She stares at me defiantly at first but then slowly softens. “You’re right. I do kind of act on impulse sometimes. I trust you, babe. I do, really. I’ll go back if you think its best.”
“It’s best,” I say impatiently. “Your father won’t bother you with any more lectures. He has a bigger problem. He’ll have his entire focus on Margot.”
“Will you find Margot? Tanner, tell me she’s all right. I can’t bear to think they might have hurt her. She must be so frightened.”
“This is my fuck-up. I’ll make sure we get her back in one piece,” I say, walking down the hall to my gun.
“It’s not even a little your fault,” she says. “Don’t say that. You were no longer on the job.”
“I’m always on the job. I just slipped.”
“You have a life and my father made it impossible,” Tris says. “It’s not a crime to put yourself first every once in a while.”
“Listen, I understand what you’re trying to do,” I say. “It’s not necessary. I knew security was lapsing because of me. I knew vulnerabilities would rise and I knew the crew would grow soft during transition to new leadership.”
“It wasn’t your watch, babe. You know that.”
I strap on my shoulder holster. “All I know is that I did nothing.”
Chapter 20
Trista
I’m so horrified about Margot. And I’m so grateful that my father allowed me to stay at the house without asking too many questions. It didn’t even seem to bother him that Tanner knows what’s happened with Margot. Maybe a life-altering crisis can put things into perspective even for someone as stubborn and vindictive as Jordan Kane.
Three hours have gone by since I asked my father if I could stay in the house while Margot was missing. There has been no news since, no phone calls asking for money, no threats and no clues either. The more time that passes, the more the chances of her safe return go down. We all know that.
Tanner’s out on his own doing what he does best. Maybe I’m wrong but I’m sensing that even my father takes some small comfort in that. My mother and sisters definitely do and they’re vocal and open about it. They have witnessed the mad skills and insane tenacity of Tanner Hayes, how he can take control of almost any situation.
I never knew before why Tanner is so fearless, but now it’s becoming clear to me that he fights against his regrets every single day of his life. Facing danger is a necessity for him and it will be until the day he fully forgives himself. I want to be there to help him with that.
Oh, please, Tanner, please just bring Margot home.
“We should do something,” my mother says. “We just can’t sit around waiting. We’ll lose what’s left of our minds.”
“What should we do, Mom?” Alice says. “Make cookies? Take up knitting?”
My mother shoots her an irritated glance. “It wouldn’t hurt you to be a little kinder during this time of uncertainty, Alice.”
“Mom’s right,” I say. “We can’t just wallow in this, we should keep busy.”
“We could play cards,” Elsie offers. “Or Xbox if you feel more audacious.”
“Xbox,” my mother says, shocked. “Really, Elsie, you still play all those horrific games? You’re a twenty-four-year-old woman.”
“Girls play video games, Mom,” Elsie says. “You should give Assassin’s Creed a try. You read all those historical romance novels.”
“Yeah,” Alice agrees. “And Mom should check out these cosplay-Parkour combination videos on You Tube. They’re mind boggling. I was just watching them this morning. It’s like Cirque du Soleil in the streets. She loves that kind of thing.”
“She totally would,” Elsie says.
My mother’s more than a little befuddled. “What on earth are you girls talking about?”
We laugh. We can’t stop laughing actually. Thank God for Elsie’s Assassin’s Creed obsession. We need all the distractions we can get.
One of the guards, Dominic, comes to the living room carrying a tray with coffee cups from Starbuck’s.
“I thought you might need some caffeine, Mrs. K,” he says as he sets the tray on the coffee table.
“Goodness,” Mom says, “you didn’t have to do that, Dominic. We have some excellent Colombian blends in the kitchen. Marcy would have brewed some coffee if you asked.”
“Marcy doesn’t put caramel and cream in the coffee,” Elsie says, grabbing one cup. “Thanks, Dominic.”
“Yes, of course,” Mom says, remembering her manners. “That was very thoughtful of you, Dominic.”
“Any news at all?” I ask him, hoping for something positive.
“We are exhausting all channels. Mr. Kane is overseeing everything and will no doubt update you when he has a free moment.”
Translation. They have nothing. And if they did, they are censored. No one dares to tell us anything without Daddy’s permission.
No one responds to his non answer.
“I’m sure it will all work out,” he finally says.
How could he be so sure? I want to challenge his word choice, but decide to let it go. I’m trying to learn to bite my lip. It’s a work in progress.
Dominic bows a little. He picks one of the coffee cups and turns to go. He missteps somehow and manages to spill some of his coffee onto my jeans.
“I’m so sorry,” he says, a split second before I realize what has happened.
Oh shit, I feel the warmth of the coffee soaking through onto my thighs and knees. Thank God the coffee wasn’t scolding. “It’s okay,” I say, trying to act like it’s all cool. “It’s not hot.”
“Go change those pants, honey,” Mom says. “All your stuff is right where you left them in your closet.”
That’s true, but I don’t want to be alone, not even for a minute. I want to stay with my mother and sisters. They’re a welcome distraction. I don’t want to face this suffocating panic alone.
“I’ll escort you,” Dominic says, sensing my reluctance.
