Page 22 of Threatened

He wasn’t in love with Kylie, not yet. They hadn’t known each other long enough for that. But there was a definite something there, a sense that given time and deeper connection he could fall for her in the future. She’d mentioned sticking around for a while to be near the twins, and he wondered if he might be included in that scenario now too. He’d really like to get the opportunity to get to know her better. She was kooky and funny and out-there in a way he’d never allowed himself to be before and after spending time with her in nature, absorbing all that energy she always talked about, he could kind of see it. Didn’t necessarily understand it, but he could see it. It could be good between them, really good, given time.

A half hour later, he got the twins down for a morning nap, which gave him a few minutes to himself. He checked his phone first to see if Kylie had called. Maybe she’d had to go to another store to get what she wanted. Surely if she’d had some kind of problem, she’d have gotten a hold of him, right?

Except there were no missed calls or texts, no messages from her at all.

He checked his watch again then poured himself another cup of coffee. Extra caffeine wouldn’t help tone down the adrenaline starting to surge through his system, but he needed something to keep himself occupied or the worry would get to him. Whyhad she been gone so long? Was it because of their night together? Was she avoiding him? She didn’t seem like the type to do that. Damn, he really needed to talk to Kylie. Once she returned, he’d find out how she was feeling about their night together. They’d talk and it would be okay.

The more he paced the living room of their suite, the more his mind churned out all the doubt demons residing there. She’d certainly seemed into him at the time, but maybe now she wasn’t so sure about sleeping with him. Maybe he’d crossed some line with her last night and had ended up on her definite no list. Maybe he’d turned her off so bad she’d left the hotel room just to get away from him. A sinking feeling started in his gut.

Or maybe she was in trouble again. He didn’t believe in coincidence and two attacks in two days didn’t seem random to him.

And maybe he was over-analyzing and overthinking things just like he always did. She was probably fine, just getting some air. She’d be back any minute.

By the time another twenty minutes had passed, Gage had finished his coffee and moved beyond restless into straight-up worried mode. Something wasn’t right. He was sure of that now, and he hated doing nothing to try to fix whatever was wrong. Waiting sucked and he was bad at it.

He checked his phone again, and then tried calling hers. No answer.

The knots between his shoulder blades tightened. He wanted to run over to the drug store now and check on her, but he couldn’t because of the twins. After the mugging, then the break-in, he didn’t want to call the police either. The last thing he neededright now was to get a reputation as the SEAL who cried wolf. He went back into the bedroom they’d shared just to double check. Her bag was still there, her stuff still in the bathroom, so she hadn’t bailed on him.

Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer and called Detective Carlisle, reputation be damned.

“Hey, it’s Gage Winters,” he said, doing his best to keep the growing sense of urgency inside him from exploding into panic. “I’ve got a problem and I’m hoping you can help me with it. In an unofficial capacity, of course.” He knew the police couldn’t do anything formally since she technically didn’t qualify as a missing person. Not for another twenty-two hours. God, he’d be insane with worry by then.

“Sure. What do you need?” Carlisle asked, and Gage sent up a silent prayer of gratitude for friends he could count on.

“It’s Kylie. She went shopping a couple hours ago, and I can’t get a hold of her,” he said. “She should’ve been back here by now and I wondered if you could check on her. I’d do it myself, but I’ve got the twins. I know it’s an imposition and my concern is probably way off base, but I’d really appreciate it.”

“And maybe you’re not off base after all.” Carlisle sighed. “Listen, I was going to wait to tell you until I had more information, but we ran a couple prints we found after the break-in at your house. We got a hit this morning off IAFIS.”

“The international database?” Gage’s instincts went haywire while his analytical brain kicked into overdrive. “What did you find?”

“Seems the guy who broke into your house matched some thug who’s been tied to the Yakuza.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Gage ran a hand through his hair and moved to the farthest corner of the living room away from the twins’ room to avoid waking them. He knew who the Yakuza were and what they were capable of. “What is happening here?”

“Not sure yet, buddy. Hang on.” Carlisle put him on hold then came back on the line. “I just finished talking to Robinson, the officer who took the report from Kylie the day of the park mugging. He managed to get a useable print off the newspaper they found and it matches the ones from your house.”

The Japanese mafia was after Kylie? Jesus.Gage took a deep breath to calm his raging pulse and concentrated on the facts he had. “Kylie said she was working for a wealthy client in Tokyo before she rushed home to see the twins after the accident. Mr. Hirohito, she said the guy’s name was. I don’t know anything else about him.”

“Okay. I’ll get some of my guys here at the station to check him out. In the meantime, tell me where Kylie went, and I’ll send over some uniformed officers to her location. Where are you?”

Gage gave him the address of the drug store. “What about the twins? I can’t leave them alone.”

“We’ll keep them safe, don’t worry. I’m on my way. Sit tight and don’t do anything on your own.”

Gage hung up, feeling like he was in a daze. He’d gone from worrying about whether he and Kylie had a future together to whether she’d have a future at all. He slumped down on the sofa and stared at the wall across from him. Yakuza. He’d never dealt with them before, but he’d sure as hell dealt with their kind in the military. Guys who thought they operated above the law,who thought might meant right. If Kylie had fallen victim to one of those men…

He rested his head back against the cushions and closed his eyes, forcing himself to forget the what-ifs. They weren’t helpful in this scenario. He was a strategist. He needed to think logically in order to solve this puzzle.

There was a gangster after Kylie, but why?

It had to be related to the client she’d had in Tokyo somehow. Ben had said the police would run Mr. Hirohito’s name, but he didn’t have the time or patience to wait for that. He pulled up the browser on his phone and typed in the name. Unfortunately, Hirohito was a fairly common name in Japan. Next, he added wealthy and that narrowed it down some. Then, on a hunch, he typed in “scandal” and up popped what he was looking for. He scanned through the newspaper article.

If this really was Kylie’s client, then he was being investigated for international securities fraud and money laundering. Gage studied the pictures. Hirohito’s wife was way younger than him, which matched with what Kylie had told him about her. She’d also said the wife had hired her and the husband had just gone along with it, so it was possible the wife wasn’t involved in the criminal activity.

Okay. So, a wealthy client involved in corrupt activities. It was possible Hirohito had dealings with the Yakuza. Hell, maybe he was even some kind of big shot in their organization. Stuff like that happened all the time in America—lawyers and businessmen with ties to the mafia. But it still didn’t explain why they were after Kylie. She’d not said anything about finding or seeing something suspicious while working there. How could an interior decorator be a target of this man?

Dammit. Gage berated himself again. Why hadn’t they talked more, shared more? God. This was always his MO. Not getting it until it was too late. That’s what had cost the lives of his teammates back in Afghanistan. That’s what scared him the most about raising the twins, missing something important with their development or their health until it was too late. It was what was driving him crazy about Kylie now. If anything happened to her because of his stupid fears, insecurities and trust issues, he’d never forgive himself. Never.

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