Christian. Her stomach tightened as she remembered Liam coming down from the playground structure, laughing about the “nail” Christian had produced from his tool kit.
It must have been a thousand years old, he’d joked.
Or two thousand.
“So, you give me that nail and I’ll give you Christian.”
A white light popped behind her eyes, blinding her with fury and fear. “What?” she demanded, almost managing to get up from the chair, propelled by the sheer force of her reaction to his words. “You have him?”
“He’s fine. Nora has him.”
That did it. A surge of wild, hot emotion burst through her whole body, making her writhe and push and free herself from him. She spun halfway around before he grabbed her arms and took control of her again.
“You took him?” She blinked at him, too wild with horror to drink in the changes in a man she’d lived with and shared a child with.
He was bigger. There were probably twenty or thirty pounds of sheer muscle on this man who used to lift textbooks, not weights. His once-short chestnut brown hair had grown long, wavy. His face was beefier, covered with unshaven whiskers, but his eyes were the same. A memorable and distinct green that used to look at her with humor but were now dark with…desperation.
For a dead man, Jeff Scott was damn desperate. And desperate men did very, very bad things.
“Where the hell is the nail?” he demanded.
In a playground structure in Bushrod Square.
Those scary green eyes narrowed at her. “Andi?”
“Why…the will? The custody? Why?”
He sniffed out a dry laugh. “My mother left him money, which is actually laughable but I guess she had more of a soft spot for that kid than I thought.”
“And you want it?”
“I need it,” he fired back. “And so does my sister, it’s part of our…ransom.”
Ransom? “What are you talking about?”
He shook his head. “Now they want the nail and money not to kill me. And we are the rightful heirs to the Scott money. ’Course, I never dreamed you’d marry some local yokel dog catcher and put up a legal fight. I figured you’d buckle under the first threat of taking Christian and sign the trust over to her. But the money’s only half of it. I have to have the nail, Andi.”
But all she heard was Nora…Christian…ransom…and nothing made sense. “She has Christian now?” That was impossible. Liam had to have him. Liam was picking him up. He had to be with Liam.
But Jeff nodded. “And, Andi, she’ll take him far, far away. She’ll keep him hidden. We’re very good at that, my sister and me. And it could be a long time before you see him again, and if those German bastards want me dead, they won’t hesitate to kill my son, too.”
“Christian,” she whispered, barely audible over the sound of her heart breaking.
“So get me the damn nail, Andi.”
She could very probably find it on top of the play structure, but if he believed that only Christian could find it, then he’d have to produce Christian. Andi had to take the chance to get to him. “I don’t know, but Christian does.”
He glared at her. “Get real, Andi.”
“He does. He mentioned a nail to me that he had at the square, in the playground.” Her voice was remarkably calm, considering her heart rate was anything but. “He must have taken it from the box. He’s the only person who knows, so you give him back to me, and I’ll get you that nail.”
He searched her face. “You lie to me and you’ll never see him again. You understand, Andi? I’m fighting for my life here.”
And she was fighting for her son. “I understand.”
As she stood to leave with him, Andi eyed the man she’d been sure was dead for two years. Once again, absolutely nothing in life was certain.
Except that she’d do anything, including kill or be killed, to protect her son.
* * *
Liam stared at the young woman at the front desk of the Sweet Peas Day Care center adjacent to the elementary school as if she’d spoken an absolute lie.
“No,” he insisted. “He has to be here. Christian Rivers. No one has permission to pick him up but his mother or me. Check the list.”
Her gaze darted from him to Jag, who sat at perfect attention, but still managed to look pretty damn threatening. “I did check the list, and his father’s name has been on it for years, and he picked him up a few hours ago.”
Someone had had Christian for hours? Liam’s stomach turned. “Do you mean to tell me you released that child to a stranger?”
There was no way Andi would use an after-school care that was less than one hundred percent secure.
“His father,” she corrected, tapping on a computer keyboard. “He had a photo ID, and his name matched the one on file. Jefferson John Scott, approved since Christian started coming here four years ago.” She turned the screen to him to underscore her point, showing a face Liam recognized from his pictures around Andi’s house.
“He’s dead.”
She lifted both brows. “Looked pretty alive to me.”
“It was someone else.”
“Someone else who Christian called Daddy and ran to him, jumped into his arms, and kicked his legs with excitement?”
Every vein in his body turned to ice. “That’s impossible.”
“Should I get the day care worker who was here with me and also witnessed it?”
Liam shook his head, backing away, trying to make sense of something that made zero sense.
His body burned so badly forensics was impossible, though he was ID’d by next of kin.
Paul Batista’s words hit him in a gut that was already on fire. Was it possible? Jeff Scott had faked his own death? Had help from his sister?
But why come back now and take Christian?
Because Andi wasn’t giving up the trust fund. And Andi had that box Paul Batista was asking about.
“Do you want me to get the other teacher?” the young woman asked, her edge of sarcasm dulled, probably because there wasn’t any blood left in Liam’s face.
