Deadly Testimony (Safeguard #2)(50)

His recounting had become flat, his voice distant. He’d compartmentalized his feelings about those times and he wasn’t willing to feel right now.

She didn’t blame him. While the background information was necessary, the confusion brought on by old angst wasn’t useful. “And his family?”

“I would guess they were eager for him to make a connection with a new wife, most likely with a family to provide more valuable networking for the business in Korea.” Still delivered with a flat tone, sparks of anger were showing up in his gaze now. “Either way, once the divorce was final, he saw to it they had some funding but there was little to hold them in Korea. My nephew has a potential for a bright future here, doing something he loves.”

And Kyle was reinventing himself and his lifestyle to provide for it.

She didn’t know this woman or her son. But the man who was her brother, the kid’s uncle, she was starting to see some incredible things about him.

“All this means no one to come looking for them if something happens to them. I get it now.” Thus his agitation when she’d returned. The danger to them was very real if Phoenix Biotech could easily make them disappear.

“There is only me.” Kyle was quiet, his pride completely set aside. What was left sitting in front of her was a man determined to do what it took to make his family safe. “Please, Isabelle, let me go get them.”

“No.” She’d have given the same answer even before she’d known the nature of the leverage Phoenix Biotech had on him. “Whatever it is you’re going to testify is enough to be worth not just your life, but theirs too. So no, you are not going to run straight to them.”

If he hated her for it, so be it. They had chemistry. Respect for each other. And while the first had been freaking amazing, losing the second would hurt more.

Neither he nor she was going to have any sort of respect left if he did what Phoenix Biotech wanted him to do and prove he was too stupid to live.

Kyle stood but didn’t take a step toward her or the door behind her. Instead, he copied her stance. “What will we do instead?”

“Gather more information, for one thing.” It was her turn to pace, keeping him in her peripheral field of view as she did. He was smart enough to be sneaky and she was not about to let him surprise her now that she was absorbed in the problem at hand. “I need to head out to get a report I was waiting on anyway. While I’m out, away from here, I’ll put in a call to our friend in the streaming video. We’ll find out what they wanted you to do.”

“I’m going with you.” He tensed, ready for an argument. Even if his fists weren’t up, his guard was in every other way.

“Yes. You are.” She smiled, ridiculously amused for no good reason. But they were about to go out and make some things happen. A challenge. So much better than hiding, even if it was crazy. It didn’t make sense. But that was the beauty of it. It was unpredictable. “They’re expecting you to either come rushing out into the open or stay hidden. They’re expecting you to have to fight with your protection personnel either way. It’s time better applied to finding a solution. Something they don’t think you can pull off.”

“But you and I together can?” Humor was softening the hard line of his lips pressed together. “Whimsical. How much can the two of us really do to make my sister and her son safe?”

No room for whimsy here if they were going to be goddamned heroes.

She took the cover off one of the plates of food and snagged a barely warm truffle fry. “We can do recon, then plan. Then we can do something they won’t expect.”

Unfortunately, since their opponent seemed to have a solid idea of how Kyle and the regular authorities tended to think, she was going to have to do some improvisation without his involvement in the decision-making process.

“I’ll tell you what we’re doing, when I can.” She held out a truffle fry to him. After a moment, he crossed the room to where she was standing and took the offering. “And for when there’s not time to tell you, make sure you understand and then get your agreement, you’re going to have to have some faith and follow my lead. No questions. No hesitation. Deal?”

“Do I have a choice?” His voice was wry now, but his anger had been tucked away. Controlled.

“Not really. You hired me to protect you. To get you to the trial alive and in one piece, that’s going to mean saving you from your own too-stupid-to-live moments.” She wanted to reach out, touch him, give him the reassurance actual tactile contact could give in ways words couldn’t. But this thing between them was so new, she didn’t know if it would be welcome. “If that means I need to figure out a way to help your sister and your nephew too, then I will. But we’re still going to do this my way.”

She thought he might balk. His stubborn streak wouldn’t be a surprise here. It was in his nature to be the leader and expect others to follow. Hell, she was fairly sure it was why Austin and Weaver had had so much trouble with him.

Instead, Kyle took her hand in his and lifted it to press a kiss against the back of her hand. Then he turned her hand over and touched his lips to the pulse point on the inside of her wrist. “You’re in the lead. For now.”





Chapter Seventeen

It always seemed to be different with Lizzy.