Chapter Seventeen I CAN’T fucking stand this.” Stone paced the floor of Jack’s cabin, nearly ready to crawl out of his skin. “I have no idea what’s going on. Is Lily okay? Is she safe? Where the hell is Heath with a report?” He hadn’t liked any of this, especially letting her walk out the door. But she didn’t trust him now, not after the damage Axel had wrought. Lily would have only hated him if he’d refused to let her go or he’d followed. At the time, that had seemed important. Now, he didn’t care. He just wanted to know that she was all right. To be on the safe side, he’d texted One-Mile the moment the skiff had disappeared into the swamp and given the sniper her position. As soon as Heath had advised Axel that he’d taken her to Walmart, he’d texted that information, too. But the bastard had never answered, and now Stone worried she didn’t have enough protection. He felt as if someone had shoved a hot poker in his chest, as if his guts were now twisted around a ball of anxiety. He wanted to throw his phone that wasn’t buzzing with information across the room. No, he wanted to go find Lily and convince her that the only thing he’d ever wanted from her was her love. Instead, Axel and his big mouth had persuaded her that Stone had only been using her. “You think I’m going to let anything happen to her?” Axel scowled. “Hell, no. Heath is watching over her. He knows exactly—” “Why the fuck did you show up and undo everything I’d built with Lily?” he growled. “She’d been making so much progress. We’d been growing our trust.” “Based on what? A huge fucking lie?” Stone shook his head and tensed every muscle in his body. It was the only way he could restrain the urge to rip Axel’s head off. “Nothing and no one is more important to me than Lily, you holier-than-thou asshole. You made a lot of assumptions about my motives without actually knowing me. I have done nothing but try to get that woman’s attention and persuade her to believe in me since the day we first talked about her. I used the FBI’s offer to get close to her because Thorpe and Sean and Jack wanted to hear that I could help her actually have a real future by persuading her to testify. At first, I was in favor, too. I admit that I didn’t want to go back to prison. But now I want her to be safe way more than I care about anything else.” Axel rolled his eyes. “Pretty speech but I don’t believe a word of it. You have no way to back that up.” He didn’t. Stone gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath. Then something occurred to him. “Actually, I do.” He whipped his phone out again and texted Bankhead. I told you yesterday that I wanted out of your scheme since it’s too dangerous to make Lily testify. When can I expect to go back to the big house? Bankhead wrote back almost instantly. Tomorrow, you stupid prick. You were lucky to have this opportunity and you pissed it away. It won’t come again. Stone didn’t feel lucky, but at least he had proof of his intentions. He shoved his phone in Axel’s face. “Read this. I’m done wasting my time here with you. I’m leaving to talk to Lily. Before I go back behind bars, I want her to know that I loved her and never betrayed her. I’ve already got a plan in motion to make her safe while I’m gone. So go back to your fiancée and get the fuck out of my way.” With a frown of concentration, Axel mulled over the texts. “You really tried to bow out?” “Yes. I also tried to hire someone to kill Canton. I’m already going back to prison, so I really didn’t care if I got hit with solicitation of murder, too. Fucker wouldn’t take the job but he agreed to watch over her and put a bullet between Canton’s eyes if necessary.” Axel cocked his head. “Seriously?” “Yeah. You obviously thought me finagling that first meeting with Lily showed my true mercenary colors or whatever, but I really did just want to meet her. And I want to spend my life with her—” He sighed. “Why the fuck am I explaining myself to you? I don’t care if Heath has an eye on her. I’m done. Letting her cool off was a bad idea. I’d rather have her be with me and pissed off than gone and in any possible danger.” “Sorry.” Axel swallowed, looking contrite. “I had no idea you actually had feelings for her. I didn’t come here with anything in mind except to provide her protection and—” “Save it. I’m going to find her.” But when he used the app he’d installed on his phone to track hers, it told him the device was offline. Cold dread sliced him in two. He had to get to town before she changed her appearance and got away for good. As he made for the door, Axel’s phone dinged. “Wait. We have an issue.” Stone froze. “What?” “Heath says Canton was inside the Walmart where he dropped Lily off. She looked shaken when she came out. He followed her.” Stone couldn’t breathe. He’d failed her, totally fucking blown it by letting anyone come between them. He’d wanted her to calm down; then he’d hoped to explain the situation to her again and that she would choose him. Or at least forgive him. He’d thought for sure Canton couldn’t find her that quickly or easily, that she’d be all right for an hour or two. The risk had been too big, and now he regretted it like hell. “I have to go right fucking now.” Stone grabbed his keys and left everything else behind. “But wait. Heath says now that a Good Samaritan gave her a lift. A woman with a baby.” That news cut through a bit of his panic, unwinding some of the knots in his gut. “So she’s safe?” “It looks that way for now. Heath said the woman drove away too quickly for him to follow, though. I’ll ask him about a license plate.” Before he could finish tapping out the text, Stone’s phone dinged. One-Mile finally responded. The only message was a picture of a license plate. Text followed. Your girl got away from the dirtbag and escaped in this car. I’m following them now. “I’ve got the plate.” Stone told Axel. “I don’t have a goddamn computer here. We need to run this number. It’s from California.” Axel froze. “A coincidence?” That bugged the shit out of him. “I don’t believe in them. Fuck.” His head raced. Who the hell could he call? Who would know . . . He prowled through his contacts and hit Logan’s number. “Hey, fucker, I’m still not talking to you after that Dilbert thing,” the former SEAL grumbled after one ring. Stone didn’t bother with the banter. “Lily left the cabin and jumped into an unfamiliar car. I need to know who it’s registered to before she disappears.” “I’m not good with—” “I’m calling to ask for your wife. I didn’t know how to contact Tara directly.” “Send me the info. I’ll find her and call you right back when I’ve got something.” Relief poured through Stone. Maybe all wasn’t lost. One-Mile was still trailing her. They might be able to quickly identify whether this woman in the blue car was friend or foe. “Texting it right now.” Stone forwarded One-Mile’s picture, then gripped the device and waited. “We should head out, I think,” Axel suggested. It might have been one of the few times the big bruiser hadn’t tried to boss him around. “I don’t give a fuck what you do but I know where I’m going. So if you don’t want to be stranded here until Jack comes to fetch your ass, let’s go.” Axel nodded, and they headed to the boat, Stone locking up behind him. He’d turn all the generators and breakers off later. If he even had that much of a later before heading back to prison. If not . . . Jack could handle it. They settled into the skiff in silence, he and Axel rowing quickly through the thick, still water. It wasn’t fast enough for Stone, who needed to move, to do something to find Lily faster—climb out, swim, run, whatever worked. But logic told him they were moving faster now than he could do any of those things, and he simply had to put a lid on his worry and impatience. A minute later, Logan popped up with a message that didn’t make sense at first. The name of the man to whom the vehicle was registered seemed familiar and Stone couldn’t recall why. “What?” Axel asked. “Thinking . . . Something about this is wrong.” All of a sudden, the name made sense. The puzzle pieces slammed into place. A cold, sick dread assailed him. He felt as if someone had ripped his heart from his chest. Lily was in much more danger than he’d even imagined. “I don’t think Canton is the one trying to kill her.”
Chapter 17