The rain quit as quickly as it had moved in, and now the sun shone brightly, though Tina knew it wouldn’t for much longer. Pretty soon, the shack would be plunged into darkness, and she hadn’t spotted any handheld lanterns or even a flashlight. She dreaded being stuck out in the middle of nowhere after dark, because nature was out there. All kinds of creepy crawlies were out there. She was a city girl through and through, and the thought of bugs—or worse—getting in through the holes in the walls gave her the heebie-jeebies.
Mr. Bad Dude had gotten another call, about half an hour ago, and when he’d hung up his eyes lit with a gleam that scared her. If she had to wager a guess, his money had come through. Which meant her luck had just about run out.
“Shouldn’t be long now, Tina. Everything’s gonna work out exactly the way it should.”
“Easy for you to say,” she groused. “You’re not being held against your will because somebody else can’t take no for an answer. I swear I have the worst luck. Or maybe it’s just that all men stink, present company included.”
His deep chuckle rumbled through the small confines. Glad he was having a good time, because the reality of her situation rode heavy on her shoulders. After all her moving around, hiding to avoid him, she was ending up back with Jared—right where she’d started. It didn’t seem fair.
“I need to make a call.” He stared at her until she felt a chill race down her spine. “Don’t make a sound, understand? I want you to shut your mouth and listen. Not a peep.”
She nodded, swallowing down the sudden fear assaulting her. Mr. Bad Dude had been nice enough that she’d let her guard down, but that single stare reinforced he wasn’t the good guy in this situation. He’d cornered her in Daisy’s place, strongarmed her into his car after drugging her, and chased her down when she’d tried to escape. Just because he hadn’t beaten her did mean he was a good guy. Seemed like his sole focus was keeping her until he got his money and turning her over to Jared.
He slid his fingertip across the screen, and she realized she could hear the phone ringing. Wait a second—he wanted her to hear whoever he was talking to? What was going on?
“Hello?”
“You want to find Tina Nelson?”
“Who is this?”
Hold on—wait—was that Rafe’s voice? Why would Mr. Bad Dude call Rafe? Did he want to get caught?
“Tina Nelson is at the line shack on the northwest border of the Boudreau property. I assume you know where it is.”
“Of course I know where it is. Why should I believe this isn’t a crackpot sending me on a wild goose chase?”
Mr. Bad Dude walked over to stand beside where Tina was sitting. He turned the phone toward her, the speaker still on. “Tell Rafe you’re here and you’re safe.”
“Rafe, I’m okay.”
“Tina!”
“Chance!”
“Baby, hold on. I’m going to find you, I swear. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Aw, you’re so sweet you’re giving me diabetes. You’ve got an hour to get here. Any longer, and everything will be shot to pieces. I’m already regretting calling you. One hour.”
With a quick slide of his finger, he disconnected the call.
“Why?”
“Because I’m an idiot. A sentimental fool who’s letting his heart rule his head, something I never do. I can’t believe I just did that. This whole job has been screwed up from day one, and I just put the final nail in my coffin.”
Tina shook her head, not understanding him, or why he’d called Rafe. How did he even know Rafe? The bigger question, was she really on the ranch? Was the Big House nearby? None of what had happened in the last few minutes made any sense. Was Mr. Bad Dude summoning Rafe and Chance into a trap?
“I don’t get it? Why tell them where we are?”
He barked out a rough laugh. “Because I’m a fool. I can’t believe I found myself pulled into the Boudreaus’ world again.”
Again?
Before she could ask, he held up a hand, and seemed to be listening for something. A scowl crossed his face, and he reached behind him and pulled out a 9mm from his waistband. Her eyes widened, because he hadn’t pulled a gun the entire time they’d been at the shack, not even when she’d escaped. The presence of a gun seemed to ratchet the tension in the space, the element of danger invading her very soul.
“They’re early. I figured the weather and the secluded location would slow them down. You’d better pray Rafe and Chance are on their way, or we’re screwed.”
