Anger surged through her. “You went through my things?”
“Cooper did. But we already knew about the plane tickets so she didn’t find anything of real interest.”
“You tapped into the airline’s computer to spy on me?”
Her voice was loud enough to startle Ellie, but the baby didn’t fully rouse.
“If you want to get back to sleep any time soon, I’d keep your voice low.” He patted Ellie’s back lightly until she settled again. “Marco checked you out before your plane ever hit the tarmac here in South America.”
Her jaw nearly hit the floor. “You’ve been following me since before I got here?”
“I’m good at what I do, Sonny. That’s why the bondsman pays me.”
“Money.”
She hadn’t meant for her voice to sound so accusing, but this was her brother they were talking about. Not some jackpot at a church bingo game.
“I’m not out to hurt you.”
“You already did.”
A flash of alarm crossed his face. Then he looked at her quizzically.
“You interfered with my leaving Colombia when I needed to get home,” she reminded him.
“I told you. As soon as you tell me how I can find your brother, I’ll put you on the plane myself.”
Sonny balled her fists and leaped from the sofa. She had to release some of the frustration that had been building inside her since long before she’d even set foot in Colombia. Since before Cash had gotten into the mess he was in.
The problem was she really didn’t know how far to go back. But pacing the floor wasn’t going to give her the answers she longed for. She wanted to know her brother was alive. She wanted to believe that she and Ellie would get back to the United States safely.
Even though Gil was trying to reassure her and get her to trust him, she knew he didn’t have those answers, either.
“You just don’t get it. You really don’t understand how you’ve endangered all of us.”
“All of us? Why don’t you tell me, Sonny. Then I’ll understand. Because right now you’re talking riddles. What are you hiding?”
#
Chapter Six
The burden was as heavy as her fatigue, weighing her down so that her shoulders ached. She needed strength. She wouldn’t allow herself to be blinded by this man.
“I’m tired,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.
Gil’s face showed resignation and perhaps a little disappointment. His face was drawn and his eyelids were heavy. He was tired, as well, and probably fed up with her silence, too.
He held her steady with his stare. She could look at him all night. Gil had a way about him, that was for sure. Especially as he sat there with the baby in his arms.
“What’s holding you back, Sonny?” he finally asked.
She answered honestly. “I can’t risk it.” Her voice was low, even to her own ears.
He implored her with his eyes. When she said no more, he said, “Sonny, if we’re all in danger now, you need to come clean. This isn’t just about you and Ellie anymore.”
Sonny simply nodded.
“I think she’ll sleep fine now,” he said, easing himself to the end of the chair.
“Thank you.”
Whether or not he understood her thanks were for his not pressing her any further, she didn’t know. All she did know was that if she didn’t get some sleep, she’d burst into a million tears and truly be at Gil’s mercy.
Sonny found herself longing to have Gil hold her as gently as he’d held the baby in his strong, capable arms. She wanted to feel safe there. She felt as if she were a piece of fragile glass that could break at any moment.
She didn’t try to take the baby from him. Instead, Gil followed her to the bedroom. She opened the door slowly, allowing the light from the living room to spill into the darkness, showing the way to the crib. In one smooth, gentle move, he settled Ellie into the crib, covering her with the blanket.
He turned to Sonny. The light from the living room shone bright in his dark eyes, making them glow. A shadow was cast over half his face, but she could see clearly his strong, square jaw and wavy dark hair. Her hands itched to touch the locks of hair falling across his forehead as he looked down at her.
As their eyes locked, the air in the room seemed to disappear.
“Good night, Sonny,” he whispered.
She closed her eyes as he moved past her. The scent of him filled her senses. He smelled clean like soap and fresh air. It was a heady scent that made her lightheaded.
When Gil closed the door behind him, Sonny dropped to the bed. The room was dark. The baby and Cooper were asleep. She was alone with her thoughts.