What? I don’t need to be escorted in my own goddamn house. Ha! So, it’s my house now. I’m a nutcase.
Dominic hovers, totally weirding me out. When he starts shaking the coffee cup he’s holding, it finally dawns on me that he’s trying to get my attention.
I lift my eyes up to him and he nods, knowingly.
My heart stops. I think I get it now. “All right,” I say. “I guess it wouldn’t be easy to ignore coffee-stained jeans.”
I exit the living room with Dominic in tow.
“What was that all about?” I say when we’re out of earshot of my family.
“This way, Miss Kane,” he says.
He takes me out back and into the gazebo my father built when I was a little child. A sudden memory of baby Miles in his stroller inside that same gazebo one bright spring day surfaces in my memory. I must have been four or five at the time. I shudder and I close my eyes for one second. My mother can’t afford to lose another child and I can’t lose one more sibling.
“What’s going on, Dominic?” I say when I open my eyes, almost certain Tanner has something to do with this.
“There are cameras in the house,” he says. “It’s better to talk here. It’s not a big deal but I’d rather no one in the house notices.”
“Notices what?”
Dominic is not very tall, but he’s stocky and muscular, so when he blows a strand of hair off his forehead like a child, it looks funny.
“Tanner called me earlier,” he says.
“I guessed this much.”
“He has a lead, maybe, but he can’t be certain and he doesn’t want to take any risks. Miss Margot’s safe return is all that matters. He needs backup and he thinks you can convince your father to let Tanner work with the team.”
“That might be easier said than done,” I say, pensively.
“It’s more than that,” he says. “The team needs him. We just want to get your sister back in one piece.”
“Dominic, I don’t know. My father…”
I say without finishing.
He nods, considering my words. “Miss Kane, if I may?”
“Please, call me Tris.”
He nods his agreement. “Tris, from what I have seen, your father’s only weakness is his love for you girls. You can make him listen.”
I consider his words. “Can anyone make Jordan Kane do anything?”
“You can,” Dominic says before he walks back to the house.
*
Make my father put Tanner back where he belongs—at the head of his security team. Yeah, right. Sounds like a fool’s errand.
I find him in his study, sitting in the big armchair by the window that he favors. He’s hunched over, chin resting on his fist. He’s so deep in his thoughts, he doesn’t notice my presence right away.
Standing by the door for a couple of seconds, I sense something about my father is off today, like he’s not himself somehow. When he finally turns his face to me, I realize what is wrong. My father looks like he’s grown at least a decade older since yesterday. The truth hits me. For the first time in his life, my father looks old and it pains me to see him like that.
“Tris,” he says, sadly. “Is there something you need?”
“Just to talk. Is that okay?”
Instead of an answer, he points to a second, smaller armchair he keeps on the opposite side of the room.
I drag that armchair all the way next to his. He watches me as I do this and I’m thinking that he’s about to reprimand me for lugging furniture over his expensive carpet, but instead he looks out the window.
“Have you sat here long?” I ask him.
“Here? No, not long. Just a few minutes to collect my thoughts. But you’re right, I should be where I’m needed.”
I inhale slowly, readying myself for what I’m about to say. “You’re needed here. I need you right now, Daddy.”
“My little Trista,” he says and there’s melancholy in his eyes. “I always thought you’d be the one to get yourself in this kind of trouble someday.”
“So you don’t think I’m in trouble already?”
He smiles. “Don’t push it. What did you want to talk about?”
“I need a favor from you,” I say.
His attention is with me now one hundred percent. “It’s a strange time to ask for a favor, sweetheart.”
Another deep breath in. “Let Tanner help, Daddy. He needs the team and the team needs him. This is for Margot. You know he’ll do it anyway, but if you put your resources together…”
He raises his hand to stop me. “You’d be wrong to think I haven’t considered that.”
“What’s stopping you then?”
“When one of your top men betrays your trust, you cannot let them back in, Trista. I’d look weak, an easy target.”
“You’re already a target,” I say, but immediately regret my words. I’m sure that’s not the way to get through to my father Dominic was talking about. So I start all over. “Tanner never betrayed you so much as he helped me. I was his assignment. He was my protector. You know he’s a purist, Daddy. He reacts on instinct. He has great respect for you. No matter how you feel about him, you know he’s the best at what he does. The assignment is everything for him.”
My father remains silent, a battle raging behind his intense eyes.
Chapter 21
Tanner
It feels unreal to be back at the head of my security team, going through camera footage from the parking lot where Margot was last seen before she entered a yellow cab. We have finally pinpointed the moment when a man in a dark hoodie punctured the tire in Warren Clifton’s car. His face is half-covered by the hoodie but I am certain it’s a young man, probably between the ages of twenty-five and thirty.
Digging around the parking lot earlier paid off, too. I was able to locate a witness, one of the two valets on duty last night, who claimed that the cab that showed to pick up Margot belonged to the Independent Cab Company, not the Yellow Cab Company that Warren says he called for Margot while he decided to stay and wait for his road service to show up to change the tire. A man like Warren Clifton doesn’t like to get his hands dirty.