“No…no.” He backed away, trying to think this through. He had to call Andi. And he had to find Christian. Jogging back to his truck, he pulled out his phone and dialed Andi again, swearing softly when he got her voice mail.
Then he made another call but had to leave a message with Paul Batista, giving him Andi’s address and asking him to meet Liam there as soon as possible.
Andi’s house. Would Jeff go there with Christian? It was on the way to Vestal Valley College, so Liam headed there first, almost unable to concentrate on driving as he put the pieces together and came up with one pretty screwed-up puzzle.
At her brownstone, things looked quiet and normal. No strangers rolling buggies, not many people around at all. Using his key, Liam let Jag inside first, and instantly, the dog went crazy. He barked ferociously and started sniffing the ground, going back to the kitchen door, which was locked, then following a scent with a determined focus Liam had rarely seen.
Barking, he headed straight upstairs, and Liam followed, bracing for an intruder and ready to give Jag the order to attack.
But the second floor was quiet. Christian’s door was open, his room exactly as he’d left it. Jag headed straight for Andi’s office, growling low and menacing and mad almost immediately. Liam followed the sound as it kicked up to a frantic bark, finding Jag sniffing the floor and drafting table and—
The box was gone.
For a second, Liam stared at the empty spot on the shelf, digging around his memory of that very morning when he’d walked in here and seen it. He’d left the house with Andi, and she hadn’t had it. He was certain. She’d worn a bright red dress with heels to work and decided to switch her handbag on the way out. The bag she carried was far too small to hold that box.
Had Andi come back home to get the box? Or had someone else been in this house since then? Someone with a key to the back door.
Jeff
Scott was alive. If that theory was right, he couldn’t waste another second here. He had to get to Andi and figure out where Christian was. Grabbing Jag’s collar and ordering him out, he ran back down the stairs, formulating a plan as he got outside and locked the door behind him.
He’d call the police on the way to the community college and start a search for Christian. He’d get his brothers, too. Turning to where he’d parked, he froze as his gaze fell on something red in the square. A red dress…
He blinked at the two people who walked briskly along the path, headed for the playground area, as one more seismic shock rocked his world.
It was Andi in that red dress and heels, walking with a man who had a secure arm around her, leaning close to her. He looked huskier than he remembered Jeff Scott being, but Liam knew the walk, the posture, the tilt of the guy’s head. He wouldn’t forget the man who stole the woman Liam loved.
What the hell was she doing with him?
Unable to stop himself, Liam walked closer, to the end of the street, gauging traffic as he crossed, a sickening sensation of déjà vu rising up in him.
“Daddy! Daddy!” The words smacked him from across the street, and he saw a familiar little six-year-old breaking away from a dark-haired woman—Nora?—and running toward Andi.
Andi seemed to stumble a little as the man holding her let go and extended his arms to capture one happy little boy in his arms.
How was this even possible? What the wretched hell was going on?
Andi slowed her step and held back, watching Jeff spin Christian in a circle, making Jag let out a sharp bark.
Liam tugged hard at his leash, but Andi turned at the sound. She looked right at him, too far away for Liam to read her expression. But he could interpret her rigid posture of flat-out fear.
Still holding Christian, Jeff reached back and snagged Andi’s arm, pulling her closer, his face away from Liam.
She threw one more look over her shoulder at Liam, and in that instant, he knew the only way to protect her was to let Jag tear into a man Christian was hugging with all his might. Not only would Christian hate Jag and Liam, the sight could scar the child for the rest of his life.
Chapter Twenty-two
Help me, Liam. Help me.
Andi could only hope Liam recognized her silent plea and didn’t assume the worst. Did he trust her? Would he come to help her or walk away, believing that history was repeating itself no matter how impossible—and wrong—that belief would be?
Still holding Christian, who was bubbling with joy over the return of his father, Jeff got a solid grip on Andi’s arm and brought her along without following her gaze, thank God. He’d surely have recognized Liam and Jag.
While they walked to the playground, Andi tried to slow the spinning of her head and make sense of what Jeff had told her on the drive over here. And the fact that she’d had no idea that Jeff was so motivated by greed, but it was clear from his story that that was the source of his downfall.
Jeff had reconnected with his sister when she’d gone to visit him in Europe, and true to her ability to find the worst types of people, she’d soon connected with a ring of “art dealers” who dealt exclusively in stolen treasures.
Soon after, Jeff learned there was a way to make a lot more money in architecture than by drafting blueprints. A piece of art here, a holy treasure there…the underground market for such things turned out to be quite lucrative.
Then, a small team with Jeff unearthed a reliquary that had been hidden in the bowels of the Cathedral of Trier for centuries with a nail inside. Could have been a nail from the building, but could have been a nail from a crucifixion, since Trier already had another nail like it. Jeff knew that possibility made it worth a dizzying sum and made a quiet deal with the witnesses, paying them handsomely to “forget” it ever existed.
He could have taken it to the “dealers” that Nora knew, but Jeff wanted this one for himself, with only Nora in on the take.
That was his first greedy mistake. One of the “witnesses” was part of the same circle of thieves, and suddenly, Jeff was on their deadly radar. That’s when he picked up and moved off the continent and returned to a small town where he could hide out for a while and keep the nail off the market for five or six years until any interest in it or rumors about it died down.
