Chapter 14
Fourteen
The man known as Viktor Romanov looked out over the dark and quiet beach.
Irritation slinked down his spine, as he tried to figure out just where that bitch was.
For years, he had thought he was safe, then she had shown up at the CIA digging into her mother’s past. When he had gotten her burned, he had thought he was safe.
Without her friends at the CIA, she should have been taken out by any of her enemies.
He had been wrong.
Just like he had been wrong that morning. When she had been late…that had been a mistake that just didn’t usually happen to him. Truthfully, he had thought she had been too broken to investigate her family’s unfortunate situation. She was worse than her mother in so many ways.
His phone buzzed at his hip. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone, but he knew there were matters he had to deal with.
He clicked on his phone.
“Report.”
There was a pause. Oh, now we were going to get pissy? He paid this asshole a small fortune to take care of the matter and he kept fucking up.
“She’s nowhere on the island. I know that they all flew back, and since she had no one else to help her on Kauai, there’s a good chance Smith was her only lifeline.”
“Apparently not. He was reported to be at Dillon security with that Davis woman.”
He hadn’t wanted to know about these people.
He didn’t want to deal with this, but that bitch’s daughter wasn’t letting it go.
Even if he disappeared, she would find him.
And there was one thing he knew about the granddaughter of the late, great Judith Eddington.
She would never let this go. Not now. Not ever.
“I want you to check all forms of escape off of Kauai. Did you have someone watching the ports?”
“No.”
“Send someone. She could have easily disappeared off the island that way while Ian left by private plane.”
“Why the bloody hell would she do that?”
Yep, he was going to kill the dumbass when he was done with this. “They were both spies, so there’s a chance they are playing us. Making us look at the bright and shiny Ian Smith, while she slunk away.”
In fact, that sounded more like Lila. She would want to go her own way, and from all the reports, Smith didn’t even like the woman. Granted, an Eddington woman tended to trap so many men, but they definitely had an antagonistic relationship.
And maybe he had followed the woman back to Oahu.
“Where is Smith now?”
“He went back to work. Or at least stopped by work, but he wasn’t in a suit like he usually wears to work.”
He was sure he heard haoli muttered beneath the man’s breath. What the hell was wrong with Hawaiians? What was so wrong about wearing a suit to look professional? Americans in general were an odd sort, but it was probably the worst here. Well, and Florida. He loathed Florida.
“If he’s not in the suit, then he’s probably not at work. Was he with anyone?”
“I said he was with the Davis woman. That Lila chick was nowhere to be found.”
Seriously? Their target was being referred to as the Lila chick?
He was going to take great pleasure in killing this idiot when everything was over.
It was getting more and more difficult to find operatives to help him.
Once he was done with this fucking mess, he was going to retire to his estate in Montenegro.
“Is this one of the women he has worked with before?”
Dillon had a very strict policy of no involved operatives working on the same op.
“No. I know she has something to do with support, so she’s rarely in the field.”
Interesting. Maybe she was the new flavor of the month.
He had started to watch Ian Smith when he realized the former agent was almost an obsession for Lila.
The man had a long line of women in his past and didn’t seem to want to settle down any time soon.
He had also proved to be a useful tool. Sending people after him brought Lila out every single time.
“I want him followed.”
There was a long beat of silence that he knew meant something bad.
“We lost him.”
He was surrounded by incompetents, but he always had been. “Find him. Your very job depends on it. We need to be sure he is not in contact with Lila.”
“Of course.”
Without another word, he clicked off the phone and tossed it on his desk. He did not have a choice. He had to find Delilah. Alone in his room, he looked out at the waves with a frown. He couldn’t wait to finish this and make it back to cooler weather.
Ian stared up at the ceiling, his mind too busy to shut down. He hadn’t been looking for this, but now he couldn’t even think of walking away from Lila when this was all over.
Bloody hell, when did he become so attached to her?
His arm tightened around her. She mumbled in her sleep and he stilled. She needed her sleep. Knowing that he would just wake her up, he slipped out of bed, trying his best not to jostle her.
He dressed as quietly as possible, then made his way to the kitchen. When he got there, he found El and Jenner sitting at the kitchen table.
