Hot-Blooded (25 page)

Besides, if the three of them were busy selling, who would manage the shop? Bane couldn’t work full-time. His schoolwork was much more important. And who would take care of the rest of the business? Bills had already stacked up, and the money they’d received from their investors had almost run out. It would take too much time to find individual buyers and to develop relationships with them. They
could
do that if they had to, but it just wasn’t practical.

If they didn’t send their first payment to the investors in two weeks,
their
fucking legs would be broken. Or worse.

“We need an alternative,” Keahilani said, knowing full well they were out of options. She grabbed her discarded wig and hat, blew out the candles, and went into the other bedroom where she’d left her clothes. She donned a pair of loose-fitting khaki shorts and a T-shirt.

They were fucked. So damn fucked.

Her Pele outfit packed up, she wandered into the living room in a daze. Her brothers looked at her. She looked at them. Nothing to say, really.

“Let’s get out of here before the cops show up. Meeting tomorrow at the shop. We’ll restrategize then.” Numbness settled under her skin. She read worry in Kai’s face and grudging acceptance in Manō’s.

The three of them filed out, leaving the broken doorknob hanging by a screw, got into their cars, and went their separate ways. The street was empty and quiet. Most of the lights on the lampposts were broken, but a few hummed as they struggled to provide weak illumination in a place that preferred darkness. Seemed like darkness infested every corner of her life these days. She wore it like a blanket.

Her drug empire had fallen before the concrete in its foundation ever had a chance to dry. Her lover had betrayed her. She might not live past the next new moon if she didn’t find a way to move the shitload of drugs she had stored in the warehouse.

Yep, things were pretty damned bleak.

God, she missed Mahina. If she were here, she would tell Keahilani it could always be worse. She’d say to look at the bright side of things. To get up and head back to the ring swinging harder than ever before. She’d have given Keahilani hope.

A vague buzz from the passenger seat caught her attention. The new phone Manō had given her at their beach meeting earlier. She forgot to switch the ringer on.

Balancing her focus between the road ahead and the vibrations demanding her attention, she fumbled through her purse until she found the phone and unlocked it. A text in all caps from Jezzy greeted her.

Dread seared a path from her heart and exploded like a lightning strike in her limbs.

No.

No!

She read it again and crumbled.

SOMEONE’S AFTER BANE. GET TO HIS HOUSE NOW!

Chapter Twenty-Three

Shortly after midnight, Thursday, October 2

Keahilani’s tires squealed a protest as she whipped the steering wheel to make a tight U-turn toward Bane’s house. She was ten minutes away. Slamming her foot on the gas, she intended to arrive there in five.

Pulse racing, eyes watering, and hands trembling, Keahilani was a ball of fearful, disbelieving rage. Gun. Where did she put her gun? She bulldozed through her purse until her fingers hit metal and laid the weapon on the seat beside her. “Fuck!”

The only reason anyone would go after Bane was his connection to the ‘ohana’s drug business. Someone must’ve found out he was her brother, despite her efforts to protect him from their secrets. She racked her brain for people who might have motive. The list was long, but after she, Manō, and Kai had threatened him, Lui occupied the top spot. They’d humiliated him. Guys like that had no problem taking out their vengeance on innocents.

Or it could’ve been the investors if they got wind distribution wasn’t progressing the way it should have. According to the timeline Keahilani gave them, the drug sales were supposed to start in full force tomorrow, and it was pretty clear that wasn’t going to happen.

The other obvious choice was the hardest one to believe: Blake.

The hairs on her scalp stood like bristles. He wouldn’t have tried to hurt Bane. Would he?

Well, he kept going on about his boss wanting in on her business. If he was as big of a prick as Blake made him out to be, maybe Scott put him up to going after Bane. Pressure was a highly motivating tool when used the right way.

Shit, it probably was Blake. When he hacked her phone, he must’ve gotten Bane’s contact information and tracked him down that way.

