by C. L. Stone
Ethan’s mouth opened, and his face froze. I don’t think he was used to people telling him what to do. Corey looked to the ground. Avery stared blankly at the table. Silence filled the room. Questions lingered in the air. How? Where did we even start?
This was beyond what Ethan and Avery might have been prepared to handle when they’d started looking into the secret accounts. They weren’t detectives, trained to investigate attempted murder.
“You’ve gathered lots of information already,” I said to Ethan, trying to show some sympathy. “It would take weeks to go over, and we’d need much longer than a week to complete that part.”
He bowed his head. “Please. The money that’s missing can wait. It’s probably not going anywhere. Your life…our lives, we’re all at risk. I knew at the start that at some point, I might have to call in the police. I was just hoping to avoid it, to avoid any scandal, because that can crumble companies. We must have been on the right track if someone wanted two people on our team dead, but it’s not worth risking your lives.”
I knew it. Before, I had been kidnapped by his father’s goons, and Ethan had gone through a lot of police interviews because of it. I suddenly realized that any additional black mark on his name would make things terrible for him and the companies he worked with.
No wonder he needed people to help him in secret, if at all possible.
“We’ll need to be more careful,” I said.
Axel distracted me with his steady gaze, which never left my face. It made me self-conscious, and I touched a lock of hair, still stuck to my face, crusty with sand. “I wanted to speak to you sooner, and I’m sorry it took so long. But I agreed with Blake that we…needed to clear everyone one at a time and…we started with you. Just to make sure.”
He held up his hand, silencing me. “I’d do the same,” he said.
“I didn’t think you would. But…”
“It’s just as well you checked,” he said. “I would have wanted you to eliminate any doubt. However…” He paused, then looked at Ethan. “Corey and I have been working all night at doing the same.”
My eyes widened, and when I looked at Corey, he glared at the windows, his fists against his thighs.
Axel continued, “I have to admit, there’s one member of my team that wasn’t accounted for during the time you and Blake went over.” He followed my gaze to Corey and a sliver of a frown appeared.
“Raven hasn’t checked in, and we can’t fully account for his whereabouts, not even now.”
The moment he said his name, I pictured Raven, his brown eyes, the tattoos, including ones on his lower regions. He was strong, and smart…and came from a background of violence. He’d been in prison and had even told me a little bit about it.
Still, I’d been around Raven long enough to feel like if he were going to kill me, I’d know. He wouldn’t do it in the dark, secretly.
“Well, he…wouldn’t…”
Axel’s dark eyes turned on me, another storm brewing. “Every time we’ve spotted him on camera, we’ve tried to corner him, but he disappears. I think he still has an earpiece. I’ve threatened to throw him in the brig if he doesn’t respond, but that isn’t working. We can’t go running around the ship trying to hunt him down without the ship’s security noticing, or making guests supicious. Right now, he looks guilty as hell, and I’d rather not get security in on this right now.”
I sighed, then slid over to lean against the conference table, folding my arms across my chest. “Something must have happened,” I said. “Is he in trouble?”
“I wondered about that. We tried to communicate to him via secret messages that we need to verify where he is, even if he’s trying to remain undercover, but no luck.”
“That doesn’t mean he did it,” I said.
“He’s always been a loose cannon, Kayli,” Axel said. “You don’t understand him like I do. Actually, no one really does. He grew up in Russia and had a harsh upbringing, and has his own set of ideals and his own moral instincts that work differently than ours.”
“Corey knows him,” I said and leaned against the table to look at Corey, but he was still staring out the window. “Say something.”
He didn’t, and he refused to lift his head. He moved his fists behind his back, the muscles of his arms and shoulders still bulging; he was holding back.
Axel slowly bowed his head. “I’m afraid even Corey can’t get him to talk to us right now.”
That was why Corey was so upset. It was why he was angry with me—his anger was misdirected. Or maybe it wasn’t, since I was accusing Raven as well. They were close friends. I remembered several moments when the three of us had been together, and it was always nice to see them interact. Raven was kind to Corey. He would do anything for him. I imagined they’d been through a lot together.
“I don’t think he threw anyone overboard,” Axel said, “but we need to prove it. And we need to find out who tried to kill you and Blake. Raven might even have the answer. We just need to talk to him.”
“He must be working on something,” Corey said, his voice gravelly. He slowly lifted his head, and there was a painful glint in his gaze. “You know he’d be up here talking to us if he could. He would never throw her over. He would never risk her life.”
“Maybe not hers, but what about Blake?” Axel asked. “They aren’t exactly friends.”
I gripped the table I was leaning against, then looked at Corey, silently asking him if Raven would ever do such a thing. I didn’t believe it.
Last night, I’d told them all I couldn’t chose, but I hadn’t had time to get their reactions. Would he have blamed it on Blake?
Corey pressed his lips together, staring at Axel but not answering. Axel glared back. They’d clearly been at this for a while.
“You said not me, but maybe Blake?” I asked delicately, wanting to ease the tension. “You don’t think it was the same person who threw us both over?”
