by Tijan
I gasped, sweat covering my chest. Kai dropped his mouth down, teasing me, trailing between my breasts before running back up, lingering at my throat, then finally moving to my lips. It was a soft kiss, like dessert after a five-course meal.
My entire body was boneless. I was a puddle of contentment. The self-loathing was gone. I knew it would come back. It was inevitable. As long as I couldn’t say no to this man, I would be on this ride of exhilarating highs and pleasure to dangerous lows.
The sound of someone outside my door had Kai stiffening next to me.
There was a knock. “Sir?”
Kai gave me an apologetic look before sliding off the bed. He snagged a blanket from the closet, draping it over me and bent to kiss me.
“Sleep, if you can,” he whispered before standing up. “I’ll be back.”
He went through the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
A moment later I heard the door across the hall open and the faint sound of a conversation. They must’ve moved into his room.
I could’ve gotten up, gone to the bathroom, tried to eavesdrop.
I did nothing.
I fell asleep, just as he said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Blade: I found Brooke.
The text came in at 6:43 am.
I woke up, hearing the buzz, and grabbed the phone from the nightstand. It took a second for the brevity of those words to sink in. Blade wouldn’t lie. Not this time. The timing wasn’t right for that. No. This was the truth.
I glanced over, but Kai wasn’t next to me. The bathroom door was closed, so I couldn’t see to his side. I decided not to think about where he might’ve gone.
I sat up and texted back.
Me: Where?
Blade: 44, 93
They were coordinates. I plugged them in and stared a moment.
I felt a burn starting in my gut.
The train went to Winnipeg. It made sense for her to go south on 29, then take 94 all the way to Minneapolis in Minnesota. It was a seven-hour drive. Seven. Hours. The train might’ve been longer from Edmonton to Winnipeg. How had no one considered this?
Me: How was she missed?
Blade: She stayed to the corners, like you instructed. Switched trains walking with an elderly man. She had a full disguise.
The disguise wasn’t from me. The elderly man hadn’t been either, but it was perfect. The elderly were overlooked so easily.
Me: I have my Raven passport. Can you book me on a flight…
I stopped typing. What was I doing? I didn’t know where I was in New York. Turning on GPS could get me an Uber, but I had to be serious. Kai would know about these texts—maybe even knew already—and the chances of me sneaking away, getting a ride to the airport, getting on a flight to Minneapolis before Kai did were slim to none.
I’d gone into Hider mode.
It was a relief to know I still had it in me. It hadn’t left me, like so much of my resistance had.
Instead, I texted:
Me: Can you narrow it down? House, apartment?
Blade: I did better. She’s in a basement.
And he gave me the actual address. We only needed to drive up and knock on the door.
Me: Is she using a phone?
Blade: Working on that. If I get all this, and she’s safe when the big bad brother finds her, does that mean you come back?
Me: If 411 will have me.
That was the truth. I wanted to go back. I wanted that normalcy again. Everything made sense as a Hider. I knew right from wrong, top from bottom, and I knew which side I stood on: the right side. If I stayed…
Me: Thank you, Blade.
Blade: Just be safe and come home.
I didn’t respond, instead sliding out of bed and going to wash and change. My old clothes went back into the bag. I had it over my shoulder, sneakers on, a hat pulled low on my forehead when I left the room.
I didn’t know what to expect. Maybe a small part of me just wanted to run from what was happening to me.
I turned down the hallway, moving briskly, and headed down the stairs. As I approached the front door, I didn’t look behind me to see who was in the kitchen. Some of Kai’s guards were likely awake; that was to be expected.
I wasn’t expecting to see the entire group already in the driveway, throwing bags into the SUVs.
Kai stood next to the one we’d ridden in, his arms folded over his chest as he listened to one of the guards. They were looking at a map and a phone. Kai nodded before looking up. His eyes found me immediately.
I should’ve been used to feeling singed every time that gaze found me. I wasn’t. The burn spread inside of me.
He didn’t seem surprised at the sight of me, and I firmed my mouth. He already knew. They already knew.
They’d been expecting me.
I let out a sigh, coming down the steps and meeting him at the door of the SUV.
He reached for the door handle before I could, but didn’t open it. He moved to stand close, his body heat warming me. “You and your pal had a nice chat.”
I looked away. Most of the men were in their SUVs already. Only a few were waiting for us. One came behind me from the house. I could only assume he had locked up.
“What do you expect? I hide people, not find them. It’s not a good feeling.”
He still didn’t open the door, and I looked up, meeting his eyes.
There were a myriad of emotions there.
After a moment he opened the door. I got in, and he shut it behind me, walking around to the other side. As the guard opened Kai’s door, he sat beside me.
After we’d driven for a half hour in silence, I remembered something. “What about Brooke’s boyfriend?”
Kai had been reading on his phone, and he lifted his head. “He’s not a problem.”
