He hadn’t seen her after that. He’d married—twice—had daughters, but no other son. He’d told himself it didn’t matter, that Kathy was in the past. And there she’d stayed until that day Garth had shown up, begging for money to save her.
And it had given him great pleasure to refuse the boy. To finally punish Kathy for rejecting him.
Now, staring at her, feeling something stir inside he’d thought dead for a long time, he wondered if maybe he’d been wrong.
“Do I know you?” she asked.
There was something about her speech. Not the words, but the way she said them. Something off.
“I’m Jed.”
She frowned slightly. “Did I know you? Before?”
“Yes.” He moved toward her. “I thought we could go somewhere and talk.”
Her expression cleared. “We were friends.”
“Yes, we were.”
She smiled. “We can go get coffee.”
“I’d like that.” Jed smiled.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
GARTH STOOD IN FRONT of his office window, staring down at the street below. Even driving over the speed limit, it would take Nick at least two hours to get into town. Two hours Garth didn’t want to waste. But he knew better than to go after Jed on his own. Not that he was worried about what the old man might do to him, but because he needed a witness to say it had all been in self-defense.
He kept his mind on the plan, on tactics, because the alternative was to worry about his mother. While no one ever wanted to be kidnapped, Kathy was the least prepared to handle the situation. And Jed would hardly be considerate as he grabbed her.
Anger bubbled. White-hot anger. He’d known his father would come after someone, which was why he’d made sure everyone was protected. But he’d underestimated Jed’s willingness to risk it all. The fault was his.
Because of him, his mother was being terrorized by an asshole out for revenge. He’d started this and he would finish it. He vowed that one way or the other, Jed Titan would cease to be a threat. Today.
The door to his office burst open. Dana rushed in. She had a small, black duffel in her hand.
“I don’t have a lot of new information,” she told him. “The police are keeping the kidnapping quiet as long as possible. Once the press finds out, they’ll be all over us. Later, that will be to our advantage, but not right now. The last thing anyone needs is Jed bolting. The cops think he’s still in the city somewhere. They told you that, right?”
He nodded.
She dropped the duffel on the floor and crossed to him. “I’m sorry about Kathy. I know she must be scared, but she has an inner strength. She’ll be okay.”
Garth stared into her brown eyes. “We don’t know that.”
“He won’t hurt her. It wouldn’t benefit him in any way.”
“That’s some comfort.” He pulled her close, then kissed her. “You don’t have to be here.”
“Hey, I’m a professional and I can be very useful. You’re lucky to have me at your beck and call.”
“That part I know.”
The door opened again. This time Skye and Izzy hurried toward them.
“We just heard,” Izzy said. “Lexi wanted to come but Cruz made her stay home and relax. This totally sucks. You’re going to get him, aren’t you? I can’t believe it. I should, but I don’t.”
“I’m sorry,” Skye said quietly.
Both women embraced him, hugging him close.
“Oh, Garth,” Skye whispered. “You must be so scared.”
“She’ll be fine,” he said automatically, because now that was what he had to believe.
“The police will find Jed,” Izzy said.
“They won’t have to.”
Izzy and Skye stared at him. Dana didn’t look surprised.
“You’re going after him?” Skye asked.
“Not a question you want to ask,” Dana told her.
“You’re in on this?”
“No, but I will be.” She stepped back and pointed to her duffel. “I came prepared.”
Dana wasn’t coming along, but he would deal with that problem later.
“I don’t like this,” Skye said, folding her arms across her chest.
Izzy wrinkled her nose. “Imagine how I feel. You’re waiting for Nick, aren’t you?”
Garth didn’t want to say anything, but he didn’t have to. Izzy knew Nick better than Garth.
“He’s driving in from the ranch,” she said, then nodded slowly. “Okay, but we just got married and I’m pregnant. I don’t want anything to happen to him.”
“Nothing will,” he said, meaning it. This was his fight.
“No offense, but…” Izzy turned to Dana. “You’ll keep him safe?”
“Yes.”
“My stomach hurts,” Skye murmured. “You probably want to talk about your plan. We’ll go and leave you to it, but you have to promise to tell us the second you know anything.”
Garth nodded. “I will.”
They left.
Dana picked up her duffel. “You can yell at me while I get changed.”
“Why do you think I’m going to yell?”
“I saw your face when I said I was going with you.” She paused at the doorway to his private bathroom. “Someone has to make sure you don’t go to jail over this. Jed is the only one I want behind bars. Nick has to stay safe—I promised Izzy. So that leaves me to watch your back.”
She looked determined, but he wasn’t intimidated. “I’m capable of getting Kathy out and staying on the right side of the law.”
“It’s not about being capable. It’s about being pissed, which you are.”
“I won’t sacrifice you.”
She smiled. “Nice sentiment, but I’m the only professional in the room. I’m coming with you, Garth. That or I’m calling the police and telling them your plan. Then you’ll have to get by them as well as by me.”
Frustration tightened his chest. “You’re damned annoying.”
“You’re not the first man to tell me that.”
He clenched his teeth. “Fine.”
