Eric snickered, tucking the damp locks behind his ear before kneeling down in front of me.
“Feeling better?” I ran my foot up the side of his leg.
“You know I do.”
I chuckled, brushing my teeth over my lower lip as he came toward me for a kiss. I relished the taste of his salty skin, tempted to pull him on top of me. The beach was practically empty bar a few surfers in the water. They wouldn’t mind, would they?
I pushed Eric away before I succumbed to temptation. I’d die if Clayton came back down telling us breakfast was ready, only to find us tangled up together on the sand. Touching Eric’s face, I soaked in his adoring expression then peeled off his mask. Last night’s conversation was still weighing on him. Peeling away a few more layers, I could see the hurt and disappointment. They weren’t buried as deeply today and I wondered if I should be unsettling them even more. But I had to. I loved Eric and he deserved the truth.
“Hey, so after breakfast, I was wondering if you wanted to go hiking, just the two of us.” I tried to keep my expression light, hoping he’d assume I had a little love-making session planned. The idea was actually to use that part to soften him up and then tell him. It was devious, but at least if he was going to storm away from me, he’d be storming away from a naked version of me and it might be a little harder for him to leave.
“That sounds like the perfect way to spend my day.” His smile was exquisite as he stood and reached for my hand. I let him pull me up and we collected our stuff.
My nerves were in a frenzy as we walked up the beach. Yes, telling him was the right decision and that part felt great, but I was also really scared. I just hoped I could make him see my reasoning.
We paused at the road and checked both ways before crossing, my steps faltering as I spotted a familiar-looking car on the other side of the road.
Shit!
Was that Kaplan?
I squinted and noticed the shape was all wrong.
No, that shadow behind the wheel had to be Agent Rhodes.
How the hell did he find me?
I’d replied to Kaplan’s Where the hell are you? text on the way down last night, saying I was out of town. I’d kept it brief.
Out of town. Will call when I get back.
Then I’d turned my phone off, vowing to leave it in my bag until I returned on Sunday.
She wasn’t even supposed to be contacting my private cell anyway, and yet she’d gone and used it twice in the last week. I was still livid with her for calling me when I was in Eric’s bed. What the hell!
“Babe, are you okay?”
“Huh?” I looked away from the car and forced a smile at Eric.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” I blinked innocently and headed across the road.
As we moved toward the narrow path leading up to Clayton’s place, I stole a quick glance over my shoulder. Rhodes was getting out of the car and firing a look my way. Eric turned down the path and I glanced at the agent one more time. His shades were off and he was giving me a steely message that said we had to talk...and we had to talk now.
24
Caitlyn
“Um,” I wiggled my fingers out of Eric’s hand. “Did I leave my shades on the beach?”
“I didn’t think you took them down.”
“Are you sure?” I flicked my thumb over my shoulder. “I’m just gonna go and check.”
“No problem.” Eric shrugged and turned toward the beach.
I flicked the board from under my arm and held it out to him. “Can you carry this back for me? I’ll be right behind you.”
“Oh, okay, sure.” He took the board and turned back down the path.
I raced to the roadside, thanking my lucky stars that he hadn’t made a fuss about coming with me. Peeking over my shoulder, I saw Eric turn right and disappear into his grandpa’s backyard. I sucked in a breath and checked the road before running across it.
Hurrying down the sandy slope, I decided to check the sand and at least look as if I were searching for my shades.
Rhodes would subtly approach me, the way he always did.
“What the hell are you doing in San Diego?” His dry voice made my shoulders ping tight.
I kept my eyes on the sand. “Having a weekend away.”
“You’re not entitled to a break.”
“Yeah, well, last I heard, I wasn’t getting paid for this gig, so I think I can take some time off.”
“I’m sure the girls would love to hear you say that.”
I spun around to face him, not caring who saw us. “Don’t pull that on me. I’ve been working my ass off trying to get the goods on where they might be. I’m hanging out with people I don’t like and lying to the people I really care about in order to make this happen, so don’t guilt-trip me, okay?”
