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 his tutu. 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 his tutu’s frail 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 the Venenos. And Abby had been right—she had been 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.

He hid a flinch, stared down at the polished surface of it while the pastor continued with his prayer in Hawaiian, offering words of comfort. They didn’t comfort Kai much. The only thing that helped was knowing Hani was in a better place now. No more suffering, no more fear. The only pain now was for the living.

His grandmother pulled away to gather a handful of earth from the pile beside the grave. She stood at the opening for a long moment, staring down at the casket, then tossed it in, her lips trembling. Kai went next, murmuring a prayer in Hawaiian to his cousin.

Soon after that it was over. People moved out of their way as Kai led his tutu and Abby through the cemetery and back to the parking lot.

She glanced up at him, gave him a sad little smile of understanding. She was beautiful in her cobalt blue dress, the color a few shades darker than her eyes, making her fair skin almost glow in the late afternoon sunlight. The scrapes on her chin were healing, along with the rest of her cuts and bruises.

At first, she’d been shocked at the thought of wearing such a bright color to a funeral, but he’d assured her that’s how they did things here. They were focused on celebrating Hani and his life today, rather than on mourning his loss.

A few dozen people came back to his tutu’s place for the reception. Mostly his and Hani’s old friends, and Hamilton and Taggart, who stood out like sore thumbs in their somber, dark suits.

Abby booted everyone out of the kitchen to visit and mingle while she bustled around readying the food the three of them had prepared the day before. Hani’s favorites.

Out on the lanai and in the back garden, everyone gathered to eat and share stories about Hani. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of reminiscing about the good times they’d shared over the years.

The gigantic knot in the center of Kai’s chest eased as the hours passed. All he wanted now was to be alone with Abby.

He caught her around the waist as she bustled past with a tray of appetizers, and pulled her close to kiss her. “You don’t have to serve us,” he murmured against her mouth. “Everyone can help themselves. Come out and visit for a while.”

“I will when everyone’s fed,” she said, kissing him lightly before sauntering off, tossing him a half-smile over her shoulder.

Hamilton stepped up next to him, his gaze trailing after Abby. “Seems like a keeper to me, man.”

“Yeah, she definitely is.” He’d thought she was strong before, but her actions the other night had completely stunned him. And she’d done it to protect him as much as herself. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could contain his feelings for her.

“What’s happening? What’d I miss?” Taggart asked, stopping beside them with a fresh beer in his hand. He’d cut his red-gold hair short for the trip, but at least had ditched the somber suit jacket and tie for the reception.

“Just admiring the view,” Hamilton said with a smirk.

Kai ignored them both, his gaze stuck on Abby as she bent slightly at the waist to offer one of his oldest friends something from the tray. Whatever he said to her must have been funny as hell, because she laughed, and in that moment she was so beautiful—inside and out—it made him ache. Their time together here on Maui hadn’t been at all what he’d imagined or hoped it would be.

And yet…everything that had happened, including the bad things, had only brought them closer and intensified his feelings for her.

Someone nudged him in the ribs. He tore his gaze away from Abby, blinked at Taggart. “Sorry?”

His commander chuckled. “She’s got you twisted around her finger already, huh?”

“More like welded, I think.”

He took them both around, introducing them to various people, and stopped finally at his tutu, who was seated on the padded bench in the corner of the garden, holding court like a Hawaiian queen of old, no less than a dozen men surrounding her, hanging on her every word.

As the conversation flowed around him, Kai’s gaze drifted back to find Abby, who was near the kitchen talking with two women. She was watching him.

The instant their gazes met, she smiled, a private smile just for him. And the open admiration and reverence on her face was so powerful it hit every last undefended piece of his heart.

She was proud of him.

For a moment, Kai couldn’t breathe. No one had ever looked at him like that before. Not even his tutu, who loved him to death and was proud of him in her own way. But not like this.

Because Abby looked at him with total pride—as though she was honored to call him her man.

Heart thudding hard against his ribs, Kai set his beer down on a nearby table without even looking, unable to tear his gaze away from hers, and closed the distance between them. He needed to tell her. Now.

She stood and met him partway, her eyes searching his anxiously. “You okay?” she murmured, cupping the side of his face with her hand.

Her concern and touch almost undid him. Kai curled his fingers around hers, his heart about to burst. “Come with me.” Holding her hand tight, he started for the front door.

“Where are we going?” she asked, trailing after him.

He didn’t answer, too overcome with emotion to speak yet. He had to tell her now or he’d explode. Couldn’t keep it in a second longer.

Outside the house, he turned right and headed to a secluded spot in a grove of palm trees where a hammock hung between two gracefully bending trunks. He stopped there, turned her so that her back was against one and took her face in his hands, a burning knot of emotion lodged in the center of his chest.

She studied him for a moment, then a soft smile curved her lips and she mirrored his move, cupping his face in return. She shook her head a little, almost in amazement. “You’re the most incredible man I’ve ever known, Kai Maka. I swear you take my breath away every time I look at you.”

Kai exhaled in a rush, his heart splitting wide open, his throat tight as he searched for the right words. Tracing his thumbs over her cheeks, he savored the silky softness of her skin. He didn’t know the exact words he wanted to say, hadn’t planned on telling her like this. But life was too damn short, so he needed to do this right now or he would regret it.

Damn, his heart was racing, and she was staring up at him with those big blue eyes, waiting.

He found his voice. “Until you, I didn’t know what I was missing.” He paused, drew in a breath. “I’ve been looking for you my whole life, and it turns out you were right there across the hall from me for the past two years.” He shook his head, awestruck all over again at how blind he’d been. “I didn’t see you. But I see you now, and I can’t look away. Abby…aloha au ia oe.” It felt right to say it in his language.

Her eyebrows drew together as she frowned at him in confusion. “Hello and…something?”

He huffed out a laugh. Real romantic, Kai. “I said, I love you.”

Her face lit up with joy, making her eyes glow. “Oh, thank God. Because I love you too.”

Kai groaned and crushed her to him, one hand on the back of her head to hold her cheek against his heart. He thought he’d been in love before? No way. Nothing had ever felt like this. Nothing had ever felt this right. Not until Abby. She was a piece of him now, and always would be.

“How do I say it in Hawaiian?” she asked, peering up at him.

He smiled, his hands at her lower back, holding her close. “Aloha au ia oe,” he said slowly.

She repeated the first bit, got stuck at the end and made a frustrated sound.

“Ia oe,” he finished.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she gazed deep into his eyes. “Aloha au ia oe, Kai,” she said.

Her pronunciation was all wrong, but the effort was adorable and heartfelt, and hearing that declaration from her in his language made it ten times as powerful. “You’re mine, shortcake.” His voice was a low rumble, edged with a possessive growl.

She hugged him tight in return, pressing her delectable body into him in an effort to get closer. “Yes, I sure am. And that makes me the luckiest woman in the world.”