Page 66 of The Rebel Billionaire

I nodded, affirming hisguess.

"May I come in? We have things to talkabout."

I stepped back, holding the door open. "Charlie is at Winters House," I said. I'd dropped her off myself not more than an hourbefore.

"I know," Aiden said with a quirk of his lips that was almost a smile. "She's playing with Maggie's dog. I told her I would do it, but she said I wouldn't spend enough time letting him drool all over me. She was probably right. Youdroveher?"

"I did," I said. It might be overkill, but I was serious about not leaving her on her own. She was behind a gate at Winters House, protected by multiple layers of security. I still didn't like her being on the other side of townwithoutme.

Echoing my thoughts, Aiden said, "I'm surprised you let her out of yoursight."

SowasI.

Which was a problem. It was supposed to be easy to let go of Charlie. That was the whole point of ourarrangement.

No relationship. Noattachments.

I wasn't sticking very well to my own ground rules. Until I knew what Aiden was getting at, I wasn't going to respond. I gave a half-shrug andwaited.

"I talked to Evers this morning. Brennan told him about the note. I can't help but notice that no one toldmeaboutthenote."

"Charlie specifically asked Brennan not to tell you," I said. "He's doing his job, which is to build a case against whoever is after her while they look for the guy. His job is not to keep Charlie's family posted on hisprogress."

Aiden narrowed his eyes at me. I stared back with a level gaze. When he realized I wasn't going to give him anything else,hesaid,

"I'm aware of what Detective Brennan's job is. Evers assures me that the system he installed on her house is as airtight as he can make it while it's being renovated. I still don'tlikeit."

"Are you going to try to force her to move home?" I asked. I crossed my arms over my chest, bracing for hisanswer.

"Do you think it would work?" Aiden asked, raising an eyebrow at my stance. He went on, "Charlie's already angry with me. Trying to strong-arm her into moving home when she obviously doesn't want to would be an exercise in futility. I don't like towastetime."

"Why did you fire her?" I asked. The change of subject was a one-eighty, but I neededtoknow.

"Because it was the most efficient way I could think of to start making up for mymistake."

"And what was the mistake? Hiring her in the first place?" I asked. Every report I dug up about Charlotte Winters said she was exceptionally good at her job. Firing her didn't makesense.

"No. Not exactly. But that was part of it. And this really isn't any of your fuckingbusiness."

"Humor me,"Isaid.

"No. I'm not in the habit of talking to strangers about myfamily."

"Smart, considering your family. But I'm involved with your sister. I'm not a stranger. And I'm curious. You two are close. She poured her life into that job. Before I trust you, before I tell you things that she may not want me to share, I have to know why you would do thattoher."

Aiden absorbed my words in silence, words I hadn't been aware I was going to say. Aiden might be here to warn me off his sister, but since he'd led with Evers and Brennan, I was thinking he was also here to find out how Charlie was reallydoing.

I wasn't going to let him in until I understood his relationship to Charlie better. He took a breath and seemed to come to adecision.

"It's a little early for beer," he said. "Do you have anycoffee?"

"Follow me," I said, leading Aiden through the front rooms of my house into the kitchen at the back. My house was smaller than Charlie's overall, but the lower level was about the same size and laid out in a similar way—living room and dining room off the front hall, kitchen intheback.

Where she had the office and bathroom, I had a family room with a flat screen open to the kitchen. And unlike Charlie's mess of construction, my house was mostlyfinished.

The front rooms didn't have furniture yet. I hadn't had time to deal with them. But the kitchen was done and it was just about perfect. Dark cabinets, a custom poured concrete counter and matching island, high-end appliances, a wine fridge, two farmhouse sinks, and a wet bar in the butler's pantry beside thefamilyroom.

It was good-looking enough to make a decorator happy and functional enough for a guy, whether he liked to cook or just liked having cold beer close to his TV. It suited me, and I knew if I ended up flipping it, buyers wouldloveit.