The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart: A Hart Brothers Novel (32 page)

“I think she’s scared enough to call out to
me, that’s why.”

“Is there something going on between you
two?”

Sabin’s head jerks around. “She has a
fucking boyfriend, Rafe.”

“So?”

“No, there’s nothing going on between us,”
he says, steel edging his voice.

“You act like there is.”

“I’m damn sorry I’m concerned about her.
Mind your own business.”

“Can’t. Not when it’s affecting you like
this.”

Sabin gets up into Rafe’s face. “It’s not
affecting me, as you say. I’m doing my job, running this mission.
If we all had been on our toes, maybe we could’ve taken more of
those bloody bastards out. As it is, we didn’t and we’re paying for
it now. There is nothing between us, other than me trying to keep
her alive. Clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

“Look,” Rafe starts…

“Can’t you fucking drop this?”

“Wait a damn a minute. I know something
happened in your past. Something terrible. And I’m sorry. You wear
your bitterness on your sleeve so it’s not hard to see. Be careful.
If this has anything at all to do with your past, lock it up and
put it away, Sabin, or you’re going to find yourself with a fucked
up mess on your hands.”

Obsidian eyes clash with gray ones. Neither
one will budge. But Sabin gives in with a curt nod, spins on his
heel, and walks away. Rafe knows he’ll have a tough time of it for
a few days but no matter. It needed to be said. Sabin needs to have
a care with her. He’s made far more contact with her than he ever
does. In fact, he’s never made contact at all. It’s baffling to the
men and that’s all they talk about. Sabin is their commander and
the example setter. Up until now, he’s been as rigid as a stone
hard cock. And now, he’s softening up like pudding to the wee girl,
allowing himself to have little chats with her. Soon, he’ll be
sitting down for coffee, divulging secrets that never need to be
told. And then what? None of this can end up well for either
side.

Kade

A plan has been unfolding in my head all day
now, and when I’m at the meeting with Mack, it’s all I can think
of.

Mack leans over to me and says, “Engage,
dude.”

“Sorry.” I add some comments to the group,
but in my head, I’m not there.

After the meeting, Mack wants to know how I
am.

“Drug wise, great. I’m over that issue,
Mack. I’m good. Juliette, she’s my rock, man.”

“Come on, Kade, this is me you’re talking
to. You just don’t get ‘over that issue’ like that.” And he snaps
his fingers. “You can’t be leaning on her, Kade.”

I get what he’s saying. And I don’t think I
am leaning on her. So I explain.

“That’s not it. I want to be strong
for
her, not because of her. I was all caught up in my own
shit before and that’s not how it’s supposed to be, you know?”

He smiles. “Yeah, but you have some serious
shit, dude. Does she know everything?”

“Every ugly bit.”

“Good. But you were on the fucking ledge,
man. How many people actually score some shit? Get that far into
the process? I’m not trying to be a downer, but we both know how
this usually works. It doesn’t just magically disappear.”

“I know. But I swear it’s different with
her. Because of her. She makes me see things in a different way. I
won’t ever use again because if I do, then Langston wins, Mack. And
that son of a bitch will not ever win anything from me again.”

“Wow. You finally get it, don’t you?” He
slaps me on the back as we walk to the car.

“It wasn’t me; it was Juliette. She made me
realize why I shouldn’t do it.” I tell him all the details and he
says he’s proud of me. At one point, that would’ve meant the world
to me. Now, it’s Juliette I want to please. I tell him and he
laughs. After I drop him off, I race home, eager to be with
Juliette. The more I think about my plan, the more I love the
idea.

She’s on the computer when I get home.

“I believe I was right and this thing is
really old, Kade. Maybe this language is Pict. Who knows?”

“You said those shadows spoke in a foreign
language.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know which one, because I
couldn’t understand them.”

“Pict, maybe?”

“Who knows,” she says. “But I still can’t
figure out why this thing is so dang important.”

“Would you like to get rid of it?”

She tilts her head and casts a glance at me
that makes me laugh. “Duh.” That pretty much sums it up.