“Who all is still here?”
El didn’t say anything but cut him a look that promised Ian retribution. He didn’t need to deal with someone who had his feelings hurt over Lila. Not now with her life on the line.
“Miko and Eden.”
He frowned. “I didn’t want Eden to give up her vacation.”
“Like I would leave my partner alone to deal with this shit storm?” Eden said as she walked into the kitchen.
“Thanks. I owe you.”
She shook her head. The usual calm she displayed was in full force, but there was another layer. There was no hint of a smile. “No. She saved El all those years ago, and most recently, she’s kept you alive. We owe Lila.”
He nodded, but he made a mental note to talk to Luc about giving her some of her vacation time back.
“How’s Lila?” Eden asked.
“Sleeping, finally. Going over the case really tired her out.”
“And the concussion and stab wound,” Jenner said.
He nodded. “And that. I have a feeling she’s been living on stress for a while.”
“Of course she has,” El muttered, anger dripping from each syllable. “She’s been on the run for years, and you’ve been no help. Especially now.”
He knew it was probably better to just ignore El, but Ian didn’t like the way he talked about Lila. She wasn’t his to protect. She was Ian’s.
Shit. Yeah, she was his, and Ian knew he would have to deal with that later, but right now, he needed to deal with the irritated operative staring daggers at him.
“You’re right about me not helping her. It bothers me that she put herself on the line to make sure that I was safe. But understand this, whatever is going on now isn’t any of your business.”
There was a deathly silence in the kitchen.
El opened his mouth, but his twin stopped him.
“Drop it, El,” Eden said.
His eyes narrowed, then he stood.
“He’s taking advantage of her, Ed. You know what he’s like.”
That had him stilling. He looked between the twins. They were sharing a look that scratched at the back of his neck, sending little sparks of irritation throughout his entire body.
“What do you mean?”
El rolled his eyes. “Dude, you never stay with a woman. You bounce from one night stand to one night stand.”
He wasn’t wrong, until recently. It had been…
damn, months. Every time he met a woman, he compared her to Lila.
Didn’t even matter if he had no interest in the woman, he found every one of them lacking compared to the woman who had kept saving his life.
She always seemed to be there to save his ass—while mocking him—and every woman he’d met failed to live up to her.
It had gotten so bad that every time he’d heard her voice, he’d get aroused, even in the most embarrassing situations.
She had become his first thought when he woke up in the morning, and his last when he fell asleep at night.
And that was even before he’d met her face to face.
Just the thought of anything happening to her had his heart twisting so hard he lost his next breath.
Jesus, just the thought of walking away from her had him wanting to howl.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself? She’s fuckin’ vulnerable and you took advantage.”
He opened this mouth, but nothing came out. Not one word. His mind was still trying to put the puzzle pieces together. The woman had wormed her way into his heart, and the truth was that he wanted nothing else than to go back to bed and snuggle.
Ian Smith didn’t snuggle. He wasn’t a man a woman could depend on past a good time in bed. But he wanted that. He wanted to spend all his time with her. Like make breakfast together, shop for stupid shit for the house, like settle down and have a few kids.
He felt the blood drain from his head, his entire body going cold. Not for the understanding that this woman had blown into his life and made him fall for her. No, that was something that both of them would deal with later.
The realization that she was the one, the person who made him think those insane things, and she was at risk? An icy finger slid down his spine.
“I like to think that Ian and I took advantage of each other.”
He blinked and looked at the doorway. His heart turned over at the sight of her. She was wearing a black t-shirt and board shorts. Those legs of hers…damn. He wanted them wrapped around his waist. Or his head, that would be great too. His unruly dick shoved against the zipper of his pants.
Fuck.
“Do we have any more information?”
After a long, uncomfortable silence, Jenner spoke.
“No. We’re running down some leads.”
She rolled her eyes. “I think we need action.”
Miko stepped into the kitchen at that point. Great, another person. He wanted everyone to just go away. He needed time alone with Lila to come to terms with everything he’d just started to understand. Ian had to figure out just what the fuck to do about it, because…damn, he wasn’t sure why.
“Well, glad everyone is here, because I have some things to go over. I just got off the phone with Emily.”