In the darkness her eyes filled with tears. How could she be so attracted to a man who wanted to cause harm to someone she loved so dearly? She’d been right. She never should have gotten in that car.
* * *
That was a close call.
Gil walked across the cool tiled floor in his bare feet, picked up the remote and turned off the television. He was dead on his feet.
He’d hardly slept more than four hours a night in the past few weeks. But he knew if he climbed into his bed, he’d just be watching the red digital numbers on the clock until light crept in through the window.
The woman had him rattled. That was for sure. Standing next to her in the bedroom, his mind raced to what it would be like to kiss her sweet lips again. His fingers itched to touch her cheek, taste her flesh. He’d completely forgotten that Cooper and the baby were right there.
Maybe he’d been at this job way too long. If Sonny Montgomery could smooth his edge, steal his focus and distract him from the process of bringing in a fugitive, he was losing it. He might as well pack up his office and close shop. How effective could he be as a bounty hunter if he spent his time looking at Sonny’s upturned nose and the light freckles on her cheeks?
“Good going, Gil,” he chided himself as he rearranged the pillows on the sofa, punching them down. Then he stretched himself out on the length of the couch.
He wasn’t even going to think about why he was noticing freckles on a woman he was sure was in trouble up to her baby-blue eyes. And they were truly magnificent eyes.
He sputtered at the thought. “What the fuck? So she has pretty eyes,” he said quietly, glancing at the bedroom door. “They’re just eyes.”
But she had kissed him. Sure, she hadn’t kissed him with any kind of purpose except to get the airport guards off their backs. But he could still feel the imprint of her lips on his. He could taste her. And it was driving him fucking insane!
He couldn’t even put into words how much the kiss had surprised him...and affected him. But the look on her face as she’d stood on tiptoe to reach him—the connection he’d made with her eyes and the feel of her lips on his played over and over again.
That was why he couldn’t sleep. How could a man sleep with a face like Sonny Montgomery’s running through his mind, knowing she was just feet away from him?
He looked up at the ceiling, muttering, “Women.”
Gil needed to wipe the image of Sonny from his brain as best he could. Pulling the blanket from the back of the sofa, he covered himself, rolled to his side and closed his eyes.
She was still there in his mind. Imprinted in his brain. Somehow she’d gotten under his skin. Who the hell was he kidding? He wasn’t going to sleep at all tonight.
He tried to focus on work. Gil was sure Sonny had been trying to steer him the wrong way earlier when she’d been on the computer. Marco had to work his magic.
“That’s right,” he muttered. “Keep your mind on the job, not the woman.”
If Sonny had sent a message to warn her brother that Gil and his team were on to him, Marco would find it. And Gil would use it to find Cash. No matter how much the image of Cash’s little sister kept Gil tossing tonight.
* * *
“Yo, Gil.” His body shook as if he was in the middle of an ea
rthquake. “Dude, wake up!”
Reluctant to be pulled from the comfortable position he’d been sleeping in, Gil opened one eye. It refused to stay open.
“What is it? What’s happened?” he asked in a raspy, sleep-filled voice. Hadn’t he just fallen asleep?
He was vaguely aware that the earth had stopped moving and it dawned on him that Cooper had been shaking him awake. He took a moment to position himself upright and fully open his eyes.
“I thought you were dead. Marco’s been calling you from the kitchen for at least five minutes and you didn’t so much as twitch,” Cooper said, sitting back on the other end of the sofa. “He’s got something.”
That kicked Gil into gear. He rubbed his hands over his face. When he found the strength to stand up, he was stopped by the look on Cooper’s face.
“Is it good or bad?”
She shrugged. “Not sure yet. Go talk to Marco.”
Gil went to the kitchen, his bare feet cold on the tiled floor. He found Marco perched on a stool, typing furiously and poring through pages of printout.
“She’s good. I’ll give her that. She managed to send an email and cover her tracks—mostly—in that short amount of time we were gone. But I found her imprint.”
