by Nicole Snow
I know he can’t see me, but I shake my head. I don’t need to look at the Google app to know where I’m at.
And I don’t need to invite more disaster to Flint’s happy doorstep. No, I’m not telling him.
I just press a hand to my head, wishing I’d never called.
“Valerie, look. I’m sorry, I just don’t...amnesia? What the fuck? Then how do you even know who I am?”
For a second, I wonder why it took him so long to ask. He clearly believes someone has me, holding me hostage. I’m sure of it. But he’s never mentioned calling the police once.
“It’s not like you think. I only remember bits and pieces,” I say, refusing to give him more.
“Have you called Mother yet?”
“No. I was going to but—”
“Don’t call her!” he snaps. “She doesn’t know anything. Let’s keep it that way.”
“Neither do I!” I clamp my lips together, but it’s too late.
Crap. I shouldn’t have said it out loud. There goes whatever leverage I might have.
He’s breathing heavy, the rough draw of his breath rippling over the speaker.
I swallow, wishing so hard I’d never called him.
Heck, I won’t even blame Flint if he tries to take my phone away after this. I don’t even trust myself with it anymore.
Trouble is, I can’t just hang up. I don’t know what to do.
“Look at your map, Val. Just look. What does the app say?”
“I-I don’t—”
“You have to know! It’s a Google map, for fuck’s sake.” He swears several more times, and then says, “Fine. Just punch in Honolulu and tell me how far away you are.”
I stare at the screen like there’s a snake coiled up inside hankering to bite my face off. This can’t be happening.
If I can’t think of something to throw him off—and fast—this whole nightmare spins so far out of control I’ll never wake up.
8
Broken Wing (Flint)
I should be grateful that the truth is out.
That I no longer have to lie through my teeth, or ask Bryce to lie, too, pretending Val’s his stepmom, but somehow, it hasn’t made anything about this shit situation any easier.
She’d been comfortable before, thinking I was her man. Now, she’s just on edge. I could tell while we were down by the beach and hanging out in the kitchen. She’s unsure how to act.
That makes two of us.
Fuck.
“Your turn, Dad!” Bryce says, staring at the huge TV.
We’re in the home theater room I’d built for him and stocked with plenty of games.
Unable to sit still any longer, I hand him my controller. “You take my turn, son. You’re better at this than me.”
“You aren’t concentrating today. You keep getting caught. Is it her?” The kid isn’t stupid.
“Nah, nothing particular, kiddo,” I tell him. “Just my brain getting yanked around like a yo-yo. Too many distractions lately.”
I ruffle his hair as I stand up and walk to the window. Val was sitting in a lounge chair on the lanai a few minutes ago, last I saw her, but now she’s standing next to the brick wall, white-knuckling the phone to her ear.
Shit.
Cash questioned why I was giving her a phone, but it’s not like I’m trying to keep her under lock and key. I took the right precautions. Set up encryption, made sure no one can trace her even if she makes the wrong connection.
I’m trying to keep her safe. Alive.
That’s why I have my old crew watching the house, so no one even gets near the gate without it getting back to me first.
She’s shaking her head, then puts a hand to her forehead like she’s reeling.
My stomach flips as my instincts kick in. “Sit tight. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” Bryce says, already sucked into his game again.
I’m thankful for the diversion.
Speed walking to the door, I try to hold back the urgency for his sake, but I break into a quiet jog in the hall. I’m almost at a full run by the time I hit the lanai.
Val turns. The fear on her face has me running to her side. Tears are in her eyes as I snatch the phone out of her hand, just in time to hear a man’s voice, mid-explosion.
“Damn it, Valerie, I’m your brother! Stop farting around. Tell me how far away you are from Honolulu.”
Ray Gerard. The hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I shoot her a sharp look.
What the fuck just happened out here?
She looks at me, shame heavy in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she mouths.
“Val? Are you still there, or what?” her brother asks through the phone.
