“Maybe that’s where she should stay. Really, Dillon, why is this your problem?”
He hesitated. “I was pulled off the case. I feel that if I had been there, they would have never got to her. And she definitely wouldn’t be on her own.”
Something in his voice told Micah that there was more to it than that. But he knew better than to push. It would show he had too much interest.
“Sorry. She lit out of here about two days ago. She said something about family issues and quit without notice. Odd for her, because she had always been so dependable and claimed to be at odds with her family.”
Dillon nodded and reached for his card. He wrote something on the back. “Here’s my personal cell. If you hear anything, anything at all, please call.”
“Sure, but I doubt she would contact me. If what you say is true, she probably won’t be back.”
“True, but she did stay here longer than anywhere else. I thought she might have some contacts, some friends in the area. Her house didn’t seem like she had left.”
Micah shrugged. “I thought she had left the island, but I might be wrong.”
“It would definitely be her pattern.” Frustration seeped from every word Dillon muttered. Micah said nothing else as he saw Dillon to the door of the club. He wanted to make sure that Dillon didn’t question anyone else. He would eventually, that much Micah knew. But Micah wanted enough time to get Dee out of here and to safety.
Before stepping out the door, Dillon turned. “Don’t be heroic. The woman needs to be protected. Her father’s on trial again, for the same murder, and a few other things. The DA dropped the case before because of the lack of evidence. This time they got one of the participants to turn on Rizzoli. There’s a feeling that Rizzoli will do anything to avoid another trial, including finding any loose strings and cutting them.”
Micah nodded. He watched until the former agent got into his rental and drove away. Then he hurried back to his office. Taking the stairs two at a time, he wanted to get to Dee, to make sure she was all right, that nothing had happened to her. His heart slammed against his chest as he pushed the door open and found the bedroom empty. The sheets were still tangled, her scent still in the air. But he realized now that she had gone out the back way.
Goddammit. Shit. Fuck.
“Micah.”
He turned to find Harry watching him.
“What?”
“That guy is sitting down at the end of the street in a car.”
Double fuck.
“Thanks for letting me know.”
“Is everything all right?”
Micah shook his head. “No. But I am going to make damn sure I fix it.”
Harry left him alone and Micah sunk down onto the bed. She had run. Not trusting him, she had run. It was bad enough that she had lied to him. Dammit, he was pissed and he had every right to be pissed. The woman he loved had been lying to him all along.
But fear was easily bleeding into his fury. She was out there, and he couldn’t get to her. He wasn’t sure he could shake Dillon. Granted, there was a good chance he could, but he wasn’t sure. He didn’t trust the man. He was a cool one, but to have tracked her for ten years…that was a little obsessive. What was it that Dee had said?
People could be bought.
There was every chance the man had been bought by her father. Conner might have been by the house, but if Micah went there now, he would probably follow. If Micah led them to her, he would never forgive himself.
He scrubbed his hand over his face, trying to cool the raging anger coursing through his blood. He needed to make sure she was okay. He needed to touch her. He needed to spank her ass red for lying to him. A lie by omission was still a lie.
Micah reached for the phone and called the one person he knew he could trust. He answered on the third ring.
“Evan. I need your help.”
Dee turned in to her driveway, almost running over her mailbox. She gave it no thought as she scrambled out of the car. She should have run weeks ago, but she hadn’t had the nerve. Couldn’t. She dropped her keys on the porch, twice, then finally got her door open. She rushed inside and slammed it behind her. She listened, waiting for any creak, any evidence that someone was here. Dammit, she had been stupid. Now and then. She’d rushed into a house without first checking it out. After what she had heard in the office, she should be on alert.
But she couldn’t stop the fear bubbling in her chest. It wasn’t only her safety, but the fear that Micah would hate her. He hated liars, he had told her that. And that is what she was. A liar, a cheat, a dumb girl who still couldn’t take care of herself.
She felt another tear trickle down her cheek. Shit. She was crying again. The man, the situation…she hadn’t cried much in the last ten years. She hadn’t had the time. But now she didn’t seem to do much else.
She would have to leave. She had known that for weeks, had felt it was time to move on. But that would have meant giving up the time she’d had with Micah, and she hadn’t wanted to do that. Even now, there was an ache in her chest that was worse than the fear pumping through her blood. She had no choice. She couldn’t trust Dillon. He’d been the one she’d turned to time and again, until he’d left. And then they were attacked. She had figured out there had to have been a leak. John had been right. Someone had told her father’s men where she was.
With a sigh, she walked quickly through her house gathering her things. She always kept a case ready to go, cash handy and a whole identity waiting to be used. She walked into her bedroom, pulled the case out and opened it. She reached for her book, knowing she would need something to help her ignore the way her heart was hurting. But as she reached out, a large hand wrapped around her wrist and another slipped over her mouth.
“About time you got home, sis.”
Chapter Thirteen
Micah grimaced when he walked through Dee’s house. Nothing much looked out of place, except the bedroom. A suitcase sat on her bed, her clothes still in her opened drawers.
Evan walked up behind him. “She ran.”
