Free Risk (It's Complicated Book 2) by Ann Christopher Page B

stain.”
    There was a true distinction without a difference, Angela thought as she put her hands on her hips and glared at the growing mess on the floor, but he seemed not to notice.
    “Do you, ah, want to get a shower?” His gaze slid over her again as he cleared his throat. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to do.”
    Self-conscious again, Angela crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s probably a good—”
    Angela’s phone rang, startling them.
    She picked up. “Hello?”
    “Angela,” said a deep, gravelly voice. “It’s Vincent Robinson.”
    “Oh, Mr. Robinson,” she began, “I’m so sorry—”
    “So am I,” he said. “How’s Maya?”
    Angela looked back at the sink, where Maya was now pouring water between measuring cups. “Fine. She was really happy to see Just—”
    “We need to make some arrangements,” Mr. Robinson interrupted. “If you can come over here, Lena will watch Maya while we talk. Say, in an hour?”
    His tone was perfectly pleasant, yet he somehow managed to convey that this was a command, not a request, and that no excuses would be acceptable. Normally Angela would have bristled and said no just to establish some boundaries, but of course Mr. Robinson was right. They did need to get things started.
    “That’s fine,” she said. “We’ll be there.”
    “See you then.”
    Angela hung up and turned to Justus, who’d been paying close attention.
    “Let me guess,” he said. “Command performance?”
    “Yeah.” She suddenly remembered the tension she’d seen between Justus and his father years ago at the wedding reception. “In an hour, if that’s okay.”
    He shrugged, his face tightening. “An hour, two hours. It doesn’t really matter, does it? They’ll still be dead.”
    “ Justus .”
    For some unfathomable reason, she reached for his rigid arm. Normally she wasn’t a touchy-feely person, but she felt a strong urge to pull Justus back from whatever dark place he’d gone to.
    He stilled, staring down at her hand.
    She snatched it back under cover of smoothing the loose hair around her face.
    “I, uh...didn’t have the chance to ask how things went with your father last night.”
    He snorted, mouth twisting into a crooked smile that decimated his handsome features.
    “How do you think it went?” he asked coldly. “Vincent’s crown prince is dead. And if it were up to the old man, he’d swap me out in V.J.’s grave in a heartbeat.”

6
    J ustus took Maya in his SUV and Angela trailed behind in her own car as they drove to the Robinson...estate? Mansion?
    This place was just...wow.
    She’d grown up hearing Vincent Robinson’s name, of course. He was one of Cincinnati’s most prominent civil rights attorneys and had also written several commercially popular books about the law. But she’d had no idea he’d done so well financially. Normally she was pretty low-key about such things, but as she climbed out and started up the walk past Justus’s car, she felt her mouth fall open into a gape.
    “You grew up here ?” she breathed.
    “It’s just a house,” he snapped as he unbuckled Maya.
    “O-kay, then,” Angela said, stung.
    Maya bounded out of the car and rang the doorbell. Vincent immediately appeared.
    “Gran’pa!” she shrieked, throwing her arms around his legs.
    Laughing, he stooped down to hug her. “Miss Lena’s in the kitchen waiting for you, Maya. She’s got some chocolate chip muffins.”
    That was all Maya needed to hear. She raced off down some long hallway and disappeared.
    Vincent straightened and turned to Angela, his expression somber. She was startled to see how much he’d aged in the ten years since she’d seen him—and how poorly.
    “Angela, dear.”
    To her surprise, he opened his arms and gave her a big hug that was almost as wonderful as Justus’s hug had been last night. Tragedy created the strangest intimacies, apparently. She put her hands on his shoulders, startled by how frail they were, and tilted her head to