Brody (Texas Boudreau Brotherhood #3) - Kathy Ivan Page 0,69
been so worried.”
“We’re going for ice cream. Daddy said it was okay, because he hadn’t seen me in a long time, and he wanted us to have a special treat. Are you coming, Mommy?”
A cold sweat broke out across her skin at her daughter’s words. Evan had Jamie! Her worst nightmare had come true. She watched Nica motioning wildly, trying to get her attention, but Beth ignored her, focusing all her concentration on her daughter.
“Of course! I want to have ice cream too, sweetie. Where are you? I’ll come meet you.”
“Um, I’m not sure, Mommy. It looks like—”
“Hello, Beth.” Evan’s voice was devoid of any emotion, monotone and cold.
“Where’s my daughter?”
“Our daughter.”
“You have no rights to Jamie. You signed the custody agreement voluntarily when you went to prison, remember. You relinquished all parental rights without a single regret. Those were your words, Evan. Remember? Just tell me what you want.”
“What do you think I want, Beth? I want what I should have had from the very beginning. Money. I worked hard for it. I’m the one who did all the research. I’m the one who figured out the bond was still valid. I’m the one who realized its true worth. I deserve every penny, and I intend to get what’s coming to me.”
“Oh, trust me, Evan, I’ll make sure you get everything coming to you.”
“Daddy, I think I want to go home now. We don’t need ice cream. I wanna see Mommy.” The confusion and fear in Jamie’s voice sent Beth to her knees. Her precious baby, in the hands of the man who’d tried to murder her sister, and had planned Beth’s own demise, had her daughter.
Muffled in the background, she heard the sound of footsteps racing inside the house from outside, but refused to focus on anything but the phone plastered against her ear. The dead silence on the other end terrified her.
“Jamie, sweetheart, can you hear me?”
“She’s fine. I haven’t hurt a single hair on her head, and I won’t if you do what I tell you.”
“Evan, so help me, I’m going to rip your eyes out with my bare hands. Give me back my daughter.”
“I want my money.”
“I don’t have it. Every dime went back to the county. You know Tessa and I donated the bond back to Crowley County. And you, you left me in debt up to my eyeballs. Mortgages on the house. Credit cards in my name I didn’t open. Bank accounts empty. Even Jamie’s college fund’s gone. What more do you want from me?”
Brody knelt in front of her, his eyes searching her face. With his finger pressed to his lips, he mouthed the word, “speaker.” When she stared at him blankly, he eased the phone away from her ear and tapped a button, putting the phone on speaker.
“You better figure out a way to get your hands on some cash fast, Beth, if you want me out of your life for good. I don’t intend to spend another day in prison.”
“How much do you want, Evan?”
“A million dollars.” Though his answer didn’t surprise her, the amount still had her heart rate kicking into high gear, and her breath caught.
“I don’t have a million dollars. Where do you think I can come up with that kind of money, Evan?”
“I’ll pay it.”
The strong, deep voice from behind Beth had her head whipping around, and she stared into the eyes of Douglas Boudreau, her mouth open in surprise. “Douglas?”
“Who’s there?”
“Douglas Boudreau. I can get your money. No cash though, not on a Sunday. No banks are open.”
Evan’s surprised curse was clear through the receiver.
“Daddy, you said bad words. Mommy doesn’t like bad words. She says they’re in-a-something.” Beth bit back a strangled laugh at her daughter’s admonition. Jamie had picked up a couple of not-so-nice cuss words around some of the hands since being at the ranch, when they hadn’t known she was around. More than once Beth had to talk to her about their inappropriateness. Guess she was rubbing off on her daughter.
“Douglas Boudreau? The one who owns the construction company, right?” Evan’s chuckle was pure evil. A shiver ran down Beth’s spine at the sound. “Don’t worry, Mr. Boudreau, I wouldn’t expect you to have a million dollars in cash laying around. Then again, I don’t know anything about most of you Boudreaus, though I’ve met two of your sons.”
“Get to the point, Mr. Stewart. The sooner we do this, the sooner Jamie can be back with her mother.” Beth had never