Still, he worried they’d find him. So faking his death was Nora’s idea, and it worked beautifully until his mother died and Jeff made his second greedy mistake. He and his sister were so infuriated by their mother’s inexplicable decision to leave Christian a small fortune that they felt justified in going to Charlottesville, with Jeff disguised as her husband, to meet the attorneys and fight for Nora’s rights.
But the Germans suspected Jeff wasn’t really dead, and they knew his mother had passed away, so they had a spy watching Nadine’s lawyer’s office. Jeff walked right into their trap.
Now, they wanted the nail and five million dollars. The only way to keep them from killing him was to give them both…and disappear again.
Which, as he hugged Christian and did the whole “returning dad” thing, Andi knew would mean she would once again have to pick up the pieces of Christian’s broken heart. But with a man this desperate? She’d take a broken heart over something worse.
Far-off in the square, Andi could see Nora watching them. The woman could have a gun for all Andi knew. And any one of these people passing by could be these so-called evildoers who would kill for this nail that Andi, remembering that graduate school research paper, doubted was real anyway. But now wasn’t the time to fight that battle.
She didn’t dare do or say a thing that would put Jeff on alert. As long as he believed she would help him, he wouldn’t hurt Christian or her. He’d ordered her to act normal, not touch her phone, and stay with him while Christian took him to the nail, so that was exactly what she did.
“Mom says you found a nail here,” Jeff said, scooting him from one arm to the other with ease. “Can you take me to it?”
“Yes!” He squirmed to be let down but Jeff held him tight. “It’s at the very top of the pirate ship!” He turned to point to the play area where two children, both a little younger than Christian, played at the foot of the slide.
Were they safe? Andi’s heart rate, already impossibly high, kicked up even more.
“Liam helped me hammer it in,” Christian said. “After he married Mommy.”
“Christian,” Andi said, getting close and putting a hand on his shoulder to settle him down. “I need you to tell me the truth, okay?”
His eyes widened like he half expected what was coming.
“Did you use a nail that you took from my office?”
When he didn’t answer, Jeff lowered him to the ground, but held onto his shoulders. “Christian!” His tone was sharp, making the child flinch. “The truth now.”
Very slowly, he nodded. “I…I…yes.”
“From that box I told you not to touch?” Andi asked.
He looked up at Jeff as if he thought he could get him out of it, but his father scowled at him. “Did you use it or not, Christian?” Jeff demanded.
“It…it was…really big. I knew it would work on the board.”
“Take me to it.” Jeff yanked his hand a little too hard. “Right now!”
Some color drained from his face at the command. “Are you mad, Mommy?”
“Jeff, don’t—”
“Is Daddy going to leave again? I’m sorry.” Tears welled and spilled as his lower lip quivered as he stumbled under Jeff’s powerful hand. “Don’t leave, Daddy. Please don’t leave again!”
The two other mothers on the bench stopped talking to watch the family drama unfold, and for a moment, Andi almost cried out for help or told them to run for safety. But Jeff had Christian halfway up to the first level by then, pushing him to move faster and looking from side to side as if he expected someone to come after him at any minute.
Only Liam…but where was he?
Rushing to
catch up with Jeff and Christian, she stole a glance over her shoulder, willing for Liam to come into sight, but she didn’t see him.
“Stay down there,” Jeff ordered her, making her heart hitch.
“Why? I can help you.”
“Stay down there, Andi,” he repeated, his voice tense and nervous as he climbed the rope ladder to the top platform.
Frustrated, she clung to the bottom of the structure, looking up, willing this nightmare to be over, refusing to think about what her son would have to face when Jeff left again. Liam would be there. Liam…
She checked out the entrance to the square again, which felt like a million miles away.
Where is he?
He’d left, of course. He saw her with Jeff and probably took his dog and left, because who would put themselves through misery twice?
“Here it is.” Christian’s voice was soft and scared, making Andi’s chest hurt. He was so confused now. Terrified and thinking he was in trouble. He’d blame himself when Jeff disappeared.
Muttering a dark curse, Jeff got down on his hands and knees, pulling something out of his pocket. Squinting through the spaces in the boards, she realized it was a penknife, and he was digging the nail out of the wood.
She shuttered her eyes and prayed that even if the relic was real, God would forgive this particular travesty and let Christian be safe.
“We could get my toolbox at home,” Christian said, his sweet offer breaking her heart. “That might help, Daddy.”
“Shut up.”
She grunted at Jeff’s cruel command and the soft sob that came after.
“Let him come down, Jeff,” she called up. “Just let me take him, and you can get your nail.”
“Not a chance.”
She tried to swallow. “Why not?” He didn’t answer, and her chest squeezed. “Jeff?”
“Got it!” Jeff stood, giving Christian a shove toward the ladder.
“The slide is faster,” Christian said, turning to the opening of the long, twisted tube that delivered small bodies right to the bottom.
Leader of the Pack (The Dogfather Book 3) Page 23
