“Do you have your pilot’s license?”
She bit back a laugh. “I’m going to assume that was your version of a joke.” She cleared her throat. “Will you have the plane land if I ask you to?”
“Of course.” He shot her one of those what-are-you-thinking frowns. “You’re not a prisoner.”
From the look on his face she thought he probably believed that. “We’ll debate that and your boundary issues later.”
“Must we?”
As if she would let him off the hook that easily. From her limited time with Wren she understood that he worked better with clarity. If she gave him a fuzzy edge or wavered in her words, he’d find a loophole. He was not going to be that lucky this time.
But first they needed to get on the ground, which led to her other question. The one she hadn’t answered before the night took its weird turn. “Is anything missing from my apartment?”
“From your filing system, we think some parts of the Tiffany files. But you’ll need to confirm that.”
“The break-in is about my renewed investigation.” Her heart tumbled and a heavy sadness moved over her. The not knowing weighed on her every day. The thought Tiffany could be out there, pleading for help and praying it would come, fueling her mind on empty hope, chipped away at Emery’s confidence. Shaped how she led her life.
He nodded. “Clearly.”
The honest answer delivered a slap, but she welcomed it. Wren was a mass of imperfections, but every word he said appeared to stem from the truth.
Adrenaline pumped through her. “Which means the person who took her is nearby. Tiffany could be alive.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” He leaned forward with his elbows balanced on his knees. “It means someone is watching and concerned. That’s the only conclusion we can jump to at this point.”
She understood him now. Sometimes he threw out the convoluted sentences as a way to get her to focus on something other than the topic. Other times, he cut right to his reasoning and kept her expectations low. He’d performed the two tricks over and over. It only took a heavy dose of plane air for her to work it through. “Are you afraid I’ll get my hopes up or are you really thinking this might not be the attacker?”
“Both, possibly.”
The gobbledygook option. “Thank you for that definitive answer.”
“It kept your mind off the fact you’re on a plane.” He pointed to the window off to her left.
“It didn’t.” She glanced out at the horizon. A pattern of lights outlined the DC metro area. She made out a twisting river and rows of lights from cars still piled up on the highway south of DC, leading into Virginia.
The world was quieter up there. The questions didn’t matter. She didn’t possess stacks of files and need to search for answers. She floated and relaxed and concentrated on the soothing sound of his deep voice. But it wasn’t real and the world below them called.
“We need to land,” she said, wishing it weren’t true. She’d much rather linger up there, soaking up the romance of the starry night.
“Okay. It will take a few minutes to get to the private airport and get permission, but this should be pretty fast.” He reached over and grabbed a telephone hanging on the wall. He issued a few orders then nodded to her lap. “Seat belt.”
“Just like that?” That seemed far too easy. Few things with him so far had run that problem-free.
“I’m in charge, remember?” He exhaled. “And I need to make a call.”
“To?” She fumbled with the metal clasp. It took two clanking tries to get the locking mechanism to work.
“My second-in-command. He’ll need to meet us since your guards dropped us off and they’re back at your apartment.”
“That sounds reasonable.” Which made her skeptical. “So, what aren’t you saying?”
“The other goal for taking you out of the house was to be out of range in case your apartment had a listening device planted in it or, worse, the person who keeps breaking in—regardless of whether this relates to Tiffany—was nearby.”
“There are so many scary pieces to that sentence.” She tried to take it apart and analyze it and still couldn’t make it all work.
“Hence the reason we’re in the air.”
Her stomach took flight when the plane started to descend. “Not for much longer.”
“Correct.”
“And you’re not going to pull a stunt like this again. Not ever.” Though she really doubted he could top this one.
He shook his head. “I’m not promising that.”
She rolled her eyes. “What a surprise.”
CHAPTER 20
The plane bounced to a stop almost a half hour later. The engines still roared and bells dinged in the background. She could hear Wren’s side of the conversation on the phone with the pilot. It sounded like flight stuff, but she had no way of knowing. She also wondered what came next.
Before she could ask, the cockpit door opened. She spied a flash of the sleeve of a white shirt and a man’s gray hair. A few more bangs and the plane’s door opened.
She glanced out the window in time to see someone coming up the stairs. Then a face appeared. Looked younger than Wren, but not by much. A tall, handsome dark-haired man in a fancy suit that looked all too familiar in its tailoring.
She watched him step closer, struck by Wren’s lack of urgency and absence of concern over their guest’s arrival. This must be the guy who worked with Wren, but she wanted to be sure. “Who are you?”
“His friend, Garrett McGrath.” He sat across the aisle, facing them. “The person he’ll call as a character witness at his upcoming kidnapping trial, though I honestly don’t know what I’ll say to excuse this stunt.”
Wren glared at the newcomer, an obvious friend. “She wasn’t kidnapped. I was keeping her safe until I knew the area was clear.”
Something about the ease of conversation and the way Wren didn’t fight Garrett’s presence told Emery what she needed to know. They knew each other well. Well enough for Garrett to step in and not stumble, which meant he was all too familiar with Wren’s misfiring behavior.
