"I had been wishing that you would visit but not like this. Are you sure you don't need a doctor?" Bella asked, pressing a wet cloth to my head.

I shook my head and snuggled closer to my emotional support human. Lincoln continued to stroke my hair gently.

I looked up at him with admiration. "I didn't know you were so brave to hold me like this in front of my brothers."

"I'm not brave. Your health just matters more at the moment," he whispered back.

I looked at my brothers with a sweet expression. "Can you guys stop looking at Lincoln that way?"

"I speak for the collective when I say we can't help it, Imelda," Harry said. The other two nodded once and kept glaring at Lincoln. 

"He's the reason I've got a clear head now. A little gratitude would be nice."

"Thank you, Mr Castilla," they chorused.

"Although when Victor arrives, you will be telling us your intention with our sister," Henry finished.

"There's nothing like that between us. If he begins to court me, I'll let you guys know," I muttered as low as I could, playing nervously with my hair. I had tried to sound casual but the blush rising to my cheeks betrayed me. I moved my hair forward to cover my face.

"Isn't he the man you spoke..."

I jumped out of Lincoln's arms to cover Harry's mouth. "I spoke to you about that in the privacy of our living room, brother. Keep a secret, would ya?"

"Hey, that's not fair," Louis protested. "I didn't tell anyone about that time in the kitchen when...I'm still not supposed to say that."

I shook my head with a wince as I watched Harry connect the dots. "Whatever you're thinking, I can assure you that it's not as bad as you think."

"So you two didn't almost kiss in his kitchen?"

Lincoln turned to me with a questioning glare that said 'How does he know about that?'

Bella's eyes began to shine with joy. She shook her brother excitedly. "You two did what? When? Intentionally? I need answers, brother."

"Imelda, tell me Harry's wrong," Henry said.

"Yes, tell me I'm wrong," Harry said.

"I...I...It's not a crime to fall in love. These things happen," I blurted out.

I couldn't bring myself to turn around and look Lincoln in the eyes. My heart constricted at the thought of there being rejection or anything of the sort. So I chose to remain facing my brothers which wasn't a much better option because of their looks of disbelief and fairly disguised anger.

"Love?" Louis asked.

Why on earth had I said that? It wasn't like I was in love with Lincoln or anything.

"Why don't we focus on Baines' plot? He's planning to release another press article in four days," I said.

Three pairs of eyes narrowed at my changing the subject. Before any of them could speak, Lincoln said behind me, "I looked into the earlier anonymous article and found a few probable writers of the article."

I did well to disguise my surprise. I glanced quickly at Lincoln. He wasn't even looking at me yet something warm swelled in my chest. I turned back to my brothers with a small smile.

"Harry and Henry, you're both private investigators, right? Can we find the person and stop them within four days?"

Henry sighed, choosing to drop my earlier slip-up. "It's not that simple. There's also a high possibility that Baines wouldn't use the same journalist."

I frowned. "But we'd need to start from somewhere. Maybe he'd risk using the same person again. Even if he doesn't, we should just go to try and predict the kind of person who would be susceptible to believe his crap."

"What are you thinking?" Henry asked.

"That we should go along with Lincoln's plan," I said.

"We?" five voices chorused.

I turned in a circle, confused at the reaction. "I don't understand."

"We unanimously decided that we were going on this investigation without you," Harry said with a firm voice.

"What? When?"

"When you fainted," Louis whispered.

I looked at Bella and Lincoln. They couldn't meet my gaze. "What do you want to do with me during this period?"

"Keep you out of sight"—Lincoln met my hurt gaze for a split second— "so that Baines wouldn't have an opportunity to meet you. You'll stay with Louis, helping him to run his shop."

"When Louis goes to meet his sellers or doesn't want to work?"

"You'll stay with Bella at home or at the shop or with me at the office," Lincoln said.

"Great. You have it all figured out and you didn't think to ask my opinion. You just help me to sit here, waiting for you men to solve my problems, forgetting that you'll be in as much danger as I could be when you're snooping in the idiot's business."

Lincoln moved first. "Andr-"

"Do not say that name if you don't know what it means, who she is, the strong woman who can-"

His voice cracked. "Please, Andrea."

"Do not say that name," I shrieked. "Do not say it and expect me to sit at home. Don't say you're doing it for my own good, that I need to be taken care of." When Lincoln didn't respond for a minute, my heart shattered.

What a fool I was, thinking he was different from the other men in my life. I had thought he had regarded me as an equal. What worsened was that he knew about the way my brothers and father treated me and he still went ahead to...

