Kiss Midnight Goodbye (Midnight Blue Beach Book 3)

by Olivia Jaymes

  “I don’t need to ask, princess. You’re not okay. Willow and Bailey aren’t okay. I doubt any of us are, to be honest.”

  She retrieved her small bag from the closet. Packing wouldn’t take more than a minute or two and she could do it for both of them.

  “The universe isn’t cutting us any slack.” She shoved her dirty laundry into a plastic bag before packing it. Maybe she could do some wash wherever they were going.

  “No, it isn’t, but we just have to keep hitting back. Don’t let it win.”

  She looked up from her packing. “Is your father possibly complicit in several homicides and who knows what else?”

  Ellis sighed and shook his head. “The worst thing my old man did was root for the Yankees when we lived in Boston for a few years. I think he did it just to piss everybody off.”

  It was a cold day in hell when Ellis Hunter was the voice of reason in any situation.

  “Then don’t pretend to know how I feel. Shit, I don’t even know how I feel. Right now, I’m trying not to feel anything to be truthful. My father and I have had issues my entire life but this is off the charts horrible.” She had to know the truth. “Answer me, please. Do you think my father had people use this house to torture and possibly kill someone?”

  Sitting heavily on the bed, Ellis slumped over, resting his elbows on his knees. “I don’t know.”

  “Do you think it’s possible?” she persisted. She wanted a goddamn answer.

  “Yes, it’s possible,” he said hoarsely, still not looking her in the eye. “Anything is technically possible.”

  She shoved the rest of their clothes in the bag along with their toothbrushes. “You answered the question by avoiding it.”

  “Jumping to conclusions would be the worst thing we could do. We need more information. Your father could have been an innocent pawn in all of this.”

  “I suppose that’s true.” A month ago she might even have believed it. Pushing their clothes down, she zipped up the bag. “I packed for both of us. Where are we going?”

  Ellis stood and pulled her into his strong arms, his body solid as the proverbial rock. She couldn’t stop herself from leaning against him, using his strength when she felt so incredibly weak. She had so many questions but no answers. The thought of doing this without him was unthinkable.

  “Good question. Is there truly a safe place? I’m not sure there is. I was thinking a hotel outside of the area. Maybe Orlando or Sarasota. Then we can change up in a few days.”

  This was her life now. On the run. Ducking and hiding from shadows. Was she in danger? Was she not? Nobody knew the real truth.

  Just how Evandria wanted her to feel.

  Caressing his stubbly cheek, she lifted up on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss to his chin.

  “Wherever you want to go. I trust you.”

  A knock on the door interrupted their kiss. To Peyton’s delight, Ellis grumbled as he let in Chase, who had a smile on his face in direct contrast to his friend’s grouchy mood.

  “What are you so happy about?”

  Chase just laughed at Ellis after giving Peyton a wink. “You really are a bear with a sore paw at times. I’ve a good mind not to tell you about my discovery.”

  “Talk.”

  Not perturbed in the least by his friend’s growl, Chase showed Ellis his phone. “We got a hit. An office building in Winter Park. It has the same name as one of the streets on Alex’s paper.”

  Ellis’s gloom and doom instantly turned to something far different. His eyes lit up and he stood straighter. He had a tangible goal and that made all the difference.

  “Sounds like we have a field trip then.”

  The next morning, Chase and Ellis sat in their car watching the front entrance of the small office building. This was hour number three. They’d arrived early, just as the sun was coming up and inspected the outside of the building as thoroughly as possible. According to the property tax records they’d been able to dig up, this building – Herringford Centre – belonged to a company called Arsenal Architecture, Inc.

  That could not be a coincidence.

  Arsenal Architecture appeared to be a shell corporation, however, owned by another corporation which was owned by a third. It would take some research to untangle the spaghetti of holding companies to find out who actually owned the building. Ellis was sure that was by design.