“Does he actually believe that?” she asked Garrett.
He smiled at her with more than a little compassion in his eyes. “Unfortunately, yes.”
Wren tapped his fingers on the armrest of his seat. “I landed the second she told me to. Well, as soon as was feasible.”
“Well, there. Totally reasonable behavior.” Garrett leaned in closer. “Who could fault you?”
She liked Garrett. She knew little more than his name, but she sensed the attachment to Wren. That made Garrett someone she wanted to know. The amusement in his voice and hint of wariness in his eyes reminded her of how she dealt with Wren.
Mostly, she wanted Garrett and Wren to know she didn’t understand what happened tonight but was willing to chalk it up to Wren’s oddness. “I’m fine.”
“See? She’s fine.” Wren pointed at her but talked to Garrett.
That was more than a little annoying. Rather than tell him, she tried to appeal to the more logical of the two. Shifting in her chair, she tucked her legs under her and faced Garrett. “My sense is that he doesn’t understand the enormity of his controlling behavior.”
He nodded. “That is a kind way of putting it.”
Yeah, she liked Garrett more every passing minute. He could be a great asset in helping with her Wren-deciphering skills. “What would you say?”
“He pays my salary, so let’s go with your words.”
Now that was interesting. “You work for him?”
“Yes. I’m second-in-command at Owari Enterprises.”
She’d learned more information in two minutes from this guy than she had the entire time she’d been asking Wren questions. Wasn’t that interesting? “What’s that?”
“The name of his business.” Garrett looked at Wren. “What did you two talk about on all those coffee dates?”
Something clunked in
her head. The idea of Mr. Top Secret spilling date information . . . well, she couldn’t even imagine that. “He told you about those?”
“No.” Wren finally talked but that’s all he had to offer.
Garrett chuckled. “I didn’t give him a choice.”
Maybe Garrett was a little too much like Wren after all. “I don’t understand.”
“He’s overseeing the bodyguards and has conducted surveillance on you,” Wren said.
Garrett winced. “That sounds worse than it is.”
“I’m assuming he ordered it.” There was something freeing and quite enjoyable about talking around Wren while he sat right there. She wanted to rapid-fire questions at Garrett and get all those answers she craved.
“Smart woman,” Garrett said.
“I used to think so.” But her attraction and ready forgiveness for Wren had her wondering. “My biggest concern right now is that the whole unconscious-and-on-a-private-plane thing isn’t more upsetting to me.”
The initial wariness and being ticked off gave way to something else. Wren did this for her. To protect her. On one level she loved the attempt. It was the execution that turned out to be an abject failure. But she sensed she could fix his aim if his instincts were good.
But maybe that was wishful female thinking. It was possible she’d seen one too many happy-ending movies where the love of a good woman could change a man. Thanks to her life experience the idea never held any appeal to her. Now, the idea held more promise for her.
Wren glared at her. “You knew I wouldn’t hurt you.”
Only he would think scowling was a good way to get out of this mess. “Is that the point?”
“Yes.”
Garrett shook his head. “If you would have met him a few years ago you’d realize that this is such a better version of him than before.”
“What was he like?” God, she wanted to know. She’d sit on the plane for hours if it meant getting a peek into the real man behind the black suit. Start with his actual name and the rest of his personal story and she could spin the rest from there.
Wren offered the answer. “Fine.”
A tsk-tsking sound filled the plane as Garrett continued to shake his head. “Hard to resist that charm, isn’t it?”
It actually was. The play of light and dark. The stack of flaws that combined to make Wren so compelling. And yes, the charm. He buried it deep, but it snuck through sometimes.
“How long have you known each other?” she asked Garrett since asking Wren questions about what he considered private information hadn’t helped her all that much.
Wren’s frown deepened. “Why are you asking him?”
“Because you never tell me anything.”
He shrugged. “You know more than most.”
Two steps forward, ninety-two steps back. “Honestly, that’s your response?”
Garrett exhaled as he stood up. “I’m just going to go ahead and issue a blanket apology for his behavior and general cluelessness.”
“Is that necessary?” Wren grumbled the question under his breath. Added in some impressive swearing while he was at it.
Garrett kept talking directly to her. “This is usually the point where he pretends to fire me.”
“Does that happen a lot?” For some reason that made her laugh.
“Daily. Whenever I disagree or tell him he can’t do something.”
She could totally see that happening. “Does he get angry?”
Wren waved a hand in front of her face. “I’m right here.”
“Not in a yelling and screaming kind of way,” Garrett said, talking over Wren.
This time Wren stood up. “Are you two almost done?”
Garrett didn’t back down. He put a hand on the back of Wren’s seat and stood there. “Just about.”
“I have more questions.” She raised her hand. Since she was the only one still sitting, she didn’t know if they even saw it, so she just talked louder. “And I would love to hear the conversation that goes along with the firing.”
Wren ducked his head and glanced out the plane window. “Too late. He’s getting out.”
