Point of No Return (18 page)

Light shone around the doorway to the den, proof that Blane was inside and maybe Kathleen as well. Kade reached for the handle, noticing a fine tremor of his hand. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened the door.

He’d been half right. Blane was in there, seated at his desk, but not Kathleen. A sharp sting of disappointment pricked Kade.

Blane looked up and his eyes narrowed as his gaze took in Kade, who hadn’t moved from the doorway.

Neither spoke. After a moment, Blane pushed back his chair and came striding around the desk. Kade stiffened his spine, bracing himself for another tussle with his brother. Not that he wanted to fight back. Actually, Kade decided that if Blane wanted to beat the shit out of him, he wouldn’t lift a finger to stop him.

Blane’s face was unreadable as he approached, then to Kade’s utter disbelief, his brother threw his arms around him, jerking him close and hugging him so tight it constricted the air in his lungs.

“Thank God,” Blane murmured. “Thank God you’re all right.”

Shock left Kade speechless and he just stood there. Blane and he didn’t hug. Ever. They just
. . .
didn’t. Blane had learned early on that Kade was averse to close physical contact and he’d never forgotten it. But now, at this moment when Kade had expected the exact opposite response from Blane, he lifted his arms to hug Blane in return. His hand awkwardly gave a rough pat to Blane’s back before he could no longer stop the compulsion to pull away. Blane released him, but seemed reluctant to do so.

Blane took a step back and Kade finally spoke. “I must say, that wasn’t quite the welcome I expected.” His voice was rougher than usual.

“I haven’t been able to reach you since you left nearly a month ago,” Blane said. “I’ve been going out of my mind with worry. Your phone’s disconnected, you don’t answer your e-mail. What the hell, Kade?”

“Had to go off the grid for a while,” Kade said evasively.

“I’m hoping you’ve come to your senses and are done acting like a fucking prick,” Blane said. “But for now, I’ll just settle for the fact that you’re alive and you’re here.”

“I thought I wasn’t your brother anymore,” Kade retorted, remembering just how deeply those words had cut.

“I was really pissed,” Blane admitted. “Then I had some time to think about it and realized how freaked out you must’ve been. I know we don’t spill our guts to each other, but I’d like to think the Kade I know wouldn’t walk out on the woman he loves, especially not when she’s carrying his child.”

Shame crept through Kade, along with a burning desire to tell Blane the truth. But he couldn’t, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Am I right? Please tell me that’s why you’re here.”

Kade swallowed, then gave a minute shake of his head. “I came to say goodbye. Hoped you’d let me tell her goodbye.”

Blane frowned. “What?”

“I didn’t get to, and I’d like to. I’m
. . .
going away, and this time I won’t be back.”

“Going away? Where the hell are you going?”

Kade shrugged. Unable to meet Blane’s eyes, he gazed instead over his brother’s shoulder. “Just
. . .
away.”

Blane’s face paled as realization appeared to seep in. His jaw locked. “Oh no, you’re not,” he said. “I don’t care if I have to lock you up in the goddamn basement, you’re not leaving here. Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Where’s Kathleen?” Kade asked instead. “Is she upstairs?” He glanced over his shoulder, already inching out the door. The burning need to see her had increased a hundredfold since he’d set foot in Indy.

“She’s not here,” Blane said, his voice stiff.

“Oh,” Kade said, disappointed yet again. “Will she come here after work or will she go to her apartment?”

“She’s not at work, either, Kade,” Blane replied, tiredly shoving a hand through his hair. “I don’t know where she is.”

Now it was Kade’s turn to be confused. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re not together,” Blane said baldly. “She loves you, not me, and nothing I said or did was enough to change her mind.”

It was the second time that night that Kade had been struck speechless, which had to be a record.

“But
. . .
I saw you,” he said at last. “That night. I saw you go to her apartment. Then she left, heading here.”

Blane’s eyes narrowed. “If I’d known you were hiding in the bushes like a fucking Peeping Tom, I’d have dragged your ass in there and made you break her heart yourself. She didn’t come here, Kade. She went to your place that night.”

“My place?”

“Yes, your place,” Blane repeated, pushing a finger hard into Kade’s chest. “Which is where I found her almost twenty-four hours later, practically catatonic.”

The accusation in Blane’s voice was hard to miss.

Now guilt warred with shame inside Kade, and underneath that, a hint of relief. Kathleen hadn’t forgotten about him. She hadn’t just wanted to be with him because of the baby. She really did love him.

“Where is she now?” he managed to ask. He had to see her, touch her. Then he had to be an utter dick to her and make her hate him, convince her to go back to Blane. The thought was a shard of ice in his gut.

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Blane said with exaggerated patience. “I don’t know. She left, over three weeks ago now, and didn’t tell anyone where she was going. She just vanished one night. I’ve tried her phone—it’s always turned off. I’ve left dozens of messages. I know she needed some space, but hell”—Blane shoved his hands in his pockets—“I hate not knowing where she is.”

Kade had stopped listening after “just vanished one night.” Panic struck, and struck hard.

“You let her go?” he asked, his voice loud.

Blane frowned. “I didn’t
let
her do anything,” he said. “She left, Kade. Short of keeping her a prisoner, what the hell was I supposed to do? I didn’t even know she was thinking of leaving. One day she was just
. . .
gone.”

Adrenaline poured through Kade in a cold rush. Where could she have gone? And that was assuming she’d gone of her own free will. What if Keaston had found out that she’d left Blane? He could have had her killed, her body dumped somewhere no one would find it.