  He didn’t know what they were going to find; probably nothing, but they’d mutually decided to stake out the building to see if anyone showed up or exited. So far they’d eaten a dozen donuts and drank a hell of a lot of coffee but the office building was deserted.

  “We’re probably wasting our time,” Ellis sighed. “It doesn’t look like anyone works here. We can go if you want to.”

  Chase’s lips twisted. “I hate to fucking give up but I think you’re right. Our best bet is to find out who owns this building along with that house in the Caymans. See how they’re connected to Peyton’s family.”

  “Our best bet is exactly what I’m afraid of,” Ellis replied bluntly.

  “How is she holding up?”

  “She’s the strongest woman I’ve ever known. She’s hanging in there but she doesn’t deserve this shit.”

  Chase nodded. “None of the women do, but I have to admit that this has been especially hard on Peyton, what with suspecting her father and maybe her brother too.”

  “I’m just hoping her father is like most of these Evandria members. Faithful to what they think is the mission but they don’t look too deeply at their leaders.” He glanced over his shoulder at the deserted block. This might just be the quietest street in America. They hadn’t seen a car in at least twenty minutes. “Do you want to go?”

  Chase started the engine and pulled out of the parking space in the strip mall lot across the street. They’d wanted to stay out of sight in case there was someone in the building.

  “We might as well. Are we heading back to the hotel or do we have other business first?”

  “The hotel. I need to call my FBI friend and see if he’s found anything.”

  They had barely pulled out onto the street when another car came from the opposite direction and turned into the small lot in front of the office building, parking right in front of the door.

  Cursing, Chase turned at the stop sign and pulled off on the side of the road where they had an excellent vantage point to watch the car and the entrance but weren’t in direct line of sight.

  Ellis readied his cell phone to take a picture of the driver and his license plate. “If we had left one minute earlier…”

  Quickly snapping photos of the car and plate, they waited, holding their breath until the driver’s side door finally opened and a man climbed out of the car. Ellis’s heart rose into his throat and then fell to his stomach when he recognized who it was.

  Jensen.

  “That’s her brother.”

  Ellis heard Chase’s sharply indrawn breath but his friend didn’t comment on the mess they were uncovering one clue at a time. Jensen and his father were in this Evandria shit up to their necks.

  Jensen unlocked the office door and disappeared inside while Ellis and Chase sat in their vehicle, neither one saying a word. There would be time to talk. A few minutes later Jensen came back out, a file tucked under his arm. He climbed into his car and pulled back out onto the street.

  Chase revved the engine. “Do we follow?”

  “Hell, yes. I want to know where the little peckerhead is going. He and I are going to have a long talk. I’m sick of people lying to me. I warned him and he didn’t listen.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Peyton knocked on the front door of Jensen’s home in Midnight Blue Beach. After hearing Ellis’s story about seeing her brother at the office building and then following him to a house that had turned out to be her parents’ home, she had no choice but to confront her brother. Clearly he’d been lying through his teeth in London and was far more involved than he’d let on.

&nb
sp; Sadly, she hadn’t been all that shocked when Ellis and Josh had recounted their morning. Something deep inside her had known this for a long time. Now she had proof that she wasn’t crazy.

  The door swung open and Jensen stood there, eyes wide with surprise. “Sis, I didn’t know you were stopping by. Come on in.”

  “I didn’t call on purpose.”

  She and Ellis followed Jensen into the living room, perching on the edge of the couch cushions. Jensen remained standing. It was a clear giveaway from her brother that he was nervous.

  He damn well ought to be.

  Ellis had agreed to take the back seat on this at the beginning so she plunged right on in.

  “What business did you have at the Herringford building this morning?”

  Jensen’s jaw went slack. “I’ve never heard of the Herringford building. Is it one of our holdings?”

  “Stop lying,” Peyton snapped. She could feel the heat in her cheeks as her anger and frustration grew. He actually believed he could play dumb and she’d buy it and leave. “You were seen, so don’t be an asshole your entire life, brother dearest. Start talking about who owns that building, what you were doing there, and what your real job in Evandria is. Don’t stop until you’ve told me the truth. All of it.”

