Chapter 21 #2
“We need to go,” Chase said in an urgent tone from behind Kane. “Calloway could be back any minute.”
Kane took my hand and pulled me toward the stairwell, following Chase back out. I stumbled after him, my legs still shaky as we plunged into the concrete tower of stairs.
So many stairs . Down and down and down, floor after floor, and I wondered how Kane and Chase had climbed them up to the penthouse without being winded.
Their stamina was impressive. But despite my exhaustion, Kane didn’t slow, and I felt his urgency like a physical force propelling me forward.
Every second we stayed in this building was a second too long.
We burst out into the lobby, and I nearly collapsed with relief at the sight of two more familiar faces. Austin and Tate. They stood near the security desk, alert and watchful. The actual security guard lay unconscious on the floor behind them.
God. The lengths they’d gone through just to save me.
Kane tossed a handful of key cards onto the desk as we passed—that must have been how he’d accessed the stairwell and the penthouse itself—and kept moving.
“I’m sure the police are on their way,” Tate said curtly. His tone was all business, but I caught the flicker of relief in his eyes when he saw me upright and moving.
Austin, by contrast, was grinning. “Then let’s get the hell out of here before they arrive.” He waved toward the glass doors, where a SUV idled at the curb. “Ford’s got the getaway car.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Clearly I don’t get out in the field enough.” Austin’s grin widened. “I’m usually holed up in the office handing cybersecurity and threat assessments,” he explained to me.
Brothers, I remembered. Chase and Austin bickered like brothers…which immediately made me think of Kane and Kohen. I turned toward Kane, not knowing how to tell him what I learned and just blurted out the words, “Kohen kidnapped me.”
Kane’s lips stretched into a grim line. “I know. I know everything .”
I had the impression there was so much more than what I was aware of, but now wasn’t the time or place to have that discussion.
We quickly piled into the SUV—Kane pulling me into the third row back seat beside him, Chase taking shotgun, and Tate and Austin in the middle row.
The moment the doors closed, Ford floored it.
Tires squealed against pavement. I lurched forward, my seatbelt not yet fastened, and Kane’s arm shot out to catch me, hauling me against his side.
“Easy,” he murmured.
Austin passed a first aid kit back and Kane took it without a word. As Ford wove through traffic at speeds that probably violated several laws, Kane cradled my hands in his lap and went to work tending to my wrists.
The antiseptic burned like fire. I hissed through my teeth, tears springing to my eyes, but I didn’t pull away. Kane’s touch was impossibly gentle despite the sting, his movements careful and precise as he cleaned each abrasion and wrapped my wrists in clean white bandages.
He’d broken into a building full of armed guards to save me. He’d risked his freedom and his life. And now he was bandaging my self-inflicted wounds like I was something precious. Something worth protecting.
“Kane.” My voice came out thick. “Thank you. For coming for me. For—” I swallowed hard, struggling to find words big enough for what he’d done. “For everything.”
He looked up from my wrists, and the emotion in his eyes stole my breath.
“I would’ve torn this city apart,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t stopping until I found you.”
My heart clenched so hard it hurt, but as I stared into Kane’s eyes, a sudden thought cut through the emotional fog of everything that had transpired the past few hours.
“Wait—I almost forgot.” I straightened, energy flooding back into my voice.
“I hacked into Calloway’s laptop. Uploaded a ton of files to my Dropbox before his bodyguards found me.
Financial records, emails, documents—I don’t know exactly what’s in them because they’re encrypted, but I’m betting someone like Tate can crack them. ”
Kane stared at me. Austin and Tate twisted around in their seats, staring at me in complete shock, too. Ford was too busy driving, and I got the impression Chase didn’t gape for any reason, but the silence in the car was deafening.
“What?” I said defensively. “I know it’s technically illegal if law enforcement obtains evidence through unauthorized sources, but I’m a private citizen. Anything incriminating in those files will be admissible in court. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply to—”
Kane kissed me. Hard. Deep. His hands framing my face, his mouth claiming mine with a desperation that short-circuited every thought in my head. It was a kiss of relief, of terror transformed into something fierce and alive. A kiss that said I almost lost you and never again all at once.
“Ah. Right.” Austin cleared his throat exaggeratedly. “Should we give you two a minute, or are we all just pretending we’re not trapped in this SUV together?”
I barely heard him as I melted into Kane’s arms, letting him anchor me to something solid and real. The adrenaline that had kept me going was draining away, leaving me trembling as the full weight of everything finally hit.
I’d been kidnapped. Tied to a bed. Calloway had planned to keep me. To break me. And these men—Kane most of all, but all of them—had risked everything to rescue me.
A shudder ran through me. Then another. Suddenly I couldn’t stop shaking, my body finally processing the terror my mind had refused to acknowledge while survival was still uncertain.
Kane felt it. Of course he did. He shifted, tucking me more firmly against his chest, and pressed his lips to my ear. His voice was barely a whisper—low enough that only I could hear. “You’re safe,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”
The words wrapped around me and I closed my eyes, letting his heartbeat steady mine, and held on tight. I was safe. Against all odds, I was safe.
The city blurred past outside the SUV windows, but my thoughts were fixed entirely on the man beside me.
We’d escaped Calloway’s penthouse alive.
We had evidence that might finally destroy him and the immediate danger was fading behind us.
But now there was nothing left to distract me from the far more complicated truth between Kane and me.
Because somewhere in the middle of the danger and our undeniable attraction, we’d built a connection I would have thought, at one time, would have been impossible.
And I had no idea what happened after this or if what we’d found in that safehouse could survive outside of it. Whether Kane would still want me once the adrenaline wore off and the dust settled, or if we even knew how to exist together without a crisis forcing us into each other’s orbit.
But I wanted to find out, because losing Kane suddenly felt like the one thing that might break me more completely than Vincent Calloway ever could.