She trusted him to keep his promise. She trusted him to fight to keep her and Lilah safe even as he accepted her walking out of his life. And he had accepted that. She’d seen the bittersweet regret in his eyes as he’d pulled away from her before the rally. He knew she planned to leave, and he wasn’t going to fight her on that.
The realization filled her with a light-headed hope she hadn’t felt in years. The feeling was freeing and scary at the same time. She’d never trusted anyone to put her best interests before theirs. She’d trusted her parents to fight and make her home life unstable and scary. She’d trusted her sister to retreat within herself and escape without a backward glance whenever she could. She’d trusted Kendell to remind her why she needed him by playing on her insecurities.
She trusted Byron to only want to make her happy. Not because he wanted to sleep with her. Not because it would make him feel good. Not even so he could win this election.
“Something is wrong. Tell me what it is,” Elaina said in a serious voice.
Zoe met Elaina’s gaze. Her perfect Robidoux smile was in place and she continued to clap with the crowd, but her eyes were filled with concern.
“Would Byron do something illegal in order to protect the people he loves?” Zoe asked.
Elaina’s eyes widened; her hands froze midclap. The reaction only lasted a beat before Elaina turned away and smiled confidently at her brother. Her outward appearance excited, but her shoulders stiff and her claps jerky.
All the confirmation Zoe needed.
Dominic came up on Zoe’s other side. He leaned down to her ear. “Zoe, I need to speak with you.”
Zoe frowned at Dominic. “Is everything okay?”
He shook his head. “Let’s go behind the stage.”
Cold sweat beaded on Zoe’s forehead and upper lip. The worry in Dominic’s eyes said he wasn’t coming with good news. She clasped her hands together to calm their shaking and tried not to let her panic show as she followed Dominic off the stage to the back. As soon as they were out of the vision of the crowd, she grabbed his arm.
“What is it?”
Dominic’s face was grim. “I just got off the phone with Jeanette. Apparently, Kendell was released early. He got out two days ago. Jeanette and her group of detectives immediately started tracking him. One of her people spotted him in Jackson Falls this morning. He’s on his way to the estate.”
Zoe’s vision dimmed. The noise in the gym was too loud. The air too thick for her to breathe. She took a stumbling step back. Dominic placed an arm on hers.
“Zoe, it’s okay.”
She shook his hand away. “He’s here? In town? He’s going to the estate? Lilah is there.”
She was there alone. None of the security guards or servants who worked there would protect Lilah the way Zoe would. None of them knew what precautions she’d put in place. They wouldn’t know what to tell Lilah or give her the warning to be prepared.
“I’ve got to go.” She scanned the back for an exit.
“Wait. Byron is done. We can leave together.”
Zoe had no intention of waiting. “Then you can give him the update and he can catch up to me. I’m not going to just sit here and wait for something terrible to happen to my daughter.”
“Nothing terrible is going to happen. We’re watching the estate.”
“I don’t care who’s watching. She’s there alone and he’s going to her. I won’t let him get a chance to try and fill her head with lies, or worse, hurt her because he wants me to pay for what I did.”
Zoe turned and ran toward the door. Dominic called her name, but she didn’t turn around. She burst through the door into the full parking lot. She went straight for the vehicle waiting for the family and jerked open the door. “Back to the estate. Now!” she said to the driver sitting in the front.
She looked over her shoulder but didn’t see Dominic following. He probably ran back to tell Byron so he could come up with a plan. Well, she didn’t need one of their plans. She’d thought about everything she would say or do if Kendell tried to come back into their life.
She pulled out her cell phone and tried to call Lilah. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Four times. Five.
“Hi, you’ve reached Lilah. Leave a message and I’ll think about calling you back,” Lilah’s voice said with a sweet giggle.
Tears prickled Zoe’s eyes. She squeezed the phone. “Lilah, sweetheart, please call me back. He’s here, baby. You need to be prepared.”
