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  “I didn’t think you would come.” He didn’t wear a tux like the rest of the men at the party; instead he had on a dress suit with a dark blue tie. His short brown hair went well with his light complexion and blue eyes.

  “Who are you?” I asked, stepping closer. I knew we had not met before, but I couldn’t place his familiarity. My mind ran through places I had worked at. I couldn’t come up with an explanation.

  His smile faded. “My name is Beck. I’m your brother.”

  Chapter Six

  “You must be mistaken. I am an only child,” I explained. He couldn’t be serious. My mom would never be able to keep a secret that big from me.

  “You just think you are because Robert has hidden my existence from you.”

  “This can’t be true,” I denied the possibility. Robert was trying to tell me something earlier about courting another woman before my mother, but this man looked to be about the same age as me. Maybe even younger.

  “Well believe whatever you want, that’s not why I’m here. I need to talk to you, but not here,” Beck explained, pushing his body off the wall and taking a few steps.

  “What about?” I asked cautiously.

  “You and the werewolf are investigating a case involving the witch coven in Baton Rouge, correct?” he asked as he took another step closer.

  I began to feel nervous. “How do you know about that?”

  “It doesn’t matter, just meet me tomorrow at noon, the park on Fifth Avenue,” he stated.

  “Why should I trust you?” I needed to know what he knew about the case, but I was risking my life just talking to him.

  “Noon at the park, and come alone.”

  The door creaked opened and I turned around quickly to see Axle step out. My heart skipped a beat; I had been caught. I turned back to Beck, but he had disappeared.

  “Babe, who were you talking to?” Axle asked as he walked over to me.

  I looked around again. “Um, no one. I was just getting some air,” I lied.

  “Emily, why are you lying to me?” he asked with a saddened expression.

  “Axle, don’t be paranoid. I got into an argument with some guy and then Robert told me some upsetting news. I just needed a moment to clear my head,” I said, digging myself in deeper.

  Axle stepped closer, I had never before seen him look so serious. “I heard talking and I know the face you make when you’re lying,” he stated, his tone rising.

  I gulped. My heart began racing, I knew I had been caught but I had to keep lying. Lying to Axle was not something I wanted to do, but I needed to find out how Beck knew about the case. Axle would never trust an outsider. “So I was talking to a guy while I was getting some air, it’s not a big deal, Axle. Calm down.”

  He studied my face as if he was searching for the truth. I could tell he didn’t believe me. Finally, he shook his head and walked back inside. I was ready to go home, the party was a bore and after all the bad that had happened I figured it wasn’t a good idea to stick around any longer. I walked to my car and left without saying goodbye to anyone. Maybe I was being childish, but I wanted to go home, get out of the fancy dress, and hide out in my bed.

  By the time I had gotten home I had received three texts; one from Gavin and two from Kimmy. Everyone was wondering where I had gone. I turned my phone off and tossed it on the couch. After squeezing out of the dress I put on some pajama pants and a t-shirt. It felt amazing to be comfortable again. I fell asleep quickly and dreamed of Beck. I understood why Robert wouldn’t have told me that I had a brother when we were still trying to work on our relationship. Throwing another person into the mix wasn’t such a good idea. I wasn’t upset for him keeping it a secret. I was itching to know what Beck knew about the case and how he found out. If we had an inside leak I needed to know about it.

  I woke up at ten the next morning and scrambled out of the bed. I took a shower and had to wash my hair three times to clean the hair spray out. After getting dressed and drying my hair, I threw on some mascara and grabbed my purse. On the way out I grabbed a cereal bar and opened the door to leave. Gavin was standing in his doorway watching me leave.

  “Well good morning, Gavin.” I tried to stay cool, but inside I was freaking out. I put my key in the door to lock up.

  “What happened to you last night?” he asked. He was still wearing grey pajama pants and a white tank top. His black hair was all over the place and he had a serious five o’clock shadow.

  “Uh, I wasn’t feeling too good so I left early.” It was almost the truth.

  “Axle looked pretty upset, and he kept asking if we knew where you had gone.”

  I really didn’t know what to say, I wasn’t a very good liar and I truly hated lying. “Yeah, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him either before I left. Anyways, I’ve got to get going so I’ll see you tomorrow at work.” I smiled sweetly, hoping that he would drop the subject. I began walking down the stairs. Living on the third floor of the apartment building sucked, but at least I didn’t feel so bad if I skipped the gym every now and again.

  “Where you headed?” he asked. He knew something was going on.

  “I’m meeting some family members for lunch and then I might go shopping,” I stated. His prying was getting on my nerves. I didn’t want to be rude to him because I was lying to his face and I felt bad enough.

  “Hmm, hope you have fun,” he said, and finally smiled.

  I didn’t give him a chance to continue his interrogation; I jetted down the stairs and just about ran to my car. I was trying to contain my excitement but it was difficult. I felt like what I was doing was wrong, I didn’t know this guy and he could be lying to me about being my brother. That sliver of hope that I really did have a brother was not allowing me to back out. As much damage as I had caused to people, I felt that if this was a set-up he wouldn’t get very far with it. Since Gavin had decided to play twenty questions I was running late. I got to the park ten minutes after twelve. I began feeling nervous as I walked around looking for Beck. What if he thought I changed my mind left? He probably didn’t expect me to meet him anyways.