“It’s what I thought. I have an idea. Hear
me out. Why don’t we get the hell out of here? I mean really get
out of here. I can find out where my brother’s boat is and we can
fly there and toss this thing overboard.”

Her eyes scrunch up. Juliette is so easy to
read. She thinks I’ve lost it. I can see the questions rolling from
her head to her mouth, one by one.

And here they come. “Okay, one, a boat. What
kind of a boat?”

“Sail boat. I think it’s maybe 45 feet. Not
huge.”

“Not huge.” Her mouth puckers up. “And who’s
going to drive this thing?”

“Sail it. Me. I sail. We all do. Grew up
sailing. I’ll have to get you to help me do a few things, but
nothing major. And trust me, knowing Kestrel, the damn thing has
top of the line everything in it.”

“Sailing, huh?”

Laughing, I say, “Yes. I promise, you’ll
love it.”

“Okay. How will we get to wherever this boat
is?”

“Fly, of course.”

Her head is shaking already. “They’ll follow
us.”

“Yes, but we’ll be on my brother’s plane, so
they won’t be able to follow us. They may make it as far as the
airport, but after that, they’re fucked.”

“Your brother’s plane?”

“Jet actually. I’m sorry. I never filled you
in on that part. Kolson owns a transportation company and Kestrel
runs the southern division. They have a fleet of corporate jets.
There is one at my disposal for whenever I want it.”

Her chin drops and I take my finger and push
it up. She brushes my finger away. “Kade, you’re serious about all
of this?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think they’d find us and by they, I
mean the ones that nearly killed me the other night?”

“My thinking is that they won’t want you
anymore because the necklace will be under the deep blue sea
somewhere.”

Her beautiful brown eyes glimmer with hope.
The lines between and below her eyes are erased and I smile. But
then she frowns.

“What if they find me and don’t believe me?
They didn’t believe my family.”

“Maybe it was because your father had it in
the safe and lied about it. I don’t know. But if they do come and
ask and we tell the truth, and perhaps they’ll leave.”

She grabs my face and says, her voice in a
whisper, “What if they don’t? You didn’t hear them last night,
Kade. They sounded like wild animals. And the shadow’s back was
ripped up like I’ve never seen. He really did save my life. Took
every blow for me.”

“Juliette, I know. I know he did, but
whoever your shadow is, he’s not forthcoming. I don’t know what
else to do. And those butchers are here. At least if we get out of
here, they won’t know for a while anyway.”

Now she’s on her feet, pacing, hands
wringing. She’s not going for it. I won’t interrupt her thoughts on
this because this has to be her final decision. I can fool myself
all I want, but what if she’s right and I can’t protect her?

While she’s doing all this thinking, I pull
her into the kitchen with me. I’m hungry and she can think as I
eat. I make her some tea in the hope it will help her, and I reheat
my dinner. When I’m finished, she still hasn’t spoken a word.

“If this is so difficult for you, then we
won’t do it. I don’t want to upset you any more than you already
are.”

“It’s not that. Some of what you say has
merit. I only worry that if they find me and I
don’t
have
the necklace, the shadows won’t be there anymore. That’s my
concern. And Kade, it’s not for me, it’s for
you
.”

Oh, God. She’s worrying about
me
.
She’s agonizing over this because of
me
.

Pushing my plate away from me, I take both
of her hands in mine and bring them to my mouth, kissing them. “I
don’t understand, nor will I ever understand what I’ve done to
deserve such a beautiful person such as yourself, but I will
cherish you every waking moment of my life.”

“Kade, you didn’t deserve to be thrown into
this mess of mine, with these crazy killers chasing me.” She gets
off her stool and moves between my thighs as she circles her arms
around my neck. “Remember what I told you about letting the light
in?”

How can I not remember that? It was one of
the most profound things I’ve ever heard and it finally pushed
Langston out of my life.

“Yes. That’s what made me realize I had to
stay clean. That I had to go forward on my path.”

