And she still didn’t know why.
What was it that they believed Cissy had told her?
“What should we do?” Quint asked Reed.
Despite her blurry vision, she saw the muscles flicker in Reed’s jaw. “I’ll get out. Try to cover me as best you can, and I’ll pretend to surrender to see if I can eliminate this guy.”
“No.” Addison took hold of his arm to try to stop him. “If you go out there, he’ll just shoot you. We can maybe hold out until backup gets here.”
Reed’s gaze met hers for just a split second. “It’s too dangerous for backup. I need to put an end to this and hope that Darnell and Colt can take care of the others out there.”
Maybe it was the drug, but it felt as if her heart skipped a beat or two.
The others.
Yes, there probably were more out there. More who might go after Emily. As much as it sickened her to have Reed in danger, Addison knew he didn’t have a choice. They had to protect the baby, and the first step was stopping the immediate threat of the shooter.
Reed kept his gun in his hand, but he did lift his arms in surrender when he stepped out of the truck.
“What do you want?” he shouted to their attacker.
They didn’t have to wait long for an answer. “I want Addison and the other guy. Tell them to get out, too.”
“You drugged Addison. She can’t even stand up.”
“Then have her lean on you. Just get her out of the truck, or I start shooting again. You’ll be the first to die, Deputy.”
There was no way she could stay put after hearing that. Because Addison knew in her gut that this man wasn’t bluffing. He’d kill Reed on the spot. Quint, too. And then he’d take her to get whatever information it was they wanted from her.
Even though it was an effort, Addison got moving. Quint tried to hold her back, but she shoved his hand away and practically tumbled out of the driver’s-side door. If Reed hadn’t caught her, she would have dropped right onto the barn floor.
Thankfully, she managed to keep hold of her gun, and she positioned it by her side. Maybe they’d get lucky, and their attacker wouldn’t see it.
“Satisfied?” she managed to snap.
But clearly Reed wasn’t satisfied with what she’d done. He aimed a split-second scowl at her that even her in-and-out vision didn’t have any trouble interpreting.
“It was the only way,” she whispered to Reed. Addison pulled in a long breath so she could start trying to work out a deal with the person on the other end of that gun. “I’m here. Now tell me what you want.”
“First, I want the other man out of the truck. He needs to put down his gun and lie on the floor. The deputy has to toss his gun, too.”
Even though Addison would have liked for Quint to be able to hold on to his gun, she couldn’t risk him being killed. She motioned for him to do as the man said, but Quint refused to move until he got a nod from Reed.
While Quint was getting down on the floor, Addison nudged Reed with her gun so that he’d know she had it. He tossed his own weapon to the floor and then took hers, keeping it hidden between them.
“Now, what the hell do you want?” Reed repeated. He also inched his way in front of her so he could no doubt try to protect her.
“I want Addison, of course,” someone said.
Not the other man who’d been ordering them around. This was definitely a voice she recognized. Her entire body knotted because she seriously doubted he’d been kidnapped and brought here.
No.
He was here because he was the man who wanted her dead.
Chapter Nineteen
“Why are you doing this?” Addison asked the man.
Dominic.
Addison’s lawyer, a man she’d trusted. In the beginning anyway. Reed figured that her one-word question covered a multitude of sins.
“Because I need to find out what Cissy and Mellie told you,” Dominic readily volunteered. “I also need to know what that fake P.I. learned.”
Dominic’s voice was eerily calm, as was his expression. An expression that Reed soon got to see because the lawyer stepped from the shadows as if he’d been on a leisurely stroll rather than behind a killing spree. However, the man was armed. Ditto for the two goons who stepped out with him.
Hell.
Three of them. And there might even be others hiding and ready to come to their boss’s aid.
“See if the other situations are under control so we can leave,” Dominic said to one of the men. The guy dropped back a step and started whispering into a small communicator clipped to his collar.
Situations. Reed didn’t know what that all entailed, but he figured he wasn’t going to like any of it. Especially if it involved Emily.
“What kind of drug did you use on Addison?” Reed demanded. And he prayed it wasn’t something that would do permanent damage.
Or worse.
“She’ll be okay,” Dominic answered. Which wasn’t much of an answer at all. “For now.”
Reed didn’t intend to trust anything this nut job said, but he had to figure a way out of this. He had the gun he’d gotten from Addison, so maybe he’d get a chance to use it on Dominic and his henchmen, but he couldn’t just start firing, because those gunmen would be able to kill Addison and Quint.
“Cissy and Mellie didn’t tell me anything,” Addison insisted.
Unlike with Dominic, there was plenty of emotion in her voice, and she was shaking. Maybe from the drugs that Dominic’s hired gun had shot into her, but it was also likely from the fear. They were literally facing down a killer.
“Right,” Dominic grumbled, clearly not convinced Addison was telling the truth.
“What could Cissy and Mellie have possibly told Addison that would make her your target?” Reed demanded.
But that only earned him a lifted eyebrow from Dominic.