Stupid, stupid, Keahilani!

He’d told her he loved her, and she’d almost believed him. She let her feelings get in the way of good judgment. After all the secrets, lies, and misdirection she’d witnessed in this business, she’d fallen for the biggest fraud of all.

She had become her mother despite all the warnings in Mahina’s journal not to.

The eco-friendly engine raced, but it didn’t move the car fast enough. The moon gazed down through its half-mast eyelid like a disappointed parent.
You should’ve kept closer watch on your ‘ohana. You shouldn’t have smoked that pot with Blake. You shouldn’t have gotten involved with him in the first place.

You shouldn’t have been so goddamned naïve.

She blinked away a tear. “Please let Bane be okay.”

Questions sprouted. How did Jezzy know Bane was in danger? Why hadn’t she contacted Keahilani sooner?

Keahilani grabbed her cell and kept one eye on the road and the other on her phone log. Six missed calls from Jezzy spread over the last few hours. The device had been muted while she met with Lui. So, Jezzy really had made an effort to contact her. But the question remained, how did she know?

Jezzy’s powers of deduction were unrivaled, but Keahilani had a sinking sensation in the trenches of her gut that she was connected with Blake and/or Scott too. She was a forensic technology gun for hire. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that she freelanced for more than one seedy operation. Now Keahilani had no idea where Jezzy’s loyalties lay, and that unexpected information gap nauseated her.

Parking on the street in case someone was still inside, Keahilani shut off the engine and quickly texted Kai and Manō, telling them there was an emergency and to come right over.

She grabbed the gun, popped the door, and scanned the road. A few lights burned in nearby houses but no one was outside as far as she could tell. Several other cars peppered the street, but again, nothing out of the ordinary.

Stuffing the weapon in her back pocket, she donned the shadows like a second skin and made her way cautiously to the door, keeping close to the trees and tuning in to every sound. As she approached, sounds inside lit up her dread-o-meter. Hurried movement. A grunt. Footsteps.

That was it. Keahilani pushed against the unlatched door. It swung open soundlessly. The pistol came out, the safety sprung loose, and she settled the weapon into the saddle of her right hand with her left palm under it for support.

Last time she held a gun like she meant it, she killed a man. This time, if she pulled the trigger, she’d have no regrets, no
what have I done?
moment. Just satisfaction in knowing whoever fell within her sights deserved it like that asshole Butch did.

‘Ohana is everything.

And more.

Come on, baby brother. Be safe.

Her shoes squeaked on the kitchen’s linoleum as she rounded the corner and headed for the bedroom where the rustling of fabric emanated. She resisted the urge to call out to Bane. She didn’t want to blow the element of surprise if someone was here.

With each step, her heart pumped faster, sending massive pulses of blood thumping against her eardrums. When she reached the bedroom, the crashes paused while her heart took a breather.

Blake stood over Bane’s still, blood-painted body, gun in hand.

Jesus. Christ.

Blake shot him in the chest while he slept. The cold-blooded bastard killed her precious baby brother. God have mercy on him because she sure as hell wouldn’t.

Keahilani came undone. Fury throbbed like a series of hiccups deep inside her. The windows rattled in their panes. Shadows huddled around her.

Yes. Bring it. Bring me the fire, Pele. Let it strike Blake down and leave behind nothing but ashes scattered in the wind. He. Will. Pay.

“Drop the gun.” She aimed at the center of Blake’s forehead and leveled her fully committed finger on the trigger. The churning lava in her chest regained momentum under the increased pressure and readied itself for an eruption.

A rumble in the distant south. Haleakalā. Extinct no more? Maybe not.

She drew energy from volcano through the roots they shared. She stood taller.

“Kea—” Face pale, Blake held up his hands, still clasping the weapon.

“I said drop it, motherfucker!” She lunged forward and shoved the barrel under his chin, lifting his head with a violent neck crack. Fury consumed her, transformed her into Pele, the only person she could be in this moment.