  Pacing back and forth in front of the large bay window, Jensen didn’t answer right away, instead taking his time to gather his thoughts.

  Or make something up. At this point, she couldn’t trust him to tell the truth about the weather outside. Finally he halted, his shoulders rising and falling rapidly with his breathing.

  “I don’t know who owns that building. Dad asked me to go get a file there so I did.”

  Ellis leaned forward at the mention of her father. “Did you have keys? What file were you supposed to retrieve?”

  “Dad gave me a set of keys and said that no one would be there. I assumed it was one of our office buildings. As for what file, it was on Grant Hollister.”

  Grant? How did he fit into all of this?

  “Did you see what was in it?” Peyton asked sharply.

  Jensen shook his head. “No, I didn’t bother to look. I assumed it was research Dad had commissioned on Hollister. He’s up for Caldwell’s position as president of Evandria.”

  “Our father is up for president?”

  Her brother laughed. “No, Hollister. He’s got a real chance, too. He’s very popular with the membership.”

  Peyton and Ellis exchanged a quick glance. This threw a whole new light on Grant. Willow was convinced he could be trusted but now Peyton had her doubts. Was he taking over for more power or was he trying to clean up the organization? She did remember what he’d said.

  Trust no one. Not even her own family.

  “Do you remember when we were kids and went on that cruise in the Caribbean?” Peyton asked. “We visited some friends of Dad’s on the Cayman Islands. Do you know who they were?”

  Frowning, Jensen chewed his lip. “I remember the vacation and I remember visiting some of Mom and Dad’s friends. This was the Caymans?”

  Peyton nodded and pulled the photo from her purse, handing it to her brother. “It was a beautiful house located on the beach. It was called Ellingwood.”

  He looked it over and shrugged. “I remember going there but I don’t remember their names. Is it important?”

  She was tired of his games. “Do you have so little curiosity about what our father has you do? Do you not care if he has you doing something illegal or immoral? Is that all you are? A flunky for Dad? I thought you had more original thought than that but I guess I was wrong.”

  Color flooded Jensen’s face. “You have no idea what we’re doing.”

  Ellis stood, his hands on his hips. “Then educate us. What are you and your father doing in Evandria? You said you didn’t know what side you were fighting on but I think that’s bullshit. You should have been an actor, Jensen. You had us fooled for a little while but I’m on to you and I’m rapidly losing patience.”

  Smirking, Jensen clearly didn’t take the warning seriously. “What is the cop going to do? Shoot me?”

  It happened so fast Peyton had barely taken a single breath when Ellis had her brother by the shirt pressed up against a wall. Their faces were only a few inches apart and Jensen was now seeing what Ellis Hunter looked like when he had had enough bullshit.

  It was her turn to smirk. “I could have warned you, brother dear, but I remembered that you have to learn everything the hard way.”

  Ellis banged him against the wall a few times. “Now, before I have to beat the living shit out of you, tell me what you and your father are doing in Evandria and the real fucking reason you’re having Grant Hollister investigated.”

  Jensen raised his hands in surrender, darting a glance to his sister and then back to Ellis.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you what I know, which isn’t much, I swear. In Evandria they don’t encourage people to ask questions.”

  Backing off slightly, Ellis kept hold of Jensen’s shirt. “So…talk. We’re listening.”

  Lying in the king-sized hotel bed later that night, Peyton cuddled close to Ellis, her fingers absently stroking his chest. After listening to Jensen’s story and then talking it over with their friends, she was at a loss as to what to do. Her brother had insisted that he and their father were working on the side of good in Evandria, battling the rogue faction. As far as Jensen knew, Grant Hollister was honest and trustworthy, a man to lead the next generation of Evandria and work to clean up the rogue faction.

