Finding Refuge by Lucy Francis Page B

led off the main room, other offices. A couple of white
leather sofas and dark gray chairs offered comfortable seating near a desk.
Large flat-screen monitors hung on two walls, and Andri wondered what they
might display during business hours. Slideshows of properties the company had
built, probably. That’s how she would use them.
    The rooms were quiet except for the bluesy music coming from
one of the offices. Travis set the folders in his hands on the desk in the main
room and she followed him to investigate.
    A young man at a computer spun around in his seat when they
entered his office. Jet black hair brushed his shoulders and swept down to the
tip of his nose. He absently brushed it back, exposing a fierce black eye and
angry red scrapes across his forehead and cheek.
    Travis cursed and crossed the floor, bracing his hands on
either side of the young man’s head, tilting his face up to the light. “Daniel,
what happened?”
    Oh, yes. His brother.
    He winced when Travis touched his cheekbone. “Got into a fight,
what does it look like?” He shrugged off Travis’s hands and nodded at her. “Hi.
I’m Danny.” His hair was darker, but his eyes were the same deep blue, and they
shared the same high cheekbones and strong jaw. The stark lines of a black
tribal tattoo wound around Danny’s bicep, just visible under the edge of his
gray t-shirt sleeve.
    She waved her fingers at him. “Andri.”
    Travis crossed his arms over his chest and fixed Danny with
a hard stare. “What were you fighting over?”
    Danny’s expression turned mulish. “What does it matter? It
happened. It’s over. You should be happy I’m in here on a Saturday working on
that plan redraw.”
    Travis grabbed one of his brother’s hands, looking at the
smooth knuckles. “You weren’t in a fight. You were beaten. What the hell, Dan?”
    Andri took a few steps back. This was a conversation between
brothers, something she really shouldn’t be privy to. Feeling distinctly
uncomfortable, she stepped out of the office to give them some measure of
privacy. It didn’t help, she still heard them talking.
    “Who did you owe money to?” Travis asked, a thread of
resignation wound through the anger in his voice.
    “Just some asshole dealer I used to buy from. I paid him,
but he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t leave him hanging again.”
    “How long have you owed him money?”
    “It’s old debt, from before rehab this last time. I’m clean,
I swear to God.”
    “Danny, you have to be. You can’t do this anymore. You’re
playing with your life.” Desperation tinged his words, and made Andri’s heart
ache, wringing memories from the dark corridors of her mind.
    “Zoe, please. You can’t keep doing this.
You’re destroying yourself, you’re hurting the kids.” Her father’s face
contorted with anguish, his hands shaking as he reached for Ma. “God, woman,
you’re breaking my heart.”
    Ma stormed over to the fireplace, hurling
her wineglass into the grate, screaming, “There! Are you happy now?” She threw
the empty wine bottle into the fire. “I hate you, Michael! I hate you! I’m
tired of you saying I’m a bad mother because I like a glass of wine!”
    And that was always the trouble. One glass of wine was all
she ever held in her hand. But she refused to count how many times she’d filled
that glass.
    Andri crossed to the business’s main entrance, not wanting
to hear the rest of the conversation between the brothers. She recalled
Travis’s reaction to her questions about his family that night at the Mexican
restaurant. The pain in his gaze. He was locked in the same battle her father
had waged most of her life. No wonder the hurt in him called to her need to
nurture and soothe. She’d spent her formative years watching the same distress
fester in her father, unable to help.
    She started when she felt a touch on her shoulder.
    Travis stood beside her. “Sorry about that. Are you ready to
go?”
    She nodded and walked with