Page 2 of Cru's Crush
“Leave.”
“Leave? Right. You seem to forget I just rescued her from a possible kidnapping. Until they catch the people who abducted her, it’s my responsibility to keep her safe.”
Forty-eight hours ago, Beau had received a call from Daph, saying she was in New York City and in danger. I was with Beau at the time and volunteered to go and find her.
With the help of a private intelligence firm, we tracked her to an apartment where she was kept in a locked room. At the time of her rescue, she was the only person in the place. While I swept her out and to the nearest hospital, the owner of the firm and his team searched for clues to figure out who’d locked her in there. There wasn’t a trace of evidence—no fingerprints, nothing to test DNA, even the building’s CCTV footage had been destroyed.
The name Daphne gave for the man she’d traveled to New York with was an unknown alias, and so far, the description she gave hadn’t yielded any clues, either. While the Manhattan police had listened to her statement, I doubted they took her seriously or intended to pursue it.
I knew Decker Ashford, the owner of the intelligence company, had a team still looking for leads. What I didn’t know was who was paying them. It wouldn’t sit right with me if Beau was. Nor would it with Daphne if she found out.
When I brought her to the sprawling oceanfront ranch belonging to Beau’s older brother, who everyone called Press, it was because it was the safest place I could think of. The security systems there were state of the art.
Los Caballeros, my family’s estate, had the same level of security. However, it would take longer for me to make arrangements for a private place for her to stay where I could also be close.
I’d been living in the guest cottage on our ranch, but it only had one bedroom.
Since Press and his wife, Luisa, were traveling and not presently here and given Daphne had stayed here many times in the past, I figured she’d feel comfortable as well as safe.
“Ready?” Brix asked.
My mouth gaped. “For what? You can’t truly be suggesting I leave her here alone, not after what she’s been through. Is that what you’d do with Addison?”
“You have a point.”
I stared at my oldest brother and shook my head. Brix was a smart guy. Practical. Protective. After our father died, he’d taken on the role of family patriarch. So him saying I’d made a “good point” when I saidI couldn’t leave her here alone was completely out of character.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He looked out at the ocean.
“Brix?”
“Got a lot on my mind, brother.”
That, I knew. He and his wife had decided to live full time on a five-thousand-acre ranch they owed in Mexico. First, they needed to finish the house they were building. The other thing in the works was Brix would soon resign from our family business, where he was the primary winemaker.
“Second thoughts?” I asked.
He turned to face me. “If you mean about you taking over at Los Caballeros, not at all.” He squeezed my shoulder. “You’re ready for this, Cru. You know you are.”
A few months ago, when Addison’s life was in turmoil, Brix had taken a leave of absence. With him gone, I was responsible for making the first label as well as the second-label varietals—which were already mine. The plan was for me to hire someone to work under me once Brix officially resigned.
So far, none of my four other brothers or one sister were interested in the job, and that meant, for the first time in the two-hundred-year history of Los Caballeros Winery, someone outside the family would be making what we’d built our reputation on. I expected Brix to balk at my siblings’ lack of interest, but he didn’t appear fazed.
When I glanced out the window and didn’t see Daphne right away, I nearly panicked but quickly realized she was sitting on the sand.
“I should head out,” I said, motioning to the bedroom door.
Brix followed me into the hallway. “I almost forgot Addison asked me to invite you to join us for dinner tonight. There are a few things we’d like to discuss.” When I hesitated, he quickly added that Daphne was welcome too.
“After the butthurt comment, I doubt she’ll want to.”
“Yeah, it was unfortunate she heard that,” he muttered.
“What wasunfortunatewas that you said it.”
“Tell her I’m sorry?” he asked.
