“She’s lying,” Milo insisted.
“I don’t think so,” Russ mumbled, and Julia agreed. “Why don’t we all have a look?”
Russ used his gun to get Milo and Tracy walking in the direction of the white car. Julia held her breath, hoping Milo was wrong about the driver taking off if she didn’t get the phone call.
“Keep Milo in front of you, Julia,” Russ instructed. She did, even though she prayed shooting him wouldn’t be necessary. Julia didn’t want shots fired with the baby around.
She approached the car.
And she saw the driver. It was a young woman with a death grip on the steering wheel. She was obviously terrified. Then Julia saw something else.
There was a sleeping baby in a carrier on the backseat.
“That’s the Richardson boy,” Russ confirmed, probably because he’d seen photos in his investigation.
Julia opened the car door and motioned for the nanny-driver to get out. She did, and the woman began to rattle off something in Spanish while she cried uncontrollably. Julia reached for the keys to take them out of the ignition. Her back was turned for just a second when she heard the sound.
She whirled around, gun and keys in hand, and saw Milo dive toward Russ. Her heart dropped. No, this couldn’t happen. They were so close to bringing this to an end.
Tracy managed to get out of the way, but Russ took the full impact of Milo’s body crashing into his. Both men went to the pavement, and Russ’s gun flew out of his hand.
The fight began all over again, fists flying, their bodies twisting around, so that it made it impossible for Julia to take aim. She couldn’t risk shooting Russ, or having a bullet ricochet and hit the baby.
The nanny started to run, but Julia didn’t go after her. She had to stay and try to help Russ.
Milo delivered a hard punch to Russ’s jaw, but it didn’t seem to faze him. However, Julia felt it, it seemed as if the pain shot through her.
Russ was operating on pure, raw adrenaline and had no fear of dying or being beaten. Julia had enough fear for both of them. She didn’t want either of them to die before she’d had a chance to tell him that she was in love with him.
“Don’t,” Julia warned Tracy, when the woman started after the gun.
Tracy stopped. Thank God. Julia didn’t want to risk firing a shot at her, either.
Russ brought back his fist and slammed it into Milo’s face.
“But I have to leave,” Tracy begged, glancing back at the struggle that was about to end. “As a mother, you must understand. If I go to jail, I won’t be able to see my baby.”
Julia looked her straight in the eyes. “You don’t deserve to see him.”
Tracy’s face tightened and she let out a feral howl. She came at Julia and pushed her away from the car. Julia still couldn’t fire, for fear of hitting Russ or the baby. But she also had no intentions of letting Tracy get anywhere near the son she’d had stolen for money.
Julia put all of her anger and emotions into the hard grip she had on Tracy’s shoulder. She slammed the woman against the car and pinned her there.
“If I have to, I will kill you,” Julia warned her.
Tracy stared at her, and Julia could see the debate in her eyes. It didn’t last long. Tracy went limp and started to sob again.
Julia didn’t take the gun off the woman, but she took her eyes off her just for a second so she could check on Russ.
Just a second.
She saw the gun, not in Russ’s hand, but in Milo’s.
And then the shot rang out.
Chapter Eighteen
Everything seemed to freeze.
One moment Milo and Russ were in a fight to gain control of the gun. The next moment, Russ heard the shot. He looked around and tried to figure out what had happened. And in those moments, he had a horrible thought: that the bullet had hit Julia.
He heard her scream, except it wasn’t a scream, exactly. She was calling out his name. Her voice was filled with panic, and it merged with the piercing sounds of the sirens and the frantic shouts from the police who were approaching the scene.
Russ felt the gun that was between him and Milo. Both of them had their hands gripped around it.
It was Milo’s finger on the trigger.
Hell, has Milo shot me? Russ wondered.
Russ looked at the man whose face was only a few inches from his own. Everything still felt frozen, except for Julia’s screams. He had to check on her. He had to make sure she was all right, but he couldn’t move, because Milo’s weight was pinning him in place.
Dead weight.
Russ saw his lifeless eyes, then he looked between their bodies. Milo had indeed pulled the trigger, but the gun had been aimed at his own chest. He’d killed himself.
Russ was betting that it was an accident, because men like Milo didn’t commit suicide.
“I’m all right,” Russ tried to tell Julia, but he wasn’t sure she heard him.
He threw Milo off him, and in case this attack wasn’t over, he wrenched the gun from the dead man’s hand.
Julia came racing toward him but stopped a few feet away. She had no color in her face, and she stared at him with her fingers pressed to her mouth.
“I’m okay,” Russ said again.
But she shook her head and pointed to his chest.
Russ looked down, wondering if he had been shot after all, and he saw the blood. Now he understood.
“It’s Milo’s, not mine,” he told her. He got to his feet and went to her as quickly as he could. He pulled her into his arms.
