Accidental Shield (Marriage Mistake #6)(54)

“Sorry,” Valerie whispers. “I just couldn’t—”

“You did beautifully,” I say.

No need for her to explain anything.

Ray throws the phone into his car, then wrenches open the door and climbs in. A moment later, his tires squeal as he takes off. The guy near the t-shirt stand jogs over and jumps in a white Ford Edge. The white van leaves, too. Both it and the Edge go in opposite directions. Neither following Ray.

Shit. Looks like they weren’t part of his backup crew after all.

I’m sure that call was tapped. I’m glad I made damn sure her phone isn’t traceable. Anyone who tries will just get a revolving pattern of hits on every tower on Oahu.

I glance back in my rear-view mirror. Bryce isn’t even watching the commotion, too sucked into his game, the corner of his mouth twisted in concentration. He looks up and sees me, finally, yanking out one earbud.

“Aw, man. I missed it?” he asks.

“Told you, dude. Boring stuff. We’re almost done here.” I wink, watching his face go sulky as he puts the little speaker back in his ear and looks at his Switch again.

“Aren’t we leaving?” Val’s pained expression says she doesn’t want to waste another second here.

I shake my head. “Give it a few. We’re gonna sit tight till I’m sure the coast is clear.”

“How will you know?” she asks, frowning.

“I’ll know.” And I will, waiting not-so-patiently for the all-clear from my boys.

She nods, then wipes at her cheek with one finger. She still has her sunglasses on, but she’s turned away from the light, so I can’t tell if she’s crying.

Doesn’t take a frigging psychic to sense her sadness, the brave front she put up fraying her apart little by little. The poor girl’s been traumatized enough.

“You know, if I haven’t said it before,” she says quietly, “I need to now.”

“Say what?”

“I just...I appreciate you, Flint. Everything you’re doing. All for nothing in return,” she answers, her voice strained. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. Where I’d go, if I’d even be alive...”

“Hold the praise, Val. I’ll hear it when the job’s over.”

It’s all I can manage. My phone pings with a text, telling me we’re good to go, so I take us into Honolulu. We’ll stop by this ramen place Bryce loves since I promised the kid something. That’ll also buy us a different route home plus more time for Ray Gerard to scram back under his rock.

Trouble is, I can’t stop thinking about her last words as we drive in silence.

I didn’t want a risk in my life like her.

A smoking hot, screwed up little minx who drives me halfway out of my skull, who puts flames I doused years ago back in my blood, who brings me face-to-face with a darkness I swore I’d always keep away from my son.

She’s bad luck I never asked for, but it matters so fucking little now, I’m almost laughing.

A hard knot forms in my gut. I know exactly what would’ve happened if Cash hadn’t found her, if he hadn’t brought her to my house.

The Cornaro wolves weren’t going to stop combing the beaches. They wanted to devour her.

It’s a sobering fucking truth, and it drives home how much she’s counting on my brains, my strength, my uniquely deadly skill set.

Without me, she’d be dead.

That’s not gonna happen. She’s still the same pretty, wounded dove she was the day she showed up on my doorstep. I’ll be damned if she doesn’t deserve her chance to soar.

Come hell, come terror, come blood, come the worst case of blue balls in the known universe, I’ll keep Valerie Gerard safe.

She’s mine until there’s nothing left to save her from.





9





Two Against One (Valerie)





It’s hard to imagine my own brother hates me, but he does.

Maybe he always has. I can’t remember, and for once it doesn’t bother me.

Sometimes this amnesia thing is a mercy.

It takes the killing edge off the whispers on the wind billowing in from the sea. I hear them now, sitting on the lanai not long after we get back to his place, lost in my own thoughts, wishes, and prayers.

I can’t forget what just happened back there. My own freaking brother hates me, possibly enough to want me dead.

I saw something Ray didn’t want me to, or I got too deep in his affairs.

There’s little solace knowing he won’t rest until he’s scrubbed his biggest threat—me.

Honestly, there’s little solace in anything right now, except Flint Calum.

I’m truly grateful for all he’s doing. If it wasn’t for him and Cash bringing me here, I’d be dead right now.

This island isn’t big enough for a proper witness protection fix. Sooner or later, I’d be recognized, especially as the long-lost daughter of a wealthy fishing magnate, with the brother who isn’t shy about flashing his success to the world.

I can’t believe the police would have a safe house on Oahu that wouldn’t be compromised in record time. I should be down on my knees, thanking my lucky stars.

Flint knows what he’s doing.