That got her to her feet. She guessed Garrett didn’t need a shield or someone stepping in to fight his battles. Still, she felt pushed and wanted to push back. “You can’t just kick him out. I don’t even know if we’re in Virginia, Maryland or DC.”
“Thank you for being offended on my behalf, but that’s my car.” Garrett pointed at one of the two cars sitting near the plane. “Do you need a ride?”
“She’s coming with me,” Wren said.
She didn’t have time to figure out where they were or how the cars got there. No, Wren dove right in and had her head spinning. “Since you asked so nicely?”
“The guards are finishing the sweep and installing a new security system at her house so we don’t have a repeat of last night.”
“You’re not good at asking for permission from me, are you?” Forget that she didn’t have money for that and had no idea how she’d keep up the monthly charges. Her bigger concern was his ongoing insistence that he knew how she should lead her life.
Yes, the break-ins scared the crap out of her. The implications, the connection to Tiffany, had panic eating away at her stomach lining. But she’d survived all these years and been able to function because she took control. She wasn’t ready to hand that over now.
Not that Wren looked convinced. He shot her one of those you-know-better expressions. “That’s not really my style, now is it?”
“A supremely tone-deaf response.” Garrett clapped Wren on the shoulder. “Well done.”
She ignored the show of male bonding and thought about the safety issues. She was not one to take that for granted. She’d lost so much and almost lost everything. Only lucky timing and a heap of teenage anger kept her from being in the wrong place when the horror came. Saved her from crossing the line into victimhood.
One point Wren was trying to make did get through. New alarm system or not, she couldn’t stay in her apartment.
Questions flooded her brain and she started asking them. “Is the plan to take me to a hotel or a secret cabin or—”
“My house.”
Garrett whistled.
Emery forgot how to breathe. It took all her concentration to get even a partial sentence out. “Where you live with . . . ?”
“Alone.” Wren morphed back into the brooding guy she met the first day. Brooding with a big splash of grumpiness. “I’m not going to kill you, if that’s the concern.”
“That’s . . . wow.” Garrett whistled again. “We need to work on your dating game.”
On that, Emery disagreed. She also wanted to stay on track, so she kept her focus on Wren. “I’m impressed you live in a house and not a bunker or hole of some kind.”
Wren glared at her. “You continue to be confused about whether I’m human.”
“Gee, I wonder why that’s confusing for her,” Garrett said.
She was too busy thinking about where he would live and what it would look like to get derailed. “This house doesn’t have one of those panic rooms, right?”
Wren shrugged. “Actually, it does.”
Of course it did. It probably also had an elevator and staff. Yeah, going anywhere near the place would be a mistake. She was about to tell him that but another sentence slipped out of her. “Let me put it this way. Do you plan to lock me in it?”
“You can go anywhere and do anything you want in my house, which is in DC and not out in the middle of nowhere.”
“You being invited into the inner sanctum is huge,” Garrett said. “Hell, you knowing his name is a stunner.”
Wren never broke eye contact with her. “Emery, your answer?”
“While I’m impressed, you’re acting as if you’re giving me a choice—”
“I’m trying not to make another misstep.”
She believed him. He knew he’d gone too far. For the right reasons, maybe, but he’d crossed a line.
Now he was walking it back and doing it in a way that made much more sense. She decided to view that as progress. “Fine, but you should know I hate when you talk to me in that tone.”
“You’ve made that clear.”
Just when she was on the verge of giving him what he wanted he said something like that. “But yet you keep doing it.”
“It’s the only tone I have.”
“No, it’s not.” But she saw the way he curled his hands into balls and held his body so stiff. He was waiting for a blow, expecting her to refuse. That wasn’t going to happen. “You’re impossible, by the way.”
He must have sensed that he’d regained the upper hand. Some of the stress left his eyes and the frown tugging at the corners of his mouth eased. He barely spared Garrett a glance as he issued an order. “Get out.”
“On that note, I’ll leave you.” Garrett reached out and shook her hand. Held it for an extra second. “As long as you’re sure you’re okay.”
“I am, thanks.” She gave him a smile then let go.
She watched him walk to the front of the plane. Wren’s gaze nearly burned her cheek.
“Emery?”
Her gaze moved to him. Strong, determined Wren. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”
A look of satisfaction spread across his face as he nodded. “Excellent.”
“You’re not going to blindfold me, are you?” Though she wasn’t sure she hated the idea.
A smile lit his face. “Only if you ask very nicely.”
CHAPTER 21
Wren tried to see his house through Emery’s eyes. The layers of security. The cameras. The lead-in through the garage. It probably struck her as a cave. A place someone not normal would choose to live.
They walked in silence to the main floor as he turned on lights and music using his cell. The trail led them to the oversized great room, which opened to the state-of-the-art kitchen. She bypassed both and stopped in another room at the back of the house, the dining room, with its soaring windows and papers strewn all over the tabletop. Papers that outlined and analyzed a horrific part of her life.
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