Rhodes shrugged. “I’m just doing my job.”
I let out a scoff and turned away from him.
“Kaplan thinks you came down here to tell Eric what you’re up to.”
My jaw clenched and I looked out to the ocean, determined to keep my gaze locked on the horizon.
“Thought so,” he muttered. “You done it yet?”
I shook my head.
“Don’t.”
“It’s my right.”
“It’s not your right,” he snapped. “You agreed to take this on, and part of the agreement was to work undercover, which means you lie to keep those around you safe.”
My eyes flicked toward him; I couldn’t help it. Something in his tone made my heart seize.
Who was he trying to keep safe? Who did he regret lying to?
I opened my mouth to ask, but he cut me off.
“Kaplan is livid over this. She wants you back in L.A. ASAP, but knows you can’t fumble your way through an early departure, so lucky you. You have the rest of the weekend off.” He huffed and scratched the back of his neck. I wished he didn’t always wear those shades around me; I’d love to get a proper read on him like I did the first time we met. Maybe then I could figure out what was really bothering him right now.
“The second Eric drops you off at your dorm tomorrow night, I’ll be taking you to meet with Kaplan.”
“Why? Can’t I just call her?”
“She wants to bite your head off in person.” He shrugged, his right eyebrow popping up in time with the move.
I snickered. “Look, I get that what I did was wrong, but I tried to tell her. She wouldn’t let me.”
“Well, she’s a focused lady. She goes after what she wants, no matter what.”
“Understatement of the year,” I mumbled.
Rhodes’ lips twitched, but he caught the smile before it had time to bloom. “Look, just do me a favor and toe the line. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of this woman.”
My eyes narrowed and I gazed at his profile. “She scares you, doesn’t she?”
The tough-looking man swallowed, running his tongue over his lower teeth. “She’s a viper on this particular case. I’ve never seen her like this before. She...” he sighed, obviously hesitant to tell me.
“What?”
“When she was a kid, her sister was taken—kidnapped. No one ever found her. She just disappeared without a trace. She could have been murdered...or something worse.” A tendon in Rhodes’s neck pinged tight. “When it comes to stolen girls, Kaplan’s a pit bull. She’s always on the lookout for cases like this and she jumped all over this one. It’s like saving these girls will somehow make up for the fact she couldn’t get her sister back. If she doesn’t find them...” He shook his head, clicking his tongue and looking down at the sand. “It’ll be like reliving it all over again.”
My heart actually squeezed in sympathy...for Kaplan. Something I thought it would never do.
“How old was she when her sister disappeared?”
Rhodes shrugged. “Just a kid. Old enough to know what the hell was going on, young enough to be scarred for life.”
My face crumpl
ed and I crossed my arms, pinching my bicep.
He looked over at me, his expression steely. “Don’t screw this up, Davis, or we’re all gonna pay...” I noticed his unmasked mouth dip. He pressed his lips together, trying to hide his reluctance before breathing out through his nose and muttering, “Including your boyfriend.”
My breath hitched, my stomach squeezing tight as I watched the concern flitter over his expression.
I grabbed his arm. “What do you mean?”
Whipping off his shades, he gave me a clear view into his hard, green eyes. The mask fell away from the rest of his face, revealing something I never expected to see.
Guilt. Conflict. Dissent.
“What is Kaplan up to?”
He swallowed. “You’ll find out when you get back to L.A. tomorrow night.” He flicked my hand off him, sliding his shades back on. “But word to the wise, if you love your boyfriend, keep your damn mouth shut.”
25
Caitlyn
I did what I was told and sealed my confession up tight, locking it into the back recesses of my brain. Anxiety was the perfect padlock and kept me forcing sunny laughter and plastic smiles for the rest of the weekend. Eric and I did go hiking, and we made love by a secluded little lake and dozed in the sunshine. Eric softly snored while I lay in his arms, eyes wide open. My brain jittered with nerves and the exhaustion of playing pretend, but I held my ground and didn’t fall apart until Eric’s car disappeared into the darkness and Agent Rhodes pulled up outside my dorm.
