Runaway Hearts: Seduced by Danger

28. Victor Salem

Chapter 28

Victor Salem

T he room is still. A welcome quiet after the passionate sounds that filled it just moments ago. I take in Kai’s glistening, toned body with a small smile playing on his lips.

Kai, baby, I love you.

I lie beside him, my mind racing about our precarious situation. We can’t afford to stay in one place for too long. I glance at the bedside clock, and it reads 10:17 p.m.

Kai turns his head to me, his intense gaze is still present despite his half-lidded eyes. “Rory will be here soon. Better put some clothes on.”

“Okay. Did you give him the address?” It’s dangerous for him to know where we are.

“No need to worry. He’ll call when he reaches Nay’s seaside.”

Relief washes over me.

Rory spikes my curiosity. “You said he was in hiding earlier... why?” He seems so unreal.

“Some trouble in Vancouver.” Kai’s tone is filled with anger.

Shock courses through me. “What!” If Rory was in Vancouver, he could be the one who raided the safe house.

“He claimed he knew I couldn’t come and... well, I needed answers.” Kai lets out a pained sigh. “So, he went to retrieve information. And he almost got caught. Which doesn’t make sense because that man is slick as hell.”

“Do you think he wanted you to find out so you wouldn’t try to break into the safe house yourself?”

I put on my favorite Smurfs nightie.

“Brilliant, cutie pie, as always,” Kai praises with a small smile.

I blush at his words. “Just think about it.”

“He did leave something for me,” Kai admits, sliding his jeans on.

My eyes widen in surprise. “What?”

“Documents. I haven’t been able to open them... I thought, maybe we could do it together?” His vulnerability touches my heart.

He wants to share the information with me. Like my presence soothes him.

“Of course,” I reply without hesitation.

“I’ll go get them now.” Kai stands from the bed.

Now? Okay, we’re doing this now. My anticipation grows as Kai retrieves the documents and brings them back.

The documents lie between us, a palpable tension filling the room. Kai’s fingers brush over the manila folder, hesitating before opening it. Papers spill out, marked with red-inked stamps and cryptic notes.

I glance at Kai, catching the flicker of worry in his eyes.

“Are we ready for this?” he asks, voice low.

I squeeze his hand. “Yes.”

He nods and begins sifting through the papers. A photo slides out and catches my eye. It’s a picture of two unfamiliar faces, both stern and shadowed.

Kai’s jaw tightens. “That’s… No way!” He gasps, but he’s not looking at the faces, no. His focus is dead on the date written in small white numbers in the right corner of the photograph. “Fuck! That’s impossible… What? Fuck!”

The date written on the photograph reads July tenth, a mere three days ago. Kai’s anxiety spikes, his muscles tensing beside me. This kind of documentation should’ve been impossible to obtain so quickly—unless Rory had access to someone on the inside. Or is an undercover cop. Shit.

“What does this mean?” I ask.

It means Rory isn’t the one Kai thought.

Kai’s eyes dart over the papers, scanning for any further clues. “It means Yuzu and his team are closer than we thought. This complicates things.” His tone is a mix of frustration and admiration.

“Which one?” It would be practical to know who Yuzu is.

“Him…” His thumb roams over the older man’s face, his right eyelids twitching, and he stops at his throat, pushing until the picture dents.

Okay… Yuzu will die soon. There’s bad blood here.

My heart beats faster. “Do you trust Rory?”

Kai looks up at me, his gaze softening slightly. “He’s not you.”

Another picture catches our attention.

The intensity in Kai’s eyes sends chills down my spine. I lean closer, squinting at the date. “August 24, 2021… What’s wrong with that?”

It was a couple of years ago.

Kai’s eyelids flutter, his face frozen in an iceberg of anger and disbelief.

My body tenses, mirroring the image before me. There are three men in the photograph, but one stands out to me, his gaze piercing my defense even through glossy paper.

It’s the man who left me paralyzed with cold fear during our encounter in Vancouver.

The liquid danger man.

And next to him is… Oh, shit.

Another liquid danger man.

I’m the first to break the silence. “I saw him in Vancouver,” I stutter. My index shakes as I touch the image of the man to the far left.

