Chapter 12
Lovelyn
Kane brought out his phone and unlocked it. Showing me the screen, he placed a call to his sister, leaving a bloody print on the glass.
Mila picked up immediately. “Is Lovelyn okay?”
“She’s fine. There’s something else I need to talk to you about.” He nudged my knee with his injured hand. A prompt to keep tending it.
I popped the cap of the antiseptic and daubed some onto his wounds. Similar to how I would’ve treated a bear with a wounded paw. His hands were huge. Big mitts with a powerful grip I’d pictured digging into my flesh. I was absolutely not getting caught on how I liked the scrape of his fingers.
In ultra-brief sentences, Kane described his suspicion about Dixie and then the DNA test result.
Mila took an audible breath. “Dixie? Wait, and that result came in today?”
“It did. I didn’t want to tell you without proof.”
“Oh God.” She spluttered, starting and stopping her sentence a few times. “That’s incredible. All along, Darcy was here in the warehouse? I mean Dixie. We should call her by the name she picked, right? I don’t know her, but Convict does. They’re friends.”
Though he was talking to his sister, Kane kept his heavy gaze on me. “Will you tell him?”
“Of course I will. He’s right here next to me. He can hear my every word. I’m putting you on loudspeaker.” She spoke to her boyfriend, then the line sound changed, his astounded voice joining the conversation.
“Dixie who works here? She’s Mila’s sister?”
Kane confirmed it to further exclamations that took the same path I had days ago. Shock, disbelief, then concern.
I pictured Mila and Convict in the warehouse, the clubs open and the staff, crew, and dancers going about their work. The brothel on the fifth floor didn’t ever close, and the sex workers took shifts all night. Dixie had done that.
From being born an heiress like Mila, I couldn’t imagine what she’d been through to get to that place.
“I wish I’d met her. What’s she like?” Mila asked.
Convict answered his girlfriend. “Wry, funny, sweet. She’s the only person who knew my amnesia hadn’t gone, and that was because she guessed. She helped me out.”
“So we can add perceptive and kind to that list,” she replied.
Convict agreed. “She’s so like you, it’s obvious now.”
Mila’s voice turned dejected. “Yet she’s gone, isn’t she?”
He confirmed it. “No one’s seen her in a couple of weeks.”
Kane added, “Her home is empty and abandoned. She’s run.”
A pause followed, broken by Mila.
“So she’s missing? It has to be connected to the family business, doesn’t it? That can’t be a coincidence. Does anyone else know?”
Kane tilted his head in question. Silent until this point, I’d finished putting ointment on his hand and was searching for plasters. I nodded to give permission.
“I told Lovelyn. I’m with her now.” His eyes twinkled. “She’s going to help us find her.”
The rat bastard.
As neat as a pin, he’d trapped me by my own request. I was always going after Dixie, but now Mila would have the expectation that I’d be doing it alongside Kane. I wouldn’t refuse. Which he well knew.
“I’m here,” I said. “I believe she’s in hiding rather than missing. I have a starting point of where to search, but it’s outside of the city.”
Mila’s voice sounded small. “I’m so glad you’re in this. That makes me feel so much better. She’s out there all alone.”
“We need to help. What can we do?” Convict asked.
I considered the request. There were gaps in my information now I was certain of her identity.
“We need to know more about her time with the skeleton crew. When did she start working at the warehouse? Where did she come from? Who found her or took her on? Interview anyone who was there in her first weeks. Anyone who knew her well enough to have discussed previous employment. We need clues.”
I’d already asked around but had been focused on her life now and where she might be, not on her past. That felt all the more vital.
Convict agreed, the sounds of movement suggesting he was getting straight to his task.
Mila came back on the line. “Cassie will want to know. In fact, all the skeleton girls should be told. She’s one of us.”
Convict agreed. “Arran, too. In fact, does he even know that you’re out on this hunt, Kane?”
I answered for him. “Kane is currently gnashing his teeth.”
Kane levelled a look at me. “The more people who know, the greater chance that someone will let it slip and one of Dixie’s friends will warn her, sending her deeper into hiding.”
Convict replied, “Gonna have to overrule you. She’s my friend and future sister-in-law. We need the right people on the inside of this. You’re part of a crew. We don’t fucking gossip and can keep a tight circle. Understand?”
Kane took a deep breath that inflated his broad chest. “Fine. Keep it to those few.”
“We have work to do. Lovelyn, stay safe.” Convict hung up.
Silence filled the car.
“Nice trick,” I said.
“What will it take to bring you to my side?”
“Thought you’d already done that with your declaration to Mila.”
He caught my hand, and his fingers tightened around mine, red blood staining my skin. “I need ye willing.”
I held my breath. Again, I was in an enclosed space with him. All of a sudden, the intensity of it hit harder, the weight of attraction and alarm over the huge, ruthless predator who was far too interested in me.
I chose my words carefully. “Are you angry that you lost control of this?”
Kane twitched his lips, his gaze leaving mine for a moment. “I’m not angry at ye, if that’s what you mean. I’m…” He searched for his words. “I’m uncomfortable with anyone knowing my mind. I work better alone. It’s not all strategy. It’s…muscle memory.”