  It was what he’d told them next that was the hardest to believe… Supposedly Charles McMillen had sent his only son to that office building to steal the rogue faction’s file on Grant. Apparently it was going to be a deadly battle for the presidency of the organization. Winner take all. The group was on the precipice and it could tip either way, depending on how the wind blew.

  “Do you believe him?” she finally asked, staring out into the darkness. A sliver of light coming through the curtains cast shadows around the room.

  She couldn’t see Ellis’s face but she could hear the steady thump of his heart under her ear and feel the strength and comfort in his strong arms wrapped so securely around her. After everything she’d been through and learned about her own family and husband, she should have been cowering in a corner somewhere but with this man at her side she felt like she could get through anything.

  That was love. She was sure of it.

  “I don’t know.” Ellis’s voice was hushed in the empty silence. “Let me put it this way. I think he believes it.”

  “I’ve had issues with my father over the years – and with my mother too but to a lesser extent – he’s difficult, arrogant, condescending, and he doesn’t listen worth a damn. But he’s my father, and I don’t want him to be an evil person. I don’t want him to be a killer or someone who sanctioned it.”

  Her mind simply wouldn’t allow her to sleep. There was too much going on and so much to think about. She’d already come to grips with the reality that she’d been blind most of her life to what was happening in her own family. Because she’d hated to even be involved in the day to day affairs of being a McMillen, she’d turned away and concentrated on anything but them. Now she could see how that had kept her from uncovering the truth, and they’d been happy to keep her in the dark. If she’d been more content with her role as Charles McMillen’s daughter would she be a member of Evandria now? It was highly likely, considering her father had married her off to a member of Arsenal. He must have never lost hope that she’d return to the family fold.

  Sitting up, she strained to see Ellis in the darkness. “We have to speak to him. If he’s truly fighting the rogue faction, we have to know what he knows. Maybe we can help each other.”

  Ellis reached up and snapped on the bedside lamp, making her blink until her eyes adjusted to the light. “I think you’re right but I also believe you need to temper your expectations of what he’s going to share with us. So far, n
o one has given us a decent answer to any of our questions. All we get is obfuscation and ambiguity, and your father has given us no reason to believe talking to him will be any different. Hell, it might even be worse.”

  She leaned back against a pillow. “I can’t argue with your logic. Maybe it’s a little girl that wants to believe in her daddy, but once he sees how much we’ve learned in such a short time I think he might open up.”

  Ellis was conspicuously silent.

  “Your thoughts?” she prompted when he wouldn’t speak up. It wasn’t like him not to give her his opinion whether she wanted it or not.

  “You won’t like them.”

  “Probably not,” she sighed. “But go ahead anyway. I’m getting used to how pessimistic you are. I’ve decided to find it enchanting.”

  “If your father is high up in the organization…”

  His voice trailed away and she had to nudge his arm to keep him talking.

  “And?”

  “What if he’s not on the good side of Evandria? What if he’s playing with the rogues? Doesn’t that mean—well, you know?”

  The thought had already crossed her mind a thousand times since she’d talked to Charles McMillen that day in London. If her father was a senior member of Evandria, and was in a leadership position in the rogue faction…

  That meant her own father was trying to have her killed.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “What did you tell Chase?” Peyton asked as they walked up the stone path to the front door of her parents’ Midnight Blue Beach home the next morning. He wanted to get this conversation – or rather interrogation – with her father over as quickly as possible. It was doubtful that Charles McMillen was going to welcome their questions.

  “I told him we’d come by as soon as we were done here,” Ellis replied, straightening his tie and then giving his shoulder holster a small pat to reassure himself that his gun was still safely stowed away.

  This was Peyton’s family so the chances of anything dangerous happening was low but he wasn’t going to take any chances. This case had taught him two things: Trust no one and expect the unexpected. If the butler pulled a Rambo and opened fire on them, Ellis wouldn’t be shocked. Or unprepared.