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“I’m starting to worry about you guys. Is Brody’s boyfriend really watching and listening?” Seth asked, glancing around.
“He’s a bit . . . protective,” Ethan explained with a grimace.
“Right. Sure, I get it.” Seth grinned. “If I had someone I cared about, I’d probably be overprotective too.”
Yeah. But probably not at the same level the Fox was at.
Brody groaned. “Please just give him the name. He’s not going to let this go.”
“I don’t know the name. But when I do, I’ll let him know. Happy?” Ink asked.
“He said he’s ecstatic. And when do we leave?” Brody asked.
“We’ll fly out tonight. That all right with everyone?”
Ethan nodded. He guessed Ink had chosen him and Seth because they didn’t have any dependents. No significant others. Hell, he didn’t even have a goldfish to feed.
When had his life become so lonely?
It made him feel like a loser.
“There’s one more thing. It’s about Rip’s sister.” Ink nodded over at Brody who brought up an image of a gorgeous woman with white-blonde hair slicked back into a ponytail. She looked serious, frowning slightly into the camera.
“This is Cate. She’s Rip’s twin sister. She prefers to stay out of the limelight, but she does live with him,” Ink explained.
That was surprising. But Ethan guessed there could be a lot of reasons for that.
“I’ve spoken to Rip and Cate and she’s okay with me talking to you about this. Cate is autistic. She finds change very difficult, and this situation will be hard on her, so I need you all to be understanding. Sometimes her social filter doesn’t work the way it does with everyone else, meaning she can be blunt. She doesn’t mean to be rude.”
Ethan nodded. “Got it.”
“Sure thing,” Seth said easily.
“Cate and Rip are really close. He’s always been her protector. I know he’d take a bullet for her. So we’re not there just to protect him, but her as well. Because if anything happens to her, heads will roll. Got it?”
“Fair enough. What does she do?” Ethan asked. “Is Rip going to want one of us to stay with her while she goes to work?”
“She’s an intellectual property lawyer. She works mostly from home. Sometimes she goes to in-person meetings at the firm she works for. However, Rip said that doesn’t happen often. Oh, and just be aware, she finds loud noises distressing. Especially yelling. People getting angry around her is a trigger for her.”
That was interesting. Ethan wondered if there was something in her background that could explain that.
“Like I said, she knows I’m telling you all this. And again, I need you all to be understanding. God knows she didn’t have that with her awful aunt and uncle growing up,” Ink muttered.
That didn’t sit well with him. Why would someone be mean to a kid?
“Right. Let’s go get ready.” Ink clapped his hands. “LA, here we come.”
3
By the time they reached Rhodes Ripley’s house, Ethan had had enough of the city.
Not a good start.
The house was set back behind electric gates. They drove down the driveway and came up to a Spanish-style house. It didn’t look that big from the entrance, but he knew that was probably deceiving. They’d driven past multiple mansions on the way here, and nothing on this street looked to be worth less than fifty million.
As they exited their rental car, a thin, short man in a white shirt and tan pants stepped out of the house. He walked over to them with a large smile.
“Hello! You must be Tracey Callahan.” He held his hand out to Seth, who was the most clean-cut and corporate-looking of all of them.
