Kane's Ransom: A BWWM Mafia Romance Novel (8 page)

"So, what do I do?" she asked instead. "I don't have the money, but I can't bear to just sit back and wait for my brother's body to turn up somewhere." She tried to keep her voice under control, but a muffled sob shook her shoulders at the thought of finding Marcus dead, having to plan his funeral.

Killian's face looked tortured, caught between a rock and a hard place. She looked up at him helplessly, knowing that, if he left her, she'd be unable to do anything. Her only chance, if she even had a chance at all of finding her brother, rested on the shoulders of this near stranger, a man she only knew as a client, a patron.

Alicia didn't know what to say, whether any words would push him towards helping her, or away. Still, she had to do something, had to say something.

She suddenly sensed that in this man, of a different skin color than her, a different age than her, a different history than hers - her only chance of seeing her brother rested on his shoulders.

She leaned forward, reaching out and picking up one of his hands off of his knee. Killian started slightly as Alicia wrapped her slender brown fingers around his hand, but he didn't pull back from her touch. She lifted his hand, holding it in both of hers, feeling how, despite its big size, his fingers felt agile and capable.

"Please," she said softly, staring up into his blue eyes.

For a moment that seemed to stretch out into infinity, he just looked back at her, looking completely torn between two opposite answers. But finally, after several seconds of silence, he dropped his head down, looking down at where her fingers still wrapped around his big hand.

"Okay," he replied, speaking almost too softly for her to hear.

For an instant, Alicia thought that her ears were lying to her. "Really? You'll help?" she asked, her tone almost disbelieving.

"I can't promise that I'll be able to do anything," he spoke up quickly, raising his head back up to look at her again. "I might not be able to do anything to get your brother back, and I might even put him in more danger. Don't get your hope up, please. I couldn't bear if you trusted me, and I just-" he cut off before finishing the sentence, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before reopening them.

Alicia nodded, but she still felt her heart soar, filling up with hope. Even if Killian insisted that he might not be able to do anything, she felt unbelievably happier to have someone else with her, to not be dealing with all of this on her own. Her fingers tightened in their grip on his hand, squeezing him with excitement.

Killian didn't pull his hand away.

Instead, he looked back up at her, smiling for an instant. "You know, this isn't what I planned on agreeing to do when I came over here," he pointed out, his tone a little milder, more joking.

"Oh? And what were you expecting, coming over to a single woman's house like this?" Alicia fired back, raising one arch eyebrow. "I suppose you thought I'd offer you up my body? Maybe invite you up to my bed? What kind of woman do you take me for?"

His frantic back-pedaling was comical, she giggled. She managed to keep up her stern face for an instant longer, before collapsing into peals of gay laughter. "Oh, relax!" she told Killian, patting his hand. "I know you don't think about me like that!"

His look of panic faded, but for a moment, Alicia thought that he might challenge her last statement. His lips pursed, as though about to speak, but no sound came out, and he closed his mouth again after another second.

Instead, he stood up from the couch, finally tugging his hand from her grasp.

"We've got a lot to do, then," he announced. "Ready to get to work?"

After a second's consideration, she nodded, also rising up to her feet. "I'm ready," she declared.

Chapter nine

Inside the back of his head, a little voice kept on insisting that Killian had lost his mind.

What was he thinking? The little voice ranted and raved, stabbing out an accusatory finger at the rest of his cortex. Agreeing to help this woman with getting back her brother, a man he'd never met before and knew absolutely nothing about? Not just returning back to the city, but directly confronting the Mob, people with a direct link to his past? Had he gone completely around the bend, off the deep end?

Killian did have to admit that the little voice made some good points. But when Alicia smiled back at him, when he felt the soft touch of her hand against his own, he found the strength to ignore that voice in the back of his head, muting it down to little more than a fly's buzzing.

Now, standing and looking down at her as she beamed back at him, her fear and nervousness banished for at least the current moment, he tried not to think of the enormity of the task he'd just agreed to undertake.

Small steps, one little thing at a time, he thought to himself. Maybe, if he managed to do everything right, if he had luck on his side, he could help this energetic, lively, vibrant young woman get her brother back.

He tried not to think about what costs might be involved - or why he wanted to help her, what he might dream could come after he'd succeeded.

"So, what do we need to do now?" Alicia asked a moment later, shattering his introspection.

Killian felt his smile fade a little. "We need to pack, that's what," he replied. "But first, I need for you to promise me something."

She nodded immediately. "Anything," she replied, before he even told her what he needed of her.

"Hear me out first," he warned her, holding up a finger. "What we're going to be doing, trying to dig into the activity of the Mob - this is really dangerous territory. In most areas of life, you won't end up dead if you make the wrong step - but here, you really can end up dead. Sometimes even for something that you didn't realize you did, or for something that you didn't do at all."

He could see that his message was getting through to the younger woman. Her big, bright smile had largely faded off of her face. "I'm not afraid," she insisted stubbornly, however, staring back at him.

Killian nodded. "I know you're not," he lied. "But this isn't about fear - this is about not making a single wrong step. We can't afford to mess up at all. And that brings me to my promise.

