Лиза Джонс - Beneath the Secrets

Seconds turned into minutes and she didn’t move. She just stood there, staring at the man with the gun, him staring back at her. Suddenly, a roaring sound filled the room, radiating through the ceiling. A helicopter. Myla was leaving on a helicopter. Panic rushed over Kara. She could never track Myla if she left by sky. Her mind raced, seeking a solution, but before she could come up with one, the door behind her burst open. The man guarding her whirled around and pulled his gun. A second later he was on the ground and Blake was holding the gun that had put him there.

“Myla!” Kara screamed, running towards him. “The chopper!”

Blake handed her a gun and Kara gladly accepted it, and in the process he grabbed her and kissed her. “Don’t ever fucking scare me like this again.”

“I’ll try,” she promised. “My sister, Blake. She’s with Alvarez on that chopper.” She took off for the hallway of what appeared to be an office building, with Blake on her heels.

“Here!” he shouted, pointing at a stairwell entry.

The charge up the four flights of steps was eternal, and they cleared the door and made their way to the roof too late. The chopper was lifting off. Kara slumped in defeat. “No. No. No.” She turned to Blake and shouted. “Alvarez is with her. He has her. He—” A blast sounded and Kara and Blake both turned to watch the chopper go up in flames.

Shock surged through Kara and the gun fell from her hand. She began to shake, and she couldn’t catch her breath. “No. No. Nononononono.” And then her knees gave way and she was falling. Blake caught her to him and she grabbed his shirt, tears streaming down her cheeks, a waterfall she couldn’t control. “Save her. Please. I…Please. Help her, Blake. You have to help her.”

He pulled her tight against him and hugged her, and she clung to him, the only strength she had left. “I’m here, Kara. I’m here.”

But Myla was gone.

Chapter Seven

After hours of officials swarming the secluded office building off the San Francisco shoreline, feeling hollow and stunned, Kara sat in the back seat of a van. Blake was beside her, practically attached to her side, acting like he’d never let her go again. And she needed that. She needed him. Without Blake, she wouldn’t even be sitting upright, trying to survive.

“Send it to my phone,” Kyle said and ended a call, punching a button on his cell and watching something on the screen.

“You okay?” Blake asked.

Kara teased a strand of his hair, wishing she could wash the torment from his eyes. It had killed him to think she might be dead. Like losing Myla was killing her. “Yes,” she whispered. “Because of you.”

“You need to see something,” Kyle said, moving to squat in front of them.

“When you say that it’s never good,” Blake said grumpily. “Not now.”

“This time it’s good,” Kyle insisted.

“Nothing can be good right now, Kyle,” Kara said, and when she thought she was done crying, her eyes burned all over again.

“Watch this,” Kyle insisted, shoving his phone at her and Blake.

“Kyle…” Blake started.

“Just watch,” Kyle repeated.

Blake grimaced and punched the “play” button. An image of Alvarez climbing into a car had Kara sitting up straighter, her heart racing as Myla appeared behind him and paused to glance up at the flame-filled sky. She whispered something Kara couldn’t make out and disappeared into the car. “Oh my God,” Kara murmured as the screen went blank, her gaze lifting to Kyle’s. “She’s alive? Myla’s alive?”

“She’s alive,” Kyle assured her. “The explosion was a setup to make us think she and Alvarez were dead.”

“How’d you get this?” Kara asked.

“As soon as we arrived,” he explained, “I set up surveillance and one of the cameras wouldn’t download. Luke just got it to roll.”

Kara looked at Blake, a new kind of pain filling her. “What is it?” he asked, stroking her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“She’s not a prisoner.” It hurt her heart to say it out loud. “Myla’s with Alvarez by choice. She told me she loves him. She’s alive, but I’ve still lost her.”

“No,” he said. “He’s brainwashed her. We’ll get her back.” He slid a hand to her neck and rested his forehead against hers. “You and me, sweetheart. We’ll find a way.”

***

The ringing of a cell phone pierced the silence of the dark hotel room and beside her, Blake groaned and reached for it on the nightstand. Two days had passed since she last saw Myla, and every clue to finding her again had come up empty. It was as if her sister and Alvarez had really died in that crash.

Kara sat up as Blake murmured, “Yeah,” into the phone and climbed out of bed. Now that she was awake, the image of the helicopter blowing up played in her mind again, as it had a million times over. It didn’t matter that Myla hadn’t been in the explosion. Kara kept reliving the moment she thought she was, the moment she was sure her sister was dead.

In nothing but Blake’s shirt, Kara stepped onto the chilly balcony and rested her hands on the rail, staring out at the twinkling lights of the Golden Gate Bridge without really seeing them. How could Myla put her through so much hell? Did her sister really love Alvarez that much and her so little?

The door opened behind her and Blake slipped a robe over her shoulders. “You’re going to freeze. What are you doing out here?”

Kara slipped her arms into the giant terry garment and turned to let him tie it, noting he’d thrown on nothing but a t-shirt with his boxers. “You’re going to freeze, too.”

“I’m not worried about me,” he said, wrapping her in his arms. “I’m worried about you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Who called at whatever ungodly hour this is?”

“Two o’clock,” he supplied, “and it was Royce. The Coast Guard picked up Ignacio off the coast of Mexico on a boat full of drugged women. He’s singing like a bird. The feds are raiding Mendez’s operation tomorrow and closing down the entire restaurant chain.”

“And Alvarez won’t be anywhere near here when it happens.” Which meant neither would her sister. “I don’t know how I’m going to find Myla, and do I keep trying? She doesn’t want to be saved.”

“You save her anyway. That’s what siblings are for. They look out for you, when you don’t look out for yourself. And I would know, since mine live in the same building with me and never let me forget it.”

“You live in the same building as your brothers?”

“Separate units, but the same building. Walker Security is on the bottom floor.” He stroked a hand down her hair. “Kara, I want you to come to New York with me and consider working for Walker Security.”

“Work for you?”

“Work with me. Live with me.” His eyes softened. “Marry me.”

Her eyes widened with surprise. “Marry you?”

“I know we haven’t known each other long, but I know all I need to know about you, Kara. But if you need time, you have it. I’ll ask you every day until you say yes, starting with today.” He went down on one knee. “Marry me, Kara.”

She smiled. “That sounded like an order.”

He smiled, a devastatingly sexy smile, and stood up, pulling her hard against him. “To hell with asking. I’m going to make you my wife.”

Kara wrapped her arms around his neck. “You know I don’t take orders well.”

“Take this one, Kara.” His voice was husky, roughened with emotion.

And once again a Walker brother made her eyes burn. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I’ll—” He kissed her and Kara melted into this man who’d changed her life. This man who would never let her be alone again. This man who would be her husband.