Forever Strong Read online

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by Piper J. Drake

  Excerpt from Total Bravery copyright 2018 by Piper J. Drake

  Cover illustration by Michael Heath. Cover design by Elizabeth Turner Stokes. Cover copyright © 2020 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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  First ebook edition: January 2020

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  ISBNs: 978-1-5387-5960-8 (mass market), 978-1-5387-5961-5 (ebook)

  E3-20191217-ORN-DA

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Acknowledgments

  Discover More

  About the Author

  Also by Piper J. Drake

  Praise for the novels of ​Piper J. Drake

  An Excerpt From Total Bravery

  To Katee and Åsa,

  Your support and encouragement helped me through some of the most frustrating, challenging times and this book wouldn’t be what it is without you to steady me.

  Thank you.

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  Chapter One

  Thank you, Miss Jiang. Your statement has been very helpful. You’ll be contacted if you can be of any further help.”

  Jiang Ying Yue closed her eyes and allowed herself to fully exhale. Sure. Relive the most terrifying time of your life, not once, but as many times as needed to dredge up anything she might have seen that could possibly be of help to the authorities. She’d thought her first statement had been detailed, but she’d found herself adding more today as the police asked her to clarify portions of what she remembered of her kidnapping and captivity. The only thing stopping her from cracking into a million pieces and laughing, or crying hysterically, was the desperate thought that she’d been helpful to someone. Maybe it’d been helpful to her, too, but it didn’t feel that way at the moment.

  As she took in her next breath, she opened her eyes and lifted her chin. “I’d like to be kept up to date on the progress of your investigation.”

  She clung to the calm she heard in her own voice. If she sounded sane, she could stay that way.

  Officer Kokua nodded. “I’ll be honest. We can’t give you all the details from an ongoing investigation, but I will keep you apprised as much as I can. We’ll find the people who kidnapped you.”

  She gave him a smile because it was what was expected. Truly? They both knew her kidnappers might never be found or brought to justice. She’d been plucked from the streets of Singapore on her way home from overseeing a charity event. When she’d regained consciousness, she’d been in a tiny cabin on a cargo ship crossing the Pacific Ocean. She hadn’t even known that much until she’d been rescued just yesterday and gotten a look at the ship as her rescuer hustled her to a huge helicopter along with a large group of other captives.

  After a night at Queen’s Medical Center on the island of Oahu for observation, she’d been escorted to the nearby police station. Even with the detail she’d been able to add this morning, she’d only been able to give the police information on the appearances of her kidnappers. She hadn’t heard any names. It’d be an impossible search without more.

  “In the meantime, we’ve contacted your father.” Officer Kokua might have been trying to sound reassuring, but bits and pieces of rationale were crumbling inside her head now that she was done giving her statement. She struggled to breathe past the fluttering in her chest as she fought to remain steady for a little longer.

  Thankfully, he didn’t reach over to pat her hand or make any other comforting gestures. She could keep it together if no one made sudden moves or tried to reach for her. Going through her kidnapping over and over again in increasing detail had left her wrung out and exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. She wanted to cry, but if she did, she’d also be embarrassed. Then she’d yell at herself for having any kind of shame for a perfectly justified reaction, and she’d feel even more out of control as she fell into a spiral of logic versus…all the feels.

  There was more. Intellectually, she knew her captors could have done unspeakable things to her. They hadn’t, at least not by the time her rescuer had burst through the door to the cabin. But the people who had taken her could have. Her living nightmare could’ve been a hundred, a thousand times more awful. Part of her was relieved. Another part of her felt guilty for being so lucky. She’d gotten a look at the other captives rescued from the same ship. They’d suffered far worse.

  “My father was scheduled to be here, in Hawaii.” She clung to the remembered detail from her father’s itinerary, something she only knew because he’d mentioned it in passing during a perfunctory phone call. Their monthly chat was a habit started years ago, carried on through undergrad and graduate school and now maintained as she established her career. It was a fortunate coincidence it’d happened right before she’d been taken, and she was thankful. She was fully capable of returning to her apartment in Singapore on her own, but she’d like to at least see him before she tried to go through the process of returning to normal life. Whatever that was going to take.

  It wasn’t going to be as simple as getting on the next available flight, and she hadn’t yet begun to figure out what she actually needed to do. Her father was the closest family she had, geographically speaking. Her mother was touring Europe while her father was on business. She wanted to see him, wanted to be held and know he’d been worried for her. A terrible fear lurked in the pit of her stomach, and she tasted bile as she considered the possibility that he’d been too busy to miss her.