She should do it. Kill this asshole right now. With the swiftness of an attacking snake, she snatched the pistol out of Blake’s hand.

Madness swirled inside her head, and before reason had a chance to advise her to dial 911, retribution reared inside her like a black hell-horse with slashing fiery hooves, and she retaliated.

Pure reaction and no thought, she shoved Blake away from her beloved brother’s body and targeted his heart. Because that’s where he’d shot not only Bane, but her too.

Blake’s eyes widened, and he retreated a step. Hands still up, he said, “Keahilani, listen to me. I didn’t do this. You gotta hear me out, babe.”

“No. I’ve heard enough of your lies. You killed my little brother!” Clenching her teeth, she let the anger lead her where it would. Blake shot Bane—Mahina’s baby, and now hers by default. Mahina had entrusted her with the task of taking care of him, and she failed.

“You know me. I don’t do guns. This was not me!” Blake’s earnest expression begged.

The balance inside her shifted as a thimbleful of doubt settled in.

Don’t be fooled by his false innocence, Keahilani. He looked you right in the face and lied to you before.
It’s what he did. A professional con artist and hitman, he made a living out of weaving stories and leaving behind bodies as epilogues.

He didn’t
do guns
?

Bullshit.

She rubbed her finger on the trigger and slowly exerted pressure. Just before the hammer caught, a snapshot of his guilty look after he confessed to killing a kid framed in her mind. The reminder gave her enough pause to doubt her accusations and to question his brutality. She slowed her breaths and met his pleading eyes. That kid was probably his only regret in life.

What if, for once, he was telling the truth? Could
she
live with the guilt of murdering an innocent man?

Though they’d had their share of turmoil, they’d also had a few moments of solace in each other’s arms. Maybe even ten seconds of honesty. If she truly believed he didn’t have a soul, she wouldn’t have carried on with him for so long. Even though they were both forged from darkness, they poked a few holes through each other’s blackness and let in just enough starlight to see by.

Hunter meets hunter by the light of the moon.

Only one of them would walk out of here alive.

To kill or not to kill?

How about change the rules instead?

She lowered her aim, tugged the trigger, and blew a chunk out of his leg. He cried out as he hit the floor, groping the gushing, meaty hole the bullet carved into his thigh. Blood splattered on her clothes. She looked down at the glistening red spray paint. Nope. No regrets. If he died, he did it on his own.

“GOD, KEA! FUCK!” he yelled as he writhed like a run-over snake.

“Have some salt with that.” She kicked him.

Jaw clenched, he hissed and spat. “Goddamn it, listen to me, woman! I didn’t do it! He was already shot when I walked in here.”

While Blake cursed and rolled around on the carpet, she turned to Bane, who lay in a pool of his own blood. Tears burned. A crater ravaged his chest. Bone and tendon lay mangled within and—

Wait. What was that? She looked closer. Movement. Miraculously, blood still pumped. “Shit!” She grabbed a handful of sheets, pressed the clump in place, and held it down firmly.

She smacked his face a couple of times but got no reaction. “Bane, can you hear me? It’s Keahilani. I’m gonna get you to a hospital. Stay with me, little brother.” She smoothed the wet hair out of his closed eyes. His cold skin and lack of consciousness gave her little hope, but he was alive. For the moment.

She whipped out her cell to dial 911.

“Kea, before you call the cops, please, listen to me.” Blake groaned and hugged his leg tighter. “I came here to take him out, but someone else got to him first.”

“So, you didn’t shoot him, but you were gonna. That makes you just as guilty, asshole.” She plugged in 9-1-1 on the keypad and pushed the call button.

“There’s been a shooting. I need help right away.” She rattled off the address and threw a disgusted scowl at Blake grasping his thigh. His face had paled and his body was drenched in sweat, swimming in a sea of bloody carpet.