I frowned. “Kai—”
“Don’t, okay?” His tone stopped me. “You hate me. I get that. And I get why, but your body doesn’t.” His eyes trailed down, warming said body even further as he went to my feet and back up. “As long as you remain in my company, can you shove the indignation? I am a Bennett. This is what my family does. You know this, and you stayed. Deal with your decision.”
Well. Consider me slapped back.
He has a point, a voice whispered in my head, but instead of addressing that, I put my headphones on and turned up my music.
There was a slight sting in my mouth, though.
• • •
Here it was. Here was the time, as I looked out my window on a private plane over West Virginia, that I needed to do some soul-searching. Kai had been right with what he said before.
I did know who he was. I knew the family he led. I knew the lengths he would go to, had gone to already, and I’d stayed.
I knew who I had let inside my body.
But I was still twisted up inside. I needed to decide: stay or go. Help Brooke or just leave.
Sleep with him again, or not.
It had to end.
It had felt right to get those coordinates from Blade. It felt right to get a text message about finding someone, so I had to go help that someone. That synced perfectly inside of me. It was what I was meant to do.
Then I walked out into the main cabin of the airplane and there was an entire envoy of mafia guards, as well as their leader. He was actually sleeping for once, his head resting back on his seat. And yes, I felt the tug inside.
Full lips. A jawline that melted me. Cheekbones that said, “Oh hello there.” And those eyes that could undress me with a look. They almost had. But Kai’s looks weren’t the problem, though they contributed. It was more. There was something in him that beckoned to me.
I hated what he did. But I didn’t hate him.
I lusted after him. But I loathed his job.
Still, my physical weakness—or whatever was going on—wasn’t right. Remembering how I’d felt when I got Blade’s text, I knew my decision. Kai wasn’t the issue, not really. I wanted to remain with t
he Network. I wanted to keep helping people. I had to. It had once been me who needed help. It’d been my mother. There were others out there like us.
Kai and me, we had to end. No more.
I returned to my seat by the window and thumbed up my volume. Anything to distract me, because I didn’t want to feel the boulder in my stomach.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
We landed in Minneapolis and were quickly swept into the back of a car this time, rather than an SUV. The guards had those. Kai and I had two guards with us, counting the driver, but it seemed more intimate, more quaint.
I looked over at Kai, who was watching out the window, and for a split second I felt like we were all friends road-tripping to see another friend.
“Aren’t they supposed to have snow here?” I asked.
Kai turned to look at me, his eyebrows pinched together. “You live in Canada.”
I kept my face neutral. “I know.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re fucking with us.”
It was summer. Of course I was fucking with them.
But I still hid my grin, feeling a bit punchy. “Can I choose the next house we stay at? I mean, you guys rent them, right? You haven’t bought all of them…”
Kai’s expression didn’t waver.
Shit. He did.
“Really?” I choked out.
His nod was faint. “Except the hotel. And who said we’re staying anywhere?”
That shut me up—for a moment. “We’re going to Brooke right now? I thought there’d be a plan, a meeting time, blueprints plastered on the wall. You know…” I waved my hands in the air. “A whole marker board that we can flip over and start writing on the other side when a new idea comes to us.”
He sat motionless. “Is that what you do on your 411 missions?”
“No.” Look at that, my pants became so interesting. I dusted off some lint.
Kai must’ve taken pity on me. “We are staying somewhere,” he relented. “But we’re picking up my sister first.”
Forget the lint. My head whipped back up. “We’re going now?”
He nodded, returning to his phone. “Mmmm-hmmm.”
“But—” My mouth was gaping.
They were moving too fast. Things had to be planned. I wasn’t kidding now.
“What’s the plan?” I snorted. “Going up and knocking?”
“Generally. Yeah.”
Again with the gaping mouth. “Are you serious? You can’t be serious. Brooke will…” Jonah had told me to go. Wait. No. Tanner said that. “Tanner said you needed my help or Brooke will do something stupid. She’ll get someone killed.”
Kai remained focused on his phone, scrolling up to read something. “Tanner lied to you.”
“But, why would he lie to me?”
“Because he didn’t want to babysit you?” Kai sighed, putting his phone away and resting his head against his headrest. He looked me over, a faint trace of amusement tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Tanner had a friend putting on a show at Fortune. He didn’t want to drive all the way to Cowtown with you.”
I… I had no words.
Not just because of Tanner, who was an ass, but because of Kai, who was smirking at me.
Smirking.
It was doing dangerous things to me. “Stop that.”
And damn him, because he knew what I was talking about. His smirk only deepened.
“But Jonah said—”
“I don’t know what Jonah said, but he wanted to get back to his job. He also didn’t want to have to stay and babysit you.”
“Both your brothers lied to me?”
He nodded. “They did, yes.” There was a twinkle in those dark eyes now. He didn’t look like the head of an international mafia family. He looked like a guy Carol would’ve fawned over if she saw his picture in a magazine.
I felt a flutter in my chest.