I hold it closer to her mouth and nod firmly.
This never should’ve happened, but since it did...I have an idea.
“I’m here,” she says into the phone.
“I said I’ll pick you up and bring you home, wherever you are,” Ray says. “Tell me what the app says.”
“I-I haven’t pulled it up. I’m having a hard time getting things to work,” she says, looking up at me with uncertainty filling her eyes.
I don’t want her having a damn thing to do with this guy, and consider hitting the end call button.
On the other hand, it could give me a better idea what’s going on.
If we can draw Gerard into the open, I can feel his scummy ass out and throw him off her trail.
“Damn it, Val, you aren’t that fucking stupid, amnesia or not! What’s your problem? I’m your only help right now, so you’d better be telling me the truth, and—”
I tap the mute button while he’s still roaring. “Tell him you’ll meet him at the Honu Wind coffee shop in Aiea.” I hit the button again to unmute the phone. Bastard’s still yelling.
It’s hard to resist the urge to tell this little idiot where he can stuff his tantrum.
“...No fucking cops,” he finishes.
Odd. Now I wish I’d paid more attention to what he’d said, but it’s too late.
I nod at her and whisper. “Go ahead. Tell him.”
“W-will you meet me at Honu Wind Coffee?” she asks.
Before she continues, he shouts, “Which one? There’s damn near a dozen or more all over the island.”
I nod at her again and mouth, “One hour.”
“The one in Aiea,” she says. “In an hour.”
“An hour? Where the hell are you?”
Enough. I stab the end button and grit my teeth as the phone chirps, disconnected, the screen flashing.
Then my eyes whip to her. Part of me wants to be angry, pissed that she threw away my trust at the first opportunity.
Too bad one look at Val does me in.
Those golden eyes are dull, drained, and small like they just had their light sucked out. Even her pretty dark hair seems less lively, a shade paler, flopping listlessly in the breeze. Her sun-kissed shoulders droop so low I grab her arm just to help her up, to stop her from fully collapsing.
She doesn’t go down, but bows her head, pressing a fluttering hand to her temple.
“I’m sorry, Flint. So sorry. I shouldn’t have been reckless, I shouldn’t have called. I just...” Shaking her head, she says, “I don’t even know. Call it a reaction. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I guide her around to the lanai, out of the sun. “It’s done, honey. No use bickering over it.”
She lets out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t want him to know where I was, where I am. I swear, I never would’ve brought him to your house. But I had to know if...if he was as bad as the dream. If my own flipping brother can’t be trusted. Well, I got my answer.”
“I get it,” I say, leading her to a chair. “Sit down for a minute.”
She sits and wipes the tears off her cheeks. “I recognized his face when his picture came up on my Facebook list. I clicked it, saw King Heron Fishing, and called the number without thinking. His receptionist rerouted me. As soon as I heard his v
oice, I wished I hadn’t. I knew I screwed up.” She pinches her lips together, shaking her head again. “I could tell he was mad. Just furious.”
Her eyes are somber, sad, as she looks up at me.
“Mad at me for...for being alive.”
Fucking sicko, I think.
It guts me to hear her say that shit. It also makes my fists very, very anxious to meet Ray Gerard’s pompous face.
Kneeling down, I take her hand, reassuring her with my grip where words won’t do.
I consider saying he wouldn’t be pissed at her for that, nobody in their right mind would, but I know the bitter truth. People are mad she’s not in a watery grave.
Shaking her head, she whispers, “I don’t want to see him, Flint.”
“Then you don’t have to. I said Aiea because you can get there in an hour from most anywhere on the island.” I set the phone on the chair next to her. “He can’t trace the call. He can’t come here without an exact address. That phone’s ironclad.”
“It is? You’re totally sure?”
“Yeah.” I stand up.
She grabs my hand. “You’re going, aren’t you? To the coffee shop.”