  “He’s right here on Oahu,” Officer Kokua confirmed with a broad smile. “We reached out to him as your emergency contact. His personal aide has ma
de arrangements for you at the same hotel as your father.”

  She clenched her teeth but kept her smile frozen in place. “Of course.”

  The officer had spoken not to her father, but his aide. Her father hadn’t had time to speak to the police, not even after she’d been kidnapped and rescued. A familiar blend of hurt and anger churned in her stomach to mix with her fear. Perhaps she should have made his aide her emergency contact rather than her next of kin, the head and patriarch of her family. Bitterness joined the twisting mess of emotions until she wondered how terrible she could feel in a single moment.

  Something wet and cold pressed against the back of her hand. She blinked and relaxed her curled fingers. She hadn’t realized she’d clenched her hands into fists on her lap. The black nose belonged to a large dog, who looked up at her with soulful golden-brown eyes. He withdrew and sat beside her, apparently satisfied he had her attention. He was a deep brown all over, almost burnished red, and his long tail brushed the ground once in greeting. Such a somber dog.

  Recognition blossomed in her chest and spread through her in a cool, soothing wave. She was inordinately happy to see the dog. Her nausea eased as her lips curved into her first smile in forever. She reached out and gingerly patted the side of his neck, then crooked her fingers to scratch the base of one ear as he leaned into her hand. He’d been with her rescuer yesterday.

  “Hey, Buck.” Officer Kokua rose from his seat behind his desk. “I guess Zu is around here somewhere, then. Funny, usually Buck doesn’t leave Zu.”

  Maybe her heart beat harder at the mention of the man, the owner of this dog. Maybe. She wasn’t about to admit it if anyone called her on it. All she was experiencing was a natural reaction to the person who’d helped her get out of her dangerous captivity. She remembered someone larger than life, powerful and full of vitality, the memory influenced by the stress of her situation.

  Still, she stood and turned, intending to follow the police officer in search of Buck’s human. She wanted to thank the man who’d saved her. She also wanted him to see her calm and collected after a night’s rest to restore her so he wouldn’t have the memory of her afraid and captive. She wanted that version of her gone from existence, replaced by the real her, even if it had existed just in the mind of one man.

  “Zu, there you are.” Officer Kokua stopped short, and Ying Yue halted to avoid walking into the taller man’s back.

  She peered around the officer and caught sight of Zu, Azubuike Anyanwu. He’d told her his full name yesterday, when he’d found her. He stood in the doorway to the open office area—filled it, really. It wasn’t just about his height, either. His shoulders and even his chest and torso were wide and heavily muscled, easy to see under the simple T-shirt he wore. He was a wall of intimidation.

  Or, he was the first time she’d seen him. Now, she took in the sight of him like another dose of the same relief she’d experienced when she’d seen Buck. Here was someone who could manage to look at her without the pity that set her teeth on edge when she’d been dealing first with hospital staff and now with the police. She felt sure he’d take in the calm she’d gained and recognize the progress she’d made in processing what she’d been through. If she was surrounded by these other people for much longer, all of their careful sympathy would drag her down and keep her from moving forward.

  Zu’s gaze took in the room first; then Officer Kokua dropped lower to Buck as the dog returned to his side and then rose again to find her. She swallowed hard. His eyes were so dark they seemed to trap light, like polished obsidian, set below a heavy brow, and his lids were dropped halfway down in what might have been mistaken for a sleepy look if not for the sharp intelligence that sliced through her as he studied her.

  “Miss Jiang.” He nodded as he addressed her.

  She’d lost her words despite all the thoughts running around in her head, so she opted for a nod in greeting rather than have something crazy pop out of her mouth.

  “Ah, yeah.” Officer Kokua stepped to the side so she could walk forward unimpeded. “We were taking her statement, now that’s she’s been released from the hospital.”

  Zu made a sound of acknowledgment.

  He hadn’t said much on the helicopter ride back from the cargo ship, either.

  Questions bubbled up. She still wanted to know why he and his team had been out there in the middle of the ocean in the first place. Had her father sent them? Had someone else? Who was he? Here was something—or rather, a very interesting someone—to focus on rather than the questions people had been asking her. “Are you here at the police station often?”

  She snapped her mouth shut. Of all the questions she had in mind, that hadn’t come out sounding anywhere near as composed as she wanted, or even relevant.

  His severe expression didn’t change. If anything, he seemed to scowl. “No.”

  She stared at him. He stared back. Okay, then.

