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“Someday, I’ll be doing that with Luka,” he mused.

I smiled and patted my older brother on the back. For the first time, hearing him talk about his future as a father didn’t cause a spike of weird envy in me. I wanted that too. To be a father. To embrace this role of being an important figure in a young child’s life.

Maybe I already am.

We found Elena talking to Louisa, and it was clear that they were discussing any connections between her supervisor at the security firm and the politician who’d gone missing.

Paloma would supervise Brady, so we were both free to talk business.

“But what is the connection between this politician and any video at one of Pickering’s clients?” Louisa asked.

Adrik glanced at me before speaking up. “Rico Johnson has been behaving in such a manner that has led us to believe he’s double-crossing just about everyone he can. We’ve been looking into his ties with an individual who formed a network of power and allies to threaten our businesses and empire.”

Louisa nodded to prove she was following. “Okay.”

“And this individual, Gregori,” Elena said, “is who Rico Johnson claimed to be in the… um… thing. In that video.”

Lousia raised her brows. “The body in the bag?”

Elena winced and nodded. “I don’t like actually speaking about the finer details of this stuff.”

Lousia scoffed lightly, smiling. “But you’re married to him?” She gestured at Adrik.

He smiled at his wife. “It’s a work in progress. Anyway, that’s the connection. Rico Johnson has gone missing, but his office contacted us to claim that a video in Pickering’s possession had gone missing, a video showing that Gregori was dead.”

“But it didn’t show anything. The bag was closed. It’s impossible to know what or who was in that bag,” Louisa said.

“Hence, why we’re so interested in the activity around that video,” I told her.

“But how is this guy just missing?” Louisa asked. “Unless he’s dead, he’s bound to show up somewhere.”

“We’re waiting for that to happen,” I said. “Same for Gregori. No one can find a reliable location where he’s been hiding.”

Adrik and Elena stayed to talk some more, seeming to hope that Louisa knew more about Owen, like if this ex-girlfriend could still be in his life and therefore serve as a connection that would mean Rico was paying for favors with that video going missing. Louisa didn’t really have anything to add to Owen’s background, only that he was an asshole to her at the office.

Adrik and Elena stayed for dinner, and Brady took up most of the conversation. He was thrilled to have a baby at the table, even if Luka was too young to really do much yet.

“You’re lucky, baby,” he told Luka when we were cleaning up from dinner and he entertained the baby in his bouncer seat. “You have a daddy and a mommy.”

I glanced at Louisa, catching her frown.

Later, after I was requested to read him a bedtime story—that he only stayed awake for a few minutes of—I found Louisa standing in the hall, outside the door. At first, I thought it was her lack of trust in my reading to her son. Her need to hover close to make sure I could be trusted with him. Now, I saw it for what it was. Her wish to spend more time with me. Something I’d been denying both of us because I couldn’t fathom this new normal being so right.

“Are you tired?” I asked.

She shrugged.

“Come sit with me,” I told her.

While I would rather have taken a chance to be alone with her in another way, I hadn’t forgotten about what Brady said.

Outside, with the sun setting and casting the sky in darkness, I urged her to join me on one of the outdoor loungers.

“It bothers you that he doesn’t have a father,” I remarked.

She leaned against the cushions and tilted her head up to look at the stars coming out. “It does.”

A long moment stretched between us, and I hated that I could be at a loss for what to say.