Page 17 of Kane (Ghost Ops #4)
Chapter Ten
Daphne stiffened. Her mind raced. She opted for calm disinterest as she turned her gaze on Kane.
The last thing she’d expected was to be back in a vehicle with him, going to the farmhouse he lived in, and bunking for the night. This entire experience was jarring, and her nerves were on edge.
“I wish I knew. Do you think I wanted somebody to break into my apartment and scare the hell out of me?”
“I didn’t say that. But why did it scare you so badly?”
“Oh, you mean I should have just said, oh well, la-di-da, no big deal, I’ll sleep in my bed tonight and not think twice about some strange man picking my lock and strolling around in my home?
Because I assure you, whatever you think is going on, I don’t think there’s anything worse than your stuff being violated by a stranger and you don’t know why.
It’s creepy, Kane. Creepy enough to make me jumpy as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs—but who wouldn’t be? ”
Her voice had steadily risen with her little speech until she finished on a yell.
She knew there were worse things than her home being violated, but she couldn’t admit that to him.
He didn’t say anything about her practically screaming at him, though she felt bad almost immediately for doing it.
But she was rattled and fearful, and he was the closest target.
“Fair point.”
“Gee, ya think?”
In truth, she was entirely wigged out. She didn’t know that her brother had found her, or that Nathan Fader was an associate of her family’s, or that what’d happened was anything less than some creepy dude with a crush on her.
She’d encountered a handful of men at the range who seemed a bit more focused on her than she liked, but none of them made her feel as uncomfortable as Fader had.
Still, it could be a coincidence. Her brother wasn’t likely to break into her place and let her know he was in the area.
His style was more malicious, less artful.
Jackson would have been waiting inside with a gun and a cocktail laced with sedatives that he’d have forced her to drink before he carted her back to New Orleans.
And he’d have only done that once she produced the evidence she’d stolen.
He wasn’t going to break in and search her place looking for it when he could simply threaten her into telling him where it was.
She knew his style like she knew her own soul.
Unless he’d experienced his own crisis of conscience, he would not be lurking in the shadows, thinking how to approach her.
And she had to think that if Fader was an associate of her father’s, he wouldn’t be poking around either.
He’d simply call the man himself and tell him where to find her.
Or he’d haul her back to NOLA in chains, hoping for a reward.
Because no way did she believe her father had shared with anyone other than Jackson what Daphne had stolen from him.
He wouldn’t want it to be common knowledge.
Allegiance only went so far, and there wasn’t enough you could pay criminals to be loyal when they thought they might have the key to bring your empire down.
No, her father wouldn’t send anyone but Jackson after her. Too risky, especially if he thought she might make a bargain with whoever he sent.
Daphne was spooked, but she wasn’t defeated. She wasn’t dumb enough to keep that kind of evidence anywhere on her person, or near where she lived. She’d stashed it in the safest place she could find. A place guarded by six former military men with brawn, brains, and plenty of heart.
They had lockers in the break room for the employees, and Daphne had her own.
She’d outfitted it with a combination lock so she didn’t have to keep up with a key, and she’d stashed the memory card with all her father’s business dealings inside.
She kept a sweater in there, a pair of tennis shoes, and a couple of books.
She’d tucked the card inside one of the shoes, and she periodically reached inside to make sure it was still there.
Paranoia, because who would take it? Nobody knew it was there except her. And nobody knew what was on it.
“You’ve been acting different since Nathan Fader showed up yesterday,” Kane said. “So don’t blame me for asking.”
Daphne’s eyes pricked with angry tears. “I’ve told you he’s creepy. I don’t like him, but if you go banning him from the range, I think he’s the kind of guy who won’t react well.”
“And you have experience with those kinds of guys, huh?”
God, this whole thing was turning into a mess.
The edges of her two lives were starting to blur, and she didn’t know how to separate them again.
She thought about the gun she had buried deep in her duffel bag, the one she’d kept packed in case she ever needed to bolt. She was bolting now, but not far.
But what if Kane or one of the guys found the gun? It wasn’t registered to her.
It wasn’t registered to anyone, which was definitely a red flag.
If the intruder had taken it, she’d be out a weapon. But it was still there. She’d checked when she’d looked in the closet, reaching inside and feeling around until she found its hard bulk.
Thank God.
“I’m a woman, Kane. Of course I’ve experienced creepy guys who don’t like being told no. Again, he hasn’t said or done anything wrong. It’s me. He creeps me out because he reminds me of someone I didn’t like, okay?”