“Good. Did she email Cash?” He felt a rush of disappointment. Even though Gil wanted to find information about Cash, part of him hoped that Sonny had been telling the truth about the computer.
“I hope not. If she did, we are in the wrong country.”
Gil frowned. “How do you know?”
“I did all the usual stuff. Tracked her email by following the IP address, which I figured was probably being forwarded. I expected to do a little more digging.”
“And did you?”
“Of course, but don’t ask me how or I’ll have to plead the Fifth Amendment. Or kill you. Take your pick,” Marco said with a low chuckle.
“Just tell me where it ended up.”
“A hotel in Miami. I figured I was wrong. I must have missed something, which doesn’t happen often, but that was it. Straight to Miami. It went through a dedicated line, so my guess is it was picked up at the hotel’s business center.”
“She was taking a plane to Miami,” Gil said, suddenly wondering who else besides her father might be meeting her there. His mind immediately shifted to whether or not Sonny was meeting a boyfriend. She was, after all, a beautiful woman. Just because Marco hadn’t uncovered any information about Sonny’s involvements didn’t mean she didn’t have any. It just meant that Marco hadn’t looked deep enough. After all, they hadn’t known Cash had a wife and kid.
Until this moment, it hadn’t mattered to Gil. What did he care if Sonny had a boyfriend? But now, that little bit of information was something he needed to know.
“The email didn’t say much. Kind of cryptic, if you ask me,” Marco said, pulling it up on the screen.
“What did it say?”
“It said, ‘Detained, Dad. Tell Serena we’ll both be home for her birthday. I’ll be in touch.’”
Gil stared at the words on the screen. “That’s it?”
“That’s it. Probably all she had time for. Who do you think the ‘we’ is?”
“Guys!” Cooper called from the other room.
With a brief glance toward Cooper, Gil answered, “Ellie, I suppose.”
“Gillespie! You’re going to want to see this!”
The urgent sound of Cooper’s voice and the formal use of his name drew Gil and Marco to the living room. Cooper was on the sofa with the remote in her hand, staring intently at the television. Her face was ashen.
“What’s going on?” Gil asked.
“Ah, maybe nothing. But there’s some big brouhaha over a missing baby. Some businessman says his baby was taken from her crib in the early morning yesterday. Didn’t you say you hadn’t seen Sonny with a baby before yesterday?”
A dull ache began to grow in the pit of Gil’s stomach. “Yeah.”
Of the three of them, Cooper was most fluent in Spanish, so she translated as the news anchor talked.
“Eduardo Sanchez and his wife adopted a baby girl three months ago. Mind you, this is Sanchez’s fifth wife, but their first child together. He has a bunch of kids with his ex’s. Anyway, early yesterday morning someone entered their estate and took the baby.” Cooper looked at the guys. “They aren’t showing a picture,” she said.
Gil turned away from the television and stared at the bedroom where Sonny and Ellie were still sleeping. “Do we really need one?”
“You think they’re talking about Ellie?” Marco asked.
“No way,” Cooper said, her eyes wide with alarm. “She said it was her niece. You think she stole the kid?”
Was it just coincidence that Eduardo Sanchez’s baby disappeared on the same morning that Ellie magically appeared with Sonny? Gil didn’t believe in coincidences.
“You said Eduardo Sanchez was a businessman? What business?” Gil asked.
“You’re going to like this a lot,” Cooper said. “Aztec Corporation.”
Anger surged through Gil. “Shit.”
“You’re kidding,” Marco said.
“Sonny knows something she’s trying real hard to keep from us and I’m not waiting any longer to find out what that is. Sonny?” he called, banging on the bedroom door.
Cooper bolted from the sofa. “You’re going to wake up the entire complex. Let me get her.”
But before Cooper could go into the bedroom, the door opened.
“What is your problem?” Sonny said. “Ellie’s sleeping. And after the night I had with her, I’d just as soon keep it that way for a while.”
