Chapter 53
JAX
Irun a hand down my face as I stand outside Elijah’s door.
“Jax?” he says, throwing open the door. “What—”
“Is Kat here?” I ask, looking past him and into his penthouse.
“No, why would you think she’s here?”
Whatever he sees in my expression makes him step back and let me in.
“Come in and explain what has you jumping around like Caleb.”
“She’s left the hotel, and I haven’t been able to get hold of her,” I say, running a hand down my face.
“She left the hotel?”
“After your team moved in. It was teeming with people. That woman didn’t want to move the files in case word got out they’d been found. All those people… Kat couldn’t stay there.”
“And she didn’t move into your room?”
“She told me she needed some space to process everything. I thought she was going to your mum’s.”
“And she didn’t?”
I begin pacing the floor, Elijah following my movements.
“No. She kissed me goodbye and told me she’d call me. Every time Kat has needed to process anything, she always goes home. She sent me a message to tell me she was okay, but then nothing.”
“And you know she’s not with Mum?”
“I called your mum this morning. She hasn’t heard from Kat in days.”
Elijah frowns, his forehead wrinkling.
“Have you spoken to her Pitbull?”
“Michael?”
“Who else? He knows my sister’s comings and goings even better than she does. Guards her with the ferocity of a Pitbull.”
I think back to the time he kept me waiting outside her office.
“Yes. I’ve spoken to Michael. He hasn’t spoken to her since Monday. He’s been covering for her, telling everyone she’s sick and working from home.”
Elijah’s brows draw closer together.
I stop pacing.
“I’m worried,” I admit.
“Think, what was the last thing she said to you?”
“That she needed some space to process. Wanted to cry in private… Fuck. I should never have agreed to leave her alone.”
Elijah rolls his eyes. “As if Kat would have given you a choice. My sister is a law unto herself, as you are no doubt aware. I’m sure she’s fine.”
He leads me into his living area and points to the sofa, grabbing his laptop as he goes.
He opens it, sitting opposite me, tapping on a few keys. A groove appears between his brows.
“What?” I ask, my heart racing.
He presses a few more keys.
His frown deepens.
“That can’t be right.”
“Elijah, for the love of—” I say, unable to keep the impatience from my tone.
“Kat’s tracker is off,” he says, his eyes meeting mine.
“I thought you said that was impossible after you upgraded them?”
Elijah drops his chin to his chest.
“Kat’s was never upgraded. Every time I went to do it, she was rushing off to a meeting or needed to be somewhere else.”
The front door opens, and Lottie walks in, her eyes lighting up as soon as she sees me.
“Hey, Jax,” she says.
“Hey, sunshine. How are you?” I ask, forcing lightness I’m not feeling into my tone.
“I’m good. Busy with school and dancing. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Aunty Leah helping with Callum and the twins… getting ready for the baby.” She winks, apparently, Lottie is the only one who knows the sex of her sibling and is arranging all the details for the gender reveal party.
She walks over and kisses Elijah on the cheek. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, sweetheart.” Elijah looks up, his gaze moving to his daughter. “Lottie, did Aunty Kat ask you how you disabled your tracker?”
Lottie’s gaze drops to the floor, her toe skimming backwards and forwards on the rug.
“Lottie?”
“It was a while ago. Not long after I got back,” she admits, looking at her dad’s laptop. “Is Aunty Kat okay?”
“She’s playing hide and seek,” Elijah says drily.
I only hope he’s right and whoever was in those files hasn’t uncovered our discovery and found her.
The doorbell chimes, and Lottie runs to the door.
“Granny,” she says. “Come in.”
“Hello, darling. Is your father in?”
Francesca pulls Lottie in for a hug. Holding her tightly, her eyes closed. When she lets go, Lottie half turns and points towards me.
“In there with Jax,” she says.
Francesca grabs her bag and hands Lottie some money.
“Can you go and get some ice cream for your old granny?”
Lottie whoops and makes for the exit. As she reaches the door, she turns. “You’re not old,” she says before making a sharp exit, clearly happy to get out from under her father’s scrutiny.
Francesca walks into the room, her eyes locked on her eldest child.
“What have you done?” she hisses as soon as the door closes.
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Don’t play innocent. You involved that bloody woman and have potentially put us all at risk.”
Is she talking about Pen?
“Mum,” Elijah says. “Calm down. What are you talking about?”
“Your father’s office. At the hotel. The files. Don’t play dumb, it really doesn’t suit you,” she says. “The fact that the hotel is quite obviously swarming with government agents.”
She sinks down onto the sofa as if all her energy has suddenly gone.
“Mum, what do you know about the files?” Elijah asks cautiously.
Francesca looks up, her eyes swimming.
“That they needed to stay hidden for all our sakes.”