I nod. “I have to feel him out, babe. We’ve played defense too long. Need to see if he’s alone, or if he’s got backup. It ends if we get a good idea what we’re truly dealing with.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“Bull. You already said you don’t want to see him.”
“I don’t, but I have to.” She stands up. “I have to know what’s going on.”
I mull it over. The place isn’t far from the beach; I’ve been there a few times.
Honu Wind is popular, always crowded, so nothing traumatic can happen in broad daylight. Cornaro’s men only make their moves in the shadows, and Ray Gerard would be insane to operate any differently.
I’m also impressed with her backbone. She’s been through pure hell, yet keeps on trucking.
“Fine, you’ll come with. It’s evening, plenty of daylight left, and there’ll be tons of people around. He’ll never see us. Hell, we can even bring Bryce just to throw them off more. They’re looking for a lone wolf, not a woman out and about with her family.”
She goes quiet and flushes bright pink. “That’s sweet, but I mean, you’re not really my—”
“They don’t know that. It’s cover. You take some basic precautions, they’ll never tell you apart from any lady out with her man and kid.” I tell her. “But you do as I say, Val. Deal?”
“Absolutely.”
Nodding, my thoughts turn to my boy. If I wasn’t a hundred percent sure of this, I wouldn’t take him with.
Keeping him with us feels like the safer bet. Even though the house is secure, under full surveillance, I’m uncomfortable leaving Bryce home alone.
The place where his little buddy Louie lives down the street wouldn’t be as solid as home. Cash is tied up with his own business, and with Ma out of town, already in Maui, there’s not another option.
He’s safer in broad daylight with his old man, where the assholes after Val wouldn’t dare make a move.
Valerie stops in front of me as soon as we step inside the house. “Do you have a hat?”
“A hat?”
“One that I can wear. If I throw it on with some shades and we’re in your car, our chances of anybody noticing me go way down. I don’t want Ray to recognize me.”
Nice. I’d planned to get her in some kind of disguise, but she’s already ahead of me.
“I’ve got one. Nothing much to look at, but it’ll do the trick. And I have an old pair of sunglasses around here too.”
I grab a baseball cap, sunglasses, and one of my button-up shirts for her and then holler upstairs to tell Bryce we’re leaving soon.
“Where are we going?” he asks, running down the steps.
“Just out for a drive. Maybe we’ll swing by and pick something up for dinner.”
“Cool!” He jumps off the bottom step. So does the cat. “Can Savanny come with us?”
“No,” both Valerie and I say at the same time.
The cat would be a dead giveaway, and even if it’s damn near becoming closer than his own shadow, I’m not ready to take a half-wild feline on joyrides.
“Okay.” Bryce scratches the beast’s head. “Sorry, Savanny. I’ll see you later, dude.”
Then he runs to the garage door I’m holding open for him.
I wait for Val to walk through first, then pull the door shut and walk around the truck, noting how cute she looks with a hat on.
What the hell?
Adorable or not, someone’s trying to kill her. That’s the only reason I’m doing this. Once this King Heron crap gets settled, odds are I’ll never see her again.
She’s not my wife. She’s not my girl. She shouldn’t even be my eye candy.
As I start the engine, I make a silent vow.
I’ll keep denying every last hard-on this chick gives me.
Part of keeping her safe from the Cornaro Outfit and her own fucked up brother means saving her from my stupidity.
My chatterbox son cuts through the tension, telling Val about the video game he was playing as we drive.
She keeps the conversation going, laughing at how many times he beat me today. The kid enjoys that. Besides my ma, and Cash every so often, he doesn’t have a ton of adult interaction without counting his teachers at school.
I rarely feel guilty over it, and I’m too distracted to dwell on it now. But I’m happy as hell to see him making a connection with someone new.
Pulling my mind back to the task at hand, I pinch my jaw shut.
Ray Gerard must be balls deep in the Cornaro Outfit. There’d been panic in his voice; the guy was almost screeching, demanding to know where Val was immediately. Like he had a God-given right to know, and not as a concerned brother.