"You need to promise me that, no matter what happens, no matter what you might think, you'll follow my directions. Fully and completely, even if you think that they could put your brother at more risk. If I tell you to do something, you have to do it. All of our lives could depend on it." He waited a beat. "Can you promise me that you'll do this? If not, then it would be safer for both of us if I turn and walk out the door right now."

He could see Alicia thinking about these words, turning the promise over in her head. But finally, she nodded her head. "I promise," she replied, meeting his gaze with her own dark brown eyes.

"Okay then," Killian replied. "But know that, if you break this promise, I will turn and walk away. I'm already putting myself at risk, risking everything. I won't keep going if you defy any of my orders."

"I won't break it," she insisted. "Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it. Anything. As long as I end up with Marcus safe in the end, I'll do it."

Her words rang true to Killian's ears. Despite the little quaver of fear that, try as she might, he knew she couldn't eliminate, she still sounded strong, unwilling to back down.

He just hoped that this strength would be enough.

"Then it's time for you to pack," he declared, bending down to pick up his cup of tea and take one last sip. "And I'm off to do the same."

"Pack?" she echoed, frowning slightly. "For what?"

He put the cup back down. "Marcus lives in Dallas, doesn't he?" he asked, being careful to still use the present tense when referring to Alicia's brother.

She nodded, still looking confused. "So?"

"So, if we want to figure out what he's mixed up with, and how we might be able to get him back, we need to go to Dallas as well," he clarified. "And besides, if the Mob in Dallas grabbed him, they won't bother taking him somewhere else. Too much risk of getting stopped or searched. They'll hide him somewhere there, where the whole deal is going down."

"There's a Mob in Dallas?" Alicia asked.

"A couple families, actually," Killian told her. For a moment, he feared that he might be sharing too much sensitive information, possibly revealing more about himself than he wanted, but it seemed like a pretty straightforward question. "The Zerellis have held the most control, and have been there the longest, but there are always a couple of other families looking to move in and expand their territory."

Alicia shook her head. "Wow. I never knew."

"Most people don't," he said. "But in any case, that's where we need to go. Pack, and I'll go home and do the same. I'll give you the rest of the evening to take care of any other affairs here, find someone to keep an eye on your house, but I'll be by in the morning tomorrow to pick you up so that we can head into the city."

"Are... are we going to have to go the whole way on your motorcycle?" Alicia asked next, her nervous tone making her thoughts on the idea clear to him.

He shook his head. "It's a great little vehicle for local trips, but we can't fit much luggage on it," he explained, briefly fighting the urge to smile as he saw Alicia let out a sigh of clear relief. "I've got a car that we can use, instead."

Killian started to turn towards the door, but Alicia reached out and caught at his elbow. "Um, where are we going to stay?" she asked uncertainly. "I know that it might not seem like a big deal to you, but I don't have a lot of disposable income for taking trips and going on vacations, especially if I'm not going to be working for the next few days..."

Her voice trailed off, but Killian understood her concern.

"Don't worry," he reassured her, turning back and taking both of her hands in his own. "I'll pay for all the expenses. You've got enough to worry about without having to be concerned about spending your emergency money, as well." He tried to not feel a surge of warmth at how thankfulness bloomed in her eyes.

Once again, Killian started to turn toward the door, but Alicia once again held him back. "Killian, thank you," she said again, her dark eyes shining as she gazed up at him. She moved in a step, putting them just a little bit closer to each other than might be acceptable in public. "Really, you don't know how much this means to me."

For a second, as he gazed back at her, Killian felt his mind go blank. All he could think about, all he could imagine, was leaning down and wrapping his arms around her shoulders, tugging her up against him as his lips quested downward. He furiously tried to think of anything but how it would feel to kiss this young woman, his hands creeping up through her thick, curly black hair and pulling her close, feeling the graceful lines of her body pressed against his own...

"Don't thank me yet," he gruffly pushed out, letting go of her and turning away. Don't get involved, Killian! he cursed himself mentally. "We haven't accomplished anything yet."

And before he could get caught by the dark-skinned beauty again, he hurried for the door.

"Seven o'clock tomorrow!" he called over his shoulder. "Be ready - we can't afford to sit around and waste time!"

And then, before Alicia could reply, he hurried out through her front door, out to where he'd parked his motorcycle on the street.

Fortunately for Killian, riding on his motorcycle and feeling the wind against his bare skin always helped him calm his thoughts. And right now, he ruefully admitted, he could use some clarity as he tried to sort through the confused tangle of thoughts and emotions knotted up inside his cranium.

Did Alicia really like him? Was there real attraction there, between the two of them? Or was she just playing a part, trying to keep him involved and helping her? Did she know that, since she didn't have money, she had to use sex in order to keep him helping her? Killian couldn't tell, but his mind didn't stop jumping to fearful conclusions.

Even if she did really like him, he reminded himself, that didn't mean that it was a good idea for the two of them to get involved. What would happen if, after they got together, he didn't manage to recover her brother from the Mob? That would forever ruin the relationship, causing her even more pain and harm than she would feel if he managed to keep himself separate and not tangled up with her.