“You’re talking about laying a trap here on Mackinac.”

“Can you think of a way to find him faster?”

He wanted to.

“Don’t do this, Remi. This doesn’t feel right.”

“I don’t like it either. But this needs to be over for Camille. How long can she hang in there if he’s just vanished? How long can she hold it together, knowing that he could be anywhere? Across the country or around the next corner?”

Brick looked over his shoulder, the nagging feeling still there. But there was no one there.

“Remi, this is asking for trouble. Let the agents handle it. It’s their job.”

“You heard Dumb and Dumber in there. They’ve been sitting on this for a year and a half. Do you know how many times he’s hit her in eighteen months? How many times he’s hurt and humiliated her? There’s no way they weren’t aware of it. They left her there in that situation because they wanted to follow the money.”

“Using you and Camille as bait is doing the same thing. Intentionally putting you in harm’s way.”

“It’s not,” she insisted, slipping her arms around his waist and holding on. “Because we have you. Brick, you aren’t going to let him get close enough to her. To me. You’ll keep me safe just like you always have.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he said, feeling broken inside. She couldn’t possibly know what she was asking him to do. She wanted him to hold up the single most important thing in his universe and dare a mad man to try to take it away.

He couldn’t resist her anymore. He had to hold her. Tucking her into his chest, he rested his head on the red hair that had haunted his dreams for his entire adult life.

“I do. And I know it’s not fair. And I swear I’ll make it up to you.”

“How?”

“I’ll spend the whole rest of my life loving you so big that you’ll never have reason to doubt it for a second.”

“Remington.”

“Brick. I love you and I trust you. And I’ve got a whole lifetime planned out for us. I’m not going to do something stupid and jeopardize it. I promise you. I’m just asking you to do what you’ve always done. Protect me.”

51

With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Brick walked in the door after seven to a full house and salsa music. Mega trotted toward him with a welcoming ruff, the cat slinking along on his heels.

He shucked off his coat and bent to pet the welcoming committee. “What’s all this?” Neither the dog nor the cat had answers.

The table was set with his grandmother’s china, and someone had brought her card table out of the basement to handle overflow seating.

The noise of people, of family, came from upstairs and down the hall. The smells of homecoming wafted toward him, and out of the noise, he zeroed in on Remington’s laugh.