A tear dropped.

"Andrea, wait. I-"

"I need to think right now," I said and walked into the kitchen and was about to walk through the back door when a hand grabbed mine. Without thinking, I turned around and hit the person.

Lincoln swore and stumbled a few steps back but didn't loosen his grip on my hand. I clawed at his fingers desperately. "Let go of me."

"That would be stupid before I explain myself," Lincoln said through his fingers that were covering the right side of his face. His heart clenched in guilt for a second.

"I don't want to hear-"

"You told me how much you hated those stories where one of the main characters leaves without explaining themselves to the other, leading to unnecessary misunderstandings." My defiance wavered. "I'm not going to let you leave thinking the wrong thing."

Was he always listening when I went into rants about novels? Bella didn't even try to hide the fact that I talked a little too much about the books I read.

As much as I wanted to drop the matter and return to his arms, I couldn't. "Lincoln, you've said as much as you wanted to say inside that room. I don't need to hear anymore."

"I didn't mean what you thought I meant-"

"You don't think locking me up is for my own good?"

"I...That's not..."

"You still can't deny it." I furiously wiped my stray tears. "I told you everything, Lincoln. Everything about the sexism and emotional abuse, even the reason I have anxiety. I tell you much more than I've ever told any man in my life. I didn't deserve for that to be thrown in my face like that. I'm tired of men trying to order my steps. For goodness sake, how could you not think to ask me? Do I look like some gentle damsel who would sit at home waiting for a man to do everything for me?"

"That's precisely the reason I don't want you in this investigation. You would go to far lengths to achieve what you want. It's-"

"And how is that any of your business?" I yelled. "What gave you guys the right to make decisions for me? Why does what I do bother you so-"

"Because I care for you."

My mind went blank for a second. I searched his face for any indication that he was lying. Unsurprisingly, I found none. The raw emotion in his voice had told me that much. I only needed to figure out if he meant platonically or...something more.

"I-If you're m-messing with me, I won't spare you. I mean it," I said, trying to sound firm despite the cracks in my voice.

Why were his words evoking such a reaction? He could mean he respected me as his sister's friend or as a human being in general.

Yet as these thoughts filled my head, I secretly hoped it wouldn't be true. I wanted him to see me as more than a friend.

However, it seemed I was not going to be a pro poker player anytime soon because Lincoln read my thoughts directly off my face. He shook his head, probably smiling at my silliness. "I do worry about you and your safety, and not because you're friends with my sister but because you're friends with me. I'm sorry that we hadn't consulted you but seeing you bruised and weak when you fainted made me think irrationally. I promise to always put your opinions first in all matters that concern you, no matter how reckless and dangerous I think they are."

Although he friend-zoned me in the nicest way possible, I couldn't stop the wide smile growing on my face. With Lincoln, I was ready to take what I could get. If he didn't see me the way I saw him, I couldn't force him. What I could do was walk up to him and give him the most emotion-filled hug that I had ever given a male in my life. Not even the hug I gave Jordan Hathaway, my middle school crush during the end-of-year play could beat this.

"Andrea, what are you doing?" he whispered.

"Hugging you, dummy," I mumbled against his chest.

"You're not having an anxiety attack, are you? This is only alright when you are. Your reputation will suffer if it gets out that you're hugging a man so casually."

I nearly pulled back to ask him what he meant and then remembered that we had never hugged unless I needed to calm down. In every real sense, this was our first hug. I snuggled deeper into his chest, trying to burn this moment into my memory.

"I don't have a reputation that needs to be protected anyway. Besides, you weren't thinking about this when you nearly kissed me two weeks ag-mmmph"

His rough hands covered my mouth. "Not so loud. Someone might hear you."

I bit his finger. He yelped and he let go. "Everyone who could hear us already knows." I rolled my eyes as he peeked outside the window. "Anyone eavesdropping from outside should mind their darn business."

"Don't be so careless. That moment was just a temporary lapse in character. It's nothing you should be intensely worried about."

"Can you look me in the eye as you say that?" I asked, ignoring the pang of hurt in my chest.

That was the only way for me to free myself of any doubt. If he could, I would try to wash out of my mind what would have been a delightful memory if Lord Danbury hadn't bumped into the coatrack.

He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds as if gathering his thoughts that I would give the world to know.

"Andrea," he breathed out.

The sound washed over me, igniting my curiosity like never before. I squeezed his hands in anticipation, hoping that whatever he said didn't ruin our friendship or whatever this thing we had.