Chance

CHANCE STEEL BROTHERS: BOOK TWENTY-FIVE HELEN HARDT CONTENTS Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Continue reading the Steel Brothers Saga with Book Twenty-Six Message from Helen Hardt Acknowledgments Also By Helen Hardt For everyone who dares to take a chance. PROLOGUE AVA My mother and father got married on Thanksgiving twenty-five years ago. Twenty-five years with the same person. It’s unimaginable to me. I’m a Steel by birth, but I’ve never felt like a Steel. I don’t want my family’s money. I like being on my own. I opened my bakery and sandwich shop with my own money—money that I earned, not money from my gigantic trust fund, which, even though I gained control of it when I turned twenty-one three years ago, I’ve never touched. I’ll never touch it if I can avoid it. Don’t get me wrong. I love my family. All of them, without condition. I just don’t want their money. I’m kind of the black sheep of the Steel family. Or rather, the pink sheep, if my hair color makes me who I am. So I like pink hair. Sue me. I can pull it off. My little sister, Gina, thinks I’m crazy. She’s gorgeous, of course. Looks just like our father, Ryan Steel, who’s the pretty boy of the Steel family. Gina has his dark hair and light-brown eyes that are fringed with those ridiculously long lashes. I look more like our mother, Ruby Lee Steel. I have her brown hair, lighter than Dad’s, but of course I color it. I also have her blue eyes. That’s where our similarities end, though. I’m not nearly as pretty as Mom is. I’m just me. Ava. Simply Ava, who loves to bake, and who’s damned good at it, if I do say so myself. I learned at an early age from my aunt Marjorie, who’s a trained chef. I’m supposed to be meeting with her now, as we’re planning Mom and Dad’s twenty-fifth anniversary party. It will be huge and lavish and at the main house, where Uncle CHAPTER ONE AVA I’m still staring at the strange text when a new one comes in from Aunt Marjorie. Where are you? Everything okay? Right. Mom and Dad’s twenty-fifth anniversary party. A Steel grand occasion can be put on hold for nothing or no one—especially not some bizarre message that may not have been meant for me anyway. I text back quickly. On my way. A half hour later, I arrive at Aunt Marj’s home. Her husband, Uncle Bryce, is the chief financial officer for the family company. I don’t concern myself much with what goes on with our finances. It’s not that I don’t care, because I love my family. It’s just that it doesn’t really affect my life. I live by my own means, and I’m proud of it. I give the door a quick knock, and I walk in, giving some head scratches to their black labs, Thad and Gary. “Ava, is that you?” Aunt Marj calls from the kitchen. “Yeah, it’s me.” “Great. Come on back.” I’m on my way through the foyer when Uncle Bryce, Uncle Joe, and my cousin Brock walk toward me, clearly having come from Uncle Bryce’s office. Brock is Uncle Joe in miniature—except Brock is hardly miniature. But for Uncle Joe’s graying temples, they could be twins with their strong builds, dark hair, and dark eyes. Uncle Bryce is silver-haired with bright-blue eyes and also nearly as tall as Brock and Uncle Joe. “Hey, Ava,” Brock says. “What are you doing over here?” “I’m helping Aunt Marj plan the big shindig for my mom and dad.” “Right, the anniversary.” Brock nods. “Have fun.” “What are you guys all doing here?” “Just some business,” Uncle Bryce says. “Nothing to concern your pretty head about.” He smiles, and for a moment I think