Chapter 12 #2
I nodded. “You’re right, I can’t. But I can start charging you board and feed.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Sure I can.” I sat back, taking a sip of my beer. “I just haven’t. I pay board, you know. You’re the only one who doesn’t.”
“Look, my lawyer says I can get a bigger cut if I sell to an investor—”
“You spoke to a lawyer?” I interrupted, my anger rising. “Why the fuck would you do that? This is between family, Kalea!”
“Well, you’re not treating me like family! You’re cutting me out—”
I stood, my chair scraping along the linoleum.
“Family? I’m beginning to think you don’t even know the meaning of the word!
” I paced away from the table. “I am not cutting you out of this business or land that is rightfully yours, Kalea. You,” I pointed at her, “don’t want it.
You’ve never wanted it. When I actually want to do something with what was left to us, you consult a lawyer and talk about investors? Investors for what?”
Her cheeks reddened. “Just… investors,” she replied vaguely. “I just want to make sure I get what’s owed to me.”
I nodded slowly. “Then you’ll also get a bill for everything this farm has paid for you since we inherited it. After all, that’s owed to you too.”
Pissed, Kalea stood. She grabbed her purse off the table, snatched the paperwork back up, and shoved it, crumpled, into her bag. She marched past me, nose up in the air. The front door slammed behind her, a sound I’ve grown to hate, as she stormed out of the house.
A second later, I heard a panicked, “Aloiki!”
I rushed after her. It didn’t matter how frustrated I was with her. Kalea was still my little sister, and I would protect her with my life. Plus, that panic wasn’t faked, and Lu was outside somewhere with Pualani.
She was stopped on the middle stair leading up to the small wood porch.
I immediately assessed that she was not the one in danger, and looked for the cause of her panic.
It only took a second for me to spot the black and white heading down the drive towards the house.
My eyes narrowed, until I saw the driver.
“It’s just Kayl,” I assured her.
Her back stiffened slightly. She looked around, but like her, I did not see Lu or Pualani. “I have to go,” she said, rushing to her car.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” I called after her.
Kalea paused at the door to her car. “Can you keep her please? Just… Just for the night. Please, Aloiki!”
My eyebrows drew down. “The fuck? No. Tangaloa lives here, Kalea. You know that.”
Her eyes scanned around the area again, but there was no sign of her daughter. “Please. I have to go! I’ll be back in the morning! I swear!”
Without waiting for an answer, Kalea got into her car, quickly backed up and then took the long way around the house to get back to the drive. Effectively making it so she didn’t pass Kayl’s cruiser on the way out.
I threw my arms up in the air in frustration. What the fuck was I supposed to do now? What the fuck did I know about taking care of a two year old? And what the fuck was I supposed to tell Tangaloa as to why he couldn’t come home tonight?
Thankfully, Kayl’s trip was quick. He was literally here for his next payment. He claimed it wasn’t bribery because his loyalties couldn’t be bought. I should be honored he only accepted my money out of deference to our lifelong friendship.
Then I went in search of my woman and my niece while simultaneously praying they weren’t anywhere near my ex-brother-in-law.
Kalea did not come back the next day as promised.
When I couldn’t get ahold of her, I set Neo to track her down and my two new Prospects over to her apartment to get some of Pualani’s things.
Kalea hadn’t even left me with a diaper bag.
I was beyond pissed. I also sent Tangaloa to Mauī to ‘help’ Spirit and Tommy.
It was the only thing I could think of on such short notice.
I had no idea if he suspected something, but he also didn’t ask questions.
Neo tracked Kalea down, only to discover that she was staying in a motel on the Big Island at some cheap tourist trap of a resort.
I had no idea why, nor did I care. Saga suggested using her abandoning Pualani with me against her if she tried to sell her half of the farm to an investor.
I was not one to make threats lightly, but I was pissed enough that I considered the suggestion.
But then what would happen to Pua? She was safe here with Lu and I, and I couldn’t rip her from her mother like that. Even if I wanted to strangle her mother. Whatever was going on with Kalea likely had to do with the man Neo got surveillance pictures of meeting with her at the pool bar.
Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to figure out what the fuck was going on with my sister, I couldn’t pull Neo from their pressing task of finding Nishi. My sister’s shit would have to wait.