Micah shook his head even as the fear he felt choked him. “Look.”
Evan stepped in the room and whistled. “She left without a pack. That doesn’t look good.”
They both knew how she had been living. They had never been hiding from a murderous brother and father. But they had always tried to stay one step ahead of trouble when they had been living on the streets in Atlanta.
Micah forced himself to walk around the room, his footsteps almost silent. He was careful not to mess with anything. He wanted everything left just like this, so he could figure out where she was and who had her.
“I take it you’re going after her?”
“She’s been abducted, Evan. Of course I am.”
Evan sighed. “You would be going after her even if she’d run.”
Micah raised his gaze. “I love her.”
“Yeah, that much is easy to see. Well, you track her down. If anyone can do it, you can. I’ll take care of things here, and maybe we can do something more to that Dillon guy.”
Micah smiled a bit at the memory. They’d pulled the old banana in the tailpipe to get out of the club. Dillon would probably not be happy.
He looked over the room and then opened her closet. His blood ran cold. There in the corner was a wrapper, potato chips. Salt and vinegar. He remembered the face she made, saying her brother had loved them. Shit. The bastard had been lying in wait to grab her.
He would kill him.
“Let’s go to the airport.”
Evan looked over at him. “Why?”
“If they left the island they would have taken a plane.”
Two hours later, he had the information he needed.
“Not very bright using a private jet,” Evan said.
“Never said that family was very bright. She ran right into the arms of the family she was trying to avoid.” Micah bit out every word, trying to keep his irritation and fear at bay.
“Not like she did it on purpose.”
“She should have known.”
Evan glanced at the security line. “Listen, don’t be too hard on her. She doesn’t know anything else.”
Micah frowned. “Don’t even try and get me on her good side. Once I get her, I am definitely going to make sure that she understands who is in charge. I still can’t believe she ran.”
If anything happened to her…a lump rose in his throat. God, he couldn’t think about it. If he did, he would go crazy.
“I know how you feel. I went through all that with May.”
Micah looked at him.
“Just go easy.”
“You want me to be soft?”
Evan sighed and shook his head. “I just keep remembering something May said about her. She mentioned that Dee always looked like she was on the outside of every group, looking in. She wanted to be there, wanted to be one of the group, but she held herself back.”
Another twist of pain filled his chest. That was exactly how she’d always looked. Micah wanted to kick his own ass. He knew now he’d been worried about asking too much, worried that she would leave him. The fear had kept him from finding just what darkness lurked in her life. Why hadn’t she told him?
“She probably didn’t have a choice,” Micah said.
Evan nodded. “But as Dillon said, she stayed here longer than any other place. There has to be a reason.”
“She liked her job.”
“I’m sure that’s what it was.” Evan rolled his eyes. “You might not have been the reason she stayed here to begin with, but I can almost guarantee that you are the reason she has stayed for the last few months. She might have made a mistake, panicked and put herself at risk. While you make sure that she understands what she did was wrong, just make sure she understands how you feel.”
Micah wanted to scoff at it, but he couldn’t. Anger and fear tightened his gut. His emotions were raw, scorched. He couldn’t come up with the words, didn’t want to embarrass himself. He wanted to pour out every worry he had, but it would do him no good. Instead, he gave Evan a hug and stepped up to the security line.
He had one thing on his mind by the time he made it through.
Micah would kill the man who dared touch her.
With bone-deep weariness, Micah walked down the hall of Caesar’s Hotel. Jesus, they were in a villa. He couldn’t believe that after two days of not sleeping, following every lead, making sure no one was following him, he had arrived in Vegas to find out his woman was hanging out in luxury.
He was going to beat her ass red.
Of course, that was after he broke a few major appendages on her brother.
He followed the bellhop he’d paid down the hallway. Damn, he got angrier with each step. He wanted to think she had been having fun. But knowing her family, he was worried what he would find inside. As he’d been searching for her, Evan had done some research, and what he had found had chilled Micah to the core. He was amazed that such a sweet, loving woman had survived the pit of vipers she’d grown up with.
“D-do you want me to knock?”
Micah looked at the man and nodded. He hesitated and then did it.
“Yes?” a male voice said from behind the door.
The bellhop cleared his throat. “I have a package for you.”
There was a pause. “Give me a sec.”
The door opened slightly a second later. Micah shoved the bellhop aside, pushed through the small opening in the door and came face to face with Dee’s brother. Dark hair, blue eyes, built like a fucking linebacker. Rage that had been building for two days rose up and took over. Before Micah knew what he was doing, before checking the room for more danger, or even looking for Dee, he wrapped his hands around the man’s neck.
He struggled against Micah’s grasp, his hands clawing at Micah’s fingers. He swung his legs trying to kick Micah. Her brother missed, but both of them went sprawling onto the marbled floor with a thud, a hard whoosh of air escaping from the younger man. Micah held him down with one hand and smashed his face with his fist. The nauseating sound of bone cracking when Micah made contact fueled his anger. He heard a shout from the bellhop but he ignored him.
“Micah.”
