Chapter 10
TEN
STORM
R iale and Axel idle outside the Orisun office, so when I waltz out a few minutes after Shae high tails it the fuck out of her building, I slide into the backseat without her noticing me on the street behind her.
“So… I take it that went well,” Axel drawls, slouching in the passenger seat of the blacked-out SUV with his phone set on loud as he plays Temple Run.
My eyes track her movements. She looks around like a lost kitten, even though I know my Shae today is a lioness. I know it can’t just be the news about Keystone that’s sending her.
It’s me. My sudden reappearance in her life has her going for a spin.
And I feel so damn conflicted about that.
“Did you leave the note? Did you get anything from the assistant?” I ask, and Axel grins.
“Yes, I left your sappy ass note in her office,” Axel says. “As for the assistant, she’s so damn uptight, I’m not sure a team of surgeons could get that stick out of her ass.”
I roll my eyes. I don’t care about her assistant’s personality. I care about what she knows—about the Keystone deal and about Shae.
“Are you gonna share your next steps with the class?” Axel asks, hissing when his character dies with a descending note from the phone.
I rub my bottom lip as Shae spins on the sidewalk, and then, with her face pointed to the sky, she inhales deeply and exhales the same.
Then, she walks.
“Follow her,” I tell Riale, not taking my eyes off my girl.
Riale doesn’t say a word; he puts the car in drive and keeps a reasonable distance away from Shae as she ambles down toward Wells Street.
When she stops outside a bakery, I get a flash of us cooking in her kitchen, and the memory makes my chest ache.
Eight years….
For some reason, I thought it would be easy to talk to her, like stepping back into a worn shoe. Maybe it’s because of how much I love her and how much love we have for each other.
Or…had?
But there’s so much hurt there.
That much is clear.
“What new information do we have on this Keystone deal?” I direct this question to Axel, and he takes a second to respond. He taps on the screen with the tip of his tongue stuck between his lips, all his attention on the figure on his phone.
“Aw, shit! I was this close to hitting a new high score,” he grinds out, frowning. In a move so quick I almost miss it, Riale snatches the phone from Axel’s grip, slamming it into the storage attached to the driver's door.
“He asked you a fucking question. Pay attention,” Riale snaps.
Axel gives him an annoyed look, popping his mouth open before saying, “You know what? I could fuck you all the way up, but you’re obviously on the rag or some shit, so I’mma let it slide.”
“Axel!” I shout. Clearing my throat and lowering my tone, I add, “Keystone. News. What do we have now?”
I give Axel a look, and he sighs before reaching into the space around his feet and pulling out a government-grade Lenovo. While he taps at the screen, I look back at Shae in time to see her move inside the store.
Something about the thought of her around confections makes me want to smile. It’s a gentle choice for a woman with such sharp edges now.
“The meeting is still on. It’ll be at the law offices of Smith, Adnan, and Spain, which happens to be two blocks that way.” He tips his chin up toward the windshield, pointing west.
“Good,” I reply.
“But there’s a problem,” Axel adds, and if that statement doesn’t give me heartburn.
“Explain,” I grate out.
“Well, so you remember how Shae gave the Keystone folks half a billion dollars to escrow her earnest money? Well, it looks like they’re already moving it.”
My stomach drops. Of course they’ll move it, use it to fund their crimes.
Shae’s given them enough money to bankroll at least one genocide.
“They haven’t cashed out all of it because they’re not completely dumb, but they’ve already started siphoning off funds,” Axel adds.
“So it’s too late already,” Riale grinds out. “Why are we intervening? We can just throw some security on her and call it a day. She’s gonna do what she wants to do anyway.”
I go still, so still I don’t even breathe.
“Riale, are you that fucked up that you can’t see why I’m here?” I deliver the question quietly.
Axel shifts in his seat to sit with his back to his door, and his gaze moves between me and my best friend.
“Listen, I’ll admit that I’m not one for all the touchy-feely shit. I know you’re in love or whatever?—”
“Or whatever?” Axel joins in, and I ignore him.
“But you’re out here moving reckless and without strategy, and you forget that the three of us?
We work as a team. You got us behind you, and that’s great.
But when one of us is fucking up, we’re all fucking up.
And when we’re all fucking up, we all are at risk of getting merked out here.
And I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, and especially not over some shit that don’t even fit the mission. ”
The car goes silent, and it lasts about three seconds before Axel pipes up.
“For real, though. What’s your plan? You gotta have one.”
I still stare at Riale, trying to figure out when my best friend turned so cold…and ignoring the fact that he does have a point.
“Listen, the sooner we can resolve this Keystone issue, the sooner we can get back to what matters. Lakeland. Or did you forget that there’s another acquisition event happening sometime in the next five days?” Riale says.
My stomach flips. Riale’s right again. I should be focused on the intel we got about Lakeland and his crew’s plans to round up at least another fifty people to traffic through Southeast Asia.
That’s why he’s on Isla Cara.
It matters to me. It’s always mattered. Breaking down Lakeland’s underground business operations from the outside in, surrounding him until we choke off his blood supply, has always been the focus, the plan.
But it’s different for me compared to Axel and Riale.
Axel hates all billionaires—except me, from what he says. Anytime he can destroy them, he’ll take it.
Riale’s sense of justice and his commitment to protecting the vulnerable make it impossible for him to look away from what Lakeland does.
For me? My number one motivation has always been and will always be Shae. My sole mission in life is to keep her safe from harm, and with Lakeland still on this planet, breathing air, she isn’t safe.
That was the truth back when my parents died, and it’s especially true now that he’s set his sights on her again.
“Couldn’t you drain the account? Put what’s left of Shae’s $500 mil in crypto and store the wallet somewhere random until it’s safe for her to have it back?” I ask.
Axel tilts his head from side to side as if thinking it through.
“I could, but wouldn’t that amplify the target on her back? We don’t have her with the plan enough for us to do that without her getting herself hurt.”
He’s right, of course. Doesn’t mean I like it.
I tune out the two in the front and watch as she sits at the small table in the window of the bakery. She looks composed now, as if the events of the last hour never happened.
She picks up the plastic fork and cracks open the plastic container…
…and the look on her face. I remember that look on her face.
My head lands on the glass, and I close my eyes to encourage the memories to come to the forefront.
But then Axel says, “Oh, damn.”
My eyes snap open, immediately going to Shae.
A beam of light shines through the shop window as if God wanted me to witness this moment.
Maybe as a blessing. Maybe as punishment.
Shae’s shoulders shake as she holds her head in her hands. It’s easy to see she’s crying, sobbing, as a woman sits across from her.
It goes on for minutes, the inside of the car quiet like a tomb.
And that’s when I realize…Shae can’t possibly be over me. Not when she’s clearly in so much pain.
The thought isn’t comforting. It’s heartbreaking.
Because clearly, I’m not over her either.
“Let’s go to the firm then,” I say, my voice rough. When I face Axel and Riale, Axel’s face is flat, neutral. Riale looks uncomfortable.
After a moment, Riale starts moving us toward the law office, and I run through all the scenarios in my head. All the possibilities.
And I know the only way to save Shae is to hurt her more.