“I’m not worried about me.”
“Let Eric do what he needs to do to make sure this ends sooner rather than later.”
“He wants to end it by ending his father.”
“He’s wanted to end his father for a very long time. He didn’t do it. He has reasons not to do it.”
“Because of his mother, I know, but he believes they tried to kill me tonight, Grayson. He wants his father dead.”
“He promised you he’d talk to you before he did anything permanent. I heard him.”
“That’s all you’re going to say? He wants to kill him.”
He eyes Davis and Davis nods. “I actually need to deal with a client at the office. I may or may not be back.” He glances at me. “He’s intense. It’s contagious. Drink the drink.” He turns and walks away.
I frown and eye Grayson. “Did he just tell me I’m wound too tightly?”
He chuckles. “I do believe he did.” He motions to my drink.
“I know. Drink it. It’ll help. I’m following the theme going on here, but I’m not a good drinker. I need a clear mind right now for Eric.”
“Eric isn’t going anywhere without you. You were attacked. You could have ended up dead. He is not leaving your side. His father is safe for the night. He’s not on his way to kill his father. The man is still in an airplane.”
“Do you believe he’d do it?”
“Not tonight, and I know him. By morning, he’ll decide death is too good for him.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I met him when he was still bleeding out over his mother’s death, and even then, he didn’t go after the family. His mother’s wishes meant too much to him.”
“They went after him through me. They went after me. He knows this. He’s not going to let that go. I feel it. I see it in his eyes.”
“He promised you that he wouldn’t act. You proved you have the power to affect his decisions.”
I down my drink. “You just put the world on my shoulders.”
“No,” he says. “The world is on his shoulders and has been for a very long time. You can ease that pressure. You can make him let go of the past once and for all.”
“I’m part of his past. I’m part of them and he hates that.”
“He’s a part of them, too, but both of you can choose to walk away.”
“They won’t let us, Grayson. I believe in my heart that they tricked me into setting him up for my own murder.” Saying that out loud to someone other than Eric twists me in knots. “I need another drink. No. I need Eric here. Now.” I reach for my phone and remember that I don’t have it. “I have no phone. I have no purse. I have no clothes.”
“My wife, Mia, is bringing you some necessities, including a new phone.”
“Because Eric’s like a brother to you and you’re protecting me to protect him.”
His eyes warm with that statement. “Eric is my brother.”
Brother.
That word radiates through me and I walk to the bar myself, refill my glass and down it again. “I believe he’s hit a limit,” I say when Grayson offers me his glass to fill. “If you really love him like a brother—”
“I do,” he says, taking the whiskey in my hand from me.
“Help me stop him.”