“Independent Cab has verified they have a cab missing,” Dominic tells me as soon as he gets off the phone.
“Bingo, the valet was right,” I say. “Did they have the license plate?” I say.
“They did,” Dominic says, handing me a piece of paper.
Derek sits at the desk that’s used to be mine. I don’t give a shit about the damned desk but I sense resentment in Derek’s body language which we don’t have time for right now. He’s supposed to be a professional, not acting like a kid who had his candy stolen. He’ll come around eventually, but I don’t have a second to waste.
“Should we give that information to the police?” Derek says as he files his nails with his pocket knife. “They’re still not convinced it’s a kidnapping.”
“That’s up to Kane,” I say, realizing I’ll have to come face to face with him sooner or later. He might have given the green light for me to come back temporarily but our relationship is still complicated. The death squad he sent to the cabin comes to mind.
As if on cue, Kane appears, escorted by two new men. He fixes his eyes on me before he walks to the desk where Derek sits.
“What do we have?” he says.
“Making progress, Sir,” Derek says, springing back to life. “We have the license plate on the missing cab and the valet thinks he can identify the driver. They exchanged a few words.”
I don’t mind him being the mouth piece for what the whole team has been working. And I know Kane couldn’t care less who did what. Let Derek have his moment. Maybe it will help him get his head in the game.
“Good,” Kane says, nodding. “Let’s find the cab.”
“We’ll need all our resources on this,” Derek says.
“Anything you need,” Kane says. His phone rings. Everyone is the room stills when Kane answers. “Jordan Kane.”
The look on his face is revealing—it’s the dreaded call we knew would come. The call that will determine the course we have to take.
“I’m listening,” Kane goes on. There’s a long pause. “If you hurt her… no, you listen to me… I won’t agree to anything unless I talk to her.”
I step in front of Kane, signaling to him to put the phone on speaker. He’s so caught up in this, he forgets basic shit.
“Daddy,” Margot says through sobs.
Kane’s face hardens for a second and then comes undone. His facial muscles collapse into a mask of pain. “How are you, baby? Have they hurt you?” he says, as calmly as he possibly can.
“I’m fine,” Margot says and then she starts crying again.
“Son of a bitch,” Kane curses through his teeth. “Listen to me, baby. It will all be fine. We’ll get you back no matter what it takes.”
“Daddy… is Warren okay? Tell him I love him and I’ll be back for his birthday on February 8th… ”
“Okay, that’s enough,” a harsh voice says. “We’ll call in two hours with all the details. Think this through, Kane. All you have to do is give us back what belongs to us and you can have your precious daughter back.”
Jordan Kane growls like a hurt predator when the line cuts off. He sweeps everything off the desk—laptop, papers, a glass of water—with one swift swipe of his hand. He’s beside himself.
My men step back, waiting for Kane to calm down, but I step in front of him once again. “Can we put our differences aside so I can bring your girl back?” I tell him.
Kane glares at me. “How do you propose to do that?”
“I know where they have her.”
Kane eyes me with disbelief. “How is that possible?”
“Margot’s a smart girl,” I say. “She remembered the training we gave the girls about sending clues in emergencies like this. She just gave us the missing piece to the puzzle. You’d have heard it if you weren’t so emotional.”
Kane is more than a li
ttle intrigued now. “How?”
“February 8th, remember what happened on that day last year?”
A grin forms on Kane’s face as he gets it. “Warren’s brother invited us to a Tennessee Williams play. He had a small part in it.”
“How do you remember that, Sir?” I say.
“Because the 8th was not Warren’s birthday, it’s Trista’s birthday. I remember leaving her party to attend the play.”
“Margot knew we would catch her mistake,” I explain. “Tennessee Williams was the hidden clue. They have her at the Williams Warehouse. They’re the ones pulling the strings.”
Kane nods with a severe, cold look in his eyes. The fact that I called him Sir doesn’t escape him. “I know you’ll do what’s necessary,” he says. “What do you need from me?”
Coming from him, that’s almost a blessing. “I’m going to go in alone. They think I’m no longer active with the organization. They won’t see me coming. I won’t draw any attention. Give me two hours before you inform the police.”
Kane extends his hand which I shake immediately for a brief second. Whether it’s a temporary truce or something more lasting, only time will tell. Right now I just need to do the job I was hired to do.
In the locker room, I change into black pants and a black t-shirt. I grab two of my guns and put them in their holsters safely.
As I turn my head, I see her standing by the door. Tris. Her eyes hook onto mine immediately. There’s fear in her pretty eyes. Man, I love this girl so much but I can’t let her break me down right now.
“What are you doing?” she says.
I hesitate for a second, but I know I can’t hide anything from her. “I’m going to bring Margot home,” I say, slipping my arm into the sleeve of a black jacket.
“You can’t go on your own,” she pleads with me. “You’ve barely recovered from that gunshot.”
She comes to me, placing her hands on my chest. Her touch feels so good and I want to take her into my arms but that would make leaving harder.
“I’m not a normal, man,” I say calmly, taking her hands and resting them back onto her sides. “Pain does not deter me.”
Bodyguard Dearest (Bodyguard #1) Page 14