More like a selfish pig talking like he owned his little sister.
Asshole. That bastard must be so shady he can’t cast a shadow.
“Bryce, how about you pull out your Switch and play a couple rounds? Use your headphones, please,” I say.
He goes quiet and gives me a knowing smile. The boy rarely puts up a fight when he senses I need a little privacy.
“Will do. Thanks, Dad. It’s in the middle console,” he says.
I reach over to open the compartment.
“I’ll get it for him,” Val says, lifting the lid. She pulls out the game as well as the earbuds and passes them back to Bryce.
“Thanks. Dad keeps this in the truck for when the drive gets boring,” Bryce says.
“Like now. Nothing but overgrown hills and touristy traffic this time of day,” I say. “We’re going to Aiea.”
“Blah,” he says. “You hate city driving. Why are we going to Aiea again?”
“Looking for someone,” I answer. “Leave that to us.”
“Oh, wow! So you’re going into action?” he asks, then looks at Valerie. “Dad’s like half cop and half ninja when he goes into action. It’s so cool.”
“No, son, nothing too crazy. Should be so boring we’ll be done by the time you look up from your game,” I tell him, hoping like hell that’s true.
No good reason it should go down any differently.
He’s just an excitable kid. I shouldn’t stress. Guess I hate even reminding him this shit was once the beating heart of my life in the SEALs, and then with Damysus Security.
He’d been with me one time, when I’d had to apprehend a man several years ago.
It was a smaller job, this wealthy, deadbeat asshole who owed the state and his kids’ mama six figures in back child support. He owed so much they hired my crew to bring him down, only to find out the fuck was tooling around downtown Honolulu in his shiny new convertible, a platinum blonde babe at his side, and shades on both of them that cost at least fifteen hundred bucks.
Cash couldn’t believe I just ran into him on the street after taking Bryce out for Pho and wings at this a
wesome-ass Vietnamese place. Daddy Warbucks barely struggled as I slammed him against the hood of his car and made a licensed arrest right there, then waited for the cops to show.
But Bryce saw everything. I think he spent the next week yammering my ear off. He still talks about it to this day.
Another reason I left the security game. It wasn’t the type of business where I could do ‘take your kid to work day.’
After the arrest, I swore I’d never suck him into this crap again. It’s too dangerous.
Yet, here I am, going on a goddamn stakeout with him in the back seat and Valerie in the front.
Have I lost my mind?
No, Cash talked me into this. Goaded me into it by telling me how bored I’d been lately. Lost my mind the second he showed up on my doorstep holding a pretty dove with a broken wing.
Fuck. So much for boredom now. It vanished the very second we carried Valerie into my bed.
“Is this like...a stealth job, Dad?” Bryce asks.
“Close enough,” I answer. “Now turn on your game, boy.”
“Okay, okay!”
I resist the urge to shake my head. I do trust him to keep quiet, even though I’m ninety percent sure he’ll only have one bud hanging loose.
But none of us are going into this alone.
There’s no real danger.
I’d sent a couple texts to my people on the crack team I’d pulled together. They’ll have our backs before there’s even a whiff of trouble. Any Cornaro boys who show up with Ray will flee like the pissant coward roaches they are at the prospect of being seen in broad daylight.
“Hey, Flint?” Valerie says quietly. “I’m still sorry, you know. For dragging you into this, let alone Bryce.” She sighs. “I’m even sorrier that I still don’t know what this even is.”
“Don’t worry, babe. I’ve got it. We’ll sort it out, and Bryce is a smart kid. He won’t be in any danger, and neither will you. Wouldn’t have brought anyone along for the ride if there was any risk.”
Val smiles then. All soft, sure, heart-shaped pink lips and eyes like mellow gold. She reaches up and flicks a loose strand of that silky dark hair back behind her ear, and suddenly I think I’ve found the real danger here. It was always hiding in plain sight.
