Chapter 14
Fourteen
T hey gathered in the living area of the house. Jakob made sure that Lani was right beside him. He had never thought of her as fragile, but he knew she was definitely feeling vulnerable at that moment.
“Royal’s missing? How? I haven’t heard from my brother.”
“He’s called a few times.”
That came from Emily. She shrugged.
“You two needed to talk without the king boy bothering you.”
There was something else there. Emily definitely did not like Ben. “You don’t suspect him of going after Lani, do you?”
“I did.”
“You’re letting your personal feelings get in the way, Em,” Lani said. That told Jakob there was more to the story than just this incident.
“Well, come on. Even Conner thought he might have had something to do with it.”
“Everyone in her life was suspect.”
Jakob looked at Conner, who studied him with a shrewd gaze. “I would never do anything to hurt Lani.”
“I know, and I understand the feeling. But we had to check you out. Your relationship had been…different before now.”
He drew in a deep breath. Jakob knew he could get mad about this or just let it go.
“Now, I was just with your brother, who has no idea where Royal is. He called us in.”
“Maybe she got lost in her bedroom,” Emily said. “It’s not like a lot is going on up there.”
“You would be wrong. I got some more information on her this morning as we started digging. Seems Royal has a borderline genius IQ.”
“Good God, then why is she the way she is?” Emily asked.
“Emily,” Conner said. His tone told Jakob that he was used to dealing with her antics.
“Sorry, but not really.”
“And you still don’t know who could be doing this?” Jakob asked. “Do you think it could be the same person?”
“We have two main suspects,” Conner said. “Then a few competitors might have been trying to scare her away. There were a few family members at first, but they all checked out. In fact, none of them were overly happy with you being gone.”
“Really? I always thought most of them would rather deal with my brother.”
“No.”
Conner was right. They had lost one big sponsorship for an invitational in Australia. Without Lani there to work on the contract, everything fell through.
“He took you for granted,” Emily said.
“I have to agree with Emily,” Jakob said. Lani looked at him, surprise lighting her eyes. “What? I’ve known that one reason Kingston remained successful over the years was your business sense.”
“Yes, and that’s why I tried to hire her away. I also plan to keep trying. It worked for a cover story, though. No one would wonder, at least for a couple of weeks, why she left for Miami, where our headquarters are located. So you haven’t heard from Royal?” Conner asked.
She shook her head. “I haven’t heard from her since that morning after the wedding.”
“Okay. I have Ian working on it. He’s at your brother’s place with his new partner.”
“What? Mix has a new partner?”
Conner stood. “He doesn’t like that nickname, especially since everyone in Task Force Hawaii now calls him by it.”
Emily giggled in delight. “Good, he’s too stuffy.” She turned to Lani. “He’s excellent, though. Former MI-6 and all that. He’s handled hostage negotiations before.”
“And that might be what we have here, or it could be the same person after you. Either way, I want to bring your brother up to date.”
“He’s clear?” Emily asked, her voice telling him she didn’t believe he wasn’t. Granted, he was wondering about his best friend. This wasn’t the man he had known for years. He could say one woman couldn’t change you, but then…he looked at Lani. It had happened to him.
“Yes.”
“Give me my phone, Em.”
She handed it over to Lani. She texted someone—presumedly Ben. Then she stood. “I want to be there when we tell him.”
Conner nodded. “That might be good. Your brother isn’t handling this that well.”
“My brother doesn’t handle most bumps in the road well.”
“I’m going to head over there again. I’ll see you in a bit.”
She nodded.
“We’ll get her there safe, boss,” Emily said.
As soon as the front door shut, Emily shook her head.
“You think Conner doesn’t realize you don’t trust him?”
Lani sighed. “I trust Conner.”
Emily looked at him, then Lani. She settled her hands on her hips. “Lani.”
“I didn’t want to say I still don’t trust my brother. I love him, even after everything. But…now his wife is missing? I’m getting worried that this is bigger than we originally thought.”
“I think someone trying to kill you is a big deal,” Jakob said.
Both women looked at him. Lani looked irritated. Emily looked like she approved.