Axel broke his stare with Corey and focused on me. “It could have been. I still don’t need Raven out there on his own, not responding.”
“You should trust him,” Corey said. “He’s on our side.”
“We need more than trust right now,” Axel said. He put both palms on the table, holding himself straight-armed as he leaned forward to look at Corey. “If we’re in danger, and he’s holding back, he’ll be going to jail, too.”
“Where was the last time you saw Raven?” I asked. “I mean when exactly?”
Axel grunted and then pushed himself off the table. “He was last seen with Sam, the German guy that was acting so odd around the spa. You told him to make friends, and he went in.”
“There must be something going on down there,” Corey said.
Ethan sighed and shifted a chair so he could scoot closer to the door. I was suddenly embarrassed around him, thinking he might have heard the motives Raven might have had to throw me or Blake over. I wondered how much he knew of what had happened last night between me and Axel and the others.
Ethan touched his forehead, rubbing the lines over his brow. “Well, then, we better learn what Raven knows, right? Is there anything I can do?”
“We also need to finish the head count,” Avery said to him, heading toward the door and to stand next to him. “And we need to analyze where our other suspects were, and find who is behind it. Finding who did it would prove Raven innocent, no matter if he chooses to talk to us or not. But, Kayli…”
I met his gaze, and he had a small smile on his lips.
“We need to keep you hidden, and you need to rest.”
“I agree,” Ethan said and turned to me. “Corey can take you somewhere safe. Is that all right?”
“I’ll take her,” Axel said, his stare again not leaving me.
“I really don’t want to be asleep when we’ve got so much to do,” I said, but with being so hungry and tired, my body sore and still crusted with sand, I was sure I wouldn’t last an hour. It ju
st really bugged me knowing I’d be sleeping when Raven might need our help. I couldn’t imagine what was keeping him away.
“Soon,” Axel said. “You can’t help if you don’t sleep. That’s a team rule.”
I could sleep for years. I worried about that, too. Sleeping made me vulnerable, and I was tired of feeling defenseless.
Corey coughed once and rubbed at his neck with a palm as he spoke to Axel. “If you’ll take her, I need to go with Avery and look for Raven. If I can find him…”
“Find him,” Axel said. “Take Ethan to a safe location and make sure someone stays with him.”
“And everyone else stays together,” Avery said. “In pairs at the least.”
Axel nodded. “You’re getting the hang of this.”
Avery beamed.
I met Corey’s eyes, and for the first time, I felt the anxiety he must have been feeling since I came back on board. He shared my expression of concern and worry.
We had to find the bear before something bad happened to him.
Blackmail Bait
It bugged me that Colt Baker had directly asked Axel where I was. However, it made me realize he thought I was still on the ship, so he probably wasn’t the one who had thrown me overboard.
Corey, Ethan, and Avery left together ahead of us. Axel and I stayed in the conference room by the door, waiting a few minutes before exiting.
While waiting, I told Axel my opinion about Colt.
“He’s been asking about you all night,” he said.
He had his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the corner of the conference table. He gazed at his shoes. “It was subtle until now. That’s the boldest he’s been just now, admitting he’d been by the room. I can’t decide if he’s got a crush on you or if this is something else.”
“A crush?” I asked. “He knows you as my boyfriend…or fiancé or something?” It felt like a million years had passed and already I had forgotten some details about my former alias as Kitty Lane.
“So far, around him, I look like the boyfriend who doesn’t give a damn about you.” Axel lifted his head, looking at my face. “He doesn’t know how wrong he is, but I let him think so.”
My heart leaped and started beating faster. I returned his determined stare, and I picked my words carefully. “I might have been nice to him, but I don’t think I gave him any indication I was interested.”
“I know,” he said, his dark eyes never wavering. He fell silent.
Heat rose through my neck and face. My attention drifted toward the slightest movement of skin in his neck: his pulse, a vein near the surface. It seemed as if it matched my own rapid heartbeats.
I wanted to say more, something, anything, but my brain was in panic mode over being back, and over the fact that we were about to run out into a hallway where danger was literally lurking around the corner.
I focused on Colt, deliberately changing the subject. “He’s dead set on finding his cell phone and my tablet before getting off the boat. He asked security repeatedly for updates before I left. Maybe he’s just really interested in finding his phone. Maybe we should give it to him.”
“We’ll give it back,” he said, “once we’ve duplicated it. Maybe then he’ll get off my back.”
It still bugged me that he was looking for me specifically. I wasn’t security. He hadn’t wanted to be on this boat in the first place, and when I’d stolen his phone, he stayed anyway. Whatever he might have thought of Kitty Lane, she was technically “dead” at this point. We wanted any suspects to assume she was, and we can check suspects for any reaction when possible. She would have disappeared after this trip, anyway.
Axel waited with me, listening to an earpiece. When we were cleared to leave the conference room, Axel led the way. I put the hoodie back on, covering my face. Axel couldn’t hold my hand, just in case we ran into people, so I just stayed as close as possible. I pretended I was just walking near, but not with him.
It had been determined by Avery that the safest place for me at the moment was with Fancy in her suite.
