Page 48 of Keeping Kasey (Love and Blood #3)

“Distracted by the plans she’s making and guilt-ridden,” Matteo explains, dropping his hands into his lap with an exasperated sigh. “You’re just proving my point.”

“Why would she make the Seeker if she was planning to go after our family in the long run? Why go through the trouble?” Damon asks.

Matteo shrugs. “To sell it to the highest bidder. To distract us from whatever she’s really planning.

To fulfill the orders of whoever she’s actually working for.

And let’s not pretend it’s impossible that there is no Seeker to begin with.

It could be an elaborate ruse to distract us so she can install something worse.

I can think of countless reasons why she’d go through the trouble . ”

“And none of them are correct because Kasey isn’t behind this,” I grit out. “That line of thinking is a waste of time. We’re done entertaining it.”

“With all due respect, the odds of this being unrelated to Kasey are minuscule,” Matteo argues, but he’s dropped the defensive edge in his tone.

Damon folds his arms over his chest. “He’s not saying it’s unrelated, just that she isn’t responsible.”

“We need more information to form our next lead,” I state.

“Matteo, handle everything at the warehouse. Tell soldiers there’s been an error that we think is purely clerical, but it’ll be investigated thoroughly.

James, if this is a traitor, I want to know immediately so we can sic our team on them before they get far. ”

James nods and immediately leaves my office. Matteo sticks around for a moment longer, making his disdain for the course of action abundantly clear before he follows.

When it’s only Damon and me, I ask, “How is today worse than normal?”

“She seems tired. It’s the same disheartened look she had the night she came back,” he says. “Did something happen last night?”

How would our dinner have led to her being this upset?

What did I do?

I ignore his question. “Do you think she’d talk to you if you asked?”

“No, but I can try.”

As much as I hate the idea of anyone else being Kasey’s confidant, I know Damon has a better chance at getting her to talk than I do.

“Do it. Let me know what you find out.”

I lean back in my chair, trying to ignore the fact that I still have to survive dinner with my sister and her husband.

At least Dominic is coming.

I’m able to get approximately three hours of work done before I give up and head to Ford’s office.

I tell myself I’m only going to make sure Kasey has been eating since she hasn’t been taking breaks. I have no idea how I’ll manage that without having my head bitten off, but I’ll figure it out.

Through the small window in the door, I only see Kasey and assume Ford went to get food. The plan was to walk right in, but her irritated voice travels through the door, and I halt where she can’t see me.

“If you ask me that one more time, I’m going to punch you in the throat.”

“That would be way more intimidating if you weren’t five-two,” Damon says. “I’ll ask until I get an answer.”

“Prepare to be disappointed.”

“Prepare to be annoyed,” Damon retorts.

“Done.”

“Well, I’m just getting started. Wanna save us both the headache and just tell me what’s wrong?”

Her sigh is pure annoyance. “Aside from the fact that being around your family makes me want to stab my eyes out?”

“Yes.”

Kasey says nothing, but I can imagine her icy glare.

“Give me something ,” Damon says, and the sarcasm has drained from his tone. “It doesn’t have to be the full reason, but give me something.”

“Why?”

“Can’t I just want to make sure you’re okay?”

“No.”

“You think the worst in everyone, don’t you?”

“Four months of being hunted like an animal will do that to you.”

“So, that’s it? I’m an evil Consoli, so you won’t tell me what’s wrong?”

“You’ve yet to give me a single reason to.”

Damon seems to think about that for a moment before sighing. “Being trapped in Logan’s bathroom was the most bored I have ever been in my life.”

“If you’re looking for an apology, you’re not—”

“My turn to talk, Goldie.” She must’ve waved him on dramatically because there’s a hint of a laugh in his words. “When you’re that bored, you start exploring—rummaging through drawers and cabinets, looking for anything to pass the time.”

Kasey doesn’t say anything, and I close my eyes, mentally cursing myself to hell and back.

I thought we dodged this bullet.

Does that mean he…

“My family stopped allowing alcohol at the manor and base years ago, except for family dinners. I figured they kept some hidden around, but I’d never found it—until you locked me in Logan’s bathroom.”

I chance a look at Kasey’s face, and it’s pulled tight with curiosity and concern.

“Logan’s got a compartment hidden behind his mirror with exactly three bottles of bourbon inside.” Damon pulls in a long breath. “I was one hundred and eight days sober. The longest I’d gone without a drink in seventeen years .”

Was .

The feeling of letting my brother down fits right in with the rest of the guilt weighing on me.

“Damon, I—I had no idea.”

“For one hundred and eight days, I’d been under constant supervision.

It’s easy to stay on the wagon when you’re tied down to it,” he says with a light chuckle.

“All of a sudden, I was presented with the perfect opportunity. No one would blame me. They would be disappointed, sure, but I’ve been disappointing people my whole life.

They would understand, and they’d hold you responsible, not me. ”

There’s a long beat before Kasey asks, “You didn’t do it, did you?”

“I didn’t do it,” he says, and I can almost hear his smile.

“How? Why?”

I can’t see him, but I imagine my brother shrugging, an easy smile on his face.

“I don’t really know, to be honest. Maybe it’s because I got to know my sister for the first time in my life. James was reaching out just to talk, and Logan wasn’t constantly looking at me like I was gum on his shoe.”

The words sting—even more so when I admit that he isn’t wrong.

“Or maybe I just wanted to prove to myself that I could,” he says. “Whatever it was, I walked out of that bathroom, knowing that I wasn’t being forced to stay clean. I chose to. You gave me that.”

There’s a long silence, and I’m sure Kasey doesn’t know whether to say sorry or you’re welcome .

She doesn’t say either.

“Something happened while I was gone—something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life,” she says in a tentative whisper. “ What’s wrong, is that I’m picking up the pieces of my shattered life surrounded by the people who made it that way.”