Page 1 of Protecting Lainey (Broterhood Alliance #7)

Lainey Harper stepped out of her SUV and shivered in the damp morning chill. It was cool now, but it would be hot later. The sun was a blinding orb of yellow on the horizon, framed by clouds the shade of salmon and stormy gray.

She reached for her travel mug and clipboard. The coffee was lukewarm, but the heat against her palm was still something.

Today was going to be a good day. The contractors promised they’d finish the first of the renovations.

Stella’s Bakery.

Her favorite building on the entire project. The one she’d dreamed of since day one. It wasn’t just a building. A bakery was a joyful place. A place of comfort. It was a place where people gathered and celebrated. The kind of place that smelled like cinnamon and hope. And home.

The sharp scent of sawdust and fresh paint usually brought Lainey a sense of calm. Progress.

But not this morning. The air felt heavy. Wrong.

She rounded the corner and stopped cold.

Her breath caught in her throat.

The front window of Stella’s Bakery—an arched antique pane she fought to preserve—was broken.

And not just broken. Shattered.

Destroyed.

Shards of glass glittered like malevolent diamonds on the sidewalk, turning it into a warning no one could miss. Wood splinters from the window casing jutted out as if someone had slammed through it with force.

She blinked, took a step back, and for a moment, the world tilted.

Not again.

Lainey forced her body to move closer as her boots crunched over the glass. Spray-painted across the brick wall in angry black letters were the words:

WALK AWAY .

Her stomach lurched as the cup of coffee she had drunk earlier threatened to come up.

A tap on her shoulder made her jump.

“Morning, Lainey.”

Gus.

“I was hoping to get this covered before you or the crew got in,” said Gus Navarro, the construction foreman. “I’m going to get it cleaned up fast. The men are already on edge.”

Same here. But she didn’t say it.

Instead, she moved toward the front door, her heart pounding loudly in her ears.

“Was anything else destroyed?”

“Nope. Just the window. The message.” He nodded toward the wall. “Same paint. Same pattern.”

She scanned the doorframe. Something was different.

Her gaze dropped lower. Carved below the handle was a small, deliberate black X.

She had no idea what it meant, only that it made her skin crawl.

She swallowed hard.

“I’ve called the police,” Gus said. “But …” He shrugged.

“I know.” Lainey blew out a breath. “Kids, right?”

“Yup.”

It didn’t take her long to take photos of the damage and add to the notes she made the last time.

Her pulse raced through her body.

She wanted to believe it was just bored kids. But after what her ex-partner Richard put her through, she wasn’t that naive.

Not anymore.

A patrol car pulled up. Siren off, thank God. Two officers stepped out.

“Morning, Ms. Harper,” the taller officer said, flipping open his notebook as he surveyed the damage. “Anything stolen this time?”

“No,” Lainey huffed. Exasperated. “Just a broken window and a not-so-subtle threat.”

This wasn’t the first conversation she’d had with the police.

“We get that this is frustrating. But unless it escalates …” he trailed off with a shrug. “Sometimes people don’t like change.”

She blinked at him. Once. Twice.

“This isn’t about people not liking change,” she snapped. “This is obviously a threat, and it’s obviously escalating.”

He didn’t argue. But he didn’t agree either. He just gave her a pitying look like they always did.

She knew that look.

They’d file the report, nod sympathetically and do absolutely nothing.

There’d be no fingerprints. No camera footage. No witnesses. No note written with instructions to oneself saying break window, leave a threatening message.

There’d be no suspect. Nothing to find.

Just the usual. “Without a suspect, nothing to follow up on.”

Restoring the historic district was her dream job.

She knew she was younger than most, but this job wasn’t handed to her.

She earned it. Long nights studying, an honors degree in urban planning, getting her master’s, caring for a baby in between.

There was no way one man’s betrayal was going to be the end of her career.

And yet, someone wanted to destroy it.

Her phone buzzed in her hand.

Unknown number.

Her breath hitched.

Dare she answer it?

The last few times, no one spoke. Just silence. But something told her this time was different.

One ring. Two. Three.

She couldn’t bear the wait. “Lainey Harper.”

A moment of silence. Then a voice—distorted and low.

“You don’t belong here.”

Click.

The call ended, but Lainey stood frozen, the phone still pressed to her ear. Her breath was shallow, her heart beating fast.

“Something wrong?” one officer asked.

She lowered the phone, her fingers cold around it. “Wrong number,” she lied.

The officer raised a brow. “That so?”

Lainey shrugged. “Kids.”

The officer jotted something on his notepad. “We’ll add it to the file.”

She didn’t bother hiding the eye roll. “Of course you will.”

He didn’t look up. “Nothing was stolen. Could have been teenagers. Or someone blowing off steam.”

Lainey crossed her arms tighter. “Yeah. Bored kids come armed with spray paint and a message.”

The officer looked like he wanted to argue but didn’t.

She bit back the rest. She sure wasn’t about to explain—not again.

Not like she did the first time she called the police here when the back door to her office had been jimmied open and her desk rifled through.

And certainly not after the last job, when the police brushed off a slashed tire on one of the crew’s trucks.

Why would this time be any different? She was tired of being dismissed.

Behind them, Gus was already sweeping up the damage and whitewashing the words. Lainey stood there, arms wrapped around herself, rubbing the chill away.

She could pretend all she wanted. Pretend she wasn’t rattled.

But she knew better. This wasn’t over.

But whoever was calling didn’t know her very well.

Lainey Harper didn’t quit.

And she sure as hell didn’t scare easily.