His Christmas Assignment. Lisa Childs

      He had suspected someone might have, but he hadn’t seen anyone behind him. He’d been distracted, though. But...

      “Did you follow me?” he asked again.

      Milek snorted. “How else would I have found you? Of course I followed you. You’re not as good as you think are.”

      His brother must have been right—about Garek’s not detecting a tail. But maybe that wasn’t the only thing Garek wasn’t as good at as he’d thought he was. Candace had left that night—after they’d finally given in to the attraction that had burned between them for a year.

      At least he’d felt it.

      “I taught you everything you know about following someone,” Garek reminded him. That was why Milek was so good. “And I may have noticed you were behind me, if I’d known you were back already.”

      Milek had taken the assignment Candace hadn’t wanted him to take—protecting the reality star. Why hadn’t she wanted him to take it?

      She had never explained her real reason. Jealousy?

      But if she’d cared, she wouldn’t have run away—like she had sometime in the night. She wouldn’t have left him if she’d really wanted him.

      “The girl wasn’t in any danger,” Milek said. “It was just a publicity ploy.”

      Which was what Candace had suspected. The woman was so astute. How had she never realized how he’d felt about her—how he’d felt about her for nearly a year?

      “It took you two weeks to figure out it was all a publicity stunt?” Garek teased.

      Milek shook his head. “It only took me two minutes.”

      “So you milked the assignment to enjoy the weather in California?” Garek gestured at the snow. “I don’t blame you.” He would have razzed him about staying for the starlet. But it was too soon to tease Milek about women.

      “I might have stayed longer,” Milek admitted, “if Stacy hadn’t called me.”

      Garek shook his head, both frustrated with and sympathetic to his sister. “I told her to back off and give you time.”

      “She didn’t call me about that,” Milek said.

      That was the single most devastating thing that had ever happened to his brother. So it was no wonder he didn’t want to talk about it; he probably couldn’t.

      Garek had tried a couple of times to get him to talk, and Milek had asked him to move out of the warehouse apartment they’d once shared. He’d moved into an apartment while he’d looked for something more permanent.

      Milek continued, “She called me to talk about you.”

      Garek chuckled. “Sounds like she was just looking for any excuse to reach out to you.” And he couldn’t blame Stacy for trying. He wanted to try again, but he was worried his brother would cut him completely out of his life then.

      Milek shook his head. “It wasn’t an excuse to talk to me. She didn’t want to call me. So she hesitated—maybe too long. How deep are you in?”

      Garek sucked in a breath and then choked on the cold air. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

      Milek shoved him again. But Garek was already backed up as far as he could go against the SUV. “You’re working for Viktor Chekov again.”

      “Not like I used to,” Garek assured him. And he felt a flash of pain that his sister and brother had assumed he had. Didn’t they know him better than that? He could understand other people thinking the worst of him; he’d done nothing to correct misconceptions of him. In fact with Candace, he had enjoyed playing the bad boy with her—to tease her and irritate her. But he hadn’t been a boy for a long while—if ever. “It’s an assignment—a protection job.”

      Milek cursed him. “You brought Viktor to Payne Protection as a client. You sought out this assignment. I’m going to ask you again—what the hell are you up to?”

      Garek opened his mouth, ready to spin the situation the way he had to Logan, so the CEO of Payne Protection had agreed to take on the Chekov family as a client. But Milek knew Garek hadn’t been in love with Tori—like he had professed to Logan. His brother would immediately know he was lying.

      So he admitted, “I’m not supposed to tell anyone what I’m really up to.”

      “Is that what whoever you just met in the alley has been telling you?”

      Milek hadn’t seen Rus. To keep the FBI agent out of it, Garek could lie about whom he’d just met. He hesitated as he considered it.

      And Milek asked, “Don’t you think I’ve had enough secrets kept from me?”

      That question struck Garek harder than Milek had when he’d knocked him into his vehicle. He nodded in agreement. “But it’s hard to be totally open and honest when you’re working undercover.”

      The tension eased from Milek’s shoulders and he breathed a sigh of relief. “That was Special Agent Nicholas Rus who you met in the SUV in the alley.”

      “Nobody can know.”

      Milek tensed again. “You’re trying to take down Viktor Chekov?” The anger was back in his voice as he asked, “Are you crazy?”

      “Maybe...”

      But a man had been murdered. Recently. Before that there had been others. Lives Garek could have saved had he taken Chekov down fifteen years ago. He hadn’t been brave enough then; he’d been a scared kid who’d given in to threats. But now he was a man, and he knew if Chekov wasn’t stopped, there would be more lives lost.

      “But it needs to be done,” Garek said. “He has to be stopped, or he’s just going to keep killing. He should have been stopped a long time ago.”

      “Killing...” Milek murmured.

      Garek wanted to bite his tongue again—that he’d brought up a subject too close to his brother’s wounded heart. “I’m sorry...”

      Milek raised his voice again, which shook with anger. “Garek, this is too dangerous.”

      In the spirit of being honest, he had to admit, “And it’s not dangerous just for me. He threatened if my assignment is more about betraying him than protecting Tori, he won’t just hurt me. He’ll hurt my family, too. He’ll hurt everyone I care about.”

      Garek shuddered but not because of the cold; he shuddered because he remembered the coldness with which Viktor had so casually uttered that threat. But he knew it hadn’t been idle.

      “If you want to do this or you feel you have to, don’t worry about me,” Milek said. “I can take care of myself.”

      His brother always had.

      “And Logan will protect Stacy just like he did before,” Garek said. He was trying to assure himself that he hadn’t put everyone he loved in danger. “You’ll all be fine...”

      But then Milek warned him, “I’m not the only one Stacy reached out to...”

      Garek raised his brows. “Who else is there?”

      Since their father had gone to prison, it had been just the three of them. Their mother didn’t count; she had never been there for them and then she’d turned on them. He wouldn’t have gone to prison and Milek juvenile detention if she hadn’t testified against them. They had an aunt and uncle, too, but they had only wanted to exploit them—like Viktor Chekov had.

      “Candace,” Milek said. “Stacy was going to track her down and bring her back to River City.”

      “Damn her.” He loved Stacy, but she had interfered in their lives too much. Her interference had cost Milek everything that mattered to him. What would