So Reed decided to spell out his theory as to why Dominic was here. “You probably lured Cissy and Mellie into your black market baby scheme. Along with countless others, including ones that you got from Quarles’s youth group. Was Quarles in on it? Or maybe Cantor? Did one of them put this together?”
“Please. Cantor only got in the way. And Quarles? Well, I don’t need that idiot judge’s help,” Dominic snarled. “He was born into money. Never made a dime of it on his own.”
“Unlike you,” Addison fired back. She was suddenly sounding a lot less woozy. And riled to the core for a darn good reason. Dominic had repeatedly put Emily and them in danger.
Reed hoped that Colt and the others would arrive soon so he’d have some backup, something he’d need to get Addison out of there. In the meantime, Reed would uncover more information that he could use to hang this guy.
“If Quarles or Cantor didn’t help, then why did it look as if they were involved?” Reed asked.
“Because that’s the way I wanted it to look. Cantor was easy with those sad puppy dog eyes looking for Cissy. All those big brother feelings for her. He made an easy mark because he was too wrapped up in finding her that he forgot to keep watch over his shoulder.”
And Dominic had taken full advantage of that. Well, at least they weren’t dealing with more than one slime bag boss here. The responsibility was solely Dominic’s.
“You wormed your way into my life,” Addison said, “so you could find out what I knew.”
“Of course,” Dominic admitted.
“You must have fathered Mellie’s baby, too. Why else would you have stolen the DNA sample?” Reed tossed out there.
Dominic didn’t confirm it, not with words anyway, but his expression said that was exactly what’d happened. “You shouldn’t have hired the fake P.I.,” he insisted, his glare aimed at Addison.
Yeah, because that was what had sp
ooked Dominic. It might have spooked him even more when he’d learned that P.I. was a fake, because Cantor had personal reasons for wanting to protect Cissy and Mellie.
Dominic glanced at his hired gun, who was still whispering into the communicator, but the guy just held up his hand in a still working on it gesture. Maybe the hired guns were having trouble containing the situations.
Good.
“You killed Cissy and then tried to do the same to Mellie,” Addison snapped.
“I will do the same to Mellie,” Dominic corrected. “She can’t stay alive. She knows too much.”
Reed wished he could call the hospital and warn Pete, who was guarding Mellie. Maybe Dominic hadn’t sent anyone else yet to finish the job.
“You murdered Cissy in cold blood,” Addison added. She moved as if to step in front of Reed, but he got right back in front of her.
Dominic shook his head, and for the first time during this sick meeting, he looked remorseful. Or something. “That was a mistake. I actually...had feelings for Cissy.”
“Right,” Reed repeated, tossing Dominic’s own skeptical response right back in his face.
Another headshake. “Cissy let it slip that she wanted to talk to Addison so she could reassure her that the surrogacy was legal and that Emily was indeed Addison’s kid. I told her that the DNA tests would prove that, but she said she’d already written Addison a letter and wanted to talk to her...” His words trailed off.
“So you lost your temper and killed her,” Reed finished for him. “Then you put her body in Addison’s house as some kind of sick warning.”
“Cissy’s and Mellie’s babies won’t be hurt,” Dominic said as if that excused all the murders and his other crimes. “I’ll need to have them taken out of the country, of course. Can’t have their DNA linked back to me.”
It turned Reed’s stomach to see how recklessly Dominic was playing with people’s lives, including babies’. His own daughter had gotten caught up in Dominic’s plan to cover up the truth.
“And I’m another loose end,” Addison said. “You plan to kill me.”
Dominic glanced at his chatting hired gun again, and the guy came over and whispered something in Dominic’s ear. Something that clearly didn’t please the lawyer.
“I won’t kill you until I find out who else you might have told about the baby farm,” Dominic said, turning his attention back to Addison.
“I told no one,” she practically shouted.
Dominic lifted his shoulder. “If you didn’t, then let me apologize. It won’t save your life. Or theirs,” he added, tipping his head to Reed and Quint. “But at least know that I’m sorry for the overkill.”
It took everything inside Reed to stay back and not launch himself at this piece of scum. Dominic was treating this with no more emotion than carrying out the trash.
“Reed?” someone called out.
Colt.
With the tip of Dominic’s head, one of the gunmen hurried toward the back of the barn. The other moved to the front. Maybe Colt wouldn’t just go in there with guns blazing, but Reed couldn’t stand by and do nothing, either. These men would kill Colt without blinking an eye.
“If you tell the deputy who’s in here,” Dominic said to Reed, “then you’ll be signing his death warrant, too.”
Yeah, but that didn’t mean Reed couldn’t do something else to warn him. “Stay back, Colt!” Reed shouted.
A flash of anger went through Dominic’s eyes. Cold and calculating. And just as quickly, Dominic took aim at the one person in the barn who would definitely get Reed to stand down.
Addison.
Dominic aimed his weapon right at her head. “I said I wanted to talk to her first, but if you press the situation, she dies now.”
The guy was clearly a sociopath, and Reed got a glimpse of the intense rage that Dominic must have unleashed on Cissy when the young woman had admitted she’d written that letter to Addison.
