Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
The SUV’s engine screamed as Jaz took another curve too fast, tires squealing against asphalt.
Kenzie gripped the door handle, her stomach lurching with each swerve through the narrow streets.
She’d never seen Jaz like this before—his mask completely gone, replaced by raw fear that etched deep lines around his mouth.
They’d been leaving her apartment, and then shouts, running. If not for that pickup that had nearly hit them, they might’ve been shot. But they hadn’t been. They’d escaped.
By the way Jaz drove, he must fear someone was following.
She twisted and looked behind them, seeing nobody on their tail. “I’m confused. What happened—?”
“Not now,” he snapped, then immediately grimaced. “Sorry. Just…be quiet.”
His jaw was clenched tightly, a muscle jumping beneath his skin, sweat beading along his hairline.
The terror radiating from him was contagious. This was the man who’d blown up a yacht, who’d thought fast enough that morning to show Magras’s guards exactly what they’d expect to see. This was a man who’d been working as an informant for years.
What had him so spooked?
His phone buzzed. Jaz snatched it up, glancing at the screen. “Martinez,” he answered, his voice tight.
Kenzie couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but she watched Jaz’s face drain of color, becoming ashen beneath his tan. “How bad? Where are they—?” He paused to listen. Then, “Was anyone else—? Right. Keep me updated.”
He ended the call and dropped the phone back into the console.
Kenzie dreaded whatever news he’d just gotten.
“Laguerre was hit.” The words fell like stones between them.
“What?” Her mind struggled to process that. “Hit by a car?”
“Shot. He was driving the truck.”
The truck that had almost run them down? “That was Laguerre?”
Jaz shot her a quick, incredulous glance. “You didn’t see—?”
“No, I—it happened so fast.” She hadn’t gotten a clear look at the driver. She’d been too focused on not getting run over. “Is he—is he…?” She couldn’t voice the question.
“He’s alive.” Jaz’s voice was controlled, and she guessed he was barely holding himself together. “They’re taking him to the hospital.”
“The guards who were watching my place?” she asked. “Were they arrested?”
“They scattered after the shooting.” Jaz fell silent, his focus on the road, but something shifted. His fear was still there, but now it was laced with another emotion. Anger, she guessed.
“What happened?” she pressed. “I thought everything was going according to plan.”
“According to plan?” He nearly spat the words. “My friend was shot. Martinez thinks…” He glanced at her. “Someone betrayed us.”
Martinez. The man on the boat, one of her rescuers. He’d glared at her for most of the trip back to St. Barts.
He blamed her, and Jaz was letting Martinez’s doubts poison him.
“I didn’t—“
“Don’t. Just don’t.”
Don’t defend herself? Don’t state the obvious, that she’d been in as much danger as he had? That she’d put herself in danger to get him the paperwork he needed?
She tamped down all those words. Jaz was worried for his friend. She’d give him time to think logically.
When he parked outside the garage near his safe house, she reached for the new phone in the glove box.
He snatched it out of her hand, powered it on, and started searching it.
The invasion of privacy stung, but she didn’t argue. She hadn’t even had time to add a password.
After a few moments, he handed it back.
“I didn’t connect it,” she said quietly.
He nodded once, pocketing his own phone and climbing out of the SUV.
The silence between them was more suffocating than the heat of the afternoon as they walked to the cabin. Each step felt weighted, like trudging through wet sand.
Inside, he went straight to the bedroom and slammed the door.
Kenzie stood in the middle of the small living area, shaken.
She prayed for Laguerre, the kind, gentle man who’d worked so hard to keep them safe. He’d been shot because of them. Heal him, Father. Protect him. Thank You for protecting us.
The plan had been Laguerre’s and Jaz’s. She’d just been along for the ride, so why would Martinez blame her?
And why would Jaz entertain the idea that she’d betrayed them?
She thought back to those moments after they’d climbed out her window. They’d been walking away. Everything had gone smoothly. And then…
She’d heard a ding, a text.
The guard had shouted, but who’d texted him?
Had they been betrayed? If Martinez was accusing her, then maybe he was the betrayer.
Ugh. Now she was doing it, pointing fingers with no more evidence than her own distaste for a person.
Lord, what is going on? What am I supposed to do?
The prayer was barely out before Jaz’s bedroom door opened. He’d changed clothes, no longer the eager tourist in the fishing hat. Also, not the playboy or the mercenary. He wore jeans and a T-shirt, no hat, no glasses, no persona at all.
For a moment, Kenzie thought he might apologize for his suspicion, but he said nothing.
“I’m sorry about Laguerre,” she said. “He seems like a really good guy.”
His expression hardened as if she’d issued a threat.
“What?” She was losing her patience. “What did I do to earn your suspicion? All I’ve done is try to help.”
“My friend, who was there because of me, protecting you—”
“Protecting us.”
“—could be dying, so maybe give me a break for doing my job.”
“Your job is to accuse me when I’ve done nothing wrong?”
“So you say.”
“How would I have done it? I had no phone, no connections. I don’t have any idea what’s going on, only what you’ve told me.
” Her voice shook with fury and frustration.
“I’m not a drug smuggler. This is not my life, pretending to be someone I’m not, doing things I’d never do.
When this is over, I have to go back to being Kenzie Wright.
I have to take all of this with me. I’m not like you. ”
“You don’t think I take this with me?” He was shouting now. “You think I just, what, shake it off?”
“Yeah, like you shake off your disguises. Like you shook off your family. Like you dumped your daughter.”
His face turned a dangerous shade of red. He crossed the room so fast she barely had time to react.
She backed up until she hit the wall.
He didn’t stop until he was inches from her, so close she could feel the heat. “What did you just say?” His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper, his face inches from hers.
Kenzie’s heart hammered. She’d gone too far. The words had tumbled out in her fear and frustration, and now his eyes blazed with fury. His breath came in short bursts, hot against her face.
“I—” She swallowed, tried to find words to explain. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“Who are you?” He pressed his hands against the wall on both sides of her, boxing her in. His gray eyes were storm clouds, dark and flashing with electricity. “Who told you about my daughter? Who did you tell?”
She tried to make herself small, so small she could scurry away. A thousand memories flooded her. A man’s hand around her throat, another set of eyes burning with emotion.
The room felt airless, closing in on her. She sucked in a breath, praying desperately. This wasn’t that. Please, don’t let this be that.
She forced the air from her lungs, pulled in another breath.
“Tell me!” Jaz’s voice came from the other end of a long tunnel.
She took another breath and pushed it out. Focus. Think.
I’m on St. Barts with Jasper Aylett.
He’s angry and confused and worried about his friend. He’s not…he’s not going to hurt me.
After a few more breaths, the world clicked back into place. “Back off.” She put steel in her voice. “Now.”
He blinked and stepped back, but only a little. He remained coiled like a spring.
“I met Charlotte a few months ago.” She kept the words steady, refusing the panic that was trying so hard to take over.
“What?” Jaz looked utterly baffled. “How?”
“Delaney introduced Charlotte and Noah to our family at Christmas.” She waited for some recognition on his face, but he wasn’t putting the pieces together. “Jaz, Charlotte’s nanny, Noah’s girlfriend, Delaney. She’s my sister.”