Kai was young for what he had to handle. He’d taken over the family at sixteen. And he’d murdered his father to do it.
Clearing my throat, I said, “What assholes.”
“Can you blame them?”
No. “Jonah wanted to get back to his job?”
“His residency.” Kai kept watching me as he spoke.
It should’ve been even more unsettling, but it wasn’t. He was warm. He was being honest. I could see that, and somehow we felt like friends in this moment.
“He’s wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. It’s difficult at times, though. Family comes first. A job like that, a family like ours, he gets caught in the middle a lot.”
“He’s young to be a doctor.”
“He’s a genius.”
That’s right. So was Kai.
My words were out before I realized I was going to ask. “How do you do it? Handle everything, think the way you do? How do you… I think I’d go mad just trying.”
He rolled his head to face forward and lifted a shoulder. “I got it from my dad. I think the way he thought.”
Which was why Kai had moved first.
“He sent me to college early, like Jonah. I had the scores for it, but he assumed I was going back after Cord passed.” His mouth closed. His eyes grew hard.
He’d assumed wrong.
The unspoken said so much.
Knowing the monster their father had been, I found myself in a position I’d never experienced before. I was okay with what Kai had done. I was thankful for it.
“He would’ve killed you?”
Kai didn’t respond. But he rolled his head to look at me again, and I saw it there. He would’ve, and that sent a pang through my heart.
I don’t know what he saw in my eyes, but he reached over in response. I waited, suspended, as his finger tipped my head toward his and he leaned down. I reached up.
My decision faded, and our lips met.
Softly. Briefly.
A tingle.
It meant something.
He pulled back, and the flutters within me multiplied.
I turned back to the window. We didn’t speak the rest of the ride.
I touched a hand to my lips after a minute, still feeling his there. And those flutters just kept flying around.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
I still wasn’t clear on the plan.
I hadn’t thought Kai was serious when we pulled into a driveway, but he motioned for his men to fall back. Two started to protest, but he just turned his back, grabbing my hand. Threading our fingers, he tugged me after him.
My eyebrows raised. We’re doing this? On the flight, I’d decided we wouldn’t be again. Then we’d kissed…
He leaned in, dropping his voice low. “If anyone is watching, a couple is less imposing.”
Ah. Got it.
We were pretending. I could do pretending.
I bounced right into Raven’s cover and smiled brightly at him.
His eyes widened, and he fell back a step.
Raven wasn’t one to be deterred. I pushed up on my toes, placed my hands on his chest, and bounced up and down. “You know what they say.” Another dazzling smile.
Kai had fear now. Real fear.
“Be the inspiration for someone every day, and be the reason that person smiles.”
He cursed under his breath. “Your cover?”
“You bet!” I bounced back a step and gave him a thumbs-up. I pointed to the door. “Let’s turn someone’s frown upside down.”
I started off, almost at a march.
I knew I didn’t look like myself. With my smile in place, different clothes than when Brooke saw me last, and the sun going down, I was different. If Brooke was watching us come up, I hoped she wouldn’t recognize me. Kai, on the other hand…that was his problem to solve. I knew the pretending to be a couple was more for curious onlookers outside, but if Brooke really was scared for her life, she’d have cameras set up and some way to be alerted.
The second we’d pulled into this driveway, she would’ve known. Or she should have, if she’d fol
lowed my instructions.
Kai caught up with me, tucking my hand under his arm, and I leaned into him.
“She’s going to know it’s you, if she’s looking out,” I told him.
“You’re pretty convincing, though. I know you, and I’m having second thoughts on your identity.” His gaze studied me a moment. “You’re good at your job. You can change your perception by holding your head at a slightly odd angle, or having your hair parted on the wrong side. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? You change something on the inside and that emanates out, doesn’t it?”
I grew quiet. Yes. That was a thing—change how you feel inside and people sense it. They sense it without even realizing they do. I’ve used that trick for many disguises, but I decided to keep it light.
“Har, har.”
“I’m not joking.” He flashed a grin at me, but tightened his hold on my arm and headed for the back door.
I was still waiting for his diversion. Anything.
But he went right up to the back and opened the screen door.
I shot him a look. “For real?”
He raised his hand.
“You’re just going to—”
He knocked.
“—knock?”
Amusement flashed in his eyes as he stepped to the side, pulling me so I was front and center before the door.
“What if she has cameras?”
He let go of my arm and leaned against the wall. “This is my sister.” He could’ve yawned from the alarm that wasn’t in his tone. “If she’s here, we’re safe.”
As if on cue, I heard from inside, “Coming! Hold on.” Someone was running up some stairs.
“Kai!” I hissed under my breath.
He motioned to me. “You know what to do. Get her to open the door.” He shook his head. “This is going to be anticlimactic. I feel like I should apologize to you for this.”
“All of this—” I motioned between us. “—for a fucking knock on a door?”
He raised an eyebrow just as the person got to the other side of the door.
