16. Killian
Chapter 16
Killian
“ A boat?” Ian echoed back at us, his expression disbelieving. “No, that’s not possible. I ran her name in all the databases of registered vehicles, including boats.”
Willa shook her head. “It’s not in her name. The last time Lily and I had any significant contact was when our parents died. I was dating this guy Stephen and Lily…Lily was having an affair with Stephen’s father, who she met at our parents’ funeral.”
“Jesus,” Ian breathed in disgust and I couldn’t help but reach out and rub Willa’s back. Thinking of her young and alone at her parents’ grave while her selfish fucking sister tried to pick up old millionaires to scam made me feel sick and furious.
She shot me a brief, grateful smile at my touch and a dark place in my chest sparked to life, as it often did around Willa. Taking care of her, pleasing her, teaching her about her own body—fuck, I loved it.
A dynamic like that would have been anathema to me before Willa and I would have avoided it at all costs, but it had happened so organically with her, I was barely aware of it.
Seeing her tonight, strapped and helpless on that bench, surrendering and trusting me—Christ, it filled me with lust and affection and pride and about a hundred other uncomfortable, foreign as fuck feelings.
“Yeah, well, needless to say, Stephen wasn’t too keen on me or any member of my family after he realized what was going on. As he was breaking up with me, he threw in my face that his dad had even bought Lily a boat. It’s probably still in the dad’s name—Gordon Cambridge.”
Ian was still frowning. “Okay, it shouldn’t take me too long to access the database again. If I do find the boat, I’ve got to figure out where it’s being docked, unless you know?” Ian asked, shooting her an expectant look.
She shook her head. “Sorry, no. I just remembered the conversation with Stephen.”
Ian got to typing and I felt the stirrings of my original frantic need to avenge Mac spring to life. Finally, we were going to get our hands on that bitch. I slid my arm around Willa, silently thanking her. I knew telling us where her sister might be hiding probably felt like a betrayal, even after all her sister had done to her.
“Thank you, baby,” I said softly, kissing her temple. She melted against me, no doubt exhausted after our scene at the spanking bench and sharing this information about her sister.
“Jesus, can’t you two get a room?” Cullen said caustically as he entered the room.
I snorted. “I’ve seen you do far more than this in front of a hell of a lot more people.”
He glowered at me and ignored my comment. “The flight to Brazil was a fucking bust. Wasn’t her.”
“We got a new lead,” Ian said, clacking away behind his computer. “Willa told us Lily has a boat and I think I just found it.”
Cullen turned to Willa, his expression thunderous. “A boat? Why the fuck didn’t you mention it earlier?” Cullen barked.
Oh, fuck no. He wasn’t going to treat her like that.
I stepped between him and her, shoving him back. “You need to back the fuck up and calm the fuck down. She’s not close with Lily. She fucking forgot about it.”
Cullen shook his head. “More likely it’s a fucking ploy to send us running in the wrong direction while her whore of a sister makes clowns out of us. Again.”
I shot a look at Willa. She looked anxious and fearful as she hid her body behind mine, clearly uncomfortable with the level of Cullen’s antagonism. While she looked scared, she didn’t look guilty.
“Fuck you, Cullen, it’s more than we had. Leave her the fuck alone.”
“You pussy whipped asshole,” Cullen muttered, and I gave him a shot in the chest.
“Watch it,” I said in a low voice. He knew he was skating close to a line, and if he said one more thing, I was going to throw both of us over it. Literally.
He took a deep breath. “If we do find this bitch, Kill, I’m doing the interrogation,” he asserted sharply, and I rolled my eyes. I hadn’t failed in my objective with Willa, in terms of the interrogation. We’d simply failed to capture the correct person; the interrogation was never going to be successful.
“Fine,” I said and slid my arm around Willa’s waist, resisting the temptation to sneak it under her skirt and rub my hand over her scorched backside. Just thinking about my marks all over her sexy ass made my dick jerk in my pants. I was fucking obsessed with this woman and all I’d done was spank and fuck her, which was practically nothing when it came to the totality of my sex life.
“I got her! Well, her boat,” Ian amended. “It’s docked at Belmont Harbor, slip 189.”
“Let’s fucking go,” Cullen said. “Ian, contact the guys from our Alpha team and tell them to meet us there.”
“Got it.”
“Let me change, give me five,” I said to Cullen, who grimaced at my request. He probably thought I wanted the time to fuck Willa again.
If only.
I pulled her back to our room and pulled open the drawer to the wardrobe where I kept a couple changes of clothes. I quickly threw on a black Henley and mentally reminded myself to grab some weapons from the office.
I glanced over to where Willa sat on the edge of the bed chewing her thumbnail. Her hair tangled from fucking, but her eyes worried and fearful.
I walked over to her and held her face in my hands. “Everything will be fine, Willa.”
She shot me a disbelieving look, which was fair because I was lying my ass off. Well, sort of. Everything would be fine. For her. Her sister, however…
She hopped off the bed and started pacing. “Cullen is going to strangle my sister on sight. You saw him. He looked like he wanted to strangle me, and I didn’t even do anything!”
I sighed. I didn’t really have fucking time to calm Willa down, not with Cullen practically foaming at the mouth.
I gripped her face and stared into her beautiful, terrified eyes. “Willa, I swear, everything will be okay.” I dipped my head, but jerked back at the last moment, annoyed at continued impulse to kiss her. “Do you believe me?”
She cocked her head at me, mostly likely trying to ascertain if I was bullshitting her to calm her down, but eventually nodded her head. Fuck, she was sweet.
There was a pounding at the door and my mindset was starting to switch into mission mode. I needed to be all business and worrying about Willa couldn’t be a part of it. “I’ve got to go. I’ll be back soon, I swear. Get some sleep.”
I gave her another kiss on the mouth, and she grabbed my wrist. “Please don’t kill my sister,” she whispered.
I grimaced but nodded.
I could promise not to kill Lily, but I wasn’t sure if I could promise Cullen wouldn’t.
Cullen and I drove silently toward Belmont harbor. I could practically feel the hostility rolling off of him.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I finally snap.
“What’s my problem? What do you think? You forget what the fuck we’re doing here, Kill? Are you forgetting our promise to Mac over some fucking gash?”
His demeaning reference to Willa had me clenching my fists, but I reined it in. “First of all, watch your fucking mouth, dickhead. Willa is the one who got us this fucking lead. Second, I’m here, right? Of course, I want to get revenge for Mac. So what if I was fucking Willa in the meantime? You were drinking and getting laid, too, you hypocritical motherfucker.”
He frowned, probably annoyed I’d made a point. “I don’t like it. You’re losing your focus. She makes you lose your focus.”
“She’s not doing dick. I’m focused, you’re just being an asshole.”
He grunted, but since we were pulling into the harbor, he dropped it. We got out and met the three members of our Alpha team. They were our best security operatives, hand-picked from guys we’d worked with in the military or in our mercenary days.
They knew Mac and knew what this mission meant to us. It was fucking go time.
One of the guys who knew the layout of the harbor got us to the slip number we needed. Fortunately, it was the middle of the night and there weren’t many people around, but I had a needle filled with my little narcotic cocktail in case I needed it.
We all pulled out our weapons and approached the small yacht cautiously. Lily didn’t seem to have much history with violence according to our research, but desperation made people unpredictable.
We heard a noise and stilled our movements. There was someone inside.
Cullen gave me a hard look. “You ready to do this?” he asked in a low voice, but I knew what he was really asking. Was I ready to do what it took to avenge Mac, even if it meant torturing Willa’s sister? Killing Willa’s sister?
“Yes.”