Yvonne leaned over and lifted the phone out of the cradle.
“Hello?”
“Vee?” Tabby’s voice was distorted and distant, but there was no mistaking it.
“Tabby?” Tears prickled Yvonne’s eyes, and she covered her mouth.
“Oh, Vee. You’re okay? God, you scared me.”
“You—what?”
“Nolan sucks at updating, by the way.”
“Nolan...?”
“I want to reach through the phone and hug you. Later I’m going to smack you, but mostly I just want to hug you right now. You’re really okay? God, when Nolan called earlier today I was this close to calling every contractor in my book to find you, Vee.”
“I’m sorry.” Yvonne’s mind was hooked on that one little fact. “Nolan told you?”
“Yeah. Last night—well, earlier today for you—he called and told me. I also learned you’ve been holding out on me.” Tabby’s voice flashed hot and sassy.
Yvonne could picture Tabby’s glare, that finger jab-wiggle thing she did.
“Why didn’t you tell me your bodyguard was your Vegas boyfriend? And last I heard you hated that guy.”
She chuckled and slid further down in the bed. “That morning was a lot of misunderstanding.”
“He seems crazy about you. Like, legit crazy. I need to see him for myself to decide if it’s cute-crazy or I’m-going-to-buy-you-a-gun-crazy.”
Yvonne sputtered a laugh and her eyes began to water. She covered her mouth, but a sob broke free.
“Oh, Vee—what’d he do? I’ll throat punch him.”
“I don’t know where he is.” Yvonne’s voice broke. “We got to the recovery center and then he was just gone. We haven’t really gotten to talk. I don’t know what to say. He’s just—gone.”
Someone knocked at the door, but she ignored them. Whoever it was could wait.
“That’s weird. Okay. Well, I’m going to be there tomorrow. Ideally by the time you wake up. If he’s still missing, I’ll go hunting and then we can both kick his ass.”
The door creaked open.
“Hold on.” Yvonne turned to glare at the person interrupting her call.
A nurse held the door for Nolan, who had his hands full with a tray heavily laden with serving dishes. His brow was furrowed, and he walked slowly as though his entire focus was on making it across the room.
“Vee?” Tabby said.
“Nolan’s here.” Yvonne’s voice was more of a squeak. “Talk to you later.”
“Bye!” Tabby’s laugh was cut off by Yvonne hanging up the line.
Yvonne hung the phone up and glanced at the door. It was shut once more.
“They lied when they said if I hurried I could squeeze in a dinner order.” Nolan grumbled a few other things while setting the tray down on the rolling table. “I wasn’t sure what you’d want to eat, so I talked the guy into giving me a little of everything.”
“Talked?” She sputtered a laugh and wiped away a tear.
The way Nolan looked right now she was willing to bet he’d tossed out a threat or two, including nonverbal ones.
He was there.
He hadn’t left her. At least not yet.
“This place is fancy.” He glanced around the room that looked more like a studio apartment with the queen sized bed, sofa and dinette set. “You want to eat in bed or at the table? Or are you even hungry? Shit.”
She leaned forward and inhaled the aroma leaking around the domes. “Starving and too tired to move.”
“Good. Well, dig in.” He gestured at his clothes. “I’m going to wash up real quick.”
Yvonne watched him step into a bathroom she hadn’t paid attention to. He was there. And they weren’t talking about the elephant in the room. Yet.
She pulled the tray toward her and peered under the domes.
Soup.
A salad.
Some chicken pasta thing.
Cheesecake.
Way more food than she’d actually eat, but it all smelled so damn good. Besides, it had been an age since she’d managed a whole meal.
Yvonne crossed her legs and sat up a bit straighter. She picked at one plate after the other while listening to the sounds from the shower.
She wanted to stay in this bubble where she could pretend it was all perfectly okay.
The bathroom door squeaked.
She held her breath and watched as inch by inch, Nolan came into view.
He wore clean sweatpants and a black T-shirt that molded to those arms of his. He dragged a towel over his hair, one eye peering at her.
“Food good?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She set her fork down, no longer hungry.
He tossed the towel over the back of a chair then crossed to the bedside. He perched next to her, picked up her fork and stabbed a bit of the pasta. She twisted her hands in the sheets, both hungry for his nearness and dreading what came next.
“Are we going to talk?” she blurted when the pressure in her head grew too much.
“Sure.” He set the fork down then twisted toward her, stretching his left arm along the headboard. “I don’t know where to start, so I keep finding things to do. We’re both good at doing things, huh?”
That unexpected insight startled a chuckle out of her. “I’ll say.”
He reached over and wrapped his hand around hers, his green eyes stormy.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked softly.
Oh, boy.
This question.
She ducked her head. “At first, I guess I didn’t believe it. I did four at home tests, two positive, one negative, one dud. I didn’t want to tell you with everything else going on in case it was a false positive. Then it was real, and it just wasn’t the time. Then I chickened out. Then...it was too late. And here we are.”
“What did you think I’d say?” His thumb drew circles on the back of her hand, soothing the fear she’d carried with her.
