Chapter 10

Jin was so lost in her thoughts she didn't realize that Adam had turned towards Pali Highway until they were already on the road.

"Wait, where are we going?"

He slanted her a look. "Dinner. My mom can't wait to meet you."

His tone told her that he thought she had lost her mind.

She blinked. "Shouldn't we keep working?"

He shook his head, and she opened her mouth to respond, but he stopped her.

"Let your brain take a moment. Let it reassess the situation later."

"But this is important."

"So is good mental health. And I will let you know that sometimes, taking a break makes you sharper. Things need to marinate. Plus, I'm starving."

As if on cue, her stomach gurgled. Her face heated in embarrassment as he chuckled. "Okay, I'm hungry as well."

"Makes sense. We were stuck there working theories for a while."

"Hmm."

"What do you think of Ian?"

She blinked at him again. They were about to go into the tunnel, and she realized that they had been driving for a while.

"Sorry," she said. "Sometimes my brain goes off."

"No worries. So, this Ian?"

"What about him?"

"Do you think Autumn and he are dating?"

She shook her head. "I get like a total platonic feel about the two of them. They do not find each other attractive. Also, he worked for the dreaded Alphabet People."

He nodded. "It's almost like they're related in some way, but I know she has no family left."

He took the exit that she assumed led to his house. She had never been there.

"None at all?"

"Nope. It would have popped up in her background check. A family took her in after she escaped the cult, but I don't know of any other close relationships."

"Isn't that odd? Or a warning sign?"

"I guess, but when you work undercover like she did, having close relationships is hard to maintain. I know a lot of marriages don't last. You definitely can't date long-term without explaining why you disappear for long periods. Protocol says you can't reveal yourself to someone without a background check. Plus, you put them at risk just by knowing you."

"True. A lot of the kids who survived got adopted into families."

He nodded. "I know a lot of them moved off the island. Not many of them are in the public eye these days."

She thought about Autumn. The woman was an odd duck that wouldn't fit into any organization, but she seemed to fit with Task Force Hawaii. That is probably why she had done so well at undercover work.

As he turned down a street, she knew they were getting close to the house. Her nerves started popping, and there was a weird tickle in the back of her throat. She wasn't the take-home-to-your-mama type of woman. Never had been, but especially now. The idea of sitting at dinner, trying to ignore the weird stares, made her skin crawl.

"Stop worrying."

She blinked and looked over at him. "What?"

"You're freaking out. Don't."

"Easy for you to say. You're not going to my mother's house."

"I'd do it in a heartbeat if you wanted me to."

He drew to a stop, but her attention was on him and not anything else. She studied him for a long moment, those deep, soulful dark brown eyes, the way he patiently waited for her to say something.

"She lives on the mainland now. I think."

The sad thing is she wouldn't know until Christmas came around. For the most part, her parents had their second marriages and didn't like the reminder of their screwed-up marriage. She was easier to forget than to deal with.

He reached out and cupped her face. The calluses on his hands felt like heaven against her skin.

"You are not your family, and fuck them if they don't see what an amazing person you are."

She blinked. "I…You don't cuss that often."

"I don't. Mainly because I was so much older than my sisters, and I wanted to set a good example for them."

He was such a good man. She could see him as a teenager, being the man of the house, trying to show his younger sisters how to behave. He was too good for her.

"Nope, no negative thoughts."

She frowned. "Are you a mind reader?"

He shook his head. "I just know you inside and out."

She sighed. "Listen, I get it. I'm not my family, but you have this amazing family of women who support you. You also have a lot of friends."

"As you do. Whether you like it or not, TFH is your o'hana. They love you, and you're kind of stuck with them."

She wanted to ask about his feelings…if he loved her. It was insane to even be thinking about it with everything going on. Still, this felt so different than last time they were involved. Also, she was a coward. She couldn't take him telling her that he wasn't in love with her. Worse, the idea that he might be in love with her scared her. Plus, she was about to go into the lion's den of his family.

Before she could sort out those feelings, there was a tap on the window. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a young woman in her late twenties with long dark hair and the same soulful eyes that Adam had. Except there were dark circles beneath hers. Adam wound down the window.

"Hey," he said. "Kailani, meet Jin Phillips. This is my favorite sister."

An eye roll. "He says that to all of us when we're alone with him. He thinks he has us fooled."