“You’re
my
light. My world had been
filled with darkness ever since my family died. Years of running,
scared out of my wits, nightmares every night, and then you entered
my life and it was like not only feeling the sunshine, but tasting
it too. You chased my darkness away and not only that, you actually
created hope for me again. I had been cold for so long, but you
warmed me, physically and emotionally. I didn’t think I had a soul
anymore. It splintered apart the day I found my family. It left my
body when I walked away from them lying in their own blood. But you
dragged the pieces and parts of it back and figured out a way to
rebuild it. I don’t know how, but you did. Will you play for me? I
remember the first time I heard you and I didn’t think I’d ever
heard anything so touching. I think that was the beginning of my
healing.”

I tuck her hair behind her ear, and kiss the
corner of her mouth. “Looks like we’re perfect for each other,
doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, except we have this huge issue
hanging over our heads. You really think it’ll work?”

“I don’t know. But I think it has the best
chance of anything.” I push her back so I can stand and we walk to
the piano. After I play a couple of songs, I stand and tell her I’m
going to call Kestrel.

We find out his boat is docked in Tortola,
in the British Virgin Islands.

“Tortola is perfect. We can fly there
directly and get on the boat. We could be there in probably six
hours or so. I’d have to check with the pilot.”

“And he won’t mind?”

“Not at all. We’re not like that. My
brothers are very generous with their things. Then on the way home,
we can stop and visit Kestrel and Carter and their new baby.”

“No. They won’t want us now. It’s too soon.
She just had it yesterday. They’ll want to wait a couple of
months.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Kade, I’m right. She’s a new mother. The
last thing she’ll want is company.”

“Okay. Gabby’s probably down there helping
her anyway.”

“What about Carter’s mother?”

“No parents. Her family was killed in a
hurricane a few years back.”

“Oh, that’s terrible.”

“Yeah, it was very tragic. Anyway, shall we
do this?”

“So, if we go and I chicken out about
throwing the necklace into the sea at the last minute, will you
absolutely hate me?”

Jesus, how could she possibly think that of
me? Hate her? Really?

“Juliette, you could do a lot of things,
probably things that even you can’t even think of in your innocent
mind, and I could
never
hate you.” I pull her into the
confines of my arms. “You decide when the moment is there. And if
it’s not right, then we come home with the thing.”

“Thank you. For everything, but mainly for
just being here when I need you.”

I watch her mouth for as long as I can stand
it, and I finally submit, stumbling up the stairs with her in my
arms.

Juliette

It’s been a long time since I’ve flown, but
I’ve never been in a private jet. Kade tells me this is the smaller
one. It’s G-500, whatever that is. It’s luxurious, with a creamy
leather interior. The seats are the reclining type—large and
comfortable, nothing like any airliner that I can recollect. He
says there’s a small cabin in the back with a bedroom for overnight
flights. I had no idea planes had such a thing.

“Kade, can you answer something for me, and
don’t if I’m being too nosy. Is your family wealthy?”

“Yes. Extremely.”

He seems uncomfortable with my question.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry.”

“It’s not that. Langston was a criminal,
Juliette. He was a mobster and was involved in all sorts of illegal
ventures. Drugs, human trafficking, racketeering, just to name a
few. He came by his money so dishonestly it makes me sick. So the
money I had growing up, and there was a lot of it, was abhorrent to
me. Now my brothers on the other hand, are a completely different
matter. Kolson walked away from the family fortune and started his
own business from the ground up, on his own, and became a
billionaire in his own right. And I guess you can say, Kestrel is
now playing a huge part in that as well.”

“That’s so impressive. You must be very
proud of them.”

“I am. Kolson worked his ass off to get his
business going. Of course at the time, I was chasing the dragon so
much, I had no idea.”

“Not following. Chasing the dragon?”

“Smoking heroin. Sorry. That’s why they both
get so upset. They think they ignored me because they were so busy.
Kolson with his business and Kestrel with Langston, trying to stay
next to him in order to keep him out of Kolson’s affairs. But it
wasn’t their fault.”

“No, it was Langston’s.”

“Yes.”

“Thanks for sharing.”