Eight years ago, she’d made it clear that she didn’t need him. So why would he fly halfway around the world to check on her now?
But Caleb couldn’t just let it go. He was protective. Almost as much as Wolfe. The difference was that Wolfe was protective of only a few people while Caleb would look out for the whole world if he could.
Aleki might be quick to smile, to laugh, but he didn’t have the heart that Caleb did. Or he would have been able to forgive and forget, right?
She’d walked away. She’d left him.
He didn’t owe her anything.
“Why? It’s been years since you’ve seen her. What makes you think she needs you?” he asked Caleb.
“Because my gut says something is wrong. She hasn’t been seen since his death was announced. She hasn’t replied to my emails.”
“She’s likely holed up somewhere,” Aleki told him. “You know what the press is like, she’ll be keeping a low profile.”
“She could be in trouble,” Caleb said.
“Or she could be fine,” Wolfe pointed out.
Caleb frowned. “I have a bad feeling. I’ve talked to Kassim, I’m taking their jet.”
“And who is going to do your job while you’re gone?” Aleki snapped.
Caleb pinned him with a look. “You know the two of you can keep things going here. Not to mention that you have Beta team to back you up.”
“You don’t want us to come?” Wolfe asked.
Caleb raised his eyebrows. “With how you both feel about Vivi, I figured you wouldn’t want to come.”
How he felt about her? How did he feel about her? That was the problem, wasn’t it? It might have been eight years, but it seemed that his heart didn’t understand time.
His body didn’t understand that he shouldn’t want her. Glancing away, Aleki closed his eyes and let out a breath.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go on your own,” Wolfe said. “What if something happens to you?”
“Nothing will happen to me,” Caleb reassured him.
Wolfe could worry himself into an ulcer if left unchecked. They’d gotten used to heading him off before he went on a protective bender.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll keep in contact every day. I’ll probably be gone four, maybe five, days at the most.”
“I don’t like it,” Wolfe said mulishly. “We do things together, remember?”
The three of them shared everything. A house. Finances. And when they found someone who fit them all, they planned to share their woman. It was an agreement they’d come to after coming to Escana and seeing how well it worked here.
Wolfe was right, they wouldn’t let Caleb go alone. They stuck together.
“What if she’s not in San Francisco?” he asked. “She could be anywhere.”
“Oh, she’s in San Francisco,” Wolfe said, his focus on his computer.
“How do you know that?” Aleki asked him.
“She still wears the locket you gave her for her twenty-first birthday.”
Why would she still be wearing that?
“She does? Wait. What does that have to do with anything? And how do you know she still wears it?” he asked.