Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Hurricane offered to put us up in his clubhouse for the night, but I declined.
We had no reason to linger, and I still had to figure out how to break the news to Lu.
Bacon knew, but that was it. No one from the Yonkers chapter questioned us loading a large suitcase onto the plane that we hadn’t had when we’d arrived.
Reacher kept his word too, and shortly after we arrived at Teterboro, we got word that the Dalton-Jones estate had had an unfortunate gas leak and exploded.
It wasn’t until we were on the plane that I even realized we had two stragglers with us. I hadn’t let go of Nishi until we got on the plane. I hated the idea of putting her in a fucking refrigerator, but it wasn’t like I could keep her on my lap for an eleven hour flight.
Coming out of the rear of the plane where the flight attendants’ supplies and utilities were kept, I finally noticed our newest passengers. Tangaloa, who was sitting next to them, noticed me staring, said something to the teenager quietly, and then got up to meet me at the back.
“I offered for them to come with us,” he explained. His expression, while sympathetic, brooked no argument. He would die on this hill.
I didn’t have the energy to have fought him on this even if I wanted to. “Who are they?”
Tangaloa’s voice hardened as he said, “Her name is Caroline. Her daughter’s name is Samantha.”
My eyes flew to the two girls at the word ‘daughter’.
That little girl was four-ish years old.
And the teen? She looked fucking seventeen!
I could do the math as well as anyone. But then the little girl, Samantha, turned towards me and smiled shyly as she lifted her little hand in a wave.
I cocked my head as I gave a wave back to her.
I turned my head back to Tangaloa, a question in my eyes.
His answered that he knew exactly what I was thinking.
That little girl couldn’t be Caroline’s biologically.
She had Asian features that hinted at a Japanese-Caucasian heritage.
Caroline was whiter than a snowflake, as was Weatherby Dalton-Jones IV.
As far as we knew, there were no other men living in that house, though it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that he had friends of Asian descent.
“What are you thinking?”
“She calls her ‘Mommy’ and a four year old wouldn’t know to lie.” Tangaloa kept his back to them, his voice low. “I think she’s raised her as her daughter, but I don’t think they’re related.”
“Did we find the wife?” I asked.
“Caroline says she died last year, but Neo doesn’t have record of that.”
Clearly, there was something suspicious going on. “And they’re coming with us why?”
Tangaloa shifted uncomfortably. “I need to catch you up on what happened while you were…”
“Killing my wahine’s best friend?” I filled in the blank for him. I wasn’t going to look a shark in the eye and call it a puppy.
Tangaloa’s expression turned from sympathetic to dark in a heartbeat. “Don’t make me toss you out of this plane and make you walk home. You did not murder that poor girl.”
I wasn’t the one he needed to convince. “Lu’s not going to see it that way.”
“Yes, she will. She’ll see what you did as an act of mercy. Anyone would have done the same in your place.”
I shrugged, not having anything to say to that.
“I will kick your ass later if I have to, but for now, just shut up and listen. We found another woman in those rooms in the basement. Reaper’s club is going to take care of her, make sure she gets the medical attention she needs and then is returned to her family.
But according to her, Caroline has been with Jones longer than she was, which was close to five years. Nishi was the new addition.”
My stomach churned at her name. “Do we know why Jones flayed her alive? Clearly, he likes to keep his women,” my eyes flew to the two girls on the couch, “and girls for long periods of time.”
The expression on Tangaloa’s face said I was not going to like this answer. “She tried to escape. Again. According to Caroline, he warned her the last time that if she tried again, he would beat her to death.” Tangaloa’s tone was just above a growl as he added, “He kept his promise.”
I closed my eyes, shaking my head. We were so fucking close to finding her.
And right when we finally had a lead… I didn’t know who I was more pissed at, myself or Weatherby Dalton-Jones IV.
A part of me wanted to be pissed at Nishi, if she’d just waited a few more days, but how could I fault her the desire to escape?
I would have done the same. Of anyone in this entire fucking universe, Nishi was the one person I couldn’t place blame on.
My eyes fell on the suitcase in the front of the plane the twins were using as a footrest. That spark deep in my gut was slowing starting to build into a flame the longer I stared at that fucking case.
It was going to be so tempting to just push it from the plane at forty thousand feet.
