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They go quiet again.
“That’s a complication,” Jacobi says.
“You didn’t tell her either,” Kase says flatly.
“Tell her what? She left the guy. All it would’ve done was terrify her.” But my silence might’ve made it easier for Roman to get to her. I’m as guilty of underestimating her as everyone else in her life. “I fucked up. We need to find her.”
Jacobi taps on a computer screen. “I’ll start sifting through his records, see what I can get into and what I find. You two figure out her retrieval.”
This I can do. Action. Regret would eat me alive, but I can plan her rescue. “She might be at the house, but he has to know I’ve gotten away by now. He might try to move her.”
Understanding lights Kase’s dark-brown eyes. “He’ll be worried you’re going to rescue her.”
Roman’s not a spontaneous guy. He’s going to be careful, and he’ll err on the side of looking like an overly cautious husband. “I need a ride to my place. Then I’m going after her.”
Jacobi sits forward like he’s going to block the door. “Not by yourself, man.”
“I’ve got this. No offense, Jake, but you don’t have the skills to break and enter a house.” Electronics, yes. A building, no. I refuse to get my buddies in trouble.
“I have skills that can help. You’ll need me to get past the type of security a man like Roman has for his house.”
Kase presses his fingertips together. “No offense, Cannon, but I might be a little more experienced in this than you, so quit fucking trying to do this alone.”
I am trying to do it alone again, and it’s going to put Penelope in more danger. So, yeah. I need help.
I don’t think Kase has permanently fixed people like I’m sure his parents have, but he’s probably done his share of B and E to get the same effect.
His skills are exactly what I need. And since Roman likely has access to technology that would make me look like a toddler banging a spoon on a kettle in a restaurant-grade kitchen, I need Jacobi too. “Has London been to her place before?”
“I’ll ask her,” Jacobi says. He might be more relieved I’m not arguing about telling his wife what’s going on. “I’m not going to save Penelope just because she’s a friend of London’s. She’s become a friend of mine. I thought you were helping me out, but this is personal. Why?”
“She needs help.”
“You didn’t know that when you first started looking into her. You only knew her as a friend of my wife. You don’t get invested in anyone. Why Penelope?”
Isn’t that a good fucking question? If Jacobi knew about me, he’d realize I couldn’t not be intrigued by someone like her. “I thought she was another user like my mom.”
Jacobi scoffs. “You only need to be around Penni for two minutes before you realize she’s not a user.”
“Some are good at the facade though.” My mom was the best. She probably still is. “She didn’t go around telling everyone she’s married.”
“Because she was planning a divorce,” Jacobi points out like I didn’t know the second Penelope filed the papers.
“She doesn’t wear a ring—”
“It interferes with dancing. Can’t have five carats cutting into her students’ hands.”
I roll my eyes. “All I’m saying is that I had reason to be concerned.” Then I grew more concerned for her. And I don’t know why I can’t tell my friends I slept with her, but I’ve always kept my private life private.
The other two men narrow their eyes on me. My arguments seem weak. “I realized she’s less like my mom and a lot more like the girls I grew up with.” Especially Karina. “They, uh, they trusted the wrong people.” That’s all I can bring myself to say.
After a few moments of silence, Kase spreads his hands. “Look. We’ve got your back, regardless. Penni’s a friend of London’s; therefore, she’s a friend of ours. But it’s clear there’s more going on in your head about her than you’re telling us. And that’s a weakness for all of us. We have to be on the same page once we start.”
There is more going on. Penelope’s the only thing in seventeen years that’s connected me to my past. But that part of my past isn’t going to be what saves her. “I’m not hiding anything that’ll compromise the mission. I can promise you that.”
It’s got to be enough for them. I’m not dredging up old memories while Roman has free access to Penelope because of me.
Jacobi cracks his knuckles. “Let’s get to work, then.”
