Page 54 of Trust

Lani:Okay. No worries.

She slipped her phone into her pocket. Why did he wait until five minutes before they were supposed to meet to text her? Royal and Ben were coming all the way over from Turtle Bay. It seemed like he would have known before now.

With Jakob on his way off the island, she was at odds with what to do. She could head back to her apartment and get comfortable. She had been resentful when Royal had said she wanted to have brunch today, but when she said it had been Ben’s idea, Lani knew it was important.

She made her way back up the stairs. As she stepped into the parking area, she heard a squeal of tires. Alarm lit through her as she turned to see a car barreling toward her. She started to run, trying to get out of the path of the SUV that was now seemingly headed straight for her. Knowing that it would hit her before she could actually get away, she took a chance and jumped in between two cars, her hip crashing into the car on her right. She landed with a thud, pain exploding in her knee as she fell forward. Her hands slipped over the pavement as she tried to keep from having her face smash into the pavement. As it was, her cheek hit, and she knew it was scraped up.

“Miss? Miss?”

The sound of feet running toward her reached her. A young woman and what looked to be her mother came rushing toward her.

“Are you okay?” The older woman asked.

Lani rose, her head spinning a little. “Yeah. I think so.”

“It was like that man was aiming for you,” the young woman said, reaching out to help Lani.

“Mahalo,” she said. “I think it might have been some people just being jerks.”

The women shared a look, and she could tell when they turned toward her that they weren’t convinced.

“Thank you again.”

“Do you want us to call the police?” The mother asked.

“N-no. I…I just need to get checked out.”

They looked like they wanted to argue, but she felt unsafe there. And she didn’t want the women to be exposed if the jerk returned.

“Thanks,” she said, rushing off. She got to her SUV before she felt her eyes start to sting. Someone had just tried to kill her, run her down. Lani knew not everyone loved her, but to want to kill her? That was another level.

And that’s precisely what it was. Now the failed brakes, the weird text she had gotten…the feeling that someone was watching her…it all seemed to add up. She might be blowing it out of proportion, and since she couldn’t call Jakob, she knew there was one other man she could call.

She pulled out her phone, found his number, and clicked on it.

“Hey,” Conner Dillon said, “Please tell me you aren’t calling to reschedule.”

She sighed. “No. I need to talk to you about a personal security issue.”

“Are you safe right now?” he asked, his teasing tone dissolving.

“I think. I just…”

She was ready to start crying, which wasn’t like her at all.

“Are you in Honolulu?”

“Yes.”

“Go to my office. I’ll let security know to let you in. They will stay with you until I get there.”

“I’m sorry to bother you on a Sunday.”

“Don’t worry about that. Just get to my office. We’ll take care of everything else.”

Emily Daniels burst out of the elevator and hurried down the hall, dread growing with each step she took. Dillon Security was deathly silent as she made her way to Conner Dillon’s office. It was Sunday morning, so that made sense. What didn’t make sense was the big man calling her in. Conner didn’t expect his folks to work on the weekend unless they were on a job that required it.

As she entered his outer office, Janet wasn’t in her seat. His personal assistant was usually his right hand. She raised her hand and realized it was shaking. In a deep breath, Emily reminded herself that her brothers were okay. Aaron was visiting their parents. The twins, Baxter and Barrett, were deployed, but she assumed her parents would call her before Conner would know.

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