Chapter 24 #2
“You think you have the right to know everything I do?”
“In this case, when people are trying to find us and kill us? Yeah, I do.”
“I didn’t…I didn’t think of it that way.” He took a breath. “I was just trying to protect you.”
“By shutting me out? By making me dependent on you but never letting me in?”
“That’s not what—”
“It’s what you’ve been doing all along. And it’s not protection, Jasper. It’s control. I won’t have it.”
“If I’d told you what I was doing, you’d have either tried to talk me out of it or insisted on going with me.”
“That would’ve been so bad?”
“Yeah. Because we could’ve gotten caught.”
So instead, he’d left her alone without even a note?
He waved toward her as if to brush off her argument.
“I know, I know. If I’d gotten caught, then you wouldn’t have known what happened.
I get it. I didn’t think I’d get caught.
I thought I had a better shot of getting in and out alone.
It’s not because I don’t trust you. It’s because…
” He exhaled a long breath. “It never occurred to me to tell you. I’ve spent five years doing this by myself.
I don’t know how to do it any other way. ”
Well, at least that was honest.
Kenzie sat on her bed, suddenly too tired to remain standing. “You can see me as the woman you’re protecting, someone who has information. I can see you as the guy who saved my life. If that’s all we are, then…then that’s fine. If you’re saying you don’t want to be part of a team, then—”
“I’m not saying that.” He sat across from her. “I’m not saying I don’t want to. I’m saying I don’t know how.”
“You could start by not keeping secrets.”
“I’ve told you…everything.” The hurt in his eyes gutted her. “If that’s not enough, then there’s nothing else I can do.”
Oh.
He was right.
What was she doing?
She was angry with her dad, and she’d taken it out on Jaz.
Yes, he should’ve told her he was going out tonight. He hadn’t trusted her. But she’d seen one puffy cloud and turned it into a hurricane.
She shifted to sit beside him, bumping his shoulder with hers. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re right. I should’ve told you. I wasn’t… I just—”
“I know. And you’re right too. I would have wanted to go with you. What were you doing, anyway?”
“I broke into the building where the management company’s addresses were.”
“What’d you find? You said something about…Sterling?” The name was familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she’d heard it.
“Richard Sterling. I introduced you to him at the party, remember?”
“Older guy, sort of a GQ look?”
“Exactly.” Jaz shifted to face her, the excitement she’d seen earlier returning. “It’s his office, where he keeps his records.”
“You said he owns marinas, right?”
“Right, but the yacht management companies all used his address. He’s involved. He’s got to be.”
“You think he’s your Ghost?”
“No.” The word came slowly. “El Fantasma is Venezuelan, and Sterling is obviously white. I need to text Wentz.”
“It is three a.m. Maybe wait till morning.”
“Speaking of, who was on the phone?”
“My dad. Apparently, he tracked my cell to your safe house and was furious when he got there and I wasn’t there. He wants to get me out of here.”
“Ah.” The sound was confident, like he’d solved a mystery. “I’m sure that went over like a nuclear bomb.”
“I don’t like people making decisions for me.”
“Really? I had no idea.”
She glared, and he smiled.
“Did you tell your dad where we are?”
She gestured to the phone. “He was probably tracing it. I’m sure Alyssa already knew where I was. She didn’t tell him out of respect for me, but if they’re worried…”
Jaz seemed to process that. “What does he want you to do?”
“He wants to take me home and protect me. Let people who know what they’re doing take over.”
“Hm.” Jaz was nodding slowly. “I agree with your dad.”
“No.” She pushed up from the edge of the bed, but Jaz didn’t let go of her hand. “I’m seeing this through.”
He looked up to face her. “I love having you with me. But I’m being selfish. I should’ve had you call your dad right after we left your apartment with the paperwork. I just didn’t want to. Even when I wasn’t sure if I could trust you, I didn’t want to let you go.”
His words were a warm breeze in her soul. He did want her around. She wasn’t just a source to him.
“Once we reached my island, I thought we’d be safe. But they found us. You’ve given me all the information you have. There’s no reason for you to still be involved in the hunt.”
“Except that they used me.”
“I’ll figure out who they are. I’ll expose them, and you’ll be safe.”
“No. I’m not… I can help.” Couldn’t she? She had no more information, no special skills, no…nothing. She was just there.
“Please, Kenzie.” Jaz didn’t stand, didn’t pull her back down beside him. Didn’t do anything but look at her with those stormy eyes. “Please stay safe until it’s over.”
“What if something happens to you?”
“Then I don’t want you anywhere near me.”
She sat beside him again, defeated. Her father and her—friend, or whatever Jaz was—both agreed on this point, and she couldn’t think of a single reason to refuse except her own stubbornness.
“Kenzie?”
“We’re safe here, right? For now?”
“For now, nobody knows where we are… Except your sister, apparently, and your father.”
“He promised not to storm in and whisk me away.”
Jaz nodded but added nothing, just letting her process.
“I’ll pray about it, though, if you’re sure that’s what I should do… The Lord told me to trust you, so if you say—”
“Wait, what?” Jaz straightened.
“That first night, in the hotel. I was praying, and He said I should trust you, which is why…”
Jaz looked so surprised that her words faded.
“Why would He…? I don’t understand.”
She squeezed Jaz’s hand. “He knows you better than anybody.”
“Then He should know better.”
“He sees your heart, Jaz. So if you think I should go, then I guess I should.” She kissed his cheek. “Tonight, let’s send my dad Richard Sterling’s name. Maybe he can find out some information about him.”
Jasper’s eyebrows rose. “You want to ask your dad for help?”
“He can find out more about Sterling in an hour than we could in a week. And it’ll give him something to do.”
“Okay,” Jaz said. “I trust you.”
She didn’t miss the words, the promise.
She sent a text to her father with Sterling’s name and a quick explanation of how they’d gotten it. She asked him to look for any information he could find.
He replied immediately.
Done. We’re headed to St. Martin. If you need me, I’ll be close.
Thanks, Dad. Love you.
He replied with an emoji—a smiley face with hearts for eyes. Her serious—often scary—father loved his emojis.
She set her phone down. “Now what?”
Jaz yawned. “I think we’d better get some rest. Tomorrow could be a long day.”
“Maybe it’ll be a great day. Maybe we’ll actually figure out who El Fantasma is.”
“From your lips to God’s ears, Jesus girl.”
Climbing under the covers a few minutes later, Kenzie was still smiling. She didn’t mind being known as Jesus’s girl.
She wouldn’t mind being known as Jaz’s girl either.