I hopped in, throwing my bag in the back before slamming the door behind me.
“Nice weekend?” he asked quietly as we pulled away from the curb.
“Shut up.” Tears lined my lashes as I looked out the window, reliving my final conversation—argument—with Eric.
“Caity, you have to admit that the further we’ve gotten into this weekend, the more tense you’ve become. I know it’s because you’ll be seeing Quella again soon and you don’t want to. Just move out and let her go.”
“I can’t. You don’t understand.”
“I do understand. I know that you find it really hard to turn your back on someone in need, but she’s draining you completely.”
“It’s not that bad.” I smiled and squeezed his knee. “This weekend has totally rejuvenated me and I’m ready.”
He looked unconvinced.
“She needs me, Eric. I can’t turn away.”
He humphed and kept driving in silence.
I’d thought of a million things to say to break the tension, but I hadn’t uttered any of them. The only one to really work would have been the truth, and thanks to Rhodes freaking me out on the beach, I couldn’t give Eric what he needed.
I closed my eyes and let the first tear fall.
Rhodes was wise enough to stay silent for the twenty-minute trip. We parked underground and I followed him into an elevator and up a few floors. I had no idea where we were; it looked like a hotel. We stopped outside room 204 and Rhodes knocked twice.
The door opened and there stood Kaplan, her expression cold enough to freeze the Pacific. I cast my eyes to the floor and slid past her, walking into the room and taking a seat at the small table by the window. The heavy drapes were drawn shut and I didn’t have the courage to peek out and see where we were.
Instead, I tapped my nails on the polished wood and awaited my doom.
Kaplan let me sweat it out, taking her sweet time to extract yet another file from her black briefcase and take a seat opposite me.
“Proud of yourself?”
I ignored the question, keeping my eyes on the table.
“I sure hope you had a good time, Caitlyn, because until this case is over, it was your last.”
“What does that even mean?”
Kaplan slapped the file down on her table. “It means that if you hadn’t been attached to Mr. Dreamboat, you never would have felt the need to run away with him for a weekend of pleasure.”
“It wasn’t like that; I just needed some time off.”
“You think you deserve that luxury? While twelve girls are suffering somewhere?”
My head popped up. “I thought it was only ten.”
“Two more went missing on Friday.”
I swallowed.
“The fact of the matter is, Caitlyn, Eric is distracting you from this case, which I knew he would.”
“I haven’t told him anything,” I grumbled.
“And you won’t, because you’re going to break up with him.”
“What!” I exploded out of my chair. “Forget it! You can’t make me do that.”
“An entire weekend was wasted while you flittered off for some fun! You need to get yourself an invite to Quella’s place, preferably for Thanksgiving, which is less than two weeks away. How the hell are you going to sell that to him? There’s no way he’s not going to put up a fight and try to convince you to stick around. I’ve thought it through and this will work.”
“No.” I shook my head.
“You break up with him and run crying to Quella. You’ll be distraught and desperate to get away. This will be your chance to drop a few hints that going to Quella’s will give you time to heal. She likes you; she’ll buy into that easily.”
“No!”
Kaplan ignored my shout. “You go there for Thanksgiving, find the evidence we need and you’re done.”
“NO!”
“Look, Princess!” Kaplan stood from her seat and leaned toward me. “You can get back together with him once this is done. If you do your job properly, it should be over by the end of November.”
“I can’t do it.” My voice caught.
“Yes, you can, and you will.”
I shook my head.
“Geez, you can be stubborn when you want to be.” She threw her hands in the air and looked at Rhodes, who was silently standing post on the other side of the room. His shades were still on, dammit, and I had no idea what their silent exchange meant, but I ripped off Kaplan’s mask and a quick unease skittered inside me before she turned my way. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you forced my hand when you took off this weekend.”
