Page 81 of The Brothers Hawthorne

Grayson took that in. “Was there anything else?”

“A receipt. Your grandfather had flowers sent to the man’s funeral. Bit sentimental for Tobias, if you ask me.”

“What was the man’s name?” Grayson asked.What was her father’s name?

What’s hers?

“First name Thomas, last name Thomas.” Nan snorted.

“Thomas Thomas?” Grayson’s eyes narrowed. That was almost certainly some kind of code.What begins a bet?he thought.Not that.“I don’t suppose the file said anything about a daughter?”

CHAPTER 55

GRAYSON

Grayson made it exactly one step into the lobby before the manager locked on to his position and walked briskly to greet him. “Mr. Hawthorne, I wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding earlier, with your guest.”

Gigi.The second Grayson thought the name, an image of her face came to him: bright blue eyes going round at him as she realized exactly who he was to her.

“It’s fine,” Grayson said, and a less ambitious hotel manager would have taken his tone as a dismissal.

This woman, however, was not so easily put off. “Would you like me to clear the pool?”

Grayson stepped out onto the pavement and became immediately aware of two facts. The first was that the pool wasnotempty. And the second was that the person treading water in the deep end was Eve.

“Does it pain you?”

“My existence?”

“Your wound.” Grayson has the sudden urge to brush her hair gently back from the bruise. He dismisses it—brutally, absolutely.

“Some people would want me to say yes.” There’s a challenge in Eve’s words. “Some people want to think that girls like me are weak.”

Graysonwill nottouch her—but he steps closer. “Pain doesn’t make you weak.”

Eve’s eyes lock on his, and for a moment, she looks nothing like Emily. “You don’t really believe that, Grayson Hawthorne.”

Snapping out of it, Grayson channeled an apathy capable of icing out everything else. He’d been a fool, and no one got to make a fool of Grayson Hawthorne twice.

He turned, fully intending to leave. Mattias Slater stepped out of the shadows. In daylight, the sentinel’s dark-blond hair bordered on gold, but his eyes still looked almost black. With a single step, he blocked Grayson’s path back inside.

Fast. Unafraid. Armed.All aspects of Grayson’s earlier assessment still seemed to apply. The ink on the sentinel’s biceps was more visible now—not one tattoo, but many: thick, black, curving lines, like tally marks reflected in a fun house mirror.

Or claw marks.“Get out of my way,” Grayson ordered.

Mattias Slater did not get out of his way.

Grayson side-stepped. His opponent anticipated the move and blocked him again. Grayson turned and began striding toward a side gate, but before he could make it there, he heard the audible click of a gun.

You’re not going to shoot me, Mattias.Grayson didn’t turn around. He didn’t so much as break his stride. But the next thing he heard was Eve climbing out of the pool, andthatfroze him in his spot.

It shouldn’t have.

He knew better.

“Hello, Grayson.” Eve’s wet feet were audible against the pavement as she walked toward him.

“I have nothing to say to you.” Grayson forced his body to move, but Mattias Slater was suddenly in front of him, blocking the gate.