Someone was tugging on his arm. He ignored it for a few more seconds, as he hit her brother a few more times.
He turned to snarl when he realized it was Dee. All the hours of panic and anger welled up inside him. But he pushed it aside.
She was safe. She was alive.
He dropped her brother with a thump and rose to his feet. He grabbed her, pulled her against him and slammed his mouth down onto hers. Everything in him shifted. His heart warmed and the terror he had been riding for two days now drained. When he pulled back, he saw the tears in her eyes.
“Ah, baby, don’t cry.” He pulled her close and breathed in her scent. “I’m sorry. I didn’t kill him, just hurt him a little.”
“You broke my fucking nose.”
He gave her a squeeze and then shoved her behind his back. He faced off with her brother. Blood dripped from his nose and stained his T-shirt. It gave Micah a sick satisfaction to see it, to know that he made the man suffer.
“You’re lucky you’re breathing, Petey.”
His eyes widened at the name. “I’m not Petey.”
“You’re her brother.”
He nodded and opened his mouth to answer, but Dee stopped him. Slipping in front of Micah, she looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears and happiness. “It’s Mark. He’s alive.”
Dee couldn’t stop touching Micah. Since she’d woken up over the Pacific, she’d been so worried about what he was thinking. Worse, she had been worried that her father could have found her and then found Micah. After Mark explained the situation, that her father was busy killing off anyone who could have knowledge of what had happened, she knew she couldn’t go back. With each mile east, her heart had broken a little more.
Once Mark had paid off the bellhop to forget everything he’d seen, they had settled in the living room of the villa.
“Could you quit petting him?” Mark asked, disgust and embarrassment dripped from each word.
“I like it,” Micah said with an evil smile. “Now, pick up where you tell me just why the hell you thought it was a good idea to abduct your sister.”
Mark sighed. No, Dee thought. His name was Devon now. She had to remember that. Dee and Devon. The names still tickled her.
“I thought it would be best. I’ve been watching Dillon for a while now. I knew he was looking for her. When his sister and business partner took a trip to Hawaii, that was no big deal, but when Dillon booked the flight, I knew something was up.”
“Dillon will be pissed when he finds out you were keeping tabs on him, and he didn’t know it,” Dee said.
Devon nodded. “But then I have the money and brains to do it.”
“Did I tell you? He is the inventor of Striker Force One, the reality game?”
Micah gave her an understanding smile and patted her hand. “Yes, you did, love. But your brother abducting you and taking you on a private jet wasn’t smart. Of course, holing up in Caesar’s at one of the villas is definitely worse.”
His voice was lethally soft, and she could tell from his expression he was barely holding on to his temper. Mark/Devon shrugged. “Not like anyone knows who I am. They think I’m Devon Striker. That’s it. Not like we’re going down to gamble every night. And I know for a fact my father still thinks I’m dead.”
“So you fly to Hawaii, scoop up your sister, then neither of you thinks to contact me, tell me what is going on? You didn’t think I would worry?”
“I wanted to, but M-Devon told me that it would put you in danger.”
“And I don’t like you.”
She sent her brother a narrowed look. “I was leaving that out.”
“That’s okay, Striker. I don’t like you either.”
Devon looked away, out the window. “I don’t know w
hat the fuck Dillon was looking for, why he wants to find you so badly.”
“I wondered about him for years, but really? I mean, they think I’m dead. And from what Micah said, Dillon is the one who convinced the FBI to pretend that I was dead.”
Micah shook his head. “No, I got the same feeling.”
Devon looked over at him. “There’s something there. Something he doesn’t tell anyone. But there was a reason he was pulled off the case.”
She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “He was the one who gave me all the running options. He and John, but mostly him. He trained me to fight. Well, started it at least.”
Micah shrugged. “While it pains me, I have to agree with your idiot brother. We can’t trust anyone. And I mean no one.”
He yawned and she noticed the dark smudges under his eyes, the fact that his entire body seemed to be shutting down.
“Hey, why don’t you take a shower?”
He shook his head. “We need to discuss our options.”
“I agree. But you can barely keep your eyes open. You haven’t had sleep in forty-eight hours. Take a shower, clear your head and then we can talk some more. We need to get some food in ya too.”
He smiled, cupped her face and kissed her. It wasn’t the ravenous kiss he had offered earlier, but one of tenderness, sweetness…and love. She could taste it there, hoped she wasn’t fooling herself. When he pulled back, he smiled at her. “I’ll be right back.”
She watched him walk to her room.
“He’s not who I would pick for you.”
She turned around to face her brother. “I didn’t ask.”
He laughed. “You haven’t changed.”
She felt her smile fade along with the lightness of the moment. So many questions had not been answered. They’d been tiptoeing around the past as if it didn’t exist, or if one of them mentioned it, the other wouldn’t be able to handle it. “But I have. You can’t go through that without changing.”
Regret shifted over his face. “I’m so sorry. I should have never left you there.”
She waved her hands at him. “What? You were supposed to give up the opportunity to go to school early, get out of the house that drove you crazy?”
A Little Harmless Lie Page 14