“Milo’s,” she mumbled. “Not yours. You’re alive.”
“Yeah.” But it was obvious that Julia was about to fall apart. He didn’t blame her. She’d been through hell and back tonight.
Behind them, Tracy latched onto the car door as if she were going to open it. “Don’t,” Russ warned her, and he pointed his gun at her. “It’s over.”
He had to let go of Julia so he could get a better aim and remove his badge from his back pocket. From the corner of his eye, he saw the uniformed officers approach the scene. Silas and Toby were with them, and Silas was being helped into an ambulance.
Later, he would apologize to Silas for not trusting him. But for now, he needed to get the Richardson baby out of here and tend to Julia.
Russ lifted his badge so the officers could see it. “Special Agent Russ Gentry,” he let them know.
“I love you,” Julia blurted out.
Even though there was pure chaos going on around them, that still grabbed every bit of Russ’s attention. “Excuse me?” Because he was sure he’d misheard her.
“I love you.” She gave a shaky, confirming nod. “I wanted you to know.”
It was hardly the appropriate time, but Russ kissed her—and then eased her away from him. “Hold that thought,” he whispered.
Russ went to Toby, who was barking out orders to the uniformed officers. Thankfully, he’d filled them in on what was happening, because one of the cops rushed to take Tracy Richardson into custody. The woman continued to sob, and she pled for a deal.
“The baby’s father is on the way,” Toby let Russ know. “Sorry I was late getting here. I was at the police station, questioning Sylvia.”
“Sylvia? What did she have to say?”
“A lot. Apparently, she learned the love of her life, Milo, had been sleeping with Tracy Richardson. That didn’t sit well with her, so she’s spilling her guts.”
Good. That might insure that Tracy would receive a maximum sentence. As for Milo, well, he’d already gotten what he deserved.
“I didn’t know what was going on here at the hotel, until I heard on the monitor that the local police were responding to sounds of gunshots,” Toby added.
“I think Milo jammed the phone lines and cut the power,” Russ said, nodding his head toward the lifeless man. One of the uniforms was checking him out.
Despite the fact that his full attention should be on what was happening, Russ
’s gaze went back to Julia. She’d opened the back door of the car and was trying to comfort the baby. Obviously, the shouts and the gunfire had woken him, and he was crying at the top of his lungs.
“Is Julia okay?” Toby asked.
“I think so.” Well…except that she’d just told me that she loved me.
Had that been the adrenaline talking?
It made him a little sick to think that it might have been. Russ wasn’t exactly surprised that he wanted it to be real. He’d wanted a lot of things from Julia, from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her.
First, he’d wanted sex. Then, more. The question was—how much more?
“I found Silas staggering out the front door of the hotel,” Toby continued. “He’d been drugged, but was able to tell me some of what was going on. He said Tracy had him kidnapped so he’d look guilty.” It’d worked.
“How is he?”
“He’ll be fine. He has a broken arm and he’s dehydrated, but I’m sure the medics will fix him up.”
So that was one less thing on Russ’s plate to worry about. Of course, there were still gaps he needed to fill in.
“There’s a dead gunman on the floor of Julia’s suite. According to Milo, Tracy hired him because she knew I was a federal agent. She also hired the other gunman in the park.”
Toby nodded. “She obviously wanted you out of the way, and maybe Julia, too. She probably thought you were getting too close to figuring out that she’s the one who had her son stolen.”
“Can you make a call?” Russ asked Toby. “I think it’d help Julia and me if Emily were on her way back to us.”
Toby studied him, probably because there was way too much emotion in his voice, but the agent finally nodded. “I’ll get right on that. It’ll be the first call I make.” And the agent proceeded to do just that.
Russ took a deep breath and looked back at Julia. She had the baby in her arms and was rocking him back and forth, trying to soothe him. Russ had faced down gunmen recently, but he hadn’t been this nervous.
But then, he’d never had this much at stake.
Once Toby had made the call, Russ finished up the briefing. He needed to give the agent some of the details of what had happened, so the reports could get started. Tracy would need to be interrogated as well. The nanny who’d run from the car would have to be found. Sylvia would have to be questioned further, so the FBI could determine what exactly she knew about Milo’s baby-selling activities.
So many details. However, Russ was going to leave those details to someone else.
After he’d finished with Toby, Russ made his way across the parking lot toward Julia. She looked up, snared his gaze. He thought for a moment that she might smile, but then her attention dropped to his shirt.
Specifically, to the blood.
“How’s the baby?” he asked, to give himself time to gather his thoughts.
“He’s okay. Not a scratch.” As if he knew he was now the topic of discussion, the baby stopped crying and volleyed glances at them. “His mother will go to jail, but he still has his father.”
