Dangerous Rescue - Linzi Baxter Page 0,40

hadn’t asked questions because she never wanted to put him in the difficult position of not having to tell her things. Siena knew he had to keep aspects of his work secret. But everyone was tense about this latest mission, so she was worried too.

Normally, she would talk to Angel, who would keep Siena from going to dark places. At night, Siena’s mind went crazy, coming up with scenarios for Hudson’s missions, and every single one had him dying. That had been her fear when they were together in the past—him dying on a mission and her not knowing. Now the same fear struck her each night. Will the last thing he remembers be me pushing, saying we’ll never be together?

Life was so short. Each night, she couldn’t stop herself from sending him text messages, letting him know what was going on. Siena should have been surprised by the way her feelings for Hudson had rushed back the second he strode back into her life. She couldn’t let his job stop her from a future with him, even though taking him back went against the promise she’d made to herself years ago. She’d vowed to never let Hudson back into her bed, only into Mia’s life, but she hadn’t accounted for how she would feel when he showed up.

Her fingers hovered over her phone to send him another text. Instead of fighting the feelings, she typed, Mia and I can’t wait for you to come home. I hope you're safe.

She hit send and placed the phone next to her coffee. It was her free hour, and she had to get a few more tests graded before her next class. Being a teacher gave her the ability to help others. What Hudson did was so much more, but she hoped the little extra time she tried to give her students would make a change in at least one of their lives.

The door to her classroom swung open, and her ex-principal walked in. He wore a perfectly pressed suit and not one you would find in a department store. Kyle’s dad had everything custom fitted for him. During the time she dated Kyle, she would have to listen to his dad talk about people who didn’t dress as well as he did. But there was no way working at the school paid for his expensive lifestyle. That wasn’t something she’d known much about then, but looking back, she realized it didn’t make sense how he could afford the large house or the expensive cars.

“Siena.” His nasal voice ground her nerves.

He didn’t ask if he could come in. Instead, he walked across the room and pulled one of the kids’ chairs in front of her desk. She hadn’t seen Mr. Robles since the day he fired her for yelling at a student. She hadn’t actually done it, but he’d made sure it was put in her file anyway.

“Mr. Robles,” she gritted out. “I didn’t know you requested an appointment to see me, but I’m sorry, today isn’t going to work. My students will be in any second now.”

He leaned back, crossing his arms. The gold Rolex flashed beneath the cuff of his suit jacket. “Don’t lie to me, Siena. You should know better than that. As for your students, they won’t be back for another half hour.”

She ground her teeth, knowing that it was true. Edward Robles had pull in the academic world, so she assumed her principal had let him right into the school without asking many questions. Normally, the secretary would have called down to her to let her know she had a visitor. But him coming to see her would have made her suspicious. Siena would ask the front desk whether Robles had said he was coming to visit. It might give her an idea of who he was working with at her school.

Mr. Robles’s leg bounced as he glared at her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she wanted to call Hudson, but he couldn’t even answer the phone. And this wasn’t something she wanted to bother Gumby with.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Money, the power to rule the world.” He laughed, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. The arrogant ass annoyed her. “We have a mutual problem,” Edward said, straightening his cuffs.

“The second you fired me, we no longer had any mutual problems.”

“Wrong!” he growled.

The only thing they had in common was Kyle, whom the police believed was dead. Gumby had