Page 14 of Landry

Not even to tell his father that he’d made it through BUD/S training to become a Navy SEAL. His father wouldn’t have been impressed. He’d have asked how much he made as a Navy SEAL and reminded him that he was wasting his time and his life as nothing more than cannon fodder.

Landry had gone back to his Navy SEAL team, where he’d finally found a family who accepted him for himself. The brothers he’d never had growing up. Those men had had his back and wouldn’t have turned their backs on him because he hadn’t made a bunch of money.

But Landry hadn’t stopped there. He’d spent his spare time taking online courses, earning a degree in finance. He’d studied the stock market, invested the majority of his paycheck and built a substantial fortune of his own. Not the billions of dollars of assets his father’s corporation had accrued, but enough that he could live comfortably on the interest. He didn’t have to work another day in his life.

He didn’t have to work for Bayou Brotherhood Protectors. He wanted to. These men were his family. They’d trained together, fought together and stood by each other as they’d buried some of their own. They were his brothers.

“I’m headed for the war room,” Remy said as he parked his truck. “Once I get Jean-Luc settled in his playpen, I can help you with whatever you need.”

“Thanks.” Landry followed Remy as he carried Jean-Luc and a diaper bag into the boat factory.

Landry loved the fact that they’d revived the old boat factory instead of bulldozing it and starting over. He took in the shiny, clean floors, the new machinery and sheets of aluminum they worked with to make boats. He liked to see what hard work and ingenuity could make. And he liked helping other people who didn’t have the combat and self-defense skills he’d honed while on active duty. He was giving back to his community, not always taking.

He had brothers. He had enough money to be comfortable. Yet, he still felt a little empty inside. Like he was missing something else.

That emptiness had intensified as he’d watched his teammates meet and fall in love with some amazing women. The real clincher was when Remy and his wife had a baby. Seeing the ex-Navy SEAL who could slit the throat of a terrorist without batting an eye, now completely over the moon with his newborn son and kickass wife, he realized they were everything a family should be.

Something he’d never had growing up.

Today, in the Sweet Temptations candy shop, he’d witnessed Remy’s family unit sharing the love and responsibility of their child. They didn’t resent his existence, nor did they pass him off to a nanny or boarding school.

Add to that display, though he tried to tell himself it was no big deal, Camille Catoire’s finger brushing against his lip had ignited something inside him he’d never experienced. That blast of awareness excited him and terrified him equally.

When Remy had asked him to take on the assignment to provide her with protection, Landry had almost told his leader no.

But after receiving that spontaneous hug from Ava, he couldn’t have lived with himself if anything happened to either one of them.

The fact that Ava had seen a monster in her window on the same night Camille had been followed and nearly run off the road was too much of a coincidence.

Landry didn’t believe in coincidence.

If someone was trying to spook Camille and her daughter, they’d succeeded. If they were intent on hurting them, Landry hoped to keep that from happening.

What he needed was more information.

Remy settled Jean-Luc in the playpen they kept in the war room, which was used when their regular caregiver took a day off and Shelby had to work.

Once Jean-Luc was occupied with his toys, Remy sat at the conference table, pulled the wireless keyboard toward himself, initiated a video call to the Brotherhood Protectors headquarters in Montana and booted the giant monitor mounted on the wall.

After the second ring, the blue screen blinked, and the face of Hank Patterson appeared.

Landry fought a grin. No matter how many times a giant face appeared on the monitor, he couldn’t help thinking of the Great and Powerful Oz.

Only Hank Patterson was much more than just a fictitious character from a book. He was the real deal. Also, an ex-Navy SEAL, he was the reason the Brotherhood Protectors existed. He’d seen the need for protective services when he’d saved a movie star from a murderous stalker. That movie star was now his wife, with whom he shared two beautiful children.

Out of that incident had been born the Brotherhood Protectors, comprised of highly trained, former special operations types from all branches of the US military, and now, some from other allied nations.

“Remy, Landry, good to see you. What can I do for you?” he asked.

Remy filled Hank in on what had happened with Camille Catoire. “Now, it might be nothing but a drunk going for a joy ride and a child’s overactive imagination, but both happening the same night is too much of a coincidence.”

Hank frowned. “You know how I feel about coincidences.”

“We don’t believe in them,” a voice said in Hank’s background. A moment later, the tall, blond Viking, Axel Svenson, appeared beside Hank.

Remy grinned. “Hey, Swede. How’s Allie?”

Swede grinned. “She’s great. Five months pregnant and still kicking my ass on a horse.”

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