The Ashbys ranked among the two or three oldest fortunes in Crestmont, which made them old money in every sense of the phrase. Victor had come up fast in the last few years, and even he knew the name. The five Ashby sons in particular had a reputation across the whole second generation as the standouts of their class. The eldest ran the business. As heir to the group he already had his hands on half of what made it run, and nobody his age crossed him without thinking hard first. The second went into government. Word was he sat somewhere inside one of the three-letter agencies, and he almost never turned up in public. The third taught at the university, young for the post and carrying real weight in academic circles. The fourth carried a badge and, young as he was, ran Major Crimes for Crestmont PD. The fifth was the biggest name in the film industry, the kind of star who moved numbers just by showing up. Victor might have seen the five of them in articles and magazine spreads. He had never once seen them in the flesh. His company already worked with Ashby Group, but a man at his level never got anywhere near Julian himself. His heart pounded, and the excitement showed on his face before he could stop it, which was why the meaning of what Julian had just said took a moment to reach him. He pulled a smile into place and started toward him. He had no idea what brought any of them here, and it made no difference at all to his plan to introduce himself. Get in with even one of them and the company is set for years. “Mr. Ashby? You’re Julian Ashby, right? Victor Rhodes, Vantis Group. Look, I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding here.” The line finally registered, and he took it to mean that Marla and Noelle were blocking the doorway and standing in these men’s way. He stepped forward and reached to pull Noelle and her daughter out of the path. His hand never got there. One of them crossed the distance in a few strides and knocked it aside, his voice low and hard with disgust. “Don’t touch my sister.” He caught Noelle and Wren in the same motion and put them both behind him. That was Beckett. He ran Major Crimes, he had always had a temper, and he never bothered hiding what he thought of a man he disliked. Victor and Marla stood there stunned by the move and by what came with it. What did he just say? His sister? Victor’s eyes went straight to Noelle. The sister he means… That can’t be her. As though to answer him, Noelle spoke, and her voice came out small. “They’re my brothers.” Victor’s eyes flew wide, and Vivian went just as rigid behind him. She did not know the rest of the family, but she worked in the same industry as Dorian Ashby, the youngest man ever to take Best Actor, and she knew exactly who he was. Then she looked at the others, each of them carrying himself like he owned the ground under his feet. Her chest went tight. These men can’t all be Noelle’s brothers. That isn’t possible. She was raised by one parent. Her family had nothing. How is she an Ashby? The shock in her eyes came laced with envy, and she buried both in the space of a single breath. Victor could not process it either. He had shared her bed for years and never once known what she was. She kept this from me the whole time. Every deal that had gone unusually smoothly ran through his head at once, years of reaching for something and simply getting it. He had always credited his own instincts and a run of luck nobody could match. All of it was the Ashbys. Regret and heat rose in him together. He looked at Noelle, and in one breath his whole manner and even his voice snapped back to what they used to be. “Noelle, you told me your family had cut you off. Why on earth didn’t you say something?” He put a fond scold into it, then turned a smile on her brothers. “It’s a misunderstanding. That’s all this is…” He kept talking and reached out to draw Noelle back to his side. Now that I know what she is, the divorce talk stops here. The change came over him so smoothly and so naturally that watching it made her sick. Only now did she finally see what kind of man she had cut off her own family to marry. She frowned and started to speak, and Dorian laughed once, cold, and said it for her. “Take a good look, Noelle. This is the man you threw us away for.” Everyone in the industry knew Dorian Ashby had the sharpest tongue in it and spared nobody. Noelle looked at her twin brother, dropped her head the way she rarely did, and said his name quietly. “Dorian…” “That’s enough. She’s finally seeing it, so lay off.” Everett stepped in with a smile, the way he always had. He had never once failed to land on her side. Callum came forward and used as few words as possible to get to the point. “Why the divorce?” He was asking Noelle, and he was asking Victor at the same time. Something ashamed crossed her face, and she did not answer right away. She knew her brothers would settle it the moment she said the words, and that was exactly why she could not make herself admit what a stupid choice she had made. Victor jumped in fast. “Divorce? Nobody’s getting divorced! Noelle and I had a little misunderstanding. She said all that in the heat of the moment. Don’t take it seriously.” While he talked, he shot Vivian a quick look. Vivian’s hand tightened at her side, though she knew keeping Noelle in the marriage was the best outcome for her and Victor both. She worked it out in an instant, packed the feeling away, and put her usual gentle smile back on. She opened her mouth to back him up, and a bright, thoroughly unwelcome little voice cut clean across her. “It wasn’t a little misunderstanding. Bad Daddy and Ms. Lowe made a baby a day older than me, and now Mommy’s mad.” Wren could see her mommy couldn’t get the words out. She didn’t know why, but it hardly mattered. She could say them for her. Griff always said a daughter was her mommy’s little honeybun. And she was sweet. Victor shot her a vicious look the second the words landed. The five brothers stopped where they stood, and once the meaning caught up with them, five different reactions moved behind their eyes. Dorian rounded on Noelle first, and what he aimed at her was fury with nowhere to go. “Is that true?” The other four said nothing and never took their eyes off her. She met their stares with her worst mistake laid open, dropped her head, and gave one small nod. Her chin had barely moved before Beckett’s leg came up, and the kick sent Victor off his feet. “Victor!” “Mr. Rhodes!” Vivian and Marla cried out almost together, though neither dared step forward with those men standing there. Marla could not believe her eyes. “You can’t just go around hitting people! I’m calling security!” Beckett had shown up in a black button-down, and he rolled the sleeves back at his own pace, like a man who intended to get properly started. Noelle hurried over and threw both arms around him. “Beckett! Don’t!” That only made Dorian angrier. He pointed at her, and his eyes could have cut glass. “You’re still covering for this piece of garbage?” Four years of cheating, and the other child is a day older than her own. That’s the love she wanted? Dorian promised himself that if she nodded or said one word in that man’s defense, he would turn around and leave on the spot. She held his stare and kept her arms locked around Beckett. “Beckett! Think about your badge! He’s not worth it!” A cop throwing punches in front of that many witnesses would have Internal Affairs on him within a day, family name or not. Victor is not worth that. That last part finally took some of the edge off the brothers. Everett came over at the right moment, patted the tension out of Beckett’s arm, and smiled. “Noelle’s right. If somebody’s got to be handled, it doesn’t have to be you.” He finished with the smile still in place and raised one hand. The bodyguards who had come in behind the cars stepped out in a single line. Heavy shoulders filled out the black suits, and they put weight on the whole yard without doing anything but standing there. Flat on the ground, Victor went white.