  “I checked in at the hospital with the other people rescued from the cargo ship,” he said finally, “and the hospital said you’d come here to give your statement and wait for family to pick you up.”

  “You came to check on me? That’s appreciated.” Tingling warmth filled her chest. She didn’t want to make more of it than it was, though. “Did you check on all of the people you rescued from the cargo ship?

  “Yes.”

  Disappointment extinguished the warmth in a tepid splash. She tried to rally, caught by surprise as she realized she’d wanted him to be interested in her. She’d been fishing. Heat burned her cheeks. He was a good—actually amazing—looking man with a chiseled jaw and close-cropped black hair, dark-skinned and built like a legendary warrior, but she didn’t need to fall in a puddle at his feet. “Can’t imagine the kind of people who hire you pay you for following up on people, too.”

  After all, he didn’t serve his country or any noble cause. He was a private contractor, a mercenary. She’d realized he wasn’t law enforcement or military last night when he hadn’t stayed as the police took over the situation at the hospital with all of the rescued captives, including her.

  “No.” He didn’t seem bothered by her reference to money at all. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Do you always do the right thing?”

  He lifted an eyebrow in response. “When possible, yes.”

  She mentally checked herself, hard. She’d been headed down a haughty, judgmental path to hide from her embarrassment. Not only was she not attractive to him, she wasn’t liking herself much, either. She felt worse than off-balance. She was oscillating in unexpected directions, emotionally and mentally, and what was coming out of her mouth either didn’t make sense or wasn’t what she intended. She was a better person than this, not that he’d find out at the rate she was going.

  Officer Kokua cleared his throat. “Hey, Zu. Can you escort Miss Jiang over to her hotel? Her father’s people said accommodations had been reserved there for her.”

  Of course, not only was her father too busy to come and check on her, but his aide was, too.

  “Considering what she’s been through, they didn’t want to send a car, so I was going to drive her over,” the officer continued. “But they wanted to personally thank you, too. Her father’s aide will be waiting for her at the hotel with some things for her comfort.”

  Zu wasn’t looking at Officer Kokua as the man spoke. Instead, Zu was watching her.

  She lifted her chin. “I can go to the hotel on my own.”

  She was thirty-two, and before this insane kidnapping had happened, she’d been an accomplished community investment professional with a background in grants administration and nonprofit capacity building. She’d been establishing herself as one of the best in the fields of philanthropy and social innovation. A simple taxi ride to a hotel was no big thing.

  “You could,” Zu confirmed. “But given recent events, it makes sense for me and Buck to give you a lift.”

  She opened her mouth and closed it agai
n, undecided. Now that he’d said more than a couple of words at a time, the deep resonance of his voice distracted her. She felt it all along her sternum, pulling at her, and she wanted to hear more. And even if she could do just about anything she needed on her own, she didn’t particularly want to just yet. It didn’t hurt to accept a ride. “Thank you.”

  * * *

  The drive from the police station to the hotel was only a couple of miles, but at this time of day, there was a lot of traffic. Zu didn’t enjoy the stop and go of downtown Honolulu ever, and it made him irritable behind the wheel. Buck had curled up in the back of Zu’s SUV readily for a nap. Normally, the two of them would’ve made a trip like this in relaxed quiet.

  But their passenger might find the silence awkward. A lot of people did, in Zu’s experience, and he didn’t know enough about her to know whether it’d be more helpful to leave her to her thoughts or provide some kind of entertaining conversation. He was also a terrible conversationalist.

  For her part, Ying Yue had sat quietly in the passenger seat for the past minute or so. As far as Zu could tell, she was people watching.

  “Is it just me, or do you not talk much in general?”

  He chuckled. She wasn’t the first to point it out, but he liked hearing it from her better than others. She sounded genuinely curious and not accusing or in search of a fight. “It’s not just you.”

  “Okay.” She paused. “Do you not like talking or is it that you don’t usually initiate conversation?”

  Good question. He hadn’t thought about it. “It’s easier to answer questions when I don’t know a person.”

  There were too many ways a conversation could go sideways or be misinterpreted. If a person asked him about what they wanted to know, he didn’t have to do any guessing about what information they needed from him. Then, it took less time to decide what he actually wanted to share.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw her square herself in the passenger seat and nod. “So, I’d like to know a few things.”

  He’d bet. She’d probably spent the time at the police station doing all the answering. It couldn’t have been a pleasant experience, no matter how nice the officers tried to be. He’d been there a few times himself, and it was frustrating not to receive answers in return. If it helped Ying Yue, he’d be glad to share what he could. “Ask. I’ll answer if I can.”