Lu was having the time of her life with Pua.
And somehow she’d roped some of the guys into helping her entertain the little girl.
Two days after Kalea had left her daughter with us, I walked into my house to find a tea party in progress with Pua serving animal crackers and invisible tea to Lu, the twins, and Lucifer.
The twins had different crowns on their heads and Lucifer had a bright pink boa around his neck.
I walked back outside before Pua could spot me and guilt me into a cup of tea too.
Lu called it ‘practice’. And regardless of how pissed I was at my sister for the situation, I did love seeing the joy on Lu’s face as she played with Pualani.
With Pualani in the house, production had to be moved elsewhere.
It made me realize that I wouldn’t be able to keep the porn studio in the basement much longer.
Right now, though, the porn business was bringing in the most income for the club.
With investing or purchasing the other businesses, it was the porn that was currently keeping us afloat.
I couldn’t let that income suffer because my niece was staying in my house.
I hadn’t been sleeping well because I had shorts on, and I fucking hated sleeping in clothes.
But Pua had been staying in bed with Lu and I because it wasn’t like I had a crib or anywhere else to put her.
Lu slept perfectly well in one of my spare shirts that I never wore and a baby against her chest. Me?
I was going on no sleep for the third night in a row because I was not sleeping naked with my niece in my bed.
Which was why I was awake to hear a vehicle come down the drive at near two in the morning.
Hearing a vehicle wasn’t odd, per se. The others had permission to come and go as they liked, even though the bunkhouse wasn’t quite done yet. It was how slowly the vehicle was approaching, like they were creeping onto my property and didn’t want to be heard.
A glance to my left confirmed that Lu and Pua were sound asleep. We didn’t have shades on the windows. The house was old with window AC units. The ceramic roof helped to keep us cool, and the nights when we didn’t have the AC on, we liked to crack the windows for a natural breeze.
I slipped to the window. With the nearly full moon, it was easy to see out onto my property, but it also meant someone could see inside.
A dark van was pulling down the lane with its headlights off. As I suspected, they were going extremely slow. Instinct, honed by years of sneaking into places I shouldn’t be, had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
I went to the bed. Careful to only wake Lu, I put my hand to my lips when she roused. Chances were, whoever was coming down my drive had a spotter. Someone who was outside, or possibly inside, my house that signaled when everything was all quiet.
“Someone’s coming,” I whispered. “I need both of you to move down into the basement.”
“Who?” She didn’t argue. Just quickly grabbed Pua, who thankfully didn’t wake at being moved, and hurried to her feet. That’s my girl.
“Don’t know. I’ll be sure to ask before I kill them.”
Lu’s worried expression did not lessen. “Don’t fight alone. Mal and the twins are right down the road.”
Shit. I was exhausted, and my brain had just barely reminded me that Tangaloa wasn’t in the house. I forgot I had backup now. I looked around for my phone, but it wasn’t on my nightstand.
I grabbed Lu’s instead. Mine could be in a number of unknown places. I didn’t have time to go searching for it.
I was hurrying Lu out of our bedroom as I heard the slight squeak of the brakes outside my front door. Fuck. We had to go past the front door to get to the basement in the kitchen.
As quietly as we could, I dragged Lu down the hall. The basement was the safest place for them because it had Tangaloa’s secret room. And not just because there was a shit ton of weaponry inside.
I heard movement and very low voices on the front porch as we reached the basement stairs.
Unfortunately, the old door creaked as it was opened.
I ushered Lu down first. It was pitch black, but we were both familiar enough with the basement to navigate it.
Once inside Tangaloa’s room, I flipped on the light switch.
Lu’s eyes went wide when she saw what was inside. She knew about Tangaloa’s business, but had never seen it firsthand before now. Pualani still looked out, even with the bright lights overhead. Good.
“Stay here. You might hear some things outside, but don’t come out unless it’s me at the door. Do you understand?” Lu nodded, her eyes wide. I pointed to the wall by the door. “Lock this. The door won’t open from the outside if that’s down.” I handed Lu her phone. “Call the others—”
Echoes from above had me pausing. The fuckers were shooting up my house! Glass breaking, wood shattering, items clattering… The noises were dulled by the metal box we were standing in, but there was no doubting what they were.
“Aloiki…” Lu started, a plea in her voice.