Page 57 of Crossed By the Stars

“They’re getting information somehow,” Dax pushed, frustration leaking through his tone and his body.

“The person who delivered it worked for one of those paid messenger services. We’re following the lead,” Cillian insisted.

Dax turned to me, but I was stuck on the wordbetrayer. Kaida had whispered it to me outside the sedan after my father had followed us toEn Feu.

I sank into the nearest chair. Kaida had been my bodyguard for years afterOtosanhad sent my male chauffeur packing. She’d pulled me from clubs when I could barely walk, made sure I was with the men I left a party with by choice, and searched high and low for me the night I’d disappeared into Dax’s bed without warning. I’d completely trusted her with every aspect of my life, even when I knew she was reporting back to my father what I did. She’d still felt…safe.

BecomingOtosan’sdriver after he’d disowned me was Kaida’s reward for having spent years trailing after the shameful daughter. She idolized my father, knowing who he was, like I’d once idolized him not knowing.

“Is my father still in San Francisco?” I asked Cillian.

He nodded.

“I think… I think it might be Kaida Ito.”

I explained why, and Dax’s face grew dark.

“If it’s Ito-san, then your father is surely behind it. She wouldn’t risk doing something without his approval,” he said quietly.

I wasn’t so sure. “I don’t know. In some ways, she might feel like it’s her duty to keep him in the dark while she handles it. TheOyabunshouldn’t have to get his hands dirty. He should be able to deny any knowledge.”

“But she knows your father would be unhappy with her. He commanded everyone to stand down. Wouldn’t it mean she was dishonoring him as well?” Dax questioned.

Yes. But maybe, like two wrongs making a right, two dishonors would bring back respect. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.

“It’s still something we can check,” Cillian said, leaving the room.

The silence left behind was heavy and dark.

Dax handed me a plate of food, but I couldn’t do much more than fiddle with it.

After I gave up, Dax led me out the back door to where a vehicle waited. It wasn’t a typical golf cart. It was a souped-up version, half quad and half cart. It had room for four people and a small trunk space. There was a picnic basket already stowed there with a blanket and a beach bag.

As I went to get in, Dax handed me an oversized, floppy hat.

“Where’d you get this?”

“By the back door. I know you like to stay out of the sun if you can help it.”

My white skin burned easily, the blisters peeling away to reveal only more pale flesh instead of the warm oak that Dax turned in the sunshine.

Dax joined me in the backseat, and two of the security team, Mike and Armando, climbed in front. When Dax tugged me up against him, I pushed away.

“The ride down to the beach is going to be bumpy,” he said in my ear. “I want to cushion you so it doesn’t hurt as much. Please let me.”

“Now you say please? Where was that earlier when you threatened to haul me to the beach in my nightgown?”

Mike made a small choking sound, and it had my lips curling upward. Dax couldn’t see it because I was tucked up tight against him with my skin slowly turning into molten lava. But I still felt the quiet chortle that went through him, the somberness of the kitchen lifting ever so slightly, just like the fog slowly dissipating from the shore.

Dax

11 PAST THE HOUR

“Forget the world.

I'll hold you in my arms,

As we twirl around.”