Fancy used to be known as Future when I’d first met her, when she’d worked for a bond office in Florida. Technically she was a he with surgically enhanced boobs, but she didn’t mind swinging around her danger noodle if the event called for it…or if she thought she’d shock someone for fun. She dressed more scantily than I would ever dare and wore more makeup and jewelry at a time than I’d ever owned in my life.
She could also be very scary and loud and carried a big gun.
Despite my feeble protests, I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed sleep and her suite was on a quiet floor and was the most likely place where I wouldn’t be disturbed and would be safe under Fancy’s watch.
We couldn’t risk my going back to the cabin I’d been sharing with the guys in case anyone went looking for Kitty.
We skirted around back hallways until we got to an elevator that would take us very close to Fancy’s suite. Once we were inside, Axel selected the right floor. I leaned against the wall, trying not to fall asleep where I stood.
“I’ve been trying to reach Fancy,” Axel said as the doors closed. “Or Doyle has. I think she hears us, but she’s preoccupied with flirting with someone.”
“Right now?” I asked. “What time is it?”
Axel took out a cell phone and turned it on. His expression was stoic. “Actually,” he said, “I don’t know, but I do know it isn’t five p.m.”
I leaned over to see the screen of his cell phone. It said five. “Did you break it?”
“No.” He tapped a few buttons. “But it’s looking out for cell tower signals to determine the time.”
“So?”
“So it’ll pick up cell towers on ships if we’re too far from shore. We might have passed a ship from Europe or somewhere else and it’s telling my phone it’s five in the afternoon.” He sighed and then tucked it into his pocket. “I’ll have to fix it later, or get Corey to help me with it.” He put it away, and then looked at the elevator lights and then to me. “How are you?”
“I’m worried about Corey,” I said. “And Raven, too. Corey seemed upset when I said we needed to get proof of where everyone was. I didn’t know about Raven.”
“Corey’s known Raven longer than anyone else,” Axel said. “I can’t control Raven; Corey’s usually the only one who can keep him in line. If anyone can pull Raven back, it’s him.” He sighed and relaxed his shoulders. “We’re all tired and stressed. If we manage to get off this boat in one piece, that’ll be enough for me.”
“You don’t think we’ll find out who is behind me and Blake going overboard?”
“We only have a few days to see. If all we do is prove Raven innocent, we can wait for the rest, as far as I’m concerned.” He shook his head and sighed. “Kayli. Seriously. Are you hurt at all?”
I reached up to my head, tenderly checking it. “I bumped my head a little earlier and I’ve got a splitting headache.”
Axel reached out gingerly for my face. “Should I check it for you?”
I let him take my head in his hands. His palms cupped my cheeks, and he gently urged me to tilt my head so he could scan my scalp.
My tongue locked up against the roof of my mouth. My cheeks warmed under his touch. As he held me, his thumbs massaged my skin. My heart raced, and I wished my head would stop stinging.
I wished I could read his thoughts, too. Did he still care about me like before?
Would he once he learned what I’d done with Blake?
“I don’t see anything,” he said. His hands smoothed down my neck. He massaged my shoulders as he looked at my face. “I can’t see much with the way your hair is. I don’t want to go trying to find where you bumped it if it hurts.”
Axel’s touch was more than soothing; it was welcoming. It made me even more nervous to tell him anything. “I just banged it a little,” I said. “On the boat coming back here. It probably feels worse
than it is. It’s fine.”
“There’s no blood, as far as I can tell.” He held my shoulders. “I’m sorry. And I’m sorry about Raven. I want to believe he’s doing something undercover. We should trust our team members, but none of us are saints, either.” His face was strained, his lips scrunched up tight.
I sighed. To reassure him, I reached for his face to place a palm against his cheek. He was caught between friends, and it wasn’t fair. He was defending Raven, helping me, and at the same time, trying desperately to protect the rest of his team. My heart melted, knowing he must be exhausted trying to keep everything together.
“I’m fine,” I said in a calm voice. He had so much to worry about, and I wanted him to relax about me. “Really. Just a little tired. I have a headache. I’d like to shower and go to sleep. And then we need to find who threw me overboard and kick their butt.”
His tense face still seemed troubled. “Kayli,” he whispered. “I wasn’t sure you’d come back. Not just to the ship, but even after I heard you were alive, I wasn’t sure I’d see you again.”
My eyes widened. “Why wouldn’t I come back?”
The ding of the elevator sounded as we reached our floor and a second later, the doors opened.
The floor was empty, and we got out, but he paused just outside the elevator doors. The hallway had much nicer decor, fancy sconces, and an intricate blue-and-beige pattern in the woven carpet.
Axel turned back to me. His hands returned to my shoulders, and he held me like that for several long moments. I wondered if he remembered what I’d asked.
His hands on my shoulders were firm, and it felt good to be held by him. I quietly admired his collarbone under the open shirt. His hair was pulled back and showed off his Native features and dark complexion. Those brown eyes seemed to soak me in, from forehead to feet.
Finally, he pulled away and said, “After arguing with the others, and the stress you must have been under, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to stay away.”
