Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
“Not at all. I think you should do what you need to do to protect Kim and your son.” Through the rearview mirror he could see that Ezra had turned and gone up on one elbow, resting his head there. “I think you should take down Levi Green. Then you’ll confess to me and I’ll offer you penance.”
“You’re supposed to tell me to turn myself in,” he pointed out.
Ezra merely sighed. “I’ll confess, too. I’ve found my European brothers are very understanding. Especially the Italians. I’ve listened to mafia confessions. You cannot unhear those.”
He really wanted to ask about it. It was easy to slip back into their roles. Ezra could tell a great story. He’d been the go-to guy at all sleepovers to make up something scary. And he could embellish a wild night out with style. The desire to find a bar, order a beer and some wings, and ask his brother to spill about the last few years of his life tempted him, but he forced the thought aside. This wasn’t some game they were playing. Ezra was a different person. He’d lived a whole life in the time they’d been apart, and he didn’t recognize parts of the man. If things had been normal, perhaps he would have watched his brother change over time.
Or Ezra would have died of a drug overdose and his brother would have been lost forever.
He couldn’t possibly know what would have happened. That’s what Kai would tell him. He would say a bunch of crap about forces that shaped a person, but the truth was his brother was here and he had a decision to make.
He could simply hope that Ezra went back to Malta, and half a world’s distance would do its work. Ezra would have his world and Beck could have his. They didn’t have to truly be brothers. They would be two guys who’d once shared a mom.
The truth was he didn’t need Ezra anymore. Ezra had always been the fun brother. People flocked to be around him because he was brighter than the rest of the world. Beck had gone with him, had rolled with Ezra’s friends. Now he had friends of his own. Now he had his own family, one he’d cobbled together over the years, formed despite the pain of losing Ezra and Kim.
Ezra had Kim and Roman, and Beck was taking them back because they were his. Because Ezra had stolen them from him.
He wasn’t going to feel guilty about shipping his brother back to Europe. Ezra had made his bed and he would lie in it.
“Do you want me to tell you about what Roman was like as a baby?” Ezra asked the question softly, as though he wasn’t sure he’d wanted to make the offer at all.
He was about to point out that he wouldn’t have to be told stories about his son if Ezra hadn’t helped Kim keep him hidden when he noticed the blue and red lights come on behind him.
He glanced down at his speedometer. He wasn’t speeding. He turned on his blinker and moved over to let the police car speed by.
“What’s going on?” Ezra asked.
The cruiser didn’t speed by. It followed him.
Fuck. “We’re getting pulled over by the police. Is there any way you can hide in the floorboard?”
“Do you know how tall I am?” Ezra asked. “Also, I still think he could see if he looked through the back windows. That might cause some questions.”
He started to move to the side of the highway. “All right. I need you to ease up and try to get your seat belt on. I’m not sure why he’s pulling me over, but I’m going to take whatever ticket he gives me and then we’ll get to Sanctum as quickly as possible.”
He had zero idea what he’d done to catch the officer’s attention, and he was paranoid enough to have his mind go a thousand different places.
But Levi didn’t know Ezra was alive. He couldn’t. Beck took a deep breath and came to a stop as Ezra eased up in the back and gingerly reached up to pull his seat belt down and click it into place.
“Follow my lead and don’t talk if you don’t have to.” Beck rolled the window down and put his hands on the steering wheel.
The officer stepped up. He wore mirrored aviators over his eyes. Beck made careful note of his badge number. “Sir, are you all right?”
“Of course,” he replied, sending the officer a surprised look. “Why would you ask? I wasn’t speeding. Why was I pulled over?”
“You were driving erratically.” The officer stared into the back seat, his hand on the gun at his side. “You swerved in your lane. And I didn’t notice you had a passenger. Are you in danger?”
“He’s a friend of mine,” Beck said quickly. “He had too much to drink at lunch and I’m giving him a ride home. I made him sit in the back because I didn’t want him to throw up in the front.”