"Lies. Don't trust her," Adam said.

Jin looked at him. "You just said she was your favorite sister."

He shrugged. "I expect free healthcare someday."

"Forget it, bruddah."

Jin looked back at Kailani and realized she was wearing scrubs. "Oh, that's right. You're in residency."

She nodded. "And I have three days off, thank God. I heard we were having company tonight." She leaned closer. "Mom is trying to impress you."

"Me?"

She nodded. "Adam never brings a woman here. I need to wash the day off. Nice to meet you, Jin."

As she walked off, Jin turned back around to face Adam. "Why would your mom try to impress me?"

"You're a celebrity."

She sighed, but he took her hands.

"Yes, they know what happened, but they are more fans of your podcast. They figured out who you were because I was listening to it, so I'm sorry about that. They don't tell anyone, but I can promise you every woman in the Lee family is in love with your podcast. They are excited to meet you because of that and because they know you're important to me."

"I am?"

"I would show you how important it is right now to prove my point, but half my neighbors are watching us. Plus, my mother would get upset with the things I would want to do to you."

Heat flared low in her belly, then raced through her blood. "Ah…"

He laughed. "Don't worry. I can be patient as long as you're still interested in me. I'm cool with that. Now, we had better get in the house, or one of the neighbors could show up to talk. It's bad enough the Auntie Network is probably going full force."

She nodded and opened her door. By the time she slid out of the SUV, Adam was there. He was so damned fast.

"I could have helped you out."

"And I can get myself out, don't worry."

He leaned down. "My mother will say something about me not opening the door for you."

"Really?"

He nodded, and while she didn't roll her eyes or argue, she doubted that his mother would be upset. She was proven wrong the moment they walked in the door.

"Adam, didn't I teach you better manners? You open the door for your date."

Jin opened her mouth to say it wasn't a date, but she wasn't given a chance. Mrs. Lee smiled at her and pulled her into her arms. "I'm so happy to meet you, Jin. Come, let's get something to drink."

* * *

It was after ten that night when he drove Jin home. They'd had a great dinner. All of his sisters had ganged up on him, as he expected. They also took to Jin right away. He knew they would.

"I like your family."

He glanced over at her. "I do, too."

"You're all so close."

"Yeah, in close quarters and all that. We were raised in that house. And I had to help out after my father died."

"Your mother never thought of remarrying?"

He shrugged. "Makana just graduated high school last year, so she finally has time on her hands, but I'm not sure."

"She's an attractive woman. I would think she would find any number of suitors."

He slanted her a look. "I don't want to think about that."

"No matter what her age, she has needs."

"Okay, listen, I get that. I'm not an ageist, and I understand my mother is a woman and not just my mom. But…I don't want to think about it."

She laughed as he turned onto her street. It was a full belly laugh that left his heart lighter. In the next instant, the laughter dissolved.

There were police lights flashing on the street, and the entire area seemed to be in an uproar. They'd roped the area off and stopped Adam.

"Hey, Lee," the cop said.

"What's going on?"

"There was a break-in."

"Mrs. Fong?" Jin asked. When he looked at her, he noticed that her gaze was settled on the house to the right of hers.

"And you would be?"

"Jin Phillips. I live next door. Is Mrs. Fong okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. The EMTs are checking her out, but she's just shaken up. It's weird because this is such a quiet neighborhood."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

He glanced over at Adam.

"She's fine. Promise. She's helping TFH with a case."

"Oh, okay. Well, she said he kept asking her about a murder."

A young female officer walked up. "No. He kept asking her about Beyond Murder. Mrs. Fong had no idea what he was talking about because she didn't know about the podcast."

Adam sensed a stillness from Jin. Shit. This wasn't good.

"Anyway, can we get to her house?"

"Sure," the cop said.

He moved the tape to let them by. "Seems like overkill."

"Mrs. Fong is related to Chief Kelly."

He blinked and looked at her. "The Chief of Detectives?"

She nodded. "This is bad. And it's my fault."

He didn't want to discuss it sitting in the truck, so he got out and then jogged around to get her out of her side. Taking her keys from her, he unlocked the door. She roused herself to punch in the security code.

"This is bad," she repeated.

"It isn't your fault."

"Yes, it is. I'm the one digging up the past, and it came to her doorstep."

He grabbed her by her shoulders. "No. You are not the reason. And it might have nothing to do with the case. I need to call Del. You can pack a bag."

