Chapter Twelve

Lena was glad to stop. She’d had to pee for the last forty-five minutes, and her stomach was growling so loudly she’d turned the radio up to cover the noise. While she was technically the one in charge, she didn’t want to push him into another rage.

Well-deserved as it was, it wasn’t helping their cause.

She didn’t hesitate as he went to the men’s room without a word to her. Instead, she hurried off to the other side of the building to use the ladies room. He wouldn’t run. She didn’t know what he was planning, but she knew that much. He wouldn’t do anything to risk his son’s life. But he was a marshal. He’d definitely be planning something.

Dane’s blond hair was darker when wet and his serious eyes sought her out in the diner. She raised a hand and he came to sit across from her.

“I got you coffee,” she said, pushing the cup closer.

“I don’t drink coffee.” He didn’t even look at her or bother to glare. She had fallen below hatred into complete indifference. To him, she was nothing. “Especially not after you’ve touched it.”

She assumed he was accusing her of tainting it with something rather than a general case of cooties. She let out a breath of annoyance, though she had no right to be annoyed. She had admitted her plan to drug him so she didn’t blame him for being leery.

He picked up the menu and studied it until the waitress walked over.

The older woman smiled at him and he smiled back, the sight a cruel reminder of what Lena had destroyed. She’d gone to the bar specifically to lure him to her hotel room and drug him so Butch and Weller could get whatever Viktor wanted from him.

When they’d driven him to that abandoned house, she’d expected they might rough him up to get information out of him. She had assumed he was just another criminal associate of Viktor’s. Dane seemed rather tough and she thought he’d survive the ordeal. Little did she realize exactly who she’d lured into a trap.

She’d rationalized it in her mind because she didn’t have a choice. She honestly hadn’t known they were planning to use the man’s son against him. But she should have guessed.

Dane ordered a ton of food, and when the waitress left, the smile fell from his face. “I’m surprised you didn’t order a plate of white mice.”

Yes, yes. She was a snake. Whatever.

Frustration got the best of her. “I hope you’re not using all your brainpower on clever little jabs at me.” She leaned in so the other diners wouldn’t hear her. “I know I’m shit. Trust me, there is nothing you can say to make me hate myself more than I already do. I truly didn’t know they were going to use your kid. Like I said, I didn’t even know you had a kid.”

“You didn’t ask until it was too late. You didn’t want to know. Now your conscience is clear.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

She let out a breath and looked around to make sure no one had noticed their altercation. She rubbed her forehead and tried to calm down.

Was that true? Was that the reason she hadn’t asked until it was out of her control? If she’d asked at the bar and he’d told her about Tobey, would she have been able to lure him into her room and club him over the head with a bottle?

She couldn’t do anything about the past. She needed to focus on what was next. “Please tell me you know where this guy is. We can go get him, turn him over to Viktor, and get Tobey back.”

Had she thought she missed his smile? She didn’t like the one on his face now. It was twisted and spiteful.

“In addition to being a cold-hearted bitch, you must be the stupidest goddamned person on the face of the earth if you actually think that’s what will happen. Tobey has seen Viktor. I have seen Viktor. We are as good as dead.”

She swallowed as that sank in. Dane had a point, however morbid. She’d seen enough movies to know the bad guys normally wore masks in hostage situations. Presidents, bunnies, or just a run-of-the-mill ski mask, they kept their identity a secret so the victim couldn’t describe them to the police. Not covering their faces meant they didn’t plan to leave behind living victims.

Her breath caught in her throat at the thought.

She had seen Viktor, too.