Page 19 of Fourth Point Of Contact

“So, we’ll remove them. We’ll get them out.”

“How? She might not want to leave.”

“Or maybe she does. Maybe she’s desperate for a way out,” I urged. “We should at least look into it.”

“Fuck,” he said, scrubbing a hand down his face. “That means telling Harper.”

“Do you really think she wouldn’t understand?”

“I don’t know.” His voice was quiet. He really fucking thought she would leave him.

“Why me?” I asked. “Why did you come to me instead of Lock? Or hell, Brock or Scottie?”

He stayed quiet for a moment, his gaze still roaming around space. “You’re single.”

“And?”

“I don’t know, man.” His eyes finally drifted to mine. “Would you risk it all? Would you tell her if it meant you lost everything?”

“Yes,” I said without thinking. “Because I know Harper. She’s fucking over the moon for you. There’s no fucking way she would leave you. Maybe someone else would walk away, but Harper’s not one of them.”

“I walked away from her. I swore—” He swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes closed. “Do me a favor.”

“Anything.”

“Can you look into him? I can’t do it.”

“Of course.”

He sat up, staring at me intently. “This doesn’t go through anyone else. Not even Rae. I know she could find things faster, but I don’t want anyone else knowing.”

“She wouldn’t judge you.”

“No, but she would keep digging, and then she’d know what I did.”

I didn’t know why he was so worried about people finding out about him nearly killing his father. No one would blame him. Hell, I’d probably lose my shit and kill my old man, too, if I walked in on him murdering my mother. But that still didn’t explain why he wouldn’t talk to Lock about this.

He shoved to his feet and headed for the door, but I stopped him before he could walk out.

“Tell me one thing.” He stiffened at my words. “Why won’t you talk to Lock about this?”

He glanced over his shoulder at me, his eyes dark and filled with self-loathing. “He doesn’t know he’s alive.”

In other words, Lock didn’t know Edu had kept his mouth shut when his old man threatened him. “I’ll keep it to myself.”

“Thanks.”

“They’d all be on your side,” I called out as he pulled the door open. “Not a single fucking person around here would judge you.”

“But I do,” he said as he walked out.

7

PIPER

I pulledon a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt, courtesy of my best friend, as I swayed heavily from the wine lingering in my system. Note to self: Do not drink all the wine in New York City in one night. It always turned out bad.

“What are you doing?” Jeanie asked. “Shouldn’t you be hanging over a toilet right now?”

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