He grabbed the neck of Blane’s shirt with both hands, the fabric crumpling in his fists as he hauled him close until they were nose to nose. “Did you tell Keaston?” he bit out, fury riding close on the heels of panic. “Did you?”

“I spoke to him yesterday,” Blane said, jerking out of Kade’s grip. “What’s going on? Kade, tell me.”

But Kade was already striding toward the front door, thinking. Keaston knew, but Kathleen had disappeared three weeks ago. The most important question was to make sure Kathleen had left of her own free will and hadn’t been kidnapped. If she’d been taken—

Kade couldn’t stand to finish that thought and he hit his car at a near run, vaulting behind the wheel and peeling out of the driveway in a squeal of tires and the smell of burning rubber. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he saw Blane standing in the driveway, watching.

It took thirty minutes to get from Blane’s house to Kathleen’s apartment. Kade made it in fifteen. He took the stairs two at a time. A frigid calm had settled over him in the wake of his earlier panic. He could find her. He would find her. It was what he did best, finding people who didn’t want to be found. And he knew just where to start.

Light suddenly poured through Alisha’s closed eyes, yanking her from a dead sleep, and she woke with a confused start. Her hand reached out to where Lewis was stretched beside her, also fast asleep, but he was no longer there.

“Looking for him?”

Alisha jerked around with a startled cry, automatically clutching the blankets to her chest. She was naked under the covers, but that was the furthest thought from her mind as she realized a man was standing in her bedroom.

His arm was around Lewis’s neck, imprisoning him in a choke hold. Terror clawed at Alisha, making her hands shake as she stared openmouthed. Blood oozed from a cut on Lewis’s cheek and his lower lip was split.

“What do you want?” Alisha asked. “I have money. I can get it for you. Just please, don’t hurt him!” Lewis’s eyes looked scared, and though he wasn’t much smaller than the intruder, he couldn’t escape his grip no matter how hard he struggled.

“I don’t want your money,” the guy said, causing Alisha to tear her gaze from Lewis and focus on him. “Where’s Kathleen?”

And suddenly, it clicked. “Oh my God,” Alisha breathed in shock. “It’s you. Kade.”

“Bingo,” Kade said with a chilly smile. “Bet Kathleen never told you what I did for a living, did she.”

Alisha felt the blood drain from her face. No, Kathleen hadn’t. Looking at Kade now, it was pretty obvious what he did for a living. He wore black on black, a black shirt and black jeans. The ease with which he held Lewis immobile spoke of long practice.

Suddenly, he let Lewis go, only to spin him around and hit him with two punishing blows. The sound of flesh against bone was loud in the room. Lewis grunted in pain and Alisha screamed. Kade grabbed Lewis’s shoulders, shoving him down just as his knee came up. Lewis’s head snapped back at the impact, then Kade shoved and Lewis fell to the floor.

Alisha flew out of the bed, but froze at the sound of the slide being racked on a gun.

“I wouldn’t move,” Kade ordered. “Take one more step and you’ll be looking for a new boyfriend.”

Tears leaked from Alisha’s eyes, but she did as he said. Looking up, she swallowed hard at the sight of the gun held steady in Kade’s grip.

“I was on your side,” she ground out through clenched teeth. “I’ve been telling Kathleen to ditch Blane for weeks, that
you
were the one she should be with, you sonofabitch!”

“Where is she?”

“You’re insane if you think I’m going to tell you,” she seethed.

“You’re right there, sweetheart. Right now, I feel fucking insane. And if you don’t tell me where Kathleen is, I’ve got no problem pulling this trigger.”

Lewis looked up at her, pain creasing his features. Alisha looked back to Kade. He wasn’t kidding. His eyes were like blue shards of ice, completely devoid of emotion. He held a man’s life in his hands, yet could have been watching paint dry for as much as he seemed to care. The effect was chilling and sent another wave of fear through Alisha.

What would he do if he found Kathleen? Would he hurt her? She was pregnant—surely he wouldn’t. And yet, from the looks of him just then, there was nothing to say that wasn’t exactly what he’d do.

“I’m not telling you,” she said, her voice shaking.

“Really?” Kade asked, cocking his head to the side as though she’d just said she preferred fish to chicken.

The gunshot was loud. Alisha screamed, falling to her knees next to Lewis.

“That was a shoulder. Easy in, easy out, no permanent damage done,” Kade said. “I can’t say the same for the next one. Now
. . .
tell me where she is!” His voice rose until he shouted the question at her.

Alisha was sobbing as she pulled Lewis’s head onto her lap. Blood oozed from his shoulder, and he was passed out cold. Pressing her hand against the wound, she hissed through her tears, “Go to hell!” Expecting retaliation, she bent over Lewis, trying to shield him with her body the best she could.

“Kade!”

The voice was familiar and Alisha jerked around to see Blane enter the room.

“Kade, for God’s sake!” Blane exclaimed, hurrying to where Alisha knelt beside Lewis. “What the hell are you doing?” he
practically screamed at Kade.

Kade ignored Blane, his hard gaze focused on Alisha. “Where’s Kathleen.” It wasn’t a question anymore. It was a statement of his intentions if she didn’t answer.

“Kade, we’ll find her,” Blane interjected. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Tell me now,” Kade said. “You have three seconds.”

“I-I don’t know. I swear I don’t—” Alisha babbled, panic twisting inside her belly.

“Kade, stop!”

“One
. . .
”

“Please, no—”