Page 26 of Imminent Danger

Then there were all the times he’d offered to help to consider. Could he truly mean it? Kaylie shook her head, dismissing the thought. She couldn’t ask him to help. This wasn’t his fight.

Look what had happened to Drew for trying to help her. Tears threatened to spill over as she thought of her foster brother being hurt for keeping her hidden. Knowing Paul, he might have even been tortured. She couldn’t do that to Anthony.

She found Lia’s hand and pulled it into her own, needing the contact. She was so small and vulnerable. The urge to protect her daughter flooded her again. But for the first time, she was unsure of her ability to do so. Without Drew, she was completely alone.

She knew the faith she claimed would argue that it wasn’t true, and that she was never truly alone. But it sure felt that way right now. Praying felt like a waste of precious time when she was on the run, but she tried anyway. They had another ten minutes on the bus before the depot.

As she prayed, her mind kept coming back to Anthony. Was he the answer? Could she really turn to him and ask him to protect them? Could she really pull him into this web of danger?

He was a good man. He seemed to want to help, and everything she knew about him made it clear that he had skills she didn’t know about. Maybe he could help. Was it worth a shot, before leaving everything behind here and starting over? It was a risk involving him, but she didn't see any other way out of this mess. Drew could no longer help her. Not if he’d been discovered. Her mind raced with thoughts of what she would say, how she would explain the danger they were in. The weight of her past and the uncertainty of the future pressed on her shoulders.

She took another deep breath, determined to face whatever lay ahead.

Kaylie prayed one last time, hoping for a different answer. But each time she asked the Lord what to do, a picture of Lia in Anthony’s arms flashed in her mind. Her daughter snuggled against his broad chest. The smallest hint of a smile played on his lips and he held out a hand, like he was reaching for her, too.

She had certainly imagined turning to Anthony for more than friendship and employment, unable to resist the daydreams of living in his house and greeting him with a kiss at the door each evening. But now he seemed like the only potential anchor in the storm. The only way to save Lia.

Before she could lose her courage, she pulled his number up and hit the call button.

CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

Ryder’s crazy plan to send Dolores alone with the artwork to the Smithsonian worked like a charm. One team in the motorcade hit some trouble, but since they weren’t really protecting anything, the BTS team was able to back off until they had the upper hand. The attempted thieves ended up empty-handed and yesterday’s mission was a success. This early-morning meeting was more celebration than debrief, and Tank’s mind was everywhere else but here.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that Kaylie was in danger. And the fact that she still hadn’t told him anything about her history with the Moreno family had him on edge. He wanted to be someone she trusted, but so far, she wasn’t giving an inch.

He knew that he could be patient. He’d seen far too many men make mistakes because they couldn’t wait. But he didn’t know how to convince her to let him in without letting her know he already knew. Which would mean admitting that he’d been looking into her background. Which would mean admitting that he felt far more than casual feelings for the single mother who had wormed her way into his life.

Even though he knew it could never work.

She’d never want someone like him. Why would she run from the Moreno family just to fall into the arms of someone just as brutal and with just as dark a past?

No, she deserved someone normal. Someone who would come home every night from his desk job to her dinner on the table and Lia chattering happily at his feet until he swung her around to her giggles of delight.

Great. Now Tank was horribly jealous of a wimpy fictional man. That boded super well for his overall sanity.

His phone buzzed repeatedly in his pocket. A call? Kaylie’s name flashed on the screen, and he pulled it to his ear immediately, beelining toward the door so he could escape the noise of the celebration.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Olson, I… I didn’t know who else to call.” Her voice was breathy and panicked.

Tank’s pulse jumped. “What is it?”

“I got a call–” she cut herself off. “Nevermind. This was a mistake. I–I have to go.”

“Where are you?” He knew his words sounded harsh, and he hated that he didn’t know how to calm her down. He wasn’t good at this.

Thankfully, she answered the question. “We’re on the bus. We had to leave… I–”

“Go to my house. It’s going to be all right, fiamella. I’ll meet you there.” The Italian endearment slipped out, but he realized it was accurate. She was his little flame. Kaylie was light and warmth and full of a strength that she probably didn’t even recognize. And he couldn’t seem to care if he was going to get burned.

“I shouldn’t have called—”

“You absolutely should have. I’ll protect you and Lia, I swear it. Please, go to my house.”

She didn’t say anything, and Tank felt his anxiety creep higher. He couldn’t help her if she wouldn’t trust him. He was desperate to know what was going on and why she’d called him. Was someone from the Moreno family close?

---