The Billionaire Op - Lori Ryan Page 0,45

to the denial as long as she could. “You don’t know that. You don’t––”

“I do, Jen.” He reached out, brushing his fingertips down her cheek, causing a shiver of longing for what she couldn’t have. “I do know, Jen, because it damn near killed you just to be with me.”

Chad let his hand drop to his side and stepped back from her. He crossed to the couch and lay on it, arms behind his head, feet propped on the arm because they wouldn’t fit on the couch itself.

He didn’t look at her. Only closed his eyes. She knew he was done talking.

“Go to sleep, Jennie. Just go to sleep.”

Chapter 25

Special Agent Burke of the FBI, the agent in charge of the Bandon investigation in Florida, called Chad at seven the next morning to let him know the Masters brothers had been found. They were both dead and neither death had been easy.

Rick Bandon was spotted on video at the airport in Hartford, Connecticut. They didn’t have a clue where the man had gone after that.

Chad threw off the aches and pains from his night on the couch and sat up. Hartford was much too close to Jennie for his comfort.

There was no way in hell it was a coincidence the guy was here. As he called quietly to Zeke, luring the dog out of Jennie’s bed with sausage treats, he dialed Jack’s number.

When Jack answered, Chad could hear the sound of a crying baby in the background. He felt a sharp pain as the thought crossed his mind that Jennie might not let him raise his baby with her. She might not want him to be a part of their lives.

Screw that. I’ll raise my child with her no matter what.

Chad shoved aside those thoughts. He needed to get Jennie out of there. He snapped a leash on Zeke and took the dog outside as he talked to his cousin.

“Jack, I’m taking Jennie away for a while. The Masters brothers are dead. Tortured and shot. Rick Bandon is missing but he was last seen in Connecticut.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. Could he have found out about Jennie?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not taking any chances. The Masters brothers knew someone had found evidence that forced their uncle to come to them and get them to turn themselves in. It would be easy for them to narrow it down to Jennie and me after they ran into her outside their office.

“When their uncle showed up two days later with a lawyer, they had to suspect it was us. We used our real names for that trip. I’m not taking any chances. I’ve got everything set in place. I’ll call you from a burner phone when we get where we’re going. But, listen, Jack, I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”

Chad and Jennie worked with three others in the small investigations department at Sutton. If they were both out for months, that could really screw things up.

“Don’t even think about that. Keeping Jennie safe is your only job right now. And, make sure she knows her job is secure no matter how long she’s gone. We’ll manage until you get back.”

“Can you send Andrew out to Jennie’s parents’ place to let them know what’s going on? I don’t want her to tell them by phone but they need to know she’s safe.” As he spoke, Chad opened his truck to let Zeke, who had now had a potty break, jump into the cab. He took off the leash, shut the door and walked back into the house.

“Yeah. I’ll send him out there this morning. Kelly knows where they live.”

“Go in the bottom drawer of my desk at the office. There are two bags of burner phones. The top bag is for you and Kelly and the bottom bag is for Jennie’s parents. I’ve got the numbers for all of them so we can reach you when we need to. Make sure Jennie’s parents know they need to throw the phone away in a dumpster or public trash can after they use it. We’ll only use each phone for a week or two at a time and then get rid of it,” Chad instructed.

“Got it. Be careful, Chad,” Jack said.

“Always,” Chad said with a grin he didn’t feel and then he ended the call.

He tossed his phone on the kitchen counter and grabbed Jennie’s purse. He dug for her phone and pulled it out. She had several missed calls from