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My brows dip. “I thought we already knew it had to do with a woman?”
“I suspected there was more to this to keep Ed punching back,” Kace says.
“And there is,” Blake replies. “Ed was mentoring Alexander and Alexander crossed him. He tried to push Ed out of the very deal Ed helped him get inside.”
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“I’m resourceful,” Blake says, “but that’s not all of the story. Ed didn’t lie down for Alexander. He made a financial move on a deal he knew Alexander needed to happen. The result hurt Ed, but he took the calculated loss to destroy Alexander. The problem for Ed is that Alexander had scooped Kace’s music, and survived. Now, they are financial equals.”
I glance at Kace. “Are they—”
“His financial equal?” Blake supplies before Kace can reply. “He’s too humble to reply, so I will. No. Kace has the resources to crush Alexander.”
In other words, Blake is here because Kace plans to crush Alexander. I’m suddenly crystal clear on how easily Kace agreed to me doing this today on my own, even after hearing I was going to Riptide.
I tangle my fingers with Kace’s again and shift in his direction. “Can I talk to you before I leave?”
Blake’s phone rings and he motions to the door. “I’ll wait in the foyer.” Smart man that he is, he doesn’t wait for a reply, nor does he waste any time getting lost.
I watch him, waiting until I’m sure he’s out of range before I face Kace, my hand on his chest. “What are you going to do when I’m gone today?”
His expression is impassive, but he doesn’t touch me, which to me speaks of withdrawal. “I told you. Work on the song.”
“What are you going to do about Alexander?”
“I’m still deciding.”
“Kace, before you act—”
“Aria,” he says, and now he touches me, his hands pressing to my waist as he steps into me. “Go see Gio. We only have a week and a half until we leave for Italy.”
My fingers curl on his chest. “Will you talk to me before you do anything?”
“Go see Gio. I’ll meet you at Riptide. I want to talk to Mark about Alexander, anyway.”
Relief washes over me for reasons I can’t quite explain. I think they’re about control, though he’s not agreed to talk to me about Alexander before he acts. Still, if he’s decided to join me at Riptide, he’s not shutting me out. Or he’s made me feel better about shutting me out. I’m not quite sure. “Then we’ll come home together,” he adds, in that soft raspy tone of his that always does delicious things to my nerve endings.
It’s an unfair play.
So are the words “come home together.”
To our home. There’s a pinch in my chest with those words and for just a moment, I forget Alexander. “I like that this is my home, Kace.”
His eyes soften and warm. “I like that your home is here, too. So, go do what you need to do so we can get home.”
I bundle up and Kace walks me downstairs, and to the backdoor of the Walker-driven SUV, where he kisses me goodbye. I climb up into the backseat and he shuts me inside. The door is then between us and I have this moment when I feel as if it represents a new wall, a barrier between us we cannot climb. Which is ridiculous. Kace and I are in love. We are closer than we have ever been to each other.
The vehicle begins to move and I’m left with Adrian behind the wheel and Adam in the passenger seat, who even sitting is clearly a really tall man with dark wavy hair and a polite manner. He greets me with that polite manner, after which, Adrian’s personality takes over. Apparently, Savage isn’t the instigator with him that I’d thought. Adrian does plenty of talking all on his own. “Ever been to Texas?” he asks, glancing back at me at a stoplight.
I open my mouth to say that my mother is from Texas but I quickly bite back the confession to speak a simple truth. “I’ve always wanted to visit.”
“The tequila and food are heaven, but be warned,” he says. “It’s packed with rednecks and cowboys.”
I bite because he wants me to bite, but I am actually smiling as I do. “And the difference between rednecks and cowboys?”
“Ingenuity. Rednecks do dumb shit but they get the job done.”
“And a cowboy?”
“Thinks he’s smarter,” he says, “but anyone who thinks he’s smarter, isn’t.”
“Are you a cowboy or a redneck?”