“I get that, but I think it might be beyond the personal. I mean, this might have to do with Kingston.”
“We looked at that,” Emily said.
“I know, but we might need to do a deep dive into things and see if anything was done before we took over. Kingston has been around for decades.”
Of course, she was right. Lani was one of the smartest women he had ever met.
“Let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s get over to your brother’s house.”
Ian Smith watched Ben pace back and forth in front of the window. He shared a look with his new partner, Eden Carlyle. They had known each other for years. When he had been MI-6, she had been CIA. Small-boned with light blue eyes and blonde hair, most people who didn’t know her would think she was fragile. Most would discover that she was lethal too late to save themselves.
“Mr. Kingston, I think you need to calm down,” Eden said. “We’re doing everything we can to find your wife.”
“You’re just standing here.”
Another shared look. This time, he saw his own agitation reflected back at him. They knew how to play the game with someone like Kingston.
“We’re here in case there’s a call. We have other operatives out searching.”
He stopped in his tracks. “Can’t you track her phone?”
Panic tinged the edges of his voice. That was definitely real. “No. She has it turned off. We’ll find it as soon as she turns it back on.”
It could have been damaged in an abduction, but Ian wasn’t about to say that. Keeping the client calm was the most important thing. His boss had stopped by and seemed to calm Kingston a little, but it hadn’t taken long for the irritation, and he was sure fear to come back.
Before Kingston could say anything, the front door opened.
“Hey, Mix, we’re here.”
He rolled his eyes. Emily was a pain in his ass.
“Mix?” Eden asked, one eyebrow rising. He knew that look.
“No. You do not start using it.”
Emily stepped into the room. “Mix, baby, how’ve you been?”
“I will not answer to that name. And I saw you yesterday.”
Emily ignored him and walked further into the room. She was followed by Lani and Jakob. Ian didn’t often get star-struck, but he was a Brit and a fan. He had been irritated that his sister had met his favorite actor before he had. He’d had to fight the need to gush over him when he’d taken him to Lani’s safehouse.
“Eden? This is wonderful,” she said, coming forward to hug the other woman.
“That’s Lani and Hollywood.”
“Jake? What are you doing here?”
“I was at Lani’s when you texted.”
And that told Ian that Ben’s best friend might not trust him. From how he held onto Lani, Ian would bet it had everything to do with the woman.
Ben studied them, his gaze ping-ponging back and forth. “What the hell?”
Lani walked forward, her steps sure and her gaze locked on her brother. He had been brought up to speed about her relationship with Ben and how it had deteriorated after he’d met Royal. But…he saw the love there. He also knew there had been Dillon agents with her constantly, and all of her communications were being monitored.
She wrapped her arms around Ben.
“It’s going to be okay.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Her brother hesitated, then wrapped his arms around her and held on tight.
“I’m worried something happened to her. Something bad.”
Emily muttered something under her breath, but at least she kept it quiet enough that their clients didn’t hear her.
“Dillon is good. They will do everything in their power to find her.”
Ian noticed that Lani didn’t say she would be alive, but then she was a lawyer.
She pulled away from her brother and looked at Ian. “Any news?”
He shook his head. “I called in a favor with TFH and their Team Bravo. That’s their search and rescue group.”
“I can pay for someone. We don’t need to use state resources,” Ian said.
“Mate, they’re the best,” Wulf said.
“And Ian has an in with them,” Eden said. “His sister is married to the guy in charge of search and rescue.”
“Plus, there are only a handful of search and rescue groups here,” Ian said. As if on cue, the doorbell rang.
“Hot men with guns. Just my type,” Emily said, turning to answer the door.
The murmur of voices filled the foyer, and then Emily led them back to the living space. Some of his worry settled as he watched his brother-in-law lead his team into the room.
“Hey, Ian, I heard you need help.”
Jakob nodded to Team Bravo as they filled the room. He’d met the five-person team when he met with Adam Lee, the leader of Team Alpha. That’s when it hit him with what Smith had said.
“You’re Autumn’s brother?”