Kane blew out a breath. “Yeah, fine. I’ve got Seth running a background on him. We’ll see where he’s from, and where he was today when the break-in happened.”
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but if she said not to do it, that would make Kane even more suspicious. “I want to know what you find out.”
Because if she heard the O’Malley name mentioned at all, she was going to have to make a decision—though the thought of having to leave Sutton’s Creek made her heart hurt.
“Planned on telling you, Sunshine.”
“Thank you.”
They reached the smaller of the two farmhouses on the property where the range was located.
She’d heard the story from Emma and Rory about how the Jackson farm had been a cotton farm for years until the last generation passed away.
When the only living Jackson son had married in the late eighteen hundreds, his parents had built another house on the property for him to raise a family.
He and his wife were prolific, producing eight children, but only two of them survived to adulthood.
The family had been in decline since, until the last surviving Jackson died and the farm was sold.
Daphne had been inside both houses, and she knew that Kane and Ethan shared the smaller house and Alex had the bigger since Chance and Seth had moved out.
She liked both houses, but the smaller one was cozy, like a cottage.
There were four small bedrooms on the second floor and a big parlor, dining room and kitchen on the lower level.
There was a basement that had been intended for storing food originally, but was now only used when the tornado sirens were blaring.
Assuming the guys weren’t up at the range, which had a tornado shelter on the premises.
Kane grabbed her overnight bag from the backseat before she could, then headed up the steps to the wide porch running along the front of the house.
He turned off the alarm on his phone before unlocking the door.
Daphne followed him inside, weariness flooding her bones as the adrenaline that’d been carrying her along started to subside.
“You know where the kitchen is if you need anything in the middle of the night.” He started upstairs.
The staircase was in the middle of the house and there was a landing halfway up before the steps turned and went the rest of the way to the second floor.
“It’s a shared bath, unfortunately, but there’s a half-bath downstairs if somebody’s in this one.
This is my room and that’s Ethan’s,” he said, pointing at rooms across the hall from each other.
“This one’s a spare, but it’s got a bed and dresser.
There’s a small TV too, if you want to watch anything.
Ethan bought a bigger one and put his old one in here. ”
The room was small but cozy, just like the house. She had a random thought that her closet in New Orleans was bigger. Kane set her bag on the bench at the end of the bed and looked at her.
“I’m sorry somebody violated your space, Sunshine. And I’m sorry for grilling you. It’s what I do, though. I’m a security specialist and I can’t help but look for reasons shit’s happening. I also want to fix it. Which, I promise you, I will.”
Her throat was tight. She knew he meant it, but she was also scared for him if it turned out her family was involved. He couldn’t tangle with them because they had no qualms about eliminating people who stood in their way.
And that she couldn’t handle. She cared about all of them too much, but maybe she cared for Kane a little more than the rest.
“Thanks. It’s probably just random, and I’ll feel better about everything tomorrow.” She fixed a smile on her face. “I’m getting a car of my own. That’s something to look forward to.”
“It is.” He huffed a breath. “Need to say I’m sorry for some of those things I said to you tonight, too.
I don’t want you uncomfortable because I crossed a line.
I was pissed off, but that’s no excuse. I like you, Daph, and if I was the kind of guy who didn’t have a shitload of baggage to handle, I’d behave a lot better than I do.
I’d ask you on dates and seduce you slowly.
I’d promise you the stars just to make you smile.
Because you deserve those things from a man. You don’t deserve my brand of shit.”
Her heart hammered and her eyes stung. She wanted to tell him he was wrong, that she was the one with the shitload of baggage, and that hers was much worse than anything he could dream.
She didn’t deserve anything good, not really. Not like he thought she did. But there was no way to say those things without telling him why.
“You don’t need to apologize, Kane. I did some shit-stirring of my own. You didn’t cross any lines. I pushed, and I shouldn’t have done that.”
They stood with their gazes locked, not moving.
Daphne fought the tug in her soul that urged her to cross the space and wrap her arms around him.
She felt her loneliness more keenly than she’d ever felt it before.
She wanted to be held. By him. She wanted to curl up beside him and sleep with his warmth surrounding her, his presence guarding her dreams.
Only Kane could do that for her. She was certain of it, and yet she knew it wasn’t going to happen. There was no way to breach the chasm between them.
“Goodnight, Sunshine,” he said softly, turning away.
“Goodnight, Kane.”
The door closed behind him. Daphne swiped angrily at the hot tear that spilled down her cheek.
“Better off this way,” she muttered as she climbed onto the bed and curled onto her side.
She was asleep in seconds.