The hidden room, the bookcase. Had Kat realised it was her mother as she took the books down, stacked them so carefully?
“It was you. You sealed the room,” I say, before I can stop myself.
Elijah turns on me, his gaze questioning.
“Kat mentioned the books were organised on the shelves, the way her mum would. That we had to keep them in a specific order when we took them down,” I say.
“Where’s Kat?” Francesca asks. “She’s not answering her phone.”
Francesca looks between us, her eyes growing wide, her breathing becoming quick and shallow.
“Where’s my daughter?”
“We don’t know. Kat has turned off her tracker,” Elijah admits.
He looks to his phone and mouths the word, Pen.
I nod.
“I’ll put the kettle on.” I move towards the kitchen.
I turn to see Francesca crumple in on herself.
“What have you done?” she mumbles, as she rocks back and forth.
Elijah shoots me a look as he drops into the seat next to hers, pulling her into his arms.
I open my phone and dial.
She answers within two rings.
“Pen, you need to come home.”
Something in my tone must garner no argument.
“On my way. See you in fifteen minutes.”
I busy myself making tea, before leaving the kitchen and rejoining Elijah and his mum. I place the tray on the table and return quietly to my seat.
The front door opens as Lottie returns. She takes one look at the situation in front of her and heads for her bedroom with her newly purchased tub of ice cream.
Pen arrives almost directly behind her. She drops to her knees in front of Francesca.
“Franny,” she says quietly.
Francesca looks up, her hand cupping Pen’s cheek. She gives her a weak smile.
“He loved you so much,” she says. “You were like a daughter to him.”
Pen covers her hand with one of her own.
“And he was like a father to me,” she says, cradling Francesca’s hands in hers. “Franny, I need you to tell me what happened?”
“They killed him, Pen. They killed Robert,” she says, inclining her head, a fresh line of tears streaming down her face.
Pen’s grip tightens, her voice catching.
“I know they did. I wanted to protect you.”
“Always such a good girl, putting others before yourself. That’s what I did. I had to protect my family. They’d already taken the love of my life. I wasn’t letting them have my children, too.”
Francesca freezes as she sucks in a shaky breath.
“Who, Franny? Who was going to hurt your children?”
Francesca’s head draws back quickly, her arm folding over her stomach.
“I don’t know. A man. He called. Told me I needed to give them the files if I wanted to prevent a further accident. He sent me pictures of each of them, showing me exactly how vulnerable they were.” She inclines her head. “I couldn’t let them get them.”
“Of course you couldn’t.”
“I found the files. All of them. They wanted them desperately.”
“But you didn’t give them to them.”
I can hear awe in Pen’s voice.
“Damn right I didn’t.” She looks up, her eyes locking with Pen’s.
“I told them I had them. That they were safe, and would never see the light of day unless something happened to someone I loved. Then it would be war. I told him I’d written letters that would be sent to the relevant authorities, releasing their location should anything happen to me or anyone else close to me. ”
Pen rocks back on her knees.
“Who helped you seal the room?”
Franny smiles.
“Someone I trust with my life, but I’m not divulging their name. This is entirely on me.”
She turns to Elijah and places a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes suddenly clear.
“It may have been wrong of me, but I did it to protect you all. It was enough that I lost your father. I was not risking any of you. Handing over the files would have meant I had no leverage. Keeping them was everything.”
Elijah scoops Francesca against him.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
He mutters something against her hair, but I can’t make out what it is.
Pen turns to face me.
“Kat’s missing,” I say, hoping the complete and unwavering faith I’m about to put in our friend is not unwarranted.
“Shit.”
I sit and stare as Pen does, whatever it is this Pen does.
Her fingers fly over the keyboard, perched precariously on her lap.
Who is this woman?
She looks like the same person I’ve known for eighteen years, but there’s something else.
Turning to stare at Elijah, he’s clearly unfazed by the woman he loves.
I draw in a breath. There’s a deeper, darker side to the happy-go-lucky woman who turns up at red carpet events in army boots and designer dresses.
“There’s no chatter,” she says, turning to Elijah.
His shoulders relax a little.
“What does that mean?” Francesca asks before I can.
“It means, if Kat’s been taken, then no one is talking about it online. That would be unusual in a kidnapping case. There have also been no ransom demands to date, that we’re aware of.”
The muscles in my shoulders refuse to relax. Instead, pain begins to radiate up into my head, culminating behind my eyes.
“Is that always the case?” I ask.
Pen turns to me, her hand pinching the skin of her throat, her gaze pained.
“No, not always.”
Francesca lets out a mini howl.
Elijah moves to comfort her immediately.
“We’ll find her,” Pen says, leaning over and gripping Francesca’s forearm, before returning her full attention to her keyboard, her fingers flying over the keys once more.
“Where are you, Kat?” I whisper.