He nodded. They didn’t look that much alike except around the eyes.
Then he turned to study Team Bravo. The newly formed team’s primary focus was search and rescue, while he knew they were building another team to take care of terrorism threats. This was a five-person team with the leader, Seth Harrington. He knew the other man had been a SEAL, as had Rami Ramirez, another team member. Standing to the right of Seth was Ryan Morrison, the dog handler. He’d heard he was from California, as was Maya, his dog. She sat patiently by his side.
A rather tall African American fellow stood directly behind Seth. Kap had been a member of NCIS and was staring daggers at Eden, but she was pretending to ignore him. Then, there was the lone woman on the team. Nikki Kekoa was a fierce Hawaiian who had been in the Coast Guard.
“We’ve been briefed by Dillon,” Seth said. “We have Charity keeping an eye on her phone, and she will contact us as soon as she comes back online.”
“But what do we do until then?” Ben asked. He sounded so much older than he had yesterday.
He glanced at his friend. Yeah, worrying about someone you love would do that to you.
“We need to go over her friends and her habits. We also need her recent clothing for Maya. I understand that her car is missing?”
That was news to him. He watched Ben nod. As if on cue, Seth’s phone rang. He frowned when he looked down at the screen.
“Hello.” Then he listened. “Sam?—”
Whatever was being said had him quiet.
“We don’t need her help,” Ian muttered, but Seth ignored him as he listened.
“Gotcha. I take it I don’t want to know how you found that out?”
There was a humming silence. “Thanks, Sam.”
He hung up and glanced at Ian, then back to them. “We’ve found her car. It’s at the entrance to Wailea Falls.”
The site was popular with tourists and locals who liked to hike.
“Ben, did Royal like to go there?” Lani asked.
“Not sure. She hiked, but it was more…recreational, you know? Like, she didn’t like to do too much when hiking.”
“We’re still going to need an article of clothing. That way, we can follow it from the car.”
Ben nodded and left to get it. Lani walked over to Jakob. “What do you think?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know her well. Maybe they had an argument, and she went off. He mentioned that when Royal didn’t get her way, she tended to go off alone.”
Lani nodded, worry stamping her face. He wrapped his arms around her.
“Everything will work out,” he said, kissing her temple.
“What the fuck?” Ben said as he stepped into the living room.
Lani looked back at her brother. “I think you have other things to worry about, Ben.”
His eyes narrowed, but he handed a robe to Seth. “She wore this last night.”
“That should work.”
“I’m going with you.”
“No, sir, you need to stay here,” Seth said. “What if she heads back before we get there? Or, if she was kidnapped, you will need to talk to them to negotiate. I think you should be here to wait for news.”
He could see the irritation on Ben’s face, but his friend nodded. “Thanks for your help.”
“Of course, sir. Your sister expects a call, Mix.”
“That is not my name.”
A few of the people on the team chuckled as they walked out.
“Should I go with them?” Emily asked. She had been subdued, which Jakob assumed wasn’t normal for her. That told him that everyone was worried about Royal.
“No. Stay here because we need to monitor their search and a few other things we are checking on,” Ian said.
“Who was that who called?”
“No one.”
“Sam,” Eden said at the same time.
“I am going to need to know more after we are done with this emergency,” Emily said to her coworkers.
Seth Harrington had an awful feeling as he and his team approached the car. It was still early, but there were people around. One thing they would have was people to question. If this is just a wealthy wife being pissed off with her husband, it might turn out easy.
His gut told him it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Well, shit,” Kap said, looking inside the car. “We have blood. A lot of blood.”
Seth stepped closer to look and realized Kap hadn’t been exaggerating. There was a good chance that if they found Royal Jones-Kingston, it would be a recovery.
Maya barked and headed off in the direction of the walking path. They all fanned out and started the search. He knew if there was a chance of Royal being alive, they didn’t have long.
The tension in the house was almost unbearable, but Lani couldn’t force herself to leave her brother. It wasn’t a good sign when a newly married woman went missing.
“So, you’re working for Dillon.”