But then I wouldn’t be able to hear him scream.
I closed my eyes, needing to break my line of sight. My head was starting to pound. “Um, why are the girls coming with us to Hawai‘i?”
“Because they have nowhere else to go, and Caroline’s never seen the ocean.”
I blinked at that. There was a softness in Tangaloa’s voice when he spoke Caroline’s name. I looked at him to find he had his head turned over his shoulder and was watching the girls. “Where’s her family?”
My question seemed to snap him out of his thoughts. He turned back towards me. “She panicked when I mentioned taking her back to them. She didn’t come out and say it, but I have a feeling one or both of her parents sold her to Jones when she was only a kid.”
Fuck. There went my stomach again. I needed to be home. I needed to be on my land, to smell the salt air, and to feel Lu’s arms around me.
Maybe that was the part that was bothering me the most. I had no idea if I would ever feel her arms around me again. Could I blame her if she hated me for this? No. Would I let her walk out of my life again? Also no.
I was not so gallant as to let her hate me from afar. She could hate me all she wanted, from our home and our bed. My ring would not be leaving her finger this time. My son would know his father, even if his mother hated him.
“We will still need to know who she is—who both of them are,” I added. “But they’re welcome to come with us until then.”
Tangaloa’s back straightened. “I’m not sending her back to a family who sold her. I don’t give a damn what the law says.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I said as the pilot came on board and told us to take our seats. “But they’re under our protection.”
Tangaloa went to join Caroline and Samantha on the couch. The two worked together to buckle Samantha in between them. I didn’t know what was going through my ex-brother-in-law’s mind, and frankly, I was too exhausted to think about it.
I basically collapsed into my seat. I had an eleven hour flight to figure out just what the fuck I was going to say to Lu when we arrived home.
When we landed, a line of motorcycles was waiting for us. As was a hearse and a minivan. I had no idea whose minivan it was, but I had a feeling there would be a car seat inside the proper size for a four year old.
I wanted to sleep. I should have slept. But it didn’t happen. I was tired enough that I questioned even being able to drive my bike home. I didn’t know how Bacon had gotten the extra bikes to the airport, but they were there, waiting.
So was Lu. I saw her before I’d even noticed anything else. She looked fucking good. She had a blue bikini top on and a long sarong, showing off her flat belly.
Why was this plane taking so fucking long to park?
I needed to send Capone a message to fire his useless pilot.
At some point during the flight, I’d kicked off my fucking boots and removed my shirt.
My cut was still with Nishi. I was going to need a new one of those.
Out of deference to the children on the plane, I left my pants on.
I can only blame my sluggish brain on the fact that I was going on nearly twenty-four hours of no sleep. I turned to Tangaloa. “Why is Lu here?”
I had her best friend in an airplane fridge and a hearse waiting to take her body, and Lu was here? What the fuck?
Tangaloa, who had stayed by Caroline and Samantha the entire trip, stood up. We were taxiing and both of us were ignoring the flight attendant calling back to us to remain seated until the plane came to a complete stop. “I told her to come.”
My hand balled into fists at my sides. “The fuck did you—”
Tangaloa cleared his throat loudly and gave a pointed side-eye to the girls behind him.
I growled and reworded my question. “What did you do?”
“Like it or not, she needed to be told and you need her here. I had Bacon and Holly break the news to her—”
“That was not your place! She is my wahine—”
“And you’re my President! I’m your VP. Do you remember?
What did you say to me when you signed on with Jameson?
‘I need you with me. To keep me in line, to make me see when I’m being a—’” He stopped talking and clamped his mouth shut.
“An ick,” he amended awkwardly. “And you were! Not just to her but to yourself. It’s my responsibility to take care of you so you can take care of this club, and that’s what I’m doing. ”
The plane finally stopped.
I stood very still as the flight attendant got permission from the pilot to open the door. “You had no right,” I finally said. Eleven hours later, and I still hadn’t figured out how I was going to tell Lu about Nishi.
“Punish me if you choose,” he said, unblinking. “I stand by my decision.”
I spun away, needing to see to Lu. She was pregnant, for fuck’s sake! How could Tangaloa do this? I should have been here. I should have been the one to tell her. He was my oldest friend, but I would not let this slight go unpunished.