A wheezing gasp breaks out of Kai’s lips. “Please don’t. Are you sure?”

His eyes immediately fixate on me, an unfamiliar emotion eating away at him. “You saw Tazo Adashi.“ Fear.

An arctic, debilitating fear that grabs hold of my throat and doesn’t let go.

“Ad… Adashi?” Like in the very dead Adashi twins? “Isn’t he dead?”

Kai’s grip tightens on the edge of the photo, knuckles paling under the strain.

The tension between us thickens, making it hard to breathe. My mind rushes back to that alley in Vancouver, the man’s cold eyes boring into me. I shiver at the memory.

I lean in closer, my breath mingling with Kai’s, the weight of the revelations hanging thick in the air. The photo shows Tazo Adashi, very much alive and very much dangerous with his twin brother.

“What’s his name?” I slide my index to the other twin.

A breathy reply. “Kenji.”

My mind races back to Vancouver, remembering the icy stare that had struck terror deep within me. “They faked their death.”

Kai’s eyes darken, shadows playing across his face. “Or people lied to me.”

My eyes dart to a piece of handwritten note, and frost seeps into my bones. Trembling fingers reach for the scrap of paper, my eyelids refusing to blink in shock.

The loopy sloppiness reminds me of…

No.

I stand.

My pulse quickens, matching the erratic rhythm of my thoughts.

I blink at the handwriting on the note left for Kai.

“Vancouver” is scribbled in a hurried scrawl, the ink smudged as if written in haste. Rory’s handwriting is looping and careless. The “a” is wobbly, blurring in with the following letter, and each “e” ends with a curl.

Just like Victor’s handwriting.

Outside, the fierce wind howls and sends grains of sand swirling around the firepit.

Fumbling with my phone, I retrieve the handwritten note that Victor left for me in my locker before I embarked on this much-needed vacation. It’s a precious keepsake, tucked safely behind my phone case as a lucky charm.

The words etched on the paper read:

“The sea is the best place to unwind and find your true path. Have fun. V.”

And I pull it flush to Rory’s note.

“Yuzu is in Vancouver with his team. This is what I found in the house.”

A perfect match.

My stomach churns. I drop the note as if its touch burns my fingertips.

The names Victor and Rory together sound like “victory.”

I snort at the irony.

There’s nothing victorious about the current situation.

A glance at Kai makes me squint my eyes. Maybe a small victory.

He steps closer, inspecting both notes side by side under the kitchen light. “Victor?” His voice is low and aggressive. “They might be working together,” he mutters, more to himself than to me.

“No.” My breath escapes in shaky intervals. “Victor—” I stop myself.

Pop-pop… What did you do?

Kai’s breathing grows heavy. “What are you thinking?”

“I think,” I begin, swallowing hard, “Pop-pop might know more than he let on.” The words feel like glass shards in my throat. “Do you have a family name for Rory or any features that strike out?”

“His name was Rowan Asher. When we met, he wore a mask and an oversized hoodie, but that’s common for ghosts.”

“What do you mean, ghost?” When Kai called Rory a ghost at first, I thought it was a metaphor. But I’m not so sure anymore.

“People with no traces. Supposedly dead. They often specialize in making other people disappear, and that’s why they’re so… elusive.”

“But not killing. Right?”

“No, cutie. When Rory was in service, he was the go-to guy for...” Kai’s breath stops for ten seconds. “For making people new IDs and…” His hands start to shake. “He said he knew my mom.”

A mix of surprise and horror makes my head recede, eyes so wide they hurt, and my lower lip loses all its tone. “Is he the one who got your mom killed? I mean…” Words burn my tongue. “like she wanted to escape, and he didn’t do a good job.”

The air stills, freezing us in a surprise state like ice statues.

Pieces start falling into place like a complex jigsaw puzzle, only to form an image that makes me want to throw the documents across the room.

I’m in danger. In real danger. Not the sexy kind.

Victor and Rory are the same person. That means Kai knows so much more than he lets on.

And Victor played me.

