Page 48 of Heartbreak Hero

“Will…I need your help,” he said gruffly.

“What’s wrong?” the SecDef growled.

To say that Will was livid would have been an understatement. Heads rolled, and Levi was pretty sure that one Aries leader had been put on notice.

King’s access was restored and Rowan started the search for Sara’s phone.

Levi’s own phone buzzed, and his heart slammed when he grabbed it.

It wasn’t Sara, but rather his father’s number.

Damn it. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to his dad right then. He swallowed down the disappointment that it wasn’t Sara and answered the phone.

“Hello,” he said.

“Son?” Edwin Huxley asked.

“What’s up?”

It must be time to pay the piper, and Levi wondered what his father had in store for him. It could be anything from working for him at the office or marrying some socialite from a friend’s family.

“Can you come home?”

Levi frowned and walked away from the guys. He stepped outside the back patio doors and slid them closed.

The breeze rustled the trees in the backyard and the sun glinted off the patio furniture.

“Why?” He gazed at the water glistening on the green lawn and yellow summer flowers in brick beds.

“No reason. I haven’t seen you in years.”

Something sounded off and he walked over to sit at the glass top table.

“Every time I come home, we fight the whole time,” he reminded the man.

“Time…can bring about change.” His father seemed to struggle over the words.

So, had his father softened? Levi couldn’t see that happening. Was this a trap to come home and then sneak attack?

“You haven’t seen your brothers in a while.”

Levi gripped the phone when his Dad’s voice cracked. There was something his father wasn’t telling him. Were they in trouble?

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “I can make home. I’m in the middle of a case, but when it wraps up, I’ll fly in.”

His dad released a breath as if he’d been holding it.

“Let me talk to Mom,” Levi said softly.

“Okay. Take care. I’ll…see you soon,” his dad said, and that was the closest he was going to get to actual words of affection.

“Levi? Oh, honey,” his mom said over the phone.

“What’s going on?”

“Hold on,” her mother said, and then spoke to his father, he presumed. “I won’t. Don’t worry. Levi, I’m back, hang on.”

There were doors shutting and her footsteps, and he pictured her like him going into the backyard for privacy.

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