  “I’m glad you came,” a voice said.

  I turned around quickly and found Beck. He wore jeans and a green button up shirt. Seeing him in the daylight allowed me to get a better look at the man. He hid his eyes behind a pair of sunglasses, but I could still tell he wasn’t a bad looking fella. The sun showed blond highlights in his hair, which also had a slight curl. He didn’t look a day over twenty.

  “I’m not sure I should have come,” I boldly stated.

  “Emily, I just want to get to know you better,” he replied and sat down on a bench nearby. He seemed tense. I figured it was probably because he wasn’t sure how I would respond to our meeting.

  “Does Robert know you wanted to meet me?” I asked. I was curious if maybe the reason Robert had almost said something about Beck was because he knew we would meet soon enough.

  “Robert doesn’t think I know about you.” He sat back and seemed to relax.

  I sat down beside him, feeling slightly more at ease for some reason. “I think Robert was trying to tell me about you last night.”

  “Look, it’s really great to finally meet you, and I hope we can spend more time together, but the real reason I sought you out was because we really need to talk about this case you’re on,” he explained as he played with his hands.

  “Okay, but I need to know how you know about the case,” I requested.

  “It doesn’t matter how I found out, the important thing is that you need to stop the investigation,” he warned me.

  I laughed. “Yeah right, that’s not going to happen.” His warning wasn’t a joke, but there was no way I could go back and tell Robert and Axle that we needed to stop investigating without a good reason. Plus, even if Beck gave me a good reason I didn’t want to stop. As far as I knew Maggie was still alive and I was determined to find her.

  “You are in some serious shit right now. The witches
you are helping are vampire slaves,” he tried to explain.

  “Vampire slaves?”

  “Yes, the vampires are powerful, but they are greedy. They want more than they have so they turned to the witches. Anything they need is theirs, and if they hear that you are sniffing around their operation they will put a stop to it. If you catch my drift,” he replied.

  We stopped talking for a minute to wait for a runner to pass by. “You must not have met the Baton Rouge Coven. Vampires could hire a birthday magician that could perform more spells than they can.” I didn’t understand what vampires would want with a bunch of wanna-be witches.

  “They have more power than you think,” he replied sadly.

  “So let’s say this is all true. Where is Maggie and who killed Charlotte?” I asked with slight excitement building. Beck might be the key to finding Maggie.

  “Just forget about them, you need to quit this case,” he insisted.

  I shook my head. “Beck, I’m not quitting the case; especially after what you just told me. These people need help and I have to find Maggie.”

  Beck groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “Emily, you are going to end up getting yourself killed.”

  “I appreciate the concern, but this is my job now.” I wasn’t backing down. I didn’t want to say it, but I wasn’t sure if I trusted Beck. He mysteriously showed up in my life and had vital information about my case. It just didn’t feel right.

  “I know Robert hasn’t told you about me and maybe he never will, but I too worked with him once on the force. We were working on a case together and I got … um … hurt I guess you could say. A vampire was killed in New Orleans. The vampires blamed the werewolves and the werewolves blamed the vampires. Dad warned me that things were getting hot and I should back off for a while. I didn’t listen, I was determined to find out who the killer was. I went downtown one night and I found the killer, but it came with a price. The point is, I should have listened to him and you should listen to me.” Beck studied his hands as he reminisced.

  I sat quietly for a minute so I could absorb his story. “What happened to you that night?”

  “Let’s just say I lost more than a relationship with my dad that night,” he explained.

  I didn’t push the subject. “Look, Beck. I know you are trying to help, and I promise I will be careful, but I can’t stop. Maggie needs me.”

  We didn’t speak another word, after a few minutes of awkward silence he stood and left. The shame was overpowering. Everything I had gone through in the last few days was building. I didn’t feel strong enough to handle this. I drove home and sat in my car for a few minutes going over everything we had discussed. I didn’t know if I should call Axle or Robert and talk to them about what Beck said. It was important for the case but if they found out that I had met up with Beck alone they would flip a lid. I had so much on my plate dealing with the Ezra, Kimmy, Riley, Axle, and now Andrew Stanfield to top it off. I knew one day soon I would have a nervous breakdown. I was engrossed in thought as I walked up the stairs to my apartment that I didn’t notice Axle sitting on the top stair near my door until it was too late to turn back. I had been caught.

  “Hi,” I tried to play it off. My heart raced inside my chest. My feet felt heavy as I walked up the remaining few steps. I hoped he wouldn’t notice my shaking hands as I fumbled with my keys.

  “Where were you?” he asked, and it was apparent that he knew something was up. I couldn’t help but notice how sexy he looked in his tight, dark red t-shirt and jeans. It made him look dark and mysterious.