“We have another problem,” Colt shouted back to him. “Whoever’s behind this has taken a hostage.”
* * *
THE EFFECTS OF the drug were already wearing off, but that helped to instantly clear Addison’s head.
Oh, God.
“Emily!” she shouted, and would have bolted from the barn if Reed hadn’t taken hold of her.
“It’s not Emily,” Dominic said. He still had that gun aimed at her and motioned for her to stay put. “It’s Mellie.”
Even though that was horrible news, Addison still felt some relief. It wasn’t her baby in immediate danger, but it was an innocent woman.
“What about Pete, the deputy?” Reed asked.
“He’s still with Mellie, and they’ll stay safe as long as Addison comes with me.”
Addison’s shoulders snapped back. “Pete has no idea you’re behind this. You have no reason to hurt him.”
Partly a lie. Pete did know that Dominic was a suspect in the kidnapping attempts and Cissy’s murder, but the deputy had no way of knowing that it was Dominic holding Reed, Quint and her at gunpoint right now.
“Then don’t let Pete become a casualty in something you can stop,” Dominic warned her.
“Addison’s not going with you,” Reed said before she could respond.
She shook her head. “But Pete and Mellie...”
Reed kept his attention pinned to Dominic, and because his hand was against her leg, she felt his grip tighten on the gun. “Dominic plans to kill them anyway.”
Addison wanted to believe Pete might be spared, but Reed was right.
Dominic had already admitted that Mellie would have to die, so why wouldn’t he just do the same to Pete? Her former lawyer was trying to tie up loose ends, and that might include not just Pete but anyone who’d had access to the investigation.
“You were the person behind the baby farms,” Addison blurted out.
“I’ve already closed down the last of them,” Dominic said, barely glancing at Addison before returning his gaze to Reed. “And I’m leaving the country. All you have to do to save lives is for you and Addison to come with me so we can have a little chat.”
A chat that would no doubt involve some kind of torture in the hopes she’d rat out anyone who had a clue that Dominic was behind this.
“How do I know for sure the baby farms are closed?” Reed asked. He moved, just a fraction, placing himself even more in front of her than he already was. He was obviously getting ready to do something.
But what?
And better yet, how could she help him?
Quint was on the other side of the truck. Unarmed and an easy target for Dominic or his henchmen. If Reed lifted his gun and started shooting, Quint could die, since he might not even be able to get to cover. It was the same for Colt. Yes, Colt probably knew there were gunmen inside, but he might not realize that one of them had a gun trained on him.
“Once I’m out of the country,” Dominic said to Reed, “I’ll send the sheriff the locations of the now-closed baby farms. He can inspect them and see for himself that the operation is over.”
“It’s over now that you’ve made a ton of money and have killed countless people,” Addison spat out. “And the babies. God knows where some of them have ended up.”
She wasn’t a violent person, but she wished she could stop Dominic right here, right now with some of those bullets that he’d used so freely.
Addison hadn’t expected her comment to get a rise out of Dominic, but his gaze slashed from Reed to her. Maybe just the distraction they needed, so Addison tried to push even harder.
“Doesn’t it bother you that your own babies were involved in this?” Addison didn’t wait for Dominic to answer. “Did you sell them, too, like you did all those other newborns?”
Now that there was a huge gaping hole in t
he front of the barn, she had no trouble seeing the muscles flicker in Dominic’s jaw. “That couldn’t be helped. Cissy and Mellie aren’t in positions to raise children, and I’m not ready to be a dad. I made sure they were placed in decent families.”
Probably a good thing that the children had been adopted. Well, if he was telling the truth.
“Families who paid you thousands for babies you fathered with troubled young women that you used and discarded,” Addison corrected.
“You need to send the sheriff records of all the adoptions, too,” Reed insisted. “So he can make sure all the babies, not just your own, ended up in good homes. Or if you bothered to leave any of the other birth mothers alive, maybe Cooper can reunite them with their children. It’ll take a lot to undo all the misery you’ve caused.”
“Enough of this!” Dominic yelled. His jaw muscles didn’t just flicker. They turned to stone. “Get in the truck now.”
That must have been the cue the gunman at the front of the barn needed, because he motioned to someone outside. No doubt another hired killer. And he hurried to the truck. The doors were already open, and he motioned for Addison to get in.
This was it. What could be Reed’s and Quint’s last moments alive. At least it would be if Dominic got his way.
But Addison had no intention of letting this monster win.
She didn’t have a weapon, or anything she could use to hurl at him, but she could still try to fight him with her bare hands. Reed must have sensed she was ready to do something, because he gave her a split-second glance.
“Get under the truck,” he said to her.
Addison immediately dropped to the ground just as the shot cracked through the air.
* * *
“GET DOWN!” REED shouted to Quint, and he hoped the ranch hand did exactly that—and fast.
Thankfully, Addison scrambled as far beneath the truck as she could. It wasn’t a second too soon, because the bullets started coming right toward them. Not just from Dominic but also from his two hired goons. All three men took cover behind the bulldozer and hay bales.
Reining in Justice Page 17