She blinked at him, her eyes coming into focus. "What? Why?"

"You need to stay at a safe house."

"I will not run away from my house."

He'd known she was going to argue with him. What he wasn't prepared for was the anger that swept through him. She was putting herself in danger. Again.

"Your personal assistant is missing. There's a break-in at your neighbor's house, and I promise you, whoever did it now knows about you. Or they have a safe bet of who does the podcast. They are going to come back to finish the job. I'm not about to let that happen. Or maybe you would rather wait until someone else is hurt by these assholes?"

Her face paled under his onslaught of words, and he instantly regretted them. Scaring her had been his objective, but Adam didn't like doing it. She still had to understand what was going on.

"Fine," she said, her voice smaller than it was before this had happened, and it irritated him, but there was nothing he could do about it.

She left him standing in the foyer. He wanted to go after her, but he had to concentrate on getting her safe. He called Del.

"What's up?"

"We have a problem."

He explained to Del what happened and precisely who Mrs. Fong was.

"Fuck."

"That sums it up."

"So, what do you want to do?"

He watched as a solemn Jin came toward him with a bag. "We need to move her to a safe house, but I want to come in first. I'm worried there might be eyes on the place."

"You think he might be watching right now?" Jin asked him.

He didn't break eye contact as he nodded. She drew in a deep breath, and then he watched as she straightened her spine.

"Yeah, call the team. We need to discuss this because they know that Jin is the host, and they want to know what she knows."

"Got it."

He hung up.

"I feel horrible about Mrs. Fong."

"Hey, she wasn't hurt. And we can see if they will let you see her before we go. That way, you will feel better."

She nodded. When they stepped outside of her house, there was still a lot of commotion. Adam figured it was because, most of the time, this street was quiet. This kind of activity probably brought everyone within a mile radius to see what was going on. Jin and Adam walked over to the ambulance. A tiny Asian woman sat inside. She was wearing a pink Mumu with purple flowers on it, and her short hair was in disarray.

"Mrs. Fong."

"Oh, Jin. How are you?"

Jin shook her head. "Don't worry about me. What about you? Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Just a little shaken up, so they wanted to check me out. It made no sense at all."

Jin looked like she wanted to say something, but Adam shook his head. It was then that Mrs. Fong turned her gaze toward him.

"Why don't you introduce me to your date?"

"Mrs. Fong, this is Adam Lee."

"Adam Lee? You have your father's name? He was a cop, yeah?"

He nodded.

"I knew both him and your mother. How is she doing?"

"Fine. We just had dinner with her."

And, in the way of Oahu, she talked about my sisters as if she knew them. Reno might call themselves the Biggest Little City. Still, most of Oahu was either blood-related or knew each other in some other capacity.

At least ten minutes later, they were finally on their way into TFH headquarters.

"I have a feeling everyone is going to figure out who does Beyond Murder," Jin said, looking out the window. He knew she was still irritated with him, but she held his hand.

"True, but you always thought that was possible, right?"

She nodded her gaze still out the window. They didn't talk much as they drove through the streets of Honolulu. There was always some kind of traffic, but there wasn"t much since it was after eleven. By the time they were walking into TFH Headquarters, almost everyone was there. At least, everyone but Elle, who wasn't needed for something like this.

"I'm so sorry to disrupt your night," Jin said to all of them.

Tamilya waved it away. She was sitting next to Marcus. "It's part of the job, Jin. No worries."

"I was still here," Autumn said.

"You need to get a life, girl," Tamilya said. "Seriously."

"I talked to Chief Kelly. He's okay with keeping this under wraps for now. They're going to step up patrols, and Mrs. Fong's son, who works for Dillon Security, is going to stay with her for a while."

"That's good," Jin said. "Better would be catching this asshole."

Everyone was nodding.

"So, I want to put her in a safe house."

"With you?" Tamilya said with a smile.

"Of course. We'll need surveillance, but we don't need to be overt about it."

"I agree," Del said. "Let's look over what houses we have and pick one. Then, you need to take one of the TFH SUVs. That way, if you're being watched, they might miss you, and they all have pretty good tracking systems on them."

Adam gave Jin an apologetic look, but she nodded. She understood there was no way around this. He wanted her safe, then he wanted this fucker taken down. The sooner he could do that, the sooner they could get on with their lives.