“Come here.”
Gil ignored the fact that Sonny’s hair was wet and she smelled fresh like baby powder. Fighting all his senses, he took Sonny by the arm and dragged her into the living room.
“I have to dry my hair.”
“It can wait.”
“Obviously you don’t have unruly hair or you wouldn’t suggest such a thing,” Sonny said, joking with him.
Gil pointed to the television. “What’s this all about?”
“You tell me.”
Sonny stared at the television while a fierce-looking Eduardo Sanchez pounded on a podium and spoke of the kidnapping.
She turned and faced Gil, her expression unreadable. “I have no idea.”
“Bullshit. You spoke Spanish perfectly yesterday. You know what he’s saying.”
She cocked her head to one side. “Yes, I know what this man is saying. He’s saying his baby has been kidnapped. But why should that matter to me? I don’t know where his baby is.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
She blew out a quick breath. “Gee, I don’t know. Maybe you weren’t hugged enough as a kid.”
“Cute. Now give me a straight answer.”
* * *
Sonny fought the urge to take a step back. Gil’s hard accusing stare was back, boring into her. He was right, of course. She’d known this would happen eventually. She’d just hoped Eduardo Sanchez wouldn’t be brazen enough to announce the baby’s disappearance on the news.
When she stared at the Colombian kingpin’s face on the television screen, she had to hold her emotions at bay. In his native Spanish, he addressed the camera, looking directly at it, almost as if he could reach through the camera and grab her. "This crime is unconscionable," he said. “I promise you, whoever took my daughter will pay to the full extent of the law.”
Being the powerful man that Sanchez was in Colombia, no one would question whether or not the baby he’d recently acquired was adopted legally. They’d all just assume the paperwork was in perfect order. Nice and tidy.
Except it wasn’t. It was absolutely illegal.
If it came down to it, Sonny had no doubt Eduardo Sanchez would exact his own justice. Her hands were shaking and she fought desperately to still them to avoid giving herself away. How much Gil and his team knew about the kidnapping and how
it related to her family, she had no idea. They knew about the Aztec Corporation. Did they already know that Eduardo Sanchez headed up the Aztec Corporation? Sonny was determined not to give up any more information than she had to until absolutely necessary but that look on Gil’s face told her it was going to be a challenge.
Gil propped his hands on his hips. “Okay, no bullshit, Sonny. Is Ellie the baby they’re looking for?”
Her heart hammered in her chest and when his expression collapsed, she knew she didn’t have to utter a word. Her face gave her away.
Gil charged toward the bedroom with Sonny on his heels.
“Don’t go in there, Gil. Please, leave her alone.”
Gil ignored Sonny’s plea and pushed the door open. “Gil, she’s asleep,” she implored him. “Please don’t take her.”
Tears stung her eyes and her breath caught in her throat. She charged past him and scooped Ellie up into her arms before he got to the crib. The baby, who had been sound asleep after her morning feeding and bath, was now crying loud and hard because she’d been woken up so abruptly.
“She’s my brother’s baby, Gil,” she said. “She doesn’t belong to Eduardo Sanchez.”
“If that were true—”
“It is!”
“Eduardo wouldn’t have contacted the authorities and let them in on it.”
“Taking her won’t help, Gil! You don’t understand. It’s all too complicated! Eduardo is controlling everything down here. There isn’t a person in this country who isn’t afraid of him.”
He looked at the baby for a long moment and then switched his gaze to Sonny. His voice was low and measured as he spoke. “You didn’t come to Colombia with this baby, Sonny. You came alone. You boarded a flight in Providence and stayed the night in New York. I can only guess to try to throw off anyone who was paying attention, which I was. You headed out in the morning, made a transfer in Houston and then again in Panama City before landing in Bogotà. I know this because I caught up with you in Houston and was on that plane with you all the way to Bogotà. You never knew I was there.”
“You were on the plane?”
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