  “I had lunch with a family member,” I explained as I unlocked my door and pushed it open. I was having a serious internal debate, should I tell the truth or not. I wanted him to trust me and I would want him to pay me the same respect. On the other hand if he knew about Beck I could kiss that relationship goodbye. There would be no way in hell Axle would even let me meet with him again.

  “What family member would this be?” He continued with the questions as he followed me inside of my apartment.

  I threw my purse down on the kitchen table. As I turned around and looked into his eyes I knew I couldn’t lie to him any longer. “My brother.”

  He studied me as with his brows drawn together. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. I stood my ground and waited for him to get over the shocking news. I finally became tired of waiting and decided to let him have it.

  “Beck is Robert’s son. I met him at the benefit, he said he had important information for me and to meet him today at noon, so I did. He told me the vampires are using the witches as slaves. He was warning me. He wants me to stop the investigation.” I was proud of myself for not bowing down. Axle can be intimidating and scary at times.

  “And you decided to go meet this guy alone?” His voice stayed calm, but I could tell it was difficult for him.

  “He’s my brother, Axle. I wanted to see him,” I argued. I knew he wouldn’t understand, I had to remind myself that’s why I didn’t tell him in the first place.

  “Robert doesn’t have a son,” he stated. His voice rose this time as he was unable to restrain himself any longer.

  “You don’t know that,” I whined. I didn’t need Axle to be mad at me. I had enough going on.

  “You know what, I blame Robert for this,” Axle snapped as he pointed back and forth between us. He began to walk to the door.

  “Duh, this is Robert’s fault. He’s the one that had sex and had a kid,” I stated confused. His comment didn’t quite go with our conversation.

  “Not about your supposed brother, Emily. I’m talking about us,” he shouted as he opened the door.

  “Axle, wait! Don’t leave,” I begged. I didn’t expect this. I thought honesty was the best policy? I truly believed that being honest would make him happy. I didn’t expect for the conversation to take such a drastic turn.

  “You and Ezra fought like cats and dogs. You guys were never happy with each other and I thought it was because he’s a douche bag, but come to find out it was really your fault.”

  “My fault?” I shouted in disbelief, but he continued.

  “You push people away, that’s what you do, Emily. You won’t allow yourself to be happy. You get to that point where you are happy and then you find a reason to be mad and mess it up. I blame Robert, you have daddy issues,” he snapped with fury in his words.

  “Now wait a minute, you can’t talk to me like that.” I was suddenly livid. Deep down I knew he spoke the truth, but it hurt to hear it from Axle.

  “I’ve tried to show you how much I care about you, but you still won’t let me in. You’re done with Ezra, and trust me he’s done with you, but you still have some excuse why you won’t let me in.”

  “How do you know Ezra’s done with me?” I asked. The aching in my chest was causing my eyes to fill with tears.

  “I talked to Ezra when Riley showed up and asked him about you two. I wasn’t going to pursue you if he was still interested. He’s in love with Riley, but he couldn’t tell you because it would hurt you. I tried to offer you a reason to let him go, and I think you wanted to, but then that would mean you would finally let yourself be happy. Stop punishing yourself. Robert wasn’t there for you and your mother never gave you affection or love, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn how to let someone love you. I want to love you, but you have to stop pushing me away.” He stood at my door and waited. He had practically admitted that he was in love with me and he wanted a response.

  The tears that had clung to my eyes finally fell. I couldn’t lose Axle, but what he said was true. I sabotaged my relationship with Ezra, I found every excuse to be mad at him. I couldn’t let a man in my life because I was still waiting for my father to love me. I had never told him how I had nightmares growing up. I would wake up crying out for my dad, but he was never there. Or how I would sit at home when it was father-daughter dance night at school and cry myself to sleep. My mother was a single parent, she had to work so much that
I never saw her. That was only an excuse, I honestly never once heard her tell me she loved me. Love was a word I knew nothing about.

  Axle sighed and opened the door giving up hope. I thought I could see tears in his eyes as he left. I wanted so badly to run after him and tell him how much I cared for him but I was trapped. My body wouldn’t move, my mind was on overload. I collapsed onto the floor and the tears began streaming down my face. I needed Axle. I wanted him to come back, scoop me up into his arms and tell me everything would be fine.

  That night was a hazy memory. I couldn’t remember sleeping, but I woke curled up on my couch. I looked at my cell phone and it was eight am. I was late for work. Motivation had escaped me as I showered and dressed. My body moved with an unfamiliar sluggishness. I walked into the office at ten and set my things down on the desk. I went straight for Robert’s office, not glancing at anyone as I walked. He looked up as I enter and shut the door behind me

  “Bad morning?” he asked as he sat back in his chair.

  “You could say that.” The depression in my voice was difficult to ignore.

  “How are things with Axle?”

  I looked up at him with sorrow filled eyes. “Axle thinks I’m damaged, and I think he is right.”

  “Why?”

  “I have daddy issues.” As I said it I couldn’t believe that I had just admitted my problem to my father of all people.

  “Daddy issues?” he asked shortly.

  I had to think about what to say next before speaking. I knew it would hurt Robert to hear that his choices had caused me so much harm and damage. “Among other things. I can’t love anyone, because growing up no one taught me how.”