“Which time?” She lifted her shoulders and glanced away, needing to look at anything but him. She wasn’t ready for the truth yet. “I mean, at first I was just scared. It’s a baby. Shouldn’t I be scared? What if you were angry? What if... What if you didn’t want anything to do with it? What if you didn’t want anything to do with me because of it?”
This pregnancy wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. But she’d made up her mind what her course of action would be. She’d come to peace with it. Now, Nolan had a decision to make.
She lifted her chin and stared into those green eyes she’d come to love.
“I’m keeping it,” she said.
“You sound like your mind’s made up.”
“It is.”
“And you just found out?”
“Yes.” She swallowed. Nolan knew many things about her. She’d trusted him and now she was going to give him another piece. “What I’m going to tell you, it stays between us, okay?”
“Sure.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She studied him for a moment. Her heart wanted so badly to just put it all out there and believe he’d pick it all up and help her with the next step. But life wasn’t always so neat.
“Tabby got pregnant in college. Her parents pressured her into getting rid of it. She’s always said that was her life’s greatest regret. I don’t want to make the same mistake. I don’t want to get backed into a corner.”
“No one is going to force you to do anything,” Nolan muttered.
She squeezed his hand in return. It was a nice thing to say, but she knew what would happen when Mom heard. “This isn’t what I planned, but this week? It’s made me question if my priorities are right, and I don’t think they are. A lot of the plans I made for myself were because I wanted to be Theo. I wanted Mom and Dad to look at me the way they do him. I wanted to be just like him. But I’m not. And I’m tired of trying.”
“You shoulder a heavy burden.”
“You were right about Mom. Abou
t that. And that’s when I had this plan. It’s crazy and manipulative, but everyone wins.” She swallowed, in too deep to stop now. “The reason I decided to take the fall for Doug is that, I’ll have to step down as VP. I’ll make my apology letter, I’ll say and do all the right things—and then I’ll train my replacement. I figure, if Mom and Dad don’t know about the baby I’ve got a few months to get everything in order to phase myself out. I have my own money. A trust fund. I can downsize. I can figure out what comes next and how to be...”
Mom.
How to be Mom.
“Is this what you want to do? Think you’ll get bored?” Nolan was still so calm, maybe a little distant, but he was there and holding her hand. That had to be a good sign, right?
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “It’s scary, but for the first time I’m not thinking—how to be more like Theo? I’m thinking—what do I want? What’s going to be best for us?”
Her throat closed up.
Us.
Did that include Nolan? How did he fit into it all?
“What is best for us?” He shifted, leaning closer and stretching a leg out on the bed.
It was time. She had to just rip this off and go with it. “Which us? What do you think us means?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you want it to be?” She dropped her gaze to the blanket and picked at a few crumbs. “I know you’re getting thrown into this and I’m making decisions without including you. I want you to decide how or if you want to be in the picture. I don’t want to force you into this or anything. I guess what I’m saying is, if you’d rather walk away, that’s an option, too.”
“What the fuck, Vee?” Nolan sat up and glared over his shoulder at her. “Is that what you think I’d do?”
“No, I just—”
“You must really think I’m shitty if I’d just walk off and leave a kid like that.” He pushed up off the bed.
“Nolan—”
“I’m not walking out on my kid.” He was pacing now, face red.
Yvonne sat there, stunned, unsure how she’d set this off.
His phone blared. He cursed and grabbed it from his pocket.
“What?” He stopped, a scowl etched onto his face. “When? Where are you? ... I’ll be there.”
“Nolan?”
He hung up the phone and looked at her. “Your family’s not at the hotel. It looks like there was a struggle.”
The hits just kept coming. “What are you saying?”
“They’re gone.”
20.
Saturday. Private Recovery Facility, Bethesda, MD.
Nolan met Grant and the others in the lobby of the recovery facility. He’d practically walked a hold in the carpet runner, his mind ping-ponging from the paused conversation he’d been having with Yvonne to the disappearance of her family.
“Do we know where they are?” Nolan asked.
His gaze skipped over the guys.
Melody was missing. She’d been left with the family. He had no doubt that it was Samuel Ito come calling to protect himself. He’d hit at the perfect moment, too.
“No. Zain and Gavin are on it. The FBI want answers.” Grant stopped toe-to-toe with Nolan. “We need to know what’s really going on here. No more lies.”
Yvonne knew, but she was still fragile.
“Come on.” Nolan turned and strode toward the elevators.
“How is she?”
“How do you think?”
They filed into the elevator. Nolan used their code to gain access to the floor. The nurses on duty gave him the stink eye, but they’d been doing that since Yvonne had begun crying.
“Knock, knock?” Nolan tapped on the cracked door with his knuckles, then opened the door.
The room was as he’d left it, except Yvonne wasn’t in bed any longer. She sat on the sofa, the lights dimmed, and the rest of her food untouched.
“Did you find them?” she asked, looking past Nolan at Grant.
“Not yet.” Grant crossed to the sofa and perched next to Yvonne. “We need to know everything. I’m not going to sugar coat it. This is bad.”
Nolan came to stand in front of them and crossed his arms over his chest. “Except they took her family. They didn’t outright kill them.”