“Didn’t want to do what?” I looked back to Rhodes. He flinched, pulling in a quick breath and looking away.
Kaplan cleared her throat. “Sit down.”
My knees gave out and I fell into the chair, the ominous dread in the room making me want to pass out. What had she done? What the hell had she done?
“You forced me to find leverage.”
“Leverage?” My forehead wrinkled as Kaplan tapped the folder on the table.
“I need you to play nice, and if I have to blackmail you into doing that, then so be it.” She flicked the folder open and spun it around to face me. I couldn’t reach for it. As much as I was desperate to look, I couldn’t take my eyes off Kaplan’s face. “I’ve had a very interesting weekend. When you went non-communicado on Friday evening, I knew I had to up the ante, so I got a little hacker friend of mine to help me out.” She crossed her arms, her pristine jacket pulling tight across her shoulders. “While you were riding the waves with your boyfriend, I was discovering some very interesting things about his family.”
She slid the folder toward me, forcing me to pick it up. I gazed down at the picture and gasped. The man staring back at me looked so like Eric it was freaky: the same intense gaze, the chiseled features softened by the floppy brown locks of hair.
“His name’s Antonio Costa.”
I glanced at her with a frown. I’d been expecting the words Declan Shore to pop out of her mouth.
“He also goes by the name Thomas Dunn and Patrick Kuntz, but his real identity is...” Her left eyebrow arched and she stared at me expectantly, like a schoolteacher waiting for the right answer.
I tore my gaze away from her, staring back at the picture and feeling my stomach turn over.
“His name’s Declan Shore, son of Clayton, father of Eric.” She tapped the folder, making it jump in my hands
. I jerked in surprise and glanced at her smirking face. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
I slapped the file closed and threw it onto the table. It slid to the other side, falling against the curtain and getting caught behind the table leg.
“Tut-tut.” Kaplan wagged her finger at me, carefully collecting the file back up and putting it on the table. “You should really go through this. It’s an entertaining read.”
The mockery in her voice made me want to slap her. I ripped at her mask, wanting to eliminate that smirk, but it remained in place, growing more sinister until I finally reached that desperate little girl again...the one who’d lost her sister and never recovered.
“What was her name?” I whispered.
“Who?”
“Your sister.”
Kaplan’s gaze shot to Rhodes, who squirmed and looked to the floor, before she fired it back to me. Her stare was black and hard. I could feel my flesh burning. “Don’t even try.” Her tone was brittle. “I know you can see behind these layers. I’ve been to enough shrinks to recognize the truth: I am a woman driven by the tragedy of my past.” Her granite exterior was hard to break through. I sat in the chair, forcing air to my light-headed brain. “I will never actually catch the person who stole my sister and we will never find her. I cannot repair the damage that was done to my family, but you know what I can do?”
I swallowed.
“I can catch every other fucker who tries to hurt, steal or kill little girls, and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen.” I wanted to bolt from the room and run to Eric’s. I wanted to crawl into his bed and pretend this moment was a nightmare.
But I couldn’t move.
Kaplan’s iron voice worked like manacles on my wrists. I was stuck in my chair and couldn’t say a word as she flicked open the file and cleared her throat.
“Now, this little con man here.” She tapped the photo of Declan. “He scored himself some major cash in a pretty short space of time and set up an account under his ex-wife’s name. Kind of like a trust fund for his kid. Damn hard to trace, I can tell you that. It took my guy hours of hacking to find the money trail that linked Shayna Watson and Antonio Costa.” Kaplan pointed at me, looking damn proud of herself as she spoke of Eric’s mom. “We started with Eric, looking for anything we could pin on him, but he’s pretty clean. I know he had nothing to do with that friend of his dying on the beach, so we had to go wider, start looking at his father...his mother. That’s when alarm bells started ringing. Don’t you think it’s strange that a woman who can barely maintain a job as a nail technician is sitting pretty in Pacific Palisades? Haven’t you ever wondered how Eric pays for his college education?”
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