“Maybe.” Mano rubbed his forehead. “I have no idea how we’re going to get you out of this one, Tomi. You’ve got the Iranians after you and now the cops.”
Tomi leaned his head against the window. “Maybe I should just go to the cops. Throw myself on their mercy. I want to talk to my dad first though.”
They’d reached the Tagama house. “Let’s go,” Mano said. He shut off the engine and got out.
“There might be yelling,” Tomi said.
“Yeah, but having someone along might help keep it to a dull roar.”
“My hero,” Tomi said, grinning as he slapped Mano on the back. The two men went to the front door. Tomi pushed open the door. “Annie? Are you here?” He stepped inside, and Mano followed.
The aroma of teri beef made Mano’s mouth water, and he realized he’d skipped lunch. He and Tomi went toward the kitchen. Wilson dashed under their feet, and Tomi nearly stumbled. He caught himself and mumbled, “Stupid mongoose.” They stepped into the kitchen.
Annie stood at the counter sliding beef onto wooden sticks for kebabs. A lock of hair had fallen forward and touched the gentle curve of her cheek. The heat of the stove brightened her face with a hint of color. She looked up and saw them, and her blush deepened.
Something in Mano’s chest expanded, filling him up from the inside. He couldn’t explain it to himself how he knew, but he realized in that moment he loved Annie, really and truly loved her in a way he never expected. She was beautiful outside but even lovelier inside. In the past, a woman would catch his eye because of her shape or her smile or her eyes. But with Annie, he’d been attracted first to her spirit. Weird, but true.
He couldn’t drag his gaze from hers. It was all he could do not to shoulder Tomi out of the way and take her in his arms. Before he could figure out what to say, Edega came in from the garage.
“It’s about time you showed your face, Tomi,” he said.
Twenty-two
Watching her father embrace her brother, Annie wondered if she was invisible to them. The two of them needed no one else. Tomi was her father’s favorite in so many ways, in spite of Edega’s rebuke. And that was as it should be, maybe. Tomi was the only boy, and her father looked to him as holding the future of the Tagama name.
Did he even see her as his daughter—or as anything more than his secretary and maid? Annie didn’t think so, but she found that she didn’t mind. Not anymore. She wanted to please God now. Her glance moved to Mano, and she realized he’d been staring at her. The expression on his face nearly made her gasp. Could that be— yearning? She must be tired.
“I just talked to Sam,” Mano said. “Still no sign of Leilani, but he figured out that CeCe lied. He needs to talk to Tomi about those dog tags, though. Tomi says he hasn’t seen Noah.”
“I knew Tomi wouldn’t hurt anyone.” Annie rubbed her forehead. “Maybe everyone is right and Leilani is just off on a lark. You’d think we would have heard something by now.” Something crashed behind her, and she whirled.
Wilson wore as guilty an expression as was possible for a mongoose. The plate of teri shish kebabs lay on the floor. He sniffed, then crouched as though to jump down and explore the food on the floor. “Don’t you dare,” she said. She swooped him up, and he wiggled to get away, but she held tightly. “What am I going to do with you?” she scolded.
“Toss him to the dogs?” her brother suggested.
Mano stepped forward and scratched Wilson on the head. “He just wanted a bit of that tasty food. Didn’t you, Wilson?”
The mongoose squeaked and nuzzled Mano’s fingers, then crawled up his arm and down the neck of his shirt. Mano’s eyes widened, then he grinned and caught Wilson before he crept past his neck to his stomach. He fished him out and held him up to stare in his face. “I think you need to go to mongoose training.”
“I’ve had it with that animal,” her father said. He grabbed Wilson by the nape of the neck. The mongoose growled in protest as Edega stepped toward the door.
“No!” Annie jumped between her father and the door. “Give him to me.”
“You should never have been allowed to raise this thing. He’s going outside where he belongs.”
Annie faced him. “He’s mine. You have no right to get rid of him. I’m not a child.” She tried to take the mongoose, but her father held it out of her reach.
“You will obey me in my house. I should never have let you bring that animal in here.”