Page 82 of Crossed By the Stars
Cillian nodded. “We’re nearing King City.”
When we got to the hotel where the chopper had landed, we left the SUV behind. Only Cillian, Terrence, and I boarded. The team in the SUV behind us took over the one Cillian had been driving. They’d continue to the city by land while we finished the journey in the air.
Once we were in the sky, Cillian leaned in and shouted, “He took her to the Mori Enterprises building. Confirmed sighting of her entering the building with Mori and Ito. She’s in a kimono.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
Cillian and I both knew the truth. No way Jada would put on a kimono by choice. Growing up, I’d never seen her in one, not even at any of the formal events we’d attended as teens. She’d always worn Western clothing. What the hell was he playing at? What did he expect of her?
My confusion was echoed in Cillian’s eyes.
We landed on the roof of my building in the city and headed down the stairs to my apartment. Cillian still had a base set up in the unit above me, and the men from both exfil teams were joining him there.
“You’re limping,” Cillian said as we made our way down the hall.
My knee was crying out for mercy.
“Ito-san cracked it pretty good with her foot.”
“Let me see it,” he said.
Inside the apartment, it was impossible to raise the cuff of my jeans, and I yanked them off, knowing full well that I didn’t have anything else on underneath them. Cillian just took it in stride. We both stared at the knee that was purple and swollen.
“I’ll get ice,” he said, “but you should probably have it examined.”
I ignored him, walking into the closet, throwing on the first clothes that I could find.
When I came back out, he held out an ice pack that I didn’t take.
“Take me to Mori Enterprises,” I said.
He shook his head. “No.”
“If you don’t take me, I’ll go on my own.”
“She wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger,” Cillian said.
“I can’t stay here. I need to see her, to see them. I need to understand what the hell is going on.”
“We know she’s alive.”
“And expected to kill herself. The kimono…” My worst fears were pushing into my brain, filling the space with the ritualized suicide idea that the threat had demanded. “If he forces her to choose between her friends…between me…and herself, she will always choose us. She will do anything to save the ones she loves.”
My voice cracked on the word love. She hadn’t said it back. The words had stopped at the edge of her lips, but I’d felt it in the pounding of her pulse against my fingertips. I’d felt it in every caress and touch, in the looks she sent my way. If he told her that the only way to keep Dawson, Violet, and me safe was to take her own life…she would do it. She might search for any possible way out first, because?like she kept insisting?she didn’t have a death wish. But in the end, if it was required, she’d use the knife just like they instructed her to. My body was being torn apart. Anguish I’d never felt before screamed through me. More than the pulsing ache in my knee. More than the scrapes on my feet now hidden away by socks and shoes.
I grabbed the ice pack from his hand but headed for the door. I didn’t have anything with me. No cell phone. No keys. My wallet was at the cottage. But I had my name and my legs and a way to get through the city.
Cillian followed. He shoved me against the wall, a muscled arm to my chest that I struggled against, but he was the size of three of me.
“Get the fuck off or find yourself a new job,” I growled.
“Just so we’re clear. You are my priority. You,” Cillian barked back.
“I won’t survive if something happens to her,” I grunted back. “So, if you want to protect me, you protect her.”
“We’ll do everything we can to get her back, but you will always be first on my list to pull from the burning building.”
“Then you can leave now. I’ll find someone else to replace you because I don’t want to be your fucking priority. I want her to be everyone’s.” I gritted my teeth. I shoved at his arm, and he let me go.
