And the wordsI didn’t ask you to rescue meplayed on her lips.
Then Chai and May exchanged glances—and no, she wasn’t going to go to war with the man at their kitchen table. Besides, she was tired. So was he. She’d give him that much.
Instead, “Thank you for the meal,” Chloe said to May. “For the hospitality. For offering to help.”
“Of course. Skeet’s friends are our friends.”
Chloe headed toward the door. She needed a GrabTaxi home, then she’d review Dr. Tobias’s recording. Research Dr. Radic online. Contact other medical professionals who might have information.
Footsteps followed her as she headed out the door and down the steps.
“Where are you going?” she asked without turning around.
“With you.”
“I don’t need?—”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight until I get the okay from Ham.”
The words stopped her at the bottom of the steps. She turned to face Skeet, a burn forming in her chest. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” He’d grabbed his pack, wore an unmovable expression.
Fantastic.
“I’m not your responsibility.”
“Tell that to Jake when I have to explain why I let his sister get herself killed.”
She blew out a breath. “Listen. I get it. But really, I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can. But you’re not going to have to.”
Something in his tone—not condescending or controlling, just quietly certain—took the wind out of her argumentative sails.
And yes, she was exhausted, but for a second... well, his words settled in, loosed a knot inside.You’re not going to have to.
“Fine,” she said. “But you follow my lead. This is my investigation.”
“Understood.” One side of his mouth quirked up.
Somehow, she didn’t quite believe him.
Chloe’s guesthouse apartment might be small, but she loved the floor-to-ceiling windows that flooded the space with natural light. But the real jewel was outside. The turquoise pool stretched along the ground level, and banana plants and flowering trees created a tropical oasis that felt worlds away from the chaos of the city beyond the villa’s walls.
“Nice place,” Skeet said.
“It’s not much, but it’s home.” Chloe dropped her pack by the door, suddenly aware of how small the space felt with his presence filling it. “There’s a pullout couch if you need to sleep, and the bathroom’s through there.”
She gestured vaguely toward the back of the apartment, already backing toward her bedroom. “I’m going to shower off the smell of the jungle. Make yourself comfortable.”
She left him there, grabbed a towel and her robe, and fled to the bathroom.
The hot water felt like absolution, washing away mud and sweat and the scent of smoke that clung to her hair. She stood under the spray longer than necessary, letting the heat work out knots in her shoulders while her mind finally had space to process everything that had happened.
Dr. Tobias was dead. The village was destroyed. People were dying from some mysterious illness, and the only lead they had was a doctor who might not even want to be found.
But she wasn’t facing it alone anymore.