Yeah. That was more than Emily had. But then, Emily had Julia and him.
“Come on,” Russ said, taking her by the arm. “Let’s go in the hotel lobby.”
He didn’t want her to have to keep looking at Milo’s body—and his bloody shirt. He stripped it off and gave it to one of the agents who was at the back entrance of the hotel.
“You should probably bag this,” Russ told him. It almost certainly wouldn’t be needed, but he wanted it out of Julia’s sight. Besides, Emily would arrive soon, and he didn’t want the baby around it, either.
The agent was wearing a button-down shirt over a tee, so he took off the outer shirt and handed it to Russ. Russ thanked him and put it on.
Julia gave a nod of approval. “I’m glad Milo’s dead,” she whispered. “If he’d gotten away—”
“He didn’t,” Russ reminded her. “And neither did Tracy. It’s all over, Julia. We’re safe now.”
She gave another shaky nod, and even though she didn’t seem ready to panic, Russ was still worried about her. Even more, he was worried about how to say the things he needed to say.
They took their time walking inside, probably because Julia was drained, and seemed to pause with each step. Russ felt the fatigue, too, but more than that, he felt relief that they’d all come through this unscathed.
When the baby started to fuss again, Julia placed him against her chest and patted his back. A female uniformed officer stepped forward. “Want me to take him? His father just arrived.”
Julia kissed the little boy on the cheek and handed him over. The officer had no sooner taken the baby when Russ spotted Aaron Richardson coming in through the front lobby doors. No slow steps for him. The man practically ran to his son, and gathered him into his arms.
If Russ had any doubts about Aaron’s love for his son, he didn’t have them after witnessing that encounter.
“Thank you,” Aaron told them, and he just kept repeating it while he kissed his baby. The man started to cry.
Several officers and an agent converged on Aaron, probably to fill him in on the details of what had happened to his wife. Russ decided those were not details Julia needed to relive, so he led her into the reception area and had her sit on one of the sofas with him.
“It’s okay,” she reassured him. “I’m not about to fall apart.”
He examined her face and realized that it was true. She was shaky of course, but it would have been unnatural if she hadn’t been.
She examined his face, too, and nibbled on her bottom lip. “About what I said in the parking lot—”
“You can’t take it back,” Russ said, interrupting her.
Julia stopped nibbling and stared at him. “I don’t want to take it back.”
“Really?”
“Really,” she assured him. “I just wanted to apologize for blurting it out there, when you had so much else on your mind.”
That eased the knot in his stomach, but he knew something else would ease it more. Russ put his hand around the back of her neck and drew her to him for a kiss. Not a quick peck of reassurance. He put his heart and soul into this one.
When he pulled back, Julia made a silky sigh. “Good,” she whispered.
Yes, it was; but he wanted better. He wanted more.
“I’m in love with you, too,” he told her.
Julia’s eyes widened and she froze. For one terrifying moment, Russ thought she was about to say that she didn’t want him to be in love with her, that it wouldn’t work out between them, but a smile curved her beautiful mouth.
“Are you just saying that because we nearly died?” she asked, cautiously.
“No. I’m saying that because it’s true.”
She seemed to be holding her breath. “You’re sure?”
“A million percent. I don’t need months or years to sort out my feelings for you. I love you, plain and simple. And I love Emily, too. I want us to adopt her— together. I want her to have the Gentry name, because I think that would have pleased R.J. and Lissa.”
Tears filled her eyes, but since she was still smiling, Russ thought this was better. He gathered his breath, and his courage, and he went in for the big prize.
“Marry me?” Russ asked.
“Can we get married?” Julia said at the same moment.
Both of them stared at each other. And despite the investigation going on around them, they laughed.
They were still laughing when the lobby doors swung open and in came Agent Soto, Zoey and Emily.
Russ and Julia jumped up from the sofa and hurried toward the baby. Russ got there first, but he stepped back so that Julia could scoop Emily into her arms.
The baby was sleeping, but she lifted one eye to check out what was happening. Emily must not have deemed this big enough to warrant waking up from her nap.
Julia kissed the baby and passed her to Russ. The gesture felt as natural as anything he’
d ever experienced. This was right, and he knew exactly what he had to do to make the rightness stay that way.
“Could you excuse us a minute?” Russ asked Zoey and Soto. With Emily still cradled in his arm, he led Julia back into the reception area. “I believe we owe each other an answer. I asked you to marry me, and you did the same.”
He paused a heartbeat.
“The answer is yes,” they said together.
The energy between them seemed electric, as it always did when they were together. It was even more special because Emily was there.
Russ put his arm around Julia and stole another kiss. He made it long, hot and special—because it was the first kiss of their new life together with their daughter, Emily.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5674-7
DADDY DEVASTATING
Copyright © 2010 by Delores Fossen
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