Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 128307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
A yearning for the weight of my gun on my hip smacks into me when his eyes lower to the bundle of blue sleeping between us. Their guilt shows whose baby Cameron planned to give the couple.
It wasn’t hers.
What woman would do that? I can’t imagine any woman being involved in a fetal abduction conglomerate, but a pregnant lady taking part blows my mind, and not in a good way.
As quickly as disbelief hit me, the truth tramples me. “Cameron was never pregnant, was she?”
Air whizzes from Grayson’s nose before he fills the room with the scent of my shampoo with a quick headshake. “She wasn’t at the Lamaze class because she was months away from giving birth. She only attended because Samuel gave her the all clear. If that hadn’t occurred, I have no doubt I’d still be rummaging through her file every night for the next seventeen years, seeking clues on where she is.”
I’m itching to comfort him, but my shock stops me from formulating a reply. The pieces are slotting together. They’re just too twisted and demented to make the picture crystal clear.
My silence gives Grayson the floor. “Her pregnancy was a ruse to lure expecting mothers into a friendship with her so she could…”
He can’t finish his sentence, and I’m glad.
This could change him. It could tarnish the magic that makes him so good at his job.
That’s the last thing I want. Women like Kendall are relying on him, and even with all that’s happened, he’s still the best agent to bring these women home.
When I say that to him, he scoffs. “You give me too much credit, freckles.”
Pride puffs out his chest as he stares at me in a way I’ve experienced before, but only for a second before guilt stole it away. It doesn’t pinch it from me this time. It holds firm for several heart-thrashing seconds, growing when he says, “I’m not the one who single-handedly took down four key players in the La eMe.” The air shifts. It’s denser now, more venerated. “The man you took down in the alleyway was one of the original perps who kidnapped Cameron.”
I worry about the fallout from shooting an agent, but Grayson quickly dismisses my concerns. “He wasn’t an agent. My father didn’t fake Cameron’s abduction, nor did he threaten her or her family. She was kidnapped by the head of a La eMe syndicate based in Tijuana. They met when Cameron traveled to Tijuana for spring break her senior year.” I never thought I could hate someone I hardly know, but I hate Cameron when he says, “Her affair with Diego was shorter than the one I had no clue I was a part of, but impactful enough for Cameron to forgive him within days of him kidnapping her, and to do his bidding the past seventeen years.”
So the terror in her eyes he described from that night wasn’t fake. His intuition was correct. Cameron was kidnapped. He was just blind to how rotten an apple can become when nurtured by the wrong tree.
“How did you find all this out?”
Grayson is a brilliant man. He is the best agent I know, but he’s too comfortable with my son to give the vibe of a fly-in, fly-out hospital visitor. He’s been here the entire time I’ve been here. My heart tells me this, and so does my head.
Grayson’s smile takes my breath away. It’s one only the privileged get to see, and I treasure each one I’ve earned since the day we met. Today will be no different. “My father.” His grin slips as he slaps me with a truth I’ve been dying to unearth since I got an inkling of its existence. “Although I’m pissed he didn’t bring this directly to me, I’m still glad he forced you on bed rest.” Anger scarcely hues my cheeks before he cools the rage. “He didn’t order bed rest because he’s stuck in the Stone Age. It was the only way he could get you off the radar of a viable threat.”
I take a minute to comb through the sludge in my head, seeking an incident that would inspire a death threat. When I mostly come up blank, I say, “My speech?”
I don’t sound confident. Rightfully so. Our brief visit to my hometown nabbed Sidney Fullick and three of her acquaintances, but associates of the trafficking industry don’t have a lot of friends. Even hitmen these days are picky about who they work for. When the bratva and the Italian cartel pulled out of the trafficking industry, both competitors and acquaintances took note.
That’s why I’ve been so optimistic about bringing Kendall home. The trafficking industry is shrinking instead of growing. It just hasn’t stretched across all regions of the globe yet.
Grayson grits his teeth, then shakes his head.