His tone was so damned condescending she wanted to smack him. She loved Ben, but he was pushing his luck. Yes, she knew this was his way of avoiding the situation. Either Royal left him, or she was taken. Either scenario was bad. Still, she wasn’t going to put up with his BS.
“Yes.”
“And you’re fucking my best friend.”
“Watch that tone,” Jakob said, his voice a lethal rumble. She shouldn’t find it so sexy, but it was. It was the same growl he used when they were alone.
“I warned you to keep your hands off her.”
“I think you need to…” his words finally registered. Lani looked between the two men. “Wait, what?”
It took a full ten seconds for Ben to break his angry eye contact with Jakob.
“When I met him, I told him he couldn’t touch you.”
Her eyes widened, then they narrowed.
“That was years ago. What does that have to do with what’s going on now?”
“You’re my little sister. There’s a code.”
She rolled her eyes. Yes, she knew they had an audience, but she didn’t care.
“A code? The same code you had with Rick?”
“No. That’s different.”
“How? Because you two have always been pretty chummy, and you didn’t have a problem with me fucking him?”
“It’s different.”
“No. It’s not.”
Jakob stepped up beside her. She glanced at him. While she appreciated his silent support, she wasn’t that happy with him.
“I’ll deal with you later.”
“Is there any popcorn in this house,” Emily said, cutting through some of the tension.
“I have no idea. Probably,” Lani said.
“You quit, then you take up with him,” her brother said, his voice full of self-righteousness.
“I didn’t quit. You fired me. And, I will take up with whomever I want. Jake is who I want.”
“I don’t like your choice.”
“Are you freaking kidding me, bra? The woman you married hated the sight of me. I figured she’s the one who talked you out of having breakfast last Sunday.”
“Breakfast? What are you talking about? And what do you mean I fired you?”
“Royal said we would have breakfast before you left for your honeymoon. Later that day, I was fired via text.”
“I did not fire you. Also, we weren’t leaving right away.”
She blinked. “What? You were supposed to leave Sunday night.”
He shook his head. “We planned to go later because of Royal’s condition.”
A sinking feeling filled her. She knew the answer before she asked it.
“What condition?”
“Royal was pregnant.”
All of a sudden, everything started to make sense. Ben had never been that serious about settling down before meeting Royal and even after meeting her. Then, all of a sudden, they were planning a wedding, and he was enthusiastic about it. She had just chocked it up to falling in love, which was probably part of it. The other part of it had been an unplanned pregnancy.
Awkward silence still filled the room when Emily broke it. “We seriously need some popcorn for this.”
“Em,” Ian warned. Then he turned his attention to her brother. “Was? Why are you talking about your wife in the past tense?”
Ben shoved a hand through his hair. “She lost the baby three days after the wedding.”
Her heart ached. She might not like Royal, but Ben loved her, and she knew that Ben would have loved that baby.
“Ben,” she said, walking toward her brother and slipping her arms around him. She wasn’t sure what kind of reception she would get from him. When his arms wrapped around her, she held on tight. They had always had each other, and while she wasn’t that happy with Royal, Lani loved her brother. And she would have loved any baby he had with Royal.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I was too.”
Ian’s phone went off. He looked down at the screen. “I have to take this.”
He left them in the room as Lani stepped back from hugging her brother. His soft gaze hardened as he looked at Jakob.
“I think you and I need to talk,” Ben said.
“I think not,” she said. At the same time, Jakob said, “Fine with me.”
As Jakob walked closer, Lani stepped in front of him. She settled her hand on his chest. Her brother’s growl irritated. “I don’t need you defending my honor.”
He lifted his hand and cupped her face. Ben growled again, but Jakob also ignored him.
“Love, I would defend it until the day I die.” He brushed his mouth over hers, then looked at her brother. “Let’s go to your study.”
His brother strode off. Jakob followed easily as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
Ian stepped back into the room. “Where’s Ben?”
“He’s going all big brother on Jakob,” Emily said. “Any news.”
“Yeah, and none of it is good. They found blood on her car.”
Lani sighed. None of this felt like it would end with a happily ever after.