The curtains were drawn in my brother’s bedroom, making it hard to navigate to his bed. Once my eyes adjusted to the nearly complete darkness, I limped over to the bed. He was snoring hard, and from experience, I knew he’d taken something to help him sleep because that was the only time he’d ever snored in the past.
Muttering a curse, I covered his mouth with one hand, then slapped his cheek with the other. “Garret,” I hissed. “Wake up, you dumbass.” He grunted in his sleep but didn’t open his eyes, so I slapped him harder. “If I didn’t love you so damn much, I would smother you with your own pillow.”
His lashes slowly lifted, and he jerked when he realized someone was standing over him. He moved quicker than I anticipated, his arm reaching for something under his pillow. Realizing my mistake, I jumped on top of him, squeezing his ribs with my knees and grabbing his wrists before he could wrap his fingers around the gun.
“Garret,” I snapped, lifting my voice a little louder. “Stop before you hurt one of us.”
He jerked again at the sound of my voice. “N-Nova?” he rasped.
I eased my hold on his rib cage, allowing him to roll onto his back while I took possession of his gun and made sure the safety was on.
“Nova?” he repeated. “No.” He shook his head in denial. “You’re dead. I saw you.”
“Did you, though?” I asked with a raised brow, but then realized it was still too dark in the room for him to see my expression. Leaning over, I flipped on the bedside lamp. “Do I look dead to you, big brother?”
He sat straight up in bed, and I dropped down on the other side of him so I wasn’t sitting on his lap. His fingers trembled as he touched my face and hair before grabbing my wrist and turning it so he could see Ryan’s name there.
“But I saw you,” he muttered again. “Even the necklace.”
I pulled my hand free and reached under the top of my hoodie. “This necklace?”
His fingers wrapped around the chain, his thumb skimming over the two Russian rings. “Yeah, this necklace. It was…” His green gaze lifted to mine. “She played us?”
“You would have known that already if you had just talked to me when I tried to contact you,” I complained.
Anger filled his handsome face. “Why the fuck haven’t you come home before now? Do you know what we’ve gone through? Mom and Dad…” His voice broke with emotion. “Mom ran away, Nova. She couldn’t handle what happened, and she just up and disappeared. We’ve been looking everywhere for her.”
“Not everywhere,” I assured him. “And s
he didn’t run away. I needed her help, so she came with me to Colombia to talk sense into Cali and—”
“Cali?” He choked out her name, cutting me off. “Did you…say…Cali?”
I pressed my lips together but nodded.
“Lis is alive?” He was panting hard, his hand pressed against his chest as if he was struggling to breathe.
I cupped his face in both hands. “Garret, look at me,” I commanded. His eyes snapped to mine. “Take a deep breath, okay? You can’t pass out on me. Not now, not ever. We have to get back, and I can’t carry your ass out of here on my own.”
“B-back?” Tears glazed his eyes, but he seemed dazed.
“To Cali,” I told him with a small smile, figuring I should wait until we got on the plane before I mentioned Justice. “She’s waiting on you.”
“You aren’t playing with me, are you, Nova?” His eyes pleaded with me. “I don’t know if I can survive this if you’re not being real right now.”
“I wouldn’t play that kind of game with you or anyone else,” I promised softly. “When you came down with Dad and the MC, they told you she was dead, right?” He nodded, a single tear spilling down his cheek. “Well, they lied, Garret. They thought it would be safer for everyone to think she was dead, but she’s not. Now, get your ass out of this bed and grab a few things. We have to hurry.”
My foot felt as if it were the size of a watermelon as we walked to where I’d left the Jeep. Garret moved like his ass was on fire, and when he realized I was slowing him down, he grumbled something under his breath and tossed me over his shoulder.
“Why didn’t you just stay back at the apartment?” he snipped, increasing his pace toward the Jeep. “You should have at least woken Ryan and had him come with us. Do you realize what he’s been through?”
“I don’t need a lecture right now,” I bit out. “I’ll come back for Ryan, but right now, there’s not enough time to handle all that.”
He set me on my feet outside the vehicle and took the keys from my hand. “The only reason I’m not pressing the issue is because it will only keep me away from Lis longer. Get in. I’m driving.”
My foot wouldn’t allow me to drive, so I couldn’t argue. Instead, I climbed into the passenger seat and gave him directions to the airport. It wasn’t until we were in the air that I explained everything to him, ending with Justice’s sudden entrance into the world.
“Wait,” he choked out. “I have a daughter?”