Zoe hung up and called right back. Again, she went through the series of rings before voice mail picked up. Zoe opened the text app and sent a hurried message.
Your dad is in town. He’s coming to you. Get ready.
She prayed Lilah looked at the text or listened to her message. Lilah was mad, but she’d understand that if Zoe was calling constantly something important was going on. But as the miles diminished between the school and the estate with no answer, Zoe’s hopes plummeted.
Maybe she’s asleep. Maybe she’s in the pool. Maybe she’s in the kitchen and left her phone in her room.
All of the possible scenarios went through her mind. Anything other than her dad was with her and keeping her from answering the calls.
The car barely stopped before Zoe opened the back door and jumped out. She didn’t bother going through the house. She’d check the pool house first. Though they moved into the main house, Lilah still preferred the pool house. She often went there whenever Zoe left for a campaign event. Zoe sprinted around the main house.
The door to the pool house stood open. There was no sign of Lilah outside by the pool. Zoe’s entire body shook. Not just with fear, but with rage. She was sick and tired of Kendell and the fear he’d caused ruining her life. If, no, when she got her hands on him, she was going to kill him.
Noise came from inside the pool house. Steely determination went through her body. She crept to the door and slowly walked inside. The pool house was quiet. No sounds of the television or music. No mess as if there was a struggle. She wanted to call out, but she held back. She could sense someone was in there. Maybe it was just Lilah.
The living room was clear; so was the kitchen. Zoe went to the bedroom. She gently eased the door open to look inside. An arm wrapped around her neck. Panic tried to take over. She pushed it to the edges. Self-defense kicked in. She stomped on the foot of the person behind her. The man grunted and his grip loosened enough for her to flip him over her shoulder to the ground. A move she’d practiced a hundred times. She twisted the assailant’s arm and planted her foot in the downed man’s throat.
Kendell’s surprised wide eyes stared up at her. For years she’d worried fear, regret, or panic would take over and make her forget the self-defense moves she’d learned when she came face-to-face with him again. The only thing she felt now was a cold, fierce need to protect herself and her daughter. She was not the scared woman he used to intimidate anymore.
“Where the fuck is my daughter?” Zoe said in a slow, measured tone between clenched teeth.
Kendell kept his arms stretched out to the sides. He relaxed his body and met her eyes. “I came to warn you.”
“You’ve been doing that for months.” She increased the pressure of her foot. “Where is she?”
He shook his head and tried to talk but the pressure she had on his throat blocked the words. She eased up enough to let him squeeze out, “She got here first.”
“She who?” Zoe didn’t trust anything he said.
“My mom. She wants Lilah.”
Zoe frowned and tried to make sense of the words. His mom? Why would she want Lilah?
“How did you even get here?” Security was all over the estate.
“I came through...the back fields,” he said in shallow breaths. “I pretended to be one of the landscapers.”
Footsteps hurried inside. Zoe looked away
from Kendell on the floor as Byron rushed through the door with Dominic and several of his guards. They stopped and took in the scene. Dominic raised a brow.
“We got an identification of the vehicle she’s in,” Byron said.
Relief swept through her, but she didn’t let go of Kendell. Not until she knew what was going on and why his mom took her child.
* * *
BYRON COULDN’T BELIEVE his eyes. When Dominic told him Kendell was in town and Zoe had taken off to try and protect Lilah he’d almost had a panic attack. He’d had visions of her confronting Kendell and things getting out of hand. The threats in the emails kept replaying in his mind. He’d tried not to think the worst, that Kendell would hurt Zoe, but memories of her battered face and the fear in her eyes when she’d come to him that night years ago kept replaying in his mind.
What he hadn’t expected was to find Zoe with her foot pinned against Kendell’s neck while she held him against the floor. The fierce look in her eye would make him back away if this wasn’t so important. She reminded him of a warrior ready to fight any enemy who got in her way. She was beautiful and strong, and he realized how wrong he’d been to underestimate her.