“Good.”
He looked pissed enough to throw something, Dana thought, but she wasn’t backing down. This was too important. They hadn’t come all this way to lose Jed now. She knew Garth believed he was in total control of his emotions, but she wasn’t so sure. Jed had kidnapped Garth’s mother. No one could think rationally through that.
She walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Three minutes later she’d changed into black jeans and a black T-shirt. She walked out with a bulletproof vest and handed it to Garth.
“Are you wearing one?” he asked.
She picked up the second one she’d brought. “Jed’s a wild card. We’re not starting out stupid.”
“But we may end up that way?”
“Maybe. Do you know how we’re going to find him?”
Even as she asked the question, she had a feeling she already knew the answer. Garth wasn’t the type to leave anything to chance. She respected his need to protect what was his. It might not be her, but that wasn’t his fault.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked.
“Sure. I’m on a leave of absence.”
“I have a GPS tracking device on his car. I had it put there after he shot at you.”
“Impressive.”
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“I’m not.”
“It’s against the law.”
She smiled grimly. “Not today.”
LESS THAN AN HOUR LATER, they were parked by a ratty hotel near the highway, their car concealed from the room windows by a van. Dana looked at the run-down cars in the parking lot. Only one stood out. A late-model Suburban belonging to one Jed Titan.
“I’ll go ask the desk clerk which room he’s in,” she said, reaching for the door handle.
Garth grabbed her arm. “Wait a minute. You think he’s going to tell you? Just like that?”
�
��I can be very charming.”
He didn’t look convinced.
“Someone has to ask and I would rather it was me,” she said. She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out her ID. “Does it sound better if I say I’m the only one with an official badge? Let me talk to him. You can explain to Nick why he’s staying in the car.”
“What?” Nick yelped. “I’m here for backup.”
“Not anymore,” Dana said as she got out and walked to the front of the motel.
It was the kind of place made famous in the movies and not in a good way. Places like this catered to the desperate and those on the run. The guy behind the counter wore a short-sleeved shirt stained with sweat and had stringy hair tied back in a ponytail.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said around his cigarette. “You need a room for an hour?”
“No, thanks,” she said and showed him her badge. “I need information.”
He held up both hands. “We run a real clean business here.”
“Uh-huh. That’s why you rent rooms by the hour.”
“The customer’s always right.”
“Then I’m your best customer. The guy in the Suburban. What room is he in?”
The clerk looked at her badge, then shook his head. “That’s private information.”
Dana put her badge back in her pocket. “Don’t make me show you my gun.”
The clerk sighed. “Seventeen, but I don’t want no trouble.”
“Stay out of my way and you won’t get any.” She started for the door, then paused. “How much did he pay you to call if anyone came asking for him?”
“Two hundred.”
She stared at the guy.
He shifted in his chair. “Seventy-five.”
She dug out two twenties. “Here’s another forty. Give me a two-minute head start, then you can call.” She narrowed her gaze. “I want the two minutes. Don’t try cheating me. I’m mean to the bone.”
The guy nodded. “I’ll spot you three.”
She returned to the car. “Got it,” she said. “It’s downstairs, on the end. The doors are solid enough but the locks look flimsy. You feeling macho enough to kick them in?”
“I could kick in a door,” Nick grumbled.
“I’m sure Izzy will reward you later,” Dana said.
Garth nodded and they moved toward the building, careful to keep concealed behind cars. They headed for the left side of the motel, then walked around the back, coming out on the other side, next to number seventeen. Dana pulled out her gun and got ready. She looked at Garth.
He held up three fingers, then two, then planted his foot right by the lock. It gave instantly, the door swung open and Dana circled inside.
She crouched low to avoid any flying bullets. It took less than a second for her to train her gun on the people inside. Not that there was any need. Kathy sat on the bed, her legs pulled up to her chest, her arms around her knees. Jed sat in a corner chair, his head in his hands. He looked up when they burst in.
There was a stark pain in Jed’s eyes that surprised Dana. A shock and disbelief, as if everything he’d ever known was gone.
“She’s not there,” Jed said dully. “Kathy’s gone.”
Garth was silent for a minute. When he spoke, it was with a quiet anger. “What did you think she would be like? I told you what she needed. I told you what would happen if she didn’t have the surgery.”
“I didn’t believe you. I thought she was going to be all right.”
Kathy glanced between them. “He’s very sad. He keeps crying. He thinks I’m someone else, but I keep telling him I’m me.” She scrambled to her feet. “Can I go home now?”
IT TOOK NEARLY TWO HOURS for everything to get explained and Jed to be led away. By then the press had arrived. They swarmed around like ants at a picnic and, try as she might, Dana couldn’t seem to avoid them.
“Deputy Birch,” one of them called as she walked by. “We’d like to talk to you.”
“And I’d like an all-expenses paid trip to Tahiti,” she muttered without slowing. “Neither is going to happen.”
Just then a familiar Mustang pulled up. Izzy got out and smiled at the reporters. “I have something for you,” she called, waving a stack of folders. “A little light reading.”