Flashing dots appear in my mind, so far away from each other I never thought of connecting them. My new love affair mesmerized me that I stupidly ignored some important stuff.

“How did you find me?” I ask Kai while I stand from the bed. “How is it possible that you crash onto my hood in the rain? And at my uncle’s?” I back off, nerves tingling. “Why were you hitchhiking? Really?”

Kai fa?ade falters, uncertainty shining through. “Because you’re the perfect cutie pie.”

Anger mounts. “What do you mean?”

He frowns and swallows.

Oh… “Don’t you dare lie to me,” I growl.

Kai’s eyes flicker, the veneer of calm cracking. “Rory said,” he says slowly. “He told me where to go and what to say.”

My heart pounds in my chest like a war drum. “Rory guided you to me?” My voice is barely above a whisper but loaded with accusation. The room closes in.

Kai nods, a grimace stretching across his features. “I didn’t know who you were at first,” he admits, his eyes more shadowed than before. “But Rory, or Victor... Whatever name he’s going by—he gave me clues, told me where to find you, but never explained why or how.”

But every story needs a plot thread, and this is his. We just need to find what links it all together.

A painful whisper breaks out of Kai’s lips. “Marianne, he knew my mother.”

I understand the need for answers. “Didn’t you think it was weird that Rory pushed a man like you toward me?”

“Well, Rory knew a blue Civic was on its way to British Columbia. But that’s what I asked him: to find me a transport to the West Coast.” Kai’s mouth twists while he thinks. “I found your uncle’s place on my own. It was easy with the call you had with Corey about the sewage repair and the pipe bur—”

“Oh!” I scream, my mouth frozen in the motion. That’s how he found me at my uncle’s house. I had a phone call with Corey the day before I dropped him off to go there. And we talked about a burst pipe and street names... Oh . “You sly dog.” I take a step back, my pulse pounding in my ears. “And you didn’t tell me? Even after everything we’ve been through?”

Kai’s shoulders slump, guilt etched on his face as he hangs his head in shame. “I didn’t want to scare you away back then,” he admits softly. “I was really starting to like you.”

Sucker punch.

That’s cute. But he lied to me.

My initial surge of emotion quickly fades, replaced by a sense of danger. Kai’s admission is endearing and concerning. How could I have not seen his true intentions before?

He was truly shopping for a runaway bride.

Kai steps forward, hand extended as if to bridge the emotional chasm that’s formed between us. “Marianne, I love you. I’m sorry I kept you in the dark.”

Double sucker punch.

His words hang in the air, suspended by a fragile thread of sincerity that I’m not sure is real or imagined.

“Are you mad at me?” Kai asks.

I move to the window and look out into the darkness. The rain has started again, tapping on the glass like tiny, impatient fingers.

“Yeah. I am,” I answer, unsure of my emotions. “I’m mad at you, but I’m furious at Rory. And scared. He used me.” Played me like a piece in a giant board game.

Kai’s eyes soften, pleading silently for understanding.

If Rory and Victor are one and the same, then I’m beyond confused as to why Pop-pop put me in this situation. I can see Victor being an ex-criminal.

It fits.

But somehow, I can’t grasp what his angle would be to put me in contact with a man like Hiroshi Kwunaru the freaking Seventh.

Now Kai Kiken, named by yours truly.

His eyes widen, and he takes another step toward me, his hand trembling as it reaches for mine. I pull back, not ready to let him off the hook.

Maybe the documents Rory left for Kai hold answers.

I gather half of the papers and push them in Kai’s hand. “You check on these to find something useful.” But when he comes to sit on the bed, I say, “On the sofa,” with a firm tone. “I’ll be on the bed.”

He frowns, his lower lips dipping, making his pout so fucking alluring.

Ultrasexygerous.

His eyes dart to the pile of documents, then back to me. He swallows hard, reluctantly moving to the sofa. The gentle rain taps on the windows, mixing with the papers rustling in his grip.

He’s sulking.

I settle onto the bed, clutching a blanket like a shield, seeking warmth and comfort that refuses to come. Focusing on the pages before me, I steal glances at Kai. His brows furrow as he scans through Rory’s cryptic notes, frustration seeping into his posture.