“He’s just a pain in the ass,” Adam says, giving me a wink. “But he saved my life once upon a time, so I put up with him.”
I laugh again, thankful for the distraction they offer right about now, and Adrian continues on as if Adam hasn’t spoken. “Did I mention the tacos in Texas?” he asks and then honks his horn and curses at someone.
“The sign says no honking,” Adam says.
“Only New Yorkers would put up a sign that says no honking,” he grumbles, before settling us in motion and eyeing me in the mirrors. “It’s also hot as hell in Texas.”
“It’s pretty hot here, too,” I point out, “but we do have seasons. And snow.” My mind flashes back to a rainy Christmas in Cremona, the Christmas before my father vanished. “In Cremona, it rained a lot, all the time it felt some weeks.”
It’s out before I can stop it, and my heart starts to race. I don’t talk about Italy or myself. I don’t know what just happened and I barely know these two men. Adam leans around the seat. “Relax, Aria. We know who you are. We’ve both done our share of high-risk overseas jobs with big paydays. Neither of us need money. Neither of us want what is yours. We’re just here to protect you and help you. That’s all. You can speak freely with us.”
Of course, anyone can say the right things, but I’ve not only chosen to trust Walker, I don’t even have the formula and they know it. “Years of conditioning,” I reply.
“I’m a former SEAL. Adrian’s a former undercover FBI agent. We both know a thing or two about hiding, and the utter damn joy of just being ourselves.”
“Amen to that,” Adrian adds, and I relax back into my seat because apparently, I’ve tensed up with my misspeak.
“Thank you both,” I say. “It’s been a long time hiding for me. My entire adult life.”
“And we’re here to help you keep hiding,” Adam says, “or stop hiding safely.”
Clearly Blake has told them everything, but there isn’t much time to think about that right now. Adrian pulls us up to the shop and my old home or rather, my old safe, familiar space. I am reminded of Kace telling me we will meet at Riptide and go home together. This place never felt like home. Kace does. He feels like home. He is home. It’s almost terrifying how much I need that man now, but I comfort myself with how much I believe he needs me, too. We need each other.
Adam is leaning around the seat to study me. “My gut is always to escort you to the door, but I know that’s not how we’re playing this. I’ll exit after you and be close to the door, but no one will know I’m with you. And we have a man watching the security camera in a vehicle a block down the road.”
“I’m not afraid of my brother.”
“If we’re watching him, someone else might be as well,” Adam replies.
And probably are, I think before I nod. “Right. I won’t be long.”
I exit the vehicle and hurry toward the door, where I key in my security code and waste no time opening the door. It’s ridiculous for me and Gio to be the opposite sides of any coin. Ever. “Gio!” I call out, entering the store, but there is only silence. “Gio!”
Still nothing.
Frowning, I hurry forward and make it three steps when I freeze. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up. Something is wrong. Seconds tick by and there is no movement. Suddenly I’m more afraid for Gio than I am myself. I start running forward, but I don’t call out. In my heart of hearts, my fear is that Gio is lying somewhere dead. I need to see him. I need him to be in bed asleep or in the shower.
I pass his empty office and dash up the stairs, fumbling in my purse for the key to open his apartment and do so without knocking. “Gio?!” I call out as I open the door, but a quick scan shows me nothing. I rush around the apartment, enter the bathroom, the closet, and come up empty. Gio isn’t here.
He has to be here.
Walker is watching the building.
I dash to my apartment and come up dry. I’m barely breathing as I run back down the stairs and enter his office, stepping behind his desk and sucking in a breath as I find a piece of paper that reads: Aria. The script belongs to Gio, and with my heart in my throat, I flip it over to read: I left. Your precious security team didn’t know. Still feel safe?
“He climbed out a window right as you punched in the security code.”
I glance up to find Adrian standing in the doorway, a skull on his snug black T-shirt.
“Where is he now?”
“We have a man following him.”