Dana moved toward her, but the reporters got there first and grabbed every copy.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Dana asked.
“Giving them background information. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I ran it all by Mary Jo. Now there’s a lawyer with attitude. She said it was fine. We were very careful not to give out privileged information or anything the police might want to keep for themselves. But I wanted to move things along. The sooner Jed gets shoved into jail, the better for everyone.”
She glanced over Dana’s shoulder toward the motel room. Garth was still inside with Kathy. “How are they doing?”
“Garth still wants Jed’s head, but Kathy’s doing okay. Apparently she remembered Jed enough to simply go with him and he doesn’t seem to have hurt her. The medics gave her something to help her relax. Once it kicks in, Garth will take her home. She’s given a preliminary statement to the police, but they’ll want more. That won’t be fun.”
“Did Jed fight back or try to escape?”
“He seems broken,” she said and explained what had happened. “He’d already lost to Garth and apparently realizing what had happened to Kathy pushed him over the edge.” She still couldn’t believe he’d thought her condition was a trick to get more money. Talk about an ugly twist of fate. If only he’d been willing to take some responsibility, everything could have been different.
Izzy stared at the motel building. “It’s going to be a hell of a story. The rich and powerful Jed Titan brought to this.”
“By his own family. They’ll be writing about it for months.”
“That’ll be a pain in the ass, but at least it’s over. He won’t be able to hurt us anymore.” Izzy sounded more resigned than sad.
“You okay?” Dana asked.
“No, but I will be.”
“When Garth’s done with Kathy, can you give me a ride back to his place?”
“Sure.”
“Great. I’ll just need a second to talk to him.”
Izzy nodded, then pointed to the motel. “You should take your second now. He has Kathy.”
Dana turned around and saw him leading Kathy to his car. She was wrapped in a blanket and seemed to be half asleep. When he got her in the car, he carefully closed the door, then crossed to them.
“I’m going to take her home,” he said. “Hey, Izzy.”
“Hey, yourself. I’m sorry he hurt her.”
“Me, too.”
She looked around. “I should head back to Lexi’s. Nick will be pissed when he finds out I left by myself.” She pulled a folder from the front seat of her car. “A copy of what Mary Jo and I put together for the reporters. Just so you know what they’ll be writing about.”
“Thanks.”
Izzy got in her car and pulled off to the side. Dana turned to Garth. There were shadows under his eyes and lines by the corner of his mouth.
“You look tired,” she said.
“It’s been a hell of a ride. At least it’s over now.”
Almost, she thought. There was just one more thing to take care of. “How’s Kathy?”
“Pretty out of it. Whatever the doctor gave her is strong. She’ll sleep through the night. I’ve already got a psychologist coming in to talk to her about what happened.”
Right. Because Kathy would have more trouble processing what had happened. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.
“Not tonight. I won’t be back until morning. Are you going to be all right on your own?”
She’d told herself she was staying until it was over. This was pretty much the final moment. Oh, sure, she could make excuses and string things along for a few more days but to what end? Postponing the inevitable wouldn’t make
it go away.
“I won’t be there in the morning,” she told him. “I’m going to pack my things and head home.”
He frowned. “Why?”
She stepped toward him, then cupped his face. “Because Jed is no longer a problem.”
He grabbed her wrist. “You don’t have to move out. Dana, I want you there when I get home.”
He probably did, she thought sadly. This worked for him…for now. But what happened when this wasn’t enough? When her love for him caused her to make demands? Then he would be forced to tell her the truth. And she knew deep down, he wouldn’t want to hurt her.
“I want that, too,” she said. “Too much and that’s the problem.” She drew in a breath. “I love you.” She shifted her fingers so they covered his mouth. “I don’t want you to say anything. I’ve never let myself be with anyone I could seriously care about. I’ve never risked falling in love. Despite my past and being terrified, I’m putting it out there. But I don’t expect anything in return.”
Something flashed through his dark eyes, something she could read. Relief? His own brand of fear? Did it matter?
“You won against a formidable opponent,” she continued. “You took down Jed Titan. Now you need to let go of the past and move on with your life. Start over. You have a family. You need to be in the moment and then go find your future.” She dropped her arm to her side.
“Dana,” he began, then paused.
She knew why. What else was there to say?
“We’ll run into each other,” she told him. “At various Titan events. Skye’s wedding will be hard, but after that, it will get easier. I don’t regret loving you, Garth. All that crap about love transforming us and making us better? Damn if it isn’t true. I love you. I’ll do my best to get over you, but you’re going to be a tough act to follow.”
She raised herself on tiptoes and kissed him. “I want the best for you. Always.”
She turned and walked toward Izzy’s waiting car. As she moved through the darkness, she listened for footsteps, foolishly hoping he would come after her, maybe beg her to stay. She wanted him to tell her that of course he’d fallen in love with her, too. That they would be together forever.
There was only silence.
She reached the Mustang, then opened the passenger door. As she turned to get in, she looked across the car to where Garth stood in the parking lot. Their eyes met, but he didn’t say anything. Didn’t try to stop her.
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