Chapter Thirty-One

It was time to get things out in the open, and Dane hoped he hadn’t scared Lena so badly she wouldn’t feel comfortable to tell her story. He didn’t have to wonder for long.

She seemed relieved to have someone listen. Did she not have anyone else to talk to?

She let out a deep breath and nodded before speaking. “My ex-husband, Brandon, took a job with Viktor Kulakov when Kenzie was three. He and I were already having trouble in our marriage. I didn’t know what he was doing for Viktor, and I didn’t care. He made good money. When we divorced two years ago, all I was concerned about was that he could pay alimony and child support. But then he stopped. Each time he came to see Kenzie he looked worse and worse. Eventually, I figured it out.”

“Drugs?” Dane asked. He recognized the signs.

She covered her face and nodded. “Yeah. He asked me for money and even stole some out of my purse when I was putting Kenzie to bed. His eyes were unfocused, and his speech was off. He told me he owed his boss a lot of money.”

“Did he say how much?” Dane asked.

“Fifty thousand dollars.” She shrugged. “Even if I’d wanted to help, I couldn’t. I made good money managing the salon, but not that kind of money.” She waved her hands as if to ask who did.

There had been a time when Dane had that kind of money sitting around. But then he’d realized it was dirty, and tried to make amends. Instead, he ended up fake-dead.

“I didn’t see Brandon for a few months. I didn’t know what had happened. I thought maybe he was dead. But then he showed up at Kenzie’s daycare when I was at work and took her. Someone new was working, and Kenzie had called him daddy.”

Lena’s lip trembled, and Dane wondered how many times she’d punished herself for not preparing for that possibility. Hindsight was a smug son of a bitch. He knew from experience it was easy to see where you went wrong when you were looking backward.

“Viktor contacted me immediately. Told me if I went to the police, he would sell my daughter to recoup the money he’d lost.” Her voice broke, and only a monster would have not responded to her pain.

Dane sat on the bed and pulled her onto his lap. He held her while she cried noisily into his neck.

In the package with the gun and the GPS unit, there had also been a copy of Colton’s file on Viktor Kulakov. He was a drug smuggler who had branched out to include human trafficking. Many a missing persons case had ended at his doorstep, but he was slippery and clever. When the federal prosecutor hadn’t been able to make any arrest stick, a DEA undercover agent—Colton Williamson—had been sent in to gather evidence. Even after Colton had infiltrated his business and could testify to what he’d seen, the federal prosecutor didn’t feel they had enough proof to put Kulakov away for a long time. He was holding out for more so they could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

Colton had set it up that a container of Kulakov’s drugs was seized just after a deal. He was supposed to be caught red-handed. Instead, he’d somehow found out, and had Colton shot six times.

The incident was just one of the many reasons Kulakov was nervous and itching to find Colton. For revenge…and he didn’t want any loose ends.

Dane knew from his own experience with his bosses that rich men could get away with murder. They had enough power to get people to do their bidding. Like lure a U. S. Deputy Marshal to a hotel room so he could be kidnapped.

“This is why you’re cooperating with him?” Dane asked after the sobs subsided, and she nodded. He handed her a tissue from the stand between the beds, then another, and another.

She held up her hands in helpless surrender. “I don’t know what else to do.”

She looked up at him, her multi-colored eyes blazing with tears, more green now than the other colors. “I know you said I wasn’t allowed to apologize, but I really am sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t have many choices, but you have to believe me, I wouldn’t have endangered Tobey to save Kenzie. Especially knowing I might not save her anyway. It’s been so long, and I’m not that stupid. I realize I might not ever hold her again, but I can’t just turn my back and not try to save her.”

He held Lena close and rubbed her back. “I understand now, and I’m sorry this terrible thing is happening to you. Of course you have to try. That’s what parents do; we can’t help ourselves.”

He couldn’t seem to hold her tight enough. She was breaking apart despite his efforts. She’d been alone with this heartache for months, with Viktor constantly ordering her around. How scared she must have been.

She deserved a good cry. She deserved to have something to hold onto.

Hope.

“Listen to me.” He gave her a little shake to get her attention. “We’re going to save both of them. Do you hear me?”

She stopped sniffling but didn’t reply.

“Can you trust me to get us out of this?” he asked, unsure if he would be able to agree if he was in her shoes. This was her child, and so far, she hadn’t been able to trust anyone.

It took a full minute, but eventually she nodded and looked up at him. “Right now, I don’t have many options. At least you’re one of the good guys. So, I’ll trust you.”

He wished her trust were based on something more than a lack of options, but he’d take it for now. After the way he’d treated her, he was surprised she trusted him at all.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again.

He let out a sigh before saying the one thing he never thought he’d say to this woman. “I understand. I don’t blame you.”