“What does that mean?” Yvonne darted a glance at Nolan, but she didn’t meet his eyes. He’d hurt her. Once again words had flown out of his mouth and he couldn’t take them back.
“It means they want something,” Grant said.
Yvonne’s eyes went wide. “The video.”
“Shit.” Nolan shook his head.
“The drone’s video? Are you going to share that with us?” Grant’s tone hardened.
“Do I have a choice?” Yvonne blew out a breath. “I don’t know how to access it. Doug was doing this project with my friend Tabby as a favor. She’ll probably know, but she’s on a plane.”
“Have you seen it?” Nolan asked.
“Yes.” She still looked at Grant.
“What’s on it?” he asked.
“The drone shows streets, trees, a garden, and then it focuses in on two men. One—one shoots the other right before the drone began to fire.”
“Fuck. How sure as we this is Samuel Ito?” Grant turned toward Nolan then Riley.
“Zain confirmed half an hour ago Ito is in the country,” Riley said.
“Ito is trying to tie up loose ends. He won’t kill the family until he has what he wants.” Nolan’s stomach knotted. “Where’s Melody?”
No one answered.
She was collateral damage in all of this. A perfect example if Samuel Ito wanted to show everyone how serious he was about killing people.
“Douglas will cave,” Yvonne said. “They scare him a little and he’ll give them what they want.”
“He does that?” Nolan glanced at Yvonne and finally she looked at him. “Samuel will kill them.”
“Except.” Yvonne held up her hand and glanced around. “I need a phone or a tablet.”
“Here.” Nolan thrust his at her.
“Tabby’s systems, any access at all is logged. When Douglas logs in, we would know. We’d see it. The IP address, geo-location data, the device he’s using, what carrier provides the internet, everything.”
Riley stepped forward. “If they’re somewhere away from the city Samuel could get the video and be gone before we got to them.”
“I’m texting Tabby. If she doesn’t answer I’ll call her assistant and she can put me in contact with someone who can help.” Yvonne tapped away.
“Do we have a better plan?” Nolan asked.
“No.” Grant grimaced. “They took down all the hotel security cameras, and it’s impossible to tell what vehicle they left in. Zain and Gavin are still trying to track cars, but it’s taking too long.”
“Then this might be our best shot.” Nolan didn’t like it, but that was their truth.
“They’ll want to leave a soon as it’s done,” Brenden said.
All eyes landed on him.
He shrugged. “It’s what I’d do.”
“Do we know if Samuel’s booked a flight out?” Nolan asked.
“No, but I bet Zain does.” Grant pulled out his phone.
“Aliases, company flights, anyone who works for him.” Nolan ticked off ideas.
“He’ll be close to the airport then?” Yvonne’s voice was steady, betraying none of the fear she had to be feeling.
“That’s where we need to be.” Grant pushed to his feet.
“You have my equipment still in the truck?” Nolan asked.
Grant glanced from Nolan to Yvonne and back before saying, “Yeah,” as though it were drug out of him.
“Good. I’ll change and we can go. Building security here is tight. Vee will be fine.”
Besides, the threat to her was eliminated. Her kidnappers were in custody. His best gift to her at this point was to help the rest of her problems go away. Maybe then they could sit down and have a real conve
rsation.
“Yvonne, let us know when you have the information. We’ll be outside.” Grant waved at the door. “Guys?”
Nolan remained rooted where he was. He had a lot to say to Yvonne, but now wasn’t the time.
“Tabby?” Yvonne turned away from him, phone pressed to her ear. “Hey, I need your help.”
Listening to her voice break, hearing that fear, he hated it. But right now he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by feelings or new developments in their lives. He had a job to do.
SATURDAY. RONALD REAGAN Washington National Airport, Washington, DC.
Samuel stood over his prisoners.
He’d have never guessed his plan to seize control of the family company would result in him being back in America to tie up loose ends, but here they were.
Samuel locked eyes with Douglas Krieger.
“The drone video. Where is it?” Samuel asked.
“I d-don’t have it.” Douglas hunched his shoulders.
“What is it that you want?” The woman who wasn’t part of the family sat up straight. Despite being tied up and forced to kneel, she carried herself in a way Samuel rather admired. Confidence was sexy.
“Nothing you can give me right now.” Samuel glanced back at Douglas. “The video, or I’ll start killing your family. Who should I shot first?”
“No,” Mrs. Krieger wailed.
Samuel pulled out his gun and pointed it at the blonde woman. “Your mom?”
The woman whimpered and buried her face against her husband’s shoulder.
“No,” Mr. Krieger snarled.
“Your dad?” Samuel watched Douglas’ face, so full of fear. “Your brother?”
The kid flinched.
Interesting.
Samuel leveled his gun at Theodore Krieger’s head. “You tell me what I want, or I put a bullet in your brother’s head.”
“No.” Douglas shook his head.
“Three,” Samuel drawled.
“Don’t do it,” Mrs. Krieger screeched, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I’ll pay you,” Mr. Krieger promised.
“Two.” Samuel stared holes into Douglas’ head.
“Okay. Fine. I can-I can get you the video. Just leave my family alone.”
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