Chapter Twenty-Five

“I want to talk to my daughter.” Laia’s belly quivered. Her panic had risen to hysteria. If it weren’t for Jamie, she would have completely forgotten to hit the record button. She held her cell phone tighter to keep her hand from shaking, but it didn’t work. “Put Rosa on the phone. I want to hear her voice.”

“What you want is irrelevant,” a computer-generated voice said. “Listen carefully. We want the book and we want the money. When we have them, you’ll get your daughter back. Don’t call the police. If you do, we’ll kill her. Don’t call the FBI. If you do, we’ll kill her.”

Laia’s head nearly exploded. “Don’t you dare hurt my baby. I’ll give you anything you want. Anything. Please don’t hurt her. She’s only a child. She hasn’t done anything to you.”

The front door opened, then closed. A moment later, Smoke trotted into the living room. Then Kade was there, a large, reassuring presence by her side.

Jamie rotated his finger in the air, a silent message to keep the guy on the phone talking. Kade grabbed the pad and pen in Sergeant Malloy’s hands and began scribbling something.

“Do exactly what I say, and you’ll get your daughter back,” the voice said.

Kade shoved the pad in front of her face.

Tell them you won’t cooperate until you hear Rosa’s voice. Be strong.

He was right. If she lost control, she might say the wrong thing. “I won’t give you anything until you let me talk to my daughter.” Her demand was met with a moment of silence, one that stretched into seconds so agonizing she had to roll her lips inward or scream. “Did you hear me?”

Shuffling sounds came through the speaker, then, “Mommy?”

“Oh, thank God.” The relief coursing through her was so overwhelming she nearly passed out. Kade’s arm around her shoulders was the only thing keeping her vertical. “Rosa? Sweetheart, it’s Mommy. Are you all right? Tell me you’re all right.”

“I’m okay,” came the sleepy, sweet little voice she’d recognize anywhere. “They gave me pizza. Pineapple, my favorite.”

Laia looked at the plastic evidence bag the young cop had put on the credenza. “I know.” Bastards. Again, begging the question: how had they known?

Again, Kade shoved the pad in front of her.

Keep Rosa talking.

“I’m coming to get you, baby. Be brave for me. Can you do—”

“That’s enough,” the computer voice said.

“I’ll give you the book and the money,” Laia cried. “Tell me where to bring them.”

“We’ll call you back tomorrow with a time and place. Remember what I said. No police, or she dies. No FBI, or she dies.”

“No, wait!” But the call had ended.

Laia vacillated between numbness and a total and complete meltdown. She stared at the screen. This phone was the only lifeline to her daughter.

Kade took the phone from her trembling hand and touched his finger to the screen. “No caller ID.” To Laia, he said softly, “You did good.”

“Good?” she shrieked, jerking her phone back and pointing to it. “This is not good. This is anything but good. This is…”

A nightmare that could not be happening. But it was.

Vaguely, she registered Kade’s arms coming around her, holding her tightly against his chest while her body began shaking violently first, then wracked with uncontrollable sobs.

“We’ll get her back,” he said firmly. “We will get her back.”

She pushed away and sniffled, wiping the tears from her face. “Of course, we will. They said ‘no police’ and ‘no FBI,’ so all we have to do is get the ledger from the evidence room and the money from the bank box. As soon as they call me back with the time and place, I’ll bring it to them, and they’ll give me Rosa.”

Kade’s expression was grim. She turned to find Jamie with the same foreboding look. The two men were speaking to each other, communicating silently in some language only the two of them understood.

“What?” She grabbed Kade’s arm. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Sweetheart.” He touched two fingers to her cheek. “It’s not that simple.”

“Yes, it is.” She swatted his hand away, not understanding why they weren’t already halfway to the DHS office to retrieve the ledger and the key to the safe deposit box.

His jaw went hard. “We can’t just hand over the ledger.”

She shook her head, her disbelief growing by the second. “Why not?”

“It’s original evidence,” he said.

“Then make a copy, and give me the original.”

He shook his head. “With Josh gone, there’s no one to authenticate a copy. Even if we verify it’s his handwriting, the AUSA will still demand we retain the original.”

“Then can’t you just go and arrest Fernando Colon? You know he’s the one who took my daughter—your niece, by the way, in case you forgot.”

“Laia,” he said, stroking his hands up and down her arms in what was meant to be a consoling gesture, but which only enraged her further, “we don’t actually have any evidence against Colon. Whoever made that call was careful not to use the word ‘ledger,’ and there’s no solid evidence he’s behind this.”

“Are you kidding?” He had to be. Didn’t he? “We all know he took Rosa. All we have to do is give him what he wants.”

“Once we do that”—Kade’s throat worked as he swallowed—“they’ll kill her.”

“You don’t know that.” She clenched her hands, welcoming the pain as her nails bit into her skin. “The only thing we know for certain is that they’ll kill her if I don’t give them what they want, and they’ll kill her if we involve more feds and police.”

“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Kade said as he tried clasping her shoulders, but she skirted away from his reach. “The only leverage we have over them is the ledger and the money. There’s standard protocol to be followed in all kidnapping investigations. The key is to let the police, forensics, and the FBI help us find her. In the meantime, we come up with a plan to handle this when we do find her.”

“Protocol?” Her jaw dropped. “Is that what you were following when you arrested Josh? Protocol? Look where that got him. Dead.”

It had been a low blow, but she couldn’t help it. She was angry, distraught, and more scared than she’d ever been in her life.

“Laia.” Again, he reached for her, and again, she backed away.

“No.” She shook her head. “Just give me the ledger and the bank box key and I’ll go get my daughter myself.”

