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“Oh.” He paused, the drink halfway to his mouth. “I didn’t realize it was like that.”

“It’s not. I’m just trying to help.”

Ty gave him a look that said he didn’t believe Nate’s denial for one hot second. “Whatever, man. Just give me the specs and I’ll build something out. When do you want to do the install?”

Chewing a bite of his bagel, Nate glanced at the clock on the wall. He had an appointment with a prospective client at nine, but that shouldn’t take more than an hour, hour and a half tops. “Are you free around eleven?”

This time, Ty’s eyebrows shot so high they almost disappeared into his hairline. “Dude, seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. She’s scared, man. It’s a three-bedroom corner apartment on the second floor. One entry door, three windows, and a sliding glass door inside a screened-in patio. It won’t be labor intensive and I doubt it’ll take very long.”

Ty raised his hands, palms out. “All right, man. Whatever you say. I’ll throw something together real quick.”

“Thank you.”

Before he made an even bigger ass of himself, Nate left the break room and strode down the long hall to the gym. In their line of work, it paid to stay in shape, so they’d made a point of including a place for employees to exercise. He kept a few spare change of clothes in his locker, and considering he’d come straight from a night on Dorcas’s couch, he could definitely use a shower.

Even this early in the day, the gym buzzed with activity. Pinto and Navarre were sparring on the mats, while Jackson worked up a sweat on one of the three elliptical machines. On the far side of the room, Wade bench-pressed a ridiculous amount of weight, so much the bar bent from the strain.

After swallowing the last of his bagel, Nate crossed the room to Wade. “If you want, you could always bench that Volkswagen Beetle out in the lot.”

“Not enough of a challenge,” Wade said through clenched teeth. He lowered the bar toward his chest, his pecs straining against the confines of his faded red T-shirt.

“You shouldn’t be doing that without a spotter.” Or three.

Wade grunted. His face was flushed from exertion, his ears glowing and the vein on his forehead so swelled it looked ready to pop. “Jackson’s here if I need help.”

If something were to happen, Jackson might not make it across the room in time to save Wade’s ass, but Nate wasn’t about to point that out. Experience had taught him that Wade was as pigheaded as he was—maybe a little more. So instead, Nate stood behind the bar, just in case his older brother needed an assist with the last few reps.

A loud clank echoed across the room when Wade placed the bar back on the rack. Breathing heavy, he sat up, his clothes and hair soaked with sweat. The muscles in his arms trembled slightly as he flexed his callused hands. He should probably be wearing weight lifting gloves, but Nate kept his big mouth shut about it.

Wade reached for his water bottle. “How’s Dorcas?”

“Better this morning, but she’s still shaken over what happened and worried about her sister. I just talked to Ty about installing a system on her apartment while she’s at work.”

“That’s a good start. Are you sure they’re really after the sister and not her?”

“I see no reason to believe otherwise.”

But now that the sliver of doubt had entered his mind, he’d have Nina poke around and make sure there wasn’t any evidence to the contrary. On second thought, it might be better to ask Larissa to do it. Larissa knew Dorcas but didn’t have an emotional connection the way Nina did. That degree of separation would allow her to dig without any direct conflicts of interest.

Still, the insinuation that Dorcas could be involved in something that caused her and her sister’s homes to be ransacked put Nate’s hackles up. “Nina’s known her for years. I think she would have picked up on something shady.”

The look on Wade’s face made it perfectly clear what he thought of Nate’s last statement. And yeah, he had a point, even though Nate didn’t like it one bit. Dorcas had never picked up on Nina’s complicated past, so it stood to reason that Nina might be oblivious to any skeletons in Dorcas’s closet.

Wade got off the bench and started removing the plates from the bar and returning them to the weight rack. “In all likelihood, if they can’t find the sister, they’ll come for her. Use her as bait until they get what they want. And if they don’t get it—hell, even if they do...”

“I know.” Ruthless people had a nasty habit of leaving corpses instead of witnesses. No way was he letting that happen. “That’s why I’m installing the alarm.”

Wade made a derisive sound. “All that’s going to do is let you know when they take her. The only way to guarantee her safety is to identify the threat and neutralize it. Figure out what they’re after, why they want the sister. You still got that key?”

“Dorcas has it.”

“Good. Don’t stop looking until you find what it unlocks.” Finished with the plates, Wade wiped down the bench with his towel and then moved to the leg press machine. “If you need anything, let me know.”