Damn it. Emotion rinsed me out again.
He stared. “What’s that look for?”
“You didn’t feel that way when it was just me in the know.”
“So?”
“It…it just made me happy.”
I shouldn’t have explained it, but the words came out anyway.
He released my hand. “Just because I want to fuck you doesn’t mean we’re friends.”
My balloon popped, and the happiness fizzled away.
The man sighed. “That came out wrong. Maybe I don’t hate you like I hate most others.”
“You hate me a small amount, though?”
“No, flower girl. I don’t hate you at all.”
It was a concession, yet my bruised and broken heart clung to it. The moment spread out, and by degrees, I regained my sanity.
I felt foolish for bringing emotion into the conversation, even if I’d had no choice. He’d picked up on it and called it out. Still, it helped to know there was the tiniest spark of regard in his oversized frame.
It was ridiculous how all the bad things he’d done to me had been neatly dusted under the carpet.
Kane watched me. “Ye dislike my secret keeping. Ask your questions. What do ye want to know? I’ll answer what I can.”
I swallowed. “What made you suspect Dixie in the first place?”
“A photograph the solicitor had at the will reading. He wasn’t prepared to show it, but I made him, and only to me.
It was of a young girl of around fourteen.
Blonde, reminiscent of Mila, but a dead ringer for the woman I’d seen with ye at the warehouse.
Remember that moment in the downstairs corridor? ”
Dixie had been upset. It was the last time I’d seen her. Or anyone had. I gestured for Kane to return his hand to me so I could bandage him up. One deep scratch still bled. “You were with Tyler.”
“Tyler’s reaction to Dixie made me take notice of her. He’s into her. That was a fact I stored away because of who he is. It helped in recognising her, though I’m pretty sure she’s had surgery to alter her features.”
Dixie had told me about a nose job and getting her boobs done. I’d figured that was for work reasons, but perhaps it was more. My mind ticked over on Tyler. I barely knew him and hadn’t spoken to him about Dixie simply because I hadn’t seen him around. “Perhaps Tyler knows something.”
“He doesn’t. I already asked. He’s away from the warehouse, but we spoke on the phone, and he was worried.”
“They aren’t a couple, though.” Dixie had told me she was single.
“My guess is he wanted to change that.”
“Thank you for the information. It shows me there’s a human in there and not just a robot.”
Kane smirked. “Bleeding on ye wasn’t convincing enough?”
Quickly, I finished with his injuries then gestured for the other hand. It wasn’t so bad, only a few grazes and no wood in his skin, but it meant leaning more into his space.
“I’m leaving Deadwater tonight.” His breath ruffled my hair.
“So am I. In the morning.”
“Where?”
With a few swipes of the antiseptic, I finished the job of fixing him up.
It was payment for him scaring away the intruder.
In that, I believed him. For all I thought Kane heavy-handed and secretive, I couldn’t see him faking what happened tonight.
Not coupled with the scare I’d had over the threats sent to my father’s office.
I hadn’t even started to process that. There was no way I’d sleep tonight. Or ever again.
I closed up his first-aid kit and set it on the dash then folded my hands in my lap. “Tell me I can trust you.”
He adjusted his position to face me better. “Earlier, you suggested that I would try to scare you in exchange for protection.”
“I’m not sure I believe that now.”
“Good. But the offer is there. I propose a deal between us. Terms that give mutual satisfaction.”
How did he make that sound so dirty? I squirmed. “You want to be with me when I find Dixie.”
“While you could make use of my body.” His lips curved in a wolfish smile that went straight to my core.
I stifled a shiver. “Exactly what are you offering?”
“Bodyguard, close protection, whatever it takes to keep ye safe. Both from the bastard trying to break in tonight and from the way I found ye in the streets last week. I know something is happening.”
I liked that concern so much. Just the idea that he’d stand between me and someone who wanted to harm me. My very own Kane-shaped brick wall.
His lips quirked. “And anything else ye want to do with me. I’m at your disposal.”
“Bodyguard first and predator second, right?”
“Whenever ye want.”
We’d both have to pretend that sounded safe.
“The protection will be enough, thank you. There’s one last piece of the puzzle. Why do you think Dixie is in danger? What knowledge led you to that?”
Mila’s reaction haunted me. Dixie had run. She was out there all alone. There was a reason why.
Kane took a second to look me over then flicked his gaze at the house. “Go get dressed and fetch the bag ye packed for your trip. We’ll go tonight and talk on the way. I have a matter I need to take care of first, but after that, I’m all yours.”
I’d lost my mind, as no hesitation troubled me at all.
I popped the door and climbed out, then turned back to regard him. “One more thing. Exactly how much danger was I in of you taking me whether I agreed to this or not?”
Dark delight flared in his eyes. It said my kidnapper and I had a deal, but there was a hair’s width between that and him doing what he wanted regardless.
Still, I had an in. A chink in his armour. An agreement to open up to me. And that was the most fascinating, compelling part of it all.