The slamming of a car door had Tina scrambling to her feet and moving to stand behind Mr. Bad Dude. The door swung open, and a figure stepped into the room, silhouetted by the twilight sky behind them. Tina blinked once, and then again, not sure if she was seeing things.
Because the figure standing before her wasn’t Jared, her ex. It might have been easier if it were. No, it was worse.
It was her monster-in-law, Liliana Webster.
“Are you sure you didn’t recognize the voice?”
“Chance, you’ve asked me that a half dozen times now. The only voice I recognized was Tina’s. I’m still trying to figure out why he called. There hasn’t been a demand for ransom. And you heard Tina. She sounded fine. Dude, she told you she loves you. I don’t think her kidnapper forced her to say those words.”
“Can’t you drive faster?”
Chance glanced at the speedometer, the needle inching closer to one hundred miles per hour. They were running with lights and sirens, people getting out of the way as they approached, though there weren’t many folks on the roads. He was surprised Rafe was keeping up the speed, considering the road conditions, but he didn’t care. All he could hear was Tina’s voice, repeating over and over in his head, saying she loved him.
“I called Dane. We’re lucky; he just got back to the Big House. He’s taking the ATV to the line shack and will keep watch until we get there.” Rafe drew a deep breath when he skidded on a slick section of roadway before he straightened. “As soon as he gets there, he’ll scout things out and call. I told him to call you, since I’m kind of busy here.”
It helped knowing his brother would get to Tina fast. Dane knew the ranch better than anybody, had explored every nook and cranny, each hill and wild pastureland, because he loved the place. There wasn’t anywhere on the ranch anybody could go where Dane couldn’t follow. One thing bothered Chance, though. After the whole incident with Jamie’s kidnapping, they’d beefed up the security on the ranch, including additional cameras and motion detectors. How’d anybody gotten on the property without an alarm going off?
“I have no idea, but you can bet I’m going to find out,” Raf answered, and Chance realized he’d asked the question aloud.
When Chance’s phone rang seconds later, he answered before the ring ended, immediately putting it on speaker.
“Dane? What do you see?”
“There’s definitely people in the line shack. Can’t say how many. There’s a white sedan parked around in the back. Toyota Avalon, which is the rental you’re probably looking for. A black Mercury pulled up a minute ago, a driver and one passenger. I couldn’t see much because it’s getting dark, and I can’t get closer without being seen.”
“So, we’ve got at least four people in the line shack. The two who came in the Mercury, Tina, and the man who snatched her.”
“Actually, only three inside. The driver of the Mercury helped the passenger to the door and then got back in the car. The passenger was a woman.” Dane’s voice lowered to a whisper. “I’m going to try and circle around through the trees, see if I can come up on the back of the line shack, and look in one of the windows.”
“Only if you think it’s safe. Otherwise, you keep your distance, you hear me?” Rafe’s voice brooked no argument.
“I’ll be careful. Don’t want to spook anybody in case there are weapons involved.”
Chance swallowed at his brother’s words. “Are you armed?”
“What do you think?”
“Be careful. We’re about fifteen minutes away.”
“Gotcha. See you soon.” With that, Dane disconnected, and Chance swallowed, feeling helpless.
“A woman? I would’ve bet it was Jared Webster who’d had Tina taken. Course, he may still be orchestrating things from a distance. Wouldn’t surprise me. It seems to be his M.O.”
“I bet it’s Liliana Webster.”
Rafe’s head swung toward Chance for a few seconds before he looked back at the road. “The mother-in-law? You think she’s doing Jared’s dirty work?”
“No. I think she’s the one who’s been pulling the strings the whole time. Tina called her monster-in-law, and Tina gets along with everybody. Which means Liliana is really bad news. If Jared is under Mommy’s thumb…”
“She might not want Tina back in the picture. Nope, still not seeing it. There’s got to be something more.”
