Page 15 of Justified Lies (TFH Team Bravo #3)

“Hey,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her into his embrace.

It seemed like the most natural thing to do.

For three years, he had been trying to get her out of his system, but none of that had worked.

And now, he could see why. He understood on a level that maybe he hadn’t been ready for all those years ago. “We’ll figure it out.”

She pulled back enough to look at him. “We?”

“Woman, I’m not about to leave you hanging. Even if this wasn’t my case, I would help you.”

“Don’t be nice to me, Kap. I can’t handle it.” Her tone had turned brittle. It was as if he said one word wrong, she would fall apart.

“Well, get used to it, Eden.”

She swallowed. “Just…don’t be nice to me for the investigation. I can handle anything but your being nice.”

“You want me to be mean to you?” he asked.

“I can’t handle you being nice to me, then not.”

Understanding slammed into him. He had wounded her more than he had known, and it was his own damned fault.

His fucking ego had been damaged. Kap had struck out, fear being the main reason.

In the following years, he had convinced himself that he had been right.

That she had lied to him made her untrustworthy.

Now, he understood more, and maybe, just maybe, he’d never get her to trust him again.

Panic clutched him by the balls at that thought.

“I know I was an ass before, but I promise not to turn my back on you. We are in this to catch the killer.”

She nodded, then settled her head against his chest again. He just had to figure out a way to prove to her that he had learned from his dumbass mistakes from three years ago.

They heard a car door, and she sighed. “That has to be my brother.”

But before they could get to the door, alarms were going off.

She frowned and looked at her doorbell app. She held her phone up for him to see. He saw two people wearing ski masks—not common in Hawai’i, of course. Then, they reached up and hit the light.

“That is not my brother,” she said.

Fuck, he’d left his gun upstairs. From the look on Eden’s face, she had the same thought. “Do you have Graeme’s number?”

She shook her head and, of course, he didn’t remember it.

“I’ll call Ian. He’ll get hold of them.”

She moved further back in the safe room as Kap shut and locked the door.

Usually, he would confront the guys, but since they had come armed, it was best to wait for reinforcements.

On top of that, he had no idea if they were alone.

It went against every instinct he had. He was a fighter and a protector, but he knew it could get them both killed.

“Ian, are you on your way here?” She listened to him for a second or two. “Get your ass in gear. Two intruders are in my house.” She rolled her eyes. “We’re in the safe room. Hurry.”

She hung up the phone, then brought up another camera. Kap crowded closer. It was a camera from outside showing that there was one driver in the car. With her brother and Ian on the way, they should be fine.

They listened as the bastards stomped up the stairs. “Eden, you might as well come out now.”

That helped clarify what these two wanted. They had not hit her house randomly.

More stomping around, things breaking, and now they were getting frantic.

Kap pulled her closer, and she shivered in his embrace. He didn’t know if she was freaking out or if she was angry. Perhaps a mix of both, but likely more anger. The murmur of voices faded as they headed out of the house. Soon, they heard the sound of El and Ian calling their names.

Eden unlocked the door and stepped out.

“Ed!” El said as he rushed toward her, pulling her into a big bear hug. It only took a moment for him to take notice of Kap standing in the doorway. His gaze moved down Kap’s body, and by the time he’d raised his eyes to meet Kap’s once again, there was anger simmering in them.

“What the fuck?”

“It’s the middle of the night,” Ian said, tossing Kap a bone. “Besides, we have more to worry about if someone was looking for your sister.”

“Exactly,” she said, pushing away from El and stepping closer to Kap. “We need to figure out who the hell they are and just what the hell they wanted.”

And they needed to do it before the bastards came back.

“We need to move you,” Ian said. “This place isn’t safe.”

She nodded, and her shoulders drooped a little. Kap wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her everything was going to be all right, but, at the moment, he wasn’t sure if she wanted that from him, especially in front of her brother and partner.

With a sigh, she rolled her shoulders, then her spine straightened. “I’ll go pack a bag.”

Once she left, El stepped closer to Kap. They were close to the same height, but Kap had a few pounds on the man. Kap understood that El was probably more lethal than he had ever been.

“Just so you know, we will be having a discussion about whatever is going on here.”

“Calm down, Elwood,” Ian said as he started looking over the lists. “First, it’s the middle of the night, so it’s to be expected that he is half-dressed. But secondly, your sister is a grown woman. She makes her own mistakes without your interference.”

Both he and El were locked in a stare-down.

“There has to be something that connects all these people.” The murmur was barely above a whisper, but it reached both him and El. They turned to look at the other man.

“We talked to Sam before the men showed up. She said there had to be something, and we needed to start with both El and now Eden.”

“Why Eden? I was the one taken.”

He looked at Eden’s brother. “Because they’re coming after her now.

Granted, it might be because you’re stirring up trouble, but I don’t think it is.

” He also had been thinking about this—although it left his blood cold.

Three years ago, El had been taken, but the breadcrumbs to find him didn’t seem that difficult.

“Also, she was told of your abduction. That might have been about getting you and her in the same place to kill you both.”

“Agreed. There has to be something that connects all of you,” Ian said.

“You should call Sam,” he said to El. “We need her to see if she can trace the men who were here tonight. They didn’t seem to be that good.”

“They got the drop on you.”

“Actually, they didn’t. We were down here looking these over when we heard them drive up. We had no weapons on us, and they came in hot.”

“Fine, but we will be having a talk.”

He said nothing to that as El turned away and stomped out of the room.

“You will have to deal with him, you know.”

“Nothing happened.” But his voice did not sound convincing to his own ears.

“I’ll call Dillon and get a safe house.”

“Wait,” he said. “I think we need to go with a TFH one.”

He glanced up from his phone to look at Kap with one eyebrow raised.

“Y’all had your information compromised already.”

“Do you think you have a better place for her to stay?”

“We need something not on the record. Do we know of anything that would work? Nikki has some connections, but they’re mainly on Maui. I know Eden doesn’t want to go there.”

“Indeed. Let me put a call in to Warner. He might have some ideas.”

“Do you trust him?”

He studied Kap for a long moment, his gaze assessing. “With my life. And better yet, I would trust him with my sister’s life.”

Kap nodded.

“Then do it. This bastard seems to be ramping things up. We need to get them both somewhere safe.”