Page 211 of Daddy's Pride
“I can’t. They altered my appearance enough not to make it obvious, but if someone dug deep enough…”
“Jesus, Brody…” Milan cursed, the implications of Brody’s confession sinking in. He rested his elbows on his knees, his expression one of newfound understanding. “That’s why you bolted without a word. Not for yourself but for him.”
“Because I love him,” Brody said, the declaration raw and fervent. “Because I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to him because of me.”
“Okay.” Milan breathed out. “Okay, I get it now.” His brows knitted as he mulled over the gnarled situation. “Goddammit,” he said with an exasperated sigh. “I was determined to hate you, but now I can’t.”
“Sorry?”
“Nah, don’t be. You did good.”
“I’m violating every protocol by telling you, but I need you and Asher to know. I need you to help me keep Josiah safe.”
“Does Josiah know?”
“Yeah. He deserved to know the truth. I love him, Milan. More than life itself. I want forever with him, and that meant telling him the truth. Otherwise, this would’ve always remained between us, chipping away at his trust in me.”
“I can see that. It was the right call.”
“But Denali can’t know. Josiah understands that too. I know he doesn’t like to keep secrets from his best friend, but we gain nothing by telling Denali.”
Milan seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded. “I agree. Also, and I say this with all my love, Denali’s shit at keeping secrets. He’s far too open for that. Wears every emotion on his face. I love him for it, but in this case, it would be a liability.”
“So, will you help me with this?”
“Absolutely. All I wanted was for Josiah to be happy. The kid’s been hurt, and since you were at fault, I wanted to put the fear of God in you not to do it again. Guess we’re past that now.”
“You’ll tell Asher?”
“Yeah. He might want to run that background check after all to see if anything pops up that could give you away. It shouldn’t, but Asher is not your standard FBI agent. As a former Secret Service agent, he’s been trained in recognizing patterns and anything that deviates from common human behavior.”
That was interesting. If Asher found anything suspicious, that would give them the time and opportunity to fix it before the wrong people stumbled across it.
“You have my permission. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep Josiah safe. He’s moving in with me next week.” He couldn’t help the undoubtedly goofy grin that broke free.
“Trust me, I know. Denali was over the moon when he heard. He’s been dying to get Josiah to the city.”
“Luckily, it wasn’t a hard sell. I like it here, and he wasn’t particularly attached to Chicago. Plus, I already have a house, as you have seen.”
“You gonna kick Elya out?”
“No. First of all, his lease still has six months left on it, but more importantly, he’s not in our way. He lives in the basement, while we have the other two floors. Besides, I like him.”
Milan scratched his chin. “You’re charging him a pittance in rent.”
“So?”
“It’s nice of you.”
Brody laughed. “That cost you, didn’t it?”
“Well, you’ll have to forgive me for needing a moment to see you as a good guy.”
“Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I certainly hope not. You got away with being an asshole once, but you hurt Josiah again, and we’re gonna have a problem.”
Funnily enough, Brody knew exactly what kind of problem Milan meant, and it had nothing to do with Brody’s past. Milan would never betray him. But he might beat the shit out of him, and Brody was strangely okay with that. “I do have to warn you that I have a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.”