Page 75 of Fast Fury

“Don’t know yet. But we will soon enough.” There was a dark edge to his voice she’d never heard before.

Abby wrapped her arms around herself, bowed her head and closed her eyes. “And the man? Who was he?”

“My guess is somebody working for Juan Montoya.”

She peered over her shoulder at him. “Who’s that?”

“Head enforcer for a new lieutenant with theVenenos.”

Abby faced the wall again, shock welling inside her. The bounty. He’d come here to kill Kai. “I thought he shot you,” she rasped out, shuddering.

Kai made a low sound and wound both arms around her ribs, pulling her off the bench. “He tried. Might have hit me if it hadn’t been for you.” He scooted back against the wall and slid her into his lap, one hand on the back of her head as he held her to his bare chest, his other arm wrapped securely around her waist.

He held her tight, the steady thud of his heartbeat beneath her cheek helping to soothe her. “And I thought he shotyou. Jesus Christ, I swear my heart stopped.”

Another shudder sped through her as those terrifying moments replayed in her mind, but at least now her teeth weren’t chattering and she didn’t feel like she was going to throw up anymore. “I saw the gun lying there. Never fired one before. I was scared I might hit someone else by accident, but it was the only thing I could do to stop him, so I had to try.”

“God, you were so damn brave, Abby.” He buried his face in the side of her neck, his breath warm against her skin. “I’m so fucking proud of you, and sorry as hell you were forced to make that decision in the first place.”

Proud of her? She’d killed a man. Now they wouldn’t get any information out of him. She wouldn’t face criminal charges because she’d acted in self-defense, but it was still something she was going to have to grapple with. Tonight would haunt her for a long time.

“But mostly—” He drew in a deep breath. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

She nodded. “Me too.” He felt so good against her. A solid wall of warm muscle for her to lean on and cling to. An anchor and safe haven in the storm. His arms held her tight, protecting and sheltering her. She sighed, let out a shuddering breath and leaned against him, her rigid muscles finally relaxing.

They were quiet for a few minutes, both of them savoring the closeness, the soothing rhythm of the warm water as it flowed over them. She wasn’t cold anymore. Just sore and exhausted. “So what happens now?”

He stroked a hand up and down her back. “When you’re ready we’ll call the cops and security up, so they can finish questioning us both. Then we’ll get a status update on your boss.”

“And after all that.” Her fingers dug deeper into the muscles of his back, a scary vulnerability taking hold. She didn’t know how to process all this. Didn’t know what to do. “You’ll stay with me?”

Kai groaned and pulled her head away from his chest to frame her face between his hands, his expression so tender and sincere it brought a sheen of tears to her eyes. “I’ll be right next to you through all of it.Allof it, I swear.” And he sealed the vow with a long, possessive kiss.

Chapter Twenty-one

On Wednesday afternoon Kai stood at the edge of Hani’s grave as they lowered his casket into the hole.

Around him, nearly a hundred people crowded around the gravestones to offer their support to him and histutu. Mostly people from his old village, but also law enforcement members, and Hamilton and Taggart, who had flown in for the funeral. That meant a lot to Kai.

Almost as much as the presence of the two women on either side of him.

Kai wrapped his arm tighter around histutu’sfrail shoulders as she leaned into him, silent sobs shaking her slight frame. Losing Hani cut deep for him, so he could only imagine how much worse it was for her.

On his other side Abby held tight to his free hand, her thumb stroking over his knuckles in wordless comfort. Even after the terrifying ordeal she’d been through Sunday night and the long hours of interviews over the next two days, she’d put aside her own troubles and done everything she could to be there for him. While he’d kept his promise and stayed by her side through it all.

Diane Whitehead was in jail awaiting a hearing. She’d lost her daughter to opioid abuse she blamed on the medical and pharmaceutical systems. Killing Bradshaw had been step one of her plan for revenge, taking out the man who had prescribed her daughter the final dose of drugs that had sent her back on the tailspin that ended in a heroin overdose.

Taking out Hani eliminated someone higher up the drug trade supply chain than just a low-level dealer. Abby and her boss had represented the pharmaceutical aspect, presenting as suitable targets.

Apparently, Diane had seen Hani meeting with Kai and Abby at the hotel that night. In her grief-ravaged mind, because he and Hani were cousins, they were all in league together in some dirty deal—the cartel, NextGen and Kai, who she’d seen as a dirty DEA agent.

As for the man Abby had been forced to kill, he was an up-and-coming hitter for Juan Montoya and theVenenos. And Abby had been right—shehadbeen watched, maybe even followed about a week before she’d run into Shelley. The cartel had been keeping tabs on his old building, hoping to get a lead on him. Not surprisingly, after the botched attempt to kill Kai and collect the bounty last night, Montoya had apparently left Maui sometime overnight without a trace. No doubt heading back to Mexico and whatever rock he’d crawled out from under.

Kai set his jaw as he stared down at the lid of his cousin’s coffin. God, what he wouldn’t give for the chance to go back and somehow force Hani to go straight. He should have done something more, should have tried harder. Now he was gone, cut down in his prime when he might have turned his life around with the right help and encouragement.

In the background beneath the pastor’s voice, the muted crash of the waves hitting the beach behind him was a bittersweet requiem. Within sight of this very cemetery, he and Hani had spent countless hours at their favorite beach spot swimming, surfing, and of course fishing together. It was fitting that his cousin be laid to rest here, within a stone’s throw of the ocean he’d loved so much.

The casket made a thudding noise as it hit bottom.

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