“I can’t do that.”

She parked her fists on her hips and glared up at him. “Can’t? Or won’t?”

He ground his sculpted jaw so hard she could practically hear his teeth squeak. “You have to trust me to find another way. First, I need to make some calls. To the prosecutor, to Manny Dominguez, we need to put together a plan that won’t get Rosa hurt or…”

Killed was the word he didn’t say again, and they both knew it. “Can’t you just wire me up or whatever it is you do for undercover cops, then follow me to where Rosa is?”

“I’m not putting you in danger like that.”

“That’s my decision to make, not yours. Rosa comes first. If anything happens to her, my life is meaningless.” And it was. Rosa was her entire life. She’d once hoped Kade would be part of her life, too, but that hope seemed to be slipping away by the second.

“No,” he snapped. “We’ll find another way. I know you want to rush out there and go get her, but the second he sees you, he’ll take what he wants and kill you both.” This time, he did manage to grab onto her forearms. “Please, Laia. Stand down and let me do my job. You have to trust me.”

She stared into the depths of Kade’s beautiful hazel eyes. At first, she’d taken comfort in him doing everything by the book. She understood it was his full nature, but now it was getting in the way.

Her stomach lurched, only a little at first, then it intensified into violent waves. She clapped a hand to her mouth, then ran past Jamie and Sergeant Malloy, directly to the powder room.

Barely making it in time, she slammed the door shut behind her, flipped up the toilet lid, then dropped to her knees and threw up. With her stomach nearly empty, not much came out, although her body shuddered with dry heaves.

The phone slipped from her hand and hit the tile with a thud. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her baby was in the hands of a vicious drug dealer, one who’d already murdered her husband. Now he held the life of her precious daughter in his filthy, homicidal hands.

Sonofabitch! I will not let my baby die. I will not.

Slowly, she got to her feet, then washed her hands and splashed cold water on her face. For a long moment, she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Her life was never supposed to turn out this way. Marrying Josh was supposed to make life easier. For her and her unborn child. Instead, it had only made things worse.

Laia dried her hands and face with a towel, then squeezed her eyes shut. Josh had given her Rosa, then turned her life into a soap opera that was still unfolding in horrific ways she’d never imagined possible. Would his secrets and betrayal never end?

For nearly six years, her entire life had been centered around Rosa. Falling in love had never been an option. In fact, she’d nearly given up on it. Then Kade had come back into her life, and she’d stupidly begun to hope that she could actually have the love she’d always dreamed of and that he would become part of hers and Rosa’s lives. Now she knew that wasn’t possible.

Last night, when they’d made love in the ocean, Kade had said he’d do anything for her and Rosa. Anything. Apparently, that wasn’t true. He couldn’t break with his precious protocol to save his own niece. First Josh. Now Rosa. Duty, honor, and obligation came first for him, even before family.

A cry rose from the depths of her soul, and she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. When she’d managed to get a grip on her emotions, she cracked the door open.

“Dayne is on his way with the FBI CARD team,” Jamie said.

She couldn’t see Jamie or Kade, just heard their voices. Only Sergeant Malloy was visible, standing in front of the picture window facing the ocean.

“Thanks. It’s a start, but I honestly don’t know if there’s a way to find her,” Kade said in a choked voice. “I’m calling Deck, Brett, and Evan. They’re on shift right now, but if they can be here, they will be.”

Laia couldn’t believe the words she’d just overheard. She flung open the door and bore down on Kade. “What do you mean, you don’t know if there’s a way to find her? There is a way, but you won’t do it. I’ve been patient, but you just keep going in circles around your precious ‘book.’ Every minute my daughter is out there, she’s in even more danger. Tell me you’ll keep your promise. Tell me you will get my daughter back. Promise me!”

Kade ground his jaw but remained silent, telling her all she needed to know. He wasn’t answering her because he couldn’t make promises that he felt he could no longer keep.

The ugly truth crashed over her. The Sampson brothers had been the best and the worst things to ever happen to her. She’d relied too much on both of them. Again, she fled to the powder room, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Laia,” a deep voice—Kade’s—came from the other side of the door. “Are you all right?”

Am I all right? Until she had Rosa back in her arms, she’d never be all right.

“Just leave me alone,” she called out. Taking a deep breath, she stared once more at her reflection. No longer was she the same person she’d been six years ago. This woman was strong, independent. This woman didn’t need the Sampson brothers.

A plan materialized in her head, and she knew what she had to do.

Laia picked up her phone, the only connection she had left to her daughter. She stuffed it in the pocket of her sundress, then opened the door. Kade was no longer there. She was about to leave the powder room when the doorbell rang, and Sergeant Malloy started walking through the living room, heading toward her.

Gently, trying not to call attention to herself, Laia pulled the powder room door closed, leaving it open just enough to see into the hallway. She heard the front door open. Voices and more footsteps filtered through as people came into the house. She didn’t know if it was more police, forensic technicians, or the FBI. Half a dozen people, some wearing suits and carrying black plastic cases, walked past the powder room.

With her heart racing, she slipped out, then tiptoed quietly and quickly to the front door. Her purse sat on the small table in the hallway, and she threw it over her shoulder. A moment later, she was outside and down the steps.

As she speed-walked to the road, she glanced at the many police cars and dark sedans lining Second Avenue. Trying not to look suspicious, she nodded to one officer who stood by her patrol car, a cell phone pressed to her ear.

Her plan might not work, but she couldn’t sit around on her ass and wait around a minute longer. If she died trying to get her daughter back, so be it. At least she’d die trying.