. He said it’s like two people worked in that office—one a perfectionist and one a slob.”

Victoria makes a sound in the back of her throat but doesn’t look up from what she’s doing. About forty minutes later, my brothers return with banker’s boxes of files and ledgers.

We come up with a plan for who will review what. Victoria and Evander work side by side on the bed and issue directions when needed. The rest of us retreat to our respective corners and get busy.

Hours tick by. Evander goes through most of his healthy stash of sticky notes, color-coded page markers, and document clips. Special K raids Finn’s pantry, because he’s known for keeping name-brand goodies on hand. He claims they’re for Jasmine, but we all know that shit gets him through his intense middle-of-the-night gaming sessions.

I volunteer to make more coffee. It’s nice to get out of that room. It’s not fun being just feet away from Victoria while she doesn’t acknowledge me. I deserve it, but still, not fun.

Finn joins me in the kitchen. “Did you tell her the bullshit about the BLM delaying the contract?”

“Yeah.” I lean against the cabinets. “She didn’t fall for it.”

“Well, she’s damn smart.”

“Smarter than all of us put together, maybe.”

“What is she looking for?”

I glance over Finn’s shoulder to make sure she’s not headed our way. “I think she has Arlo in the crosshairs.”

“Yeah, but why?”

“No idea, but she’s digging up something in there. I’m starting to think she had nothing to do with the contract mess.”

“Me too. But holy shit, bro. She’s pissed at you. Anger’s shooting off her like lightning.”

Declan joins us in the kitchen. “Hey, Cal,” he whispers. “I think we were wrong about Victoria. Evander agrees—he just texted me, saying as much.”

“That girl is working her ass off in there,” Finn says. “Who would do that just for show?”

Special K wanders our way. “Your business lady’s a straight-up badass,” he says to me.

“She’s not my business lady. Or my anything.”

“Fine, but she reminds me of the time we were doing that extraction off the coast of

Malta—”

“Get back in here!” Evander yells from his room. “You got to see this!”

Chapter 50

Victoria

“Sure, I’ll go over it again.” The MacLaine brothers look so flabbergasted that I don’t mind repeating myself. It’s a lot for them to take in. “I’m saying that it’s not normal for five single grown men to live this close together and be up in each other’s business all the time.”

“Not that part,” Finn says. “But you’re probably right about the too-close thing.”

“It does cut down on privacy,” Declan adds.

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