“Maybe there is.” An awful fine piece to the puzzle clicked into place in Chance’s brain, and he felt an overwhelming sense of dread, because if he was right, Tina was in a whole heap of trouble.
“Don’t leave me hanging.”
“I’m trying to add up all the pieces. Jared stepped up his search for Tina the last few weeks. Liliana Webster dropped out of public view around the same time. Randolph Webster hasn’t been seen by his home staff or office personnel, either. Are you seeing the pattern?”
“Chance, spell it out. I’m concentrating on not killing us before we get to the ranch. I don’t have time to analyze the way your brain thinks.”
“It all ties back to the Websters. What is the most important thing to the Websters? Wealth and privilege, which equals power. Jared only got as far as he did in medical school because he came from a powerful family, at least until he latched onto Tina, right? Without her, he’s lost a lot of what made him successful. Liliana Webster loves the spotlight, doing her charity work, being a leader of fashion and the country club set. Again, wealth and privilege, all brought about by marrying into the Webster family fortune. Wonder if she had any before latching onto old Randolph? Being with him brings that prestigious lifestyle. Then we have Randolph Webster. He inherited family money, yet he worked. From what Destiny said, he’s a workaholic, spending more time on the job than at home with the missus.”
“I’m following you so far. Keep going.”
“Randolph’s different from Jared and Liliana in the fact that people actually like him. Tina mentioned he was the only good thing about marrying into that family. She cared for him. Said he was the only thing about her marriage she missed.”
Chance fell silent, weighing his next words carefully. Because the direction of his thoughts seemed so outrageous, so outlandish as to be improbable. But it was the only thing that made sense, given what he knew.
“You can’t stop there. Yeah, they’re all a bunch of rich jerks. Most rich jerks don’t resort to kidnapping their ex-wives.”
“They do if there is money involved. I’m going out on a limb here, because everything I’m going to say is a wild guess, but it makes sense. We know Randolph liked Tina, right? They got along well. What if Randolph didn’t go out of town? What if he really is dead, like Destiny proposed? Maybe there was an accident. Shoot, maybe he had a heart attack or a stroke.”
“I’m following you, but I still don’t see what Tina has to do with any of this.” Rafe sped past the driveway turnoff to the Big House, heading further down the asphalt toward the northern border of the property. It was getting darker outside, and he flipped the headlights on, casting light in front of them that glistened on the wet roadway.
“I’m getting there. What if Liliana or Jared, maybe both, found out Randolph wrote Tina into his will? That would make them angry, right? Tina was an ugly blip on their otherwise perfect lives. Only good old Randolph didn’t feel the same; he truly cared about Tina. Let’s play out one scenario. Liliana finds out her husband included Tina in the will, maybe leaving her a large chunk of the family fortune. It would infuriate the woman, who considered herself Randolph’s sole heir. Jared’s got his medical practice, the hospital, and probably a trust fund, but without her husband’s money, Liliana’s lifestyle goes bye-bye.”
“Son of a—that actually makes a twisted kind of sense. Mommy dearest wouldn’t want her son’s ex to have any of their money. She’d probably think Tina didn’t deserve a penny because she dared leave her precious baby boy.” Rafe slammed a hand onto the steering wheel.
“What if—and here’s where I’m guessing—they’ve been able to keep Randolph’s death under wraps? If his death hasn’t been reported, then the will hasn’t been read. If Liliana can get Tina out of the picture before the will goes into probate, Tina gets nothing. Liliana gets everything, and her lifestyle remains exactly the way she wants.”
Rafe’s foot smashed against the accelerator at Chance’s final statement. Chance grabbed onto the armrest with one hand and slammed the other against the dashboard at the sudden leap forward.
“I’m never going to understand rich people and their love of money. Life shouldn’t revolve around things. People worshipping the almighty dollar above everything else. I bet Tina hasn’t got a clue what’s going on.”
“If we’re right, she’s in more danger than we imagined.”
“We’re almost there, bro. Hang on.”
Chance closed his eyes and did the only thing he could. He prayed.