pretended I was all for it, even promised her I would do what I could.”
He chuckled. “Then I asked how badly she wanted me to succeed in doing what she wanted, and she claimed she would do anything. So I had her prove it. We became lovers that night and our affair continued after the two of you returned to California. Nice little piece you were married to. She could become a real freak in the bedroom. And just so you know, that baby she aborted wasn’t yours. It was mine, and she did so with my blessing. There was no way we could let her give birth to a kid that might come out looking like me.”
A sharp pain sliced across Jace’s chest and he drew in a deep breath, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. “No!” he shouted as loud as he could.
Vidal chuckled again. “Having a hard time believing it, huh? I understand. Eve is a rather good actress. I’m going to let you digest that for a minute before I continue.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
With cold fear running up her spine, Shana quickly stepped off the elevator at Granger Aeronautics with Marcel at her side. After Caden called her back to confirm that Jace was not with Eve, Shana immediately called Marcel. She had reached him just minutes before he left the FBI office for home.
“Heard anything?” she asked Caden when she headed straight for his office.
“Not a thing.” He then glanced over at Marcel. “What do you suggest we do?” Caden just couldn’t believe that the man who had been a longtime trusted family friend, someone who was like a godfather to the three of them, was the same person Shana was painting him to be. But she had forwarded him and Dalton the same report her man Kent had given her and the information was pretty damn damaging.
“I already have a couple of my agents scouring the parking lot and checking out Jace’s