Queen's Ransom by Layla Reyne

Author:Layla Reyne [Reyne, Layla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781734175363
Publisher: Layla Reyne

Chapter Thirteen

It was almost midnight by the time Helena returned home. After questioning Dex, she, Chris, and Hawes had made the short trip from SFPD headquarters to MCS to circle up with Holt, who Helena had strong-armed into skipping the station. She’d wanted to talk to Brax, alone. Fat lot of good that had done. Sure, she’d gotten an initial word with Brax, leveling a warning he’d nearly bitten her head off about, but he’d been “too busy” to talk again before she’d left.

The nugget of earlier worry continued to grow, her soft footfalls up the stairs like an ominous beat in the back of her mind—and in her heart. They needed the buffer Brax provided with SFPD and other law enforcement. More than that, they—Holt especially—needed the absent member of their family back. Her brother was spiraling. Fuck, she was surprised any of them were functioning after the last six months, but Hawes had Chris and she had too many balls in the air to think about the lack of a safety net beneath her high wire. Holt, though, only had Lily and his wall of screens. He was the best of them, the one with the biggest heart, and the recent losses and betrayals had cut him the deepest. She’d seen where that sort of pain could lead Holt, and she’d seen who’d led him out of it. She needed Brax back on board in case Holt found himself in a dark place again. If she had to kidnap the chief to force whatever confrontation those two needed to have, she’d fucking do it. Anything to make things better for Holt.

But at least for tonight, judging by the lack of sound from the floors above, Holt, who’d left MCS before her, was finally getting some much-needed sleep. In fact, the entire house was quiet, not a nosy cat—or nosy Perri—in sight. The nosiest had gone home with Hawes to their condo, and it seemed the ones left in the Madigan home were likewise asleep.

Loss of a different sort twisted through Helena. More missed opportunities where Celia was concerned. Against their better interests, she’d wanted to spend more time with Celia tonight, wanted a repeat of that delicious kiss from the bakery, and wanted to assure her that Dex was handled. She’d wanted the illusion of the safety net that seemed to appear below her whenever Celia was around. Comfort and quiet, even as the world spun like crazy around them.

The same simple comfort that wrapped itself around her at finding the Tiffany lamps in her room softly glowing, fresh flowers on her nightstand, and beside the vase, a cannoli on a paper napkin. She muffled a laugh with the back of her hand, not wanting to disrupt the quiet of the house and the quiet spreading through her. That washed over her completely as she stopped outside the open door of the darkened room next to hers and poked her head inside.

Greenish-yellow eyes blinked up at her from a tabby face, Daisy tucked against a sleeping Celia’s belly.

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