“Security cameras caught Lilah getting into a car we think she thought was a rideshare vehicle at the edge of the estate,” Byron said.
Zoe’s attention snapped back to him. “How was she even able to leave?” The sharp question was directed at Dominic.
“She snuck out the back of the pool house.” Dominic’s voice vibrated with frustration that meant someone was losing their job. “The security detail didn’t get nervous until she didn’t come back out. That’s the same time one of the landscapers tipped us off about a stranger on the grounds.”
“Why would she call a rideshare?” Zoe asked.
“My guess is to come to the rally,” Byron said.
“Whose car was it?” Zoe’s voice remained calm, but her gaze darted frantically back and forth to him, Dominic and Kendell.
Kendell tried to sit up. Zoe increased the pressure on his neck. He held his hands out and lay back down. “My mom.”
Dominic scowled at Kendell. “There was an older woman driving the vehicle.”
“Why didn’t you stop her?” Zoe asked. “That was the entire reason to have protection.”
Dominic looked regretful. “By the time my man realized she’d snuck out she was already halfway to the spot where she’d gotten in the car.”
“What are you doing here, then?” Zoe glared down at Kendell.
“I came here to warn you both,” Kendell wheezed.
“How did you know she’d be in the pool house?”
“That’s the last place my mom had,” he rasped out. Zoe must have increased the pressure on his neck. “She said you and Lilah were living here in the pool house.”
Byron walked over to Zoe. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Let him up so we can talk.” While Byron didn’t care if she suffocated Kendell they needed answers first.
“We don’t have time,” she said. “He knows where she is.”
“I do,” Kendell said. “Let me up and I’ll take you there.”
Byron glared down at Kendell. “Why should we believe anything you say?”
Sweat trickled down Kendell’s face. He kept his palms open wide and didn’t move to fight Zoe’s hold. “My mom wants to take Lilah out of the country. She begged me to go with her. I told her I’d meet her in Jackson Falls so we could talk. I’d hoped to get here first.”
“Why would she want Lilah?” Byron asked.
Kendell looked at Zoe. “Because she knows she’s my daughter.”
Zoe’s eyes narrowed. Her shoulder trembled beneath Byron’s touch. “According to who?”
“Will you let me up?” Kendell begged.
Byron gently squeezed Zoe’s shoulder. With a heavy sigh, she moved her foot and stepped back. Dominic and the guys he’d brought with him tensed and stepped forward. Kendell noticed the attention on him and slowly eased up with his hands in plain sight.
“I didn’t come here to hurt you or Lilah,” he said. “I’ve had enough time to think of the mistakes I made. I didn’t want to make another one.”
Zoe’s jaw clenched. Her body was stiff, and her eyes shiny. Byron could only imagine the fear coursing through her. The longer they talked the longer it kept Lilah away.
“If you don’t want to make any more mistakes then tell us where she is,” Byron said. “We can get the reasons why later. Lilah coming back is the most important thing.”
The look Kendell gave Byron said he didn’t care for him any more now than he had back in college. “She’s at the Fairmont Inn on the edge of town,” Kendell said. “She told me she’d be there for one night. Then she was going to leave for Texas and cross over the border.”
“No,” Zoe said.
Byron slid his arm around her shoulder. Thankfully, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she leaned into him.
“That won’t happen.” Byron looked at Dominic. “Get people over to check out the hotel. Call the highway patrol and have them check the interstates for any sign of a vehicle that matches the description.” Dominic nodded and pulled out his phone. Byron looked back at Kendell. “If you’re lying...”
“I’m not,” Kendell said, glaring. “I’m not going back to prison.”
“If you are lying,” Byron continued, not giving a damn about anything Kendell said, “you won’t have to worry about going back to prison. There won’t be anything left of you for prison.”
Zoe stiffened next to him. He meant every word. For Kendell to threaten not only Zoe but also Lilah was despicable. Anyone who would willingly kidnap and hurt a child was the worst example of humanity. He wouldn’t give Kendell the benefit of going back to jail if anything happened to Lilah.
Kendell continued to glare but nodded stiffly. “Still cocky as hell.”
“Cocky and angry. You threatened my family. I don’t respond well to that.”
Kendell’s jaw tightened. Zoe placed a hand on Byron’s chest. The fear in her eyes was the same fear coursing through his veins.
“We’ve got to find her,” Zoe said.
He understood what she didn’t say. The time to fight with Kendell was later. Byron lifted and lowered his chin. “Let’s go now. Kendell, you’re in the car with me and Zoe.”
Zoe’s eyes widened. “You’re going to let me go?”
He was surprised she’d even ask that question. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I thought you’d say something like it’s safer for me to stay.”
Byron shook his head. “I promised you I wouldn’t leave you out. There’s no way I’d try and make you stay behind.”
Her eyes softened and the sheen of tears returned. “Let’s go.”
They left the pool house. The two guards Dominic hired frisked and flanked Kendell. He and Zoe followed behind them. Dominic was outside on the phone. He finished his call as they all left. He exchanged a look with Byron. All of Byron’s requests had been handled.
Dominic drove the SUV while Zoe, Byron and Kendell sat in the back. One of Dominic’s guards sat in the passenger seat, the other next to Kendell. Dominic glanced over his shoulder as they sped away from the estate toward the hotel Kendell mentioned.
“Jeanette has people there,” Dominic said. “The car is parked there, and they’ve identified the room.”
Byron nodded and reached over to take Zoe’s hand in his. Her body trembled. She met his eye and squeezed his hand. They would get Lilah back. Once they did that he was going to make Kendell wish he were back in jail.
Zoe twisted in her seat toward Kendell behind them. “Why does your mom think Lilah is yours?”
“She is. Isn’t she?” Kendell said with certainty.
Zoe’s grip on his hand tightened. “Answer the question.”
“She saw the two of you a year ago in Atlanta,” Kendell said. “She said the instant she saw Lilah she knew you’d lied. My mom always believed you lied and that our breakup was the start of my downfall.”
Byron’s free hand clenched with the need to punch Kendell in the face. “Zoe had nothing to do with your downfall,” he said between clenched teeth. “You made your own decisions.”
“I know that. I was young and trying to be a man the only way I knew how. I’m not saying that’s a good excuse or right, but it’s the truth. As soon as I saw a picture of her...” Kendell met Byron’s gaze. “She’s not your daughter.”
Byron would fight to the end of time to keep Lilah as his daughter. If Kendell pushed this he had little to stand on. He and Zoe weren’t officially together. She’d lied about the paternity for thirteen years. Would they have a chance if Kendell pushed for rights?
No. A real father doesn’t participate in a kidnapping.
“What do you want?” Zoe asked.
Kendell was quiet for several seconds. His voice was resigned when he finally spoke. “For her to be taken care of. I can’t do that. My mom can’t do that. She’s still tied up in the life that got me put away. If Lilah is happy then I’m happy.” Kendell looked out the window.
The knots in Byron’s midsection tightened. He wished he had a reason to believe a word Kendell said. “Let’s get her back safely then worry about what we do next.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
“THEY ARE IN room two-twelve,” Dominic announced as they pulled into the parking lot of the Fairmont Hotel. “One older woman and another man. No one else in the room. No other people associated with them at the hotel.”
“She wants to keep this small and quiet,” Kendell said. “That’s what she told me. It’ll be easier to get Lilah out that way.”
Zoe’s stomach rolled. She couldn’t believe Kendell’s mother was behind the kidnapping. That she was trying to take her grandchild. What did she hope to accomplish? Lilah wasn’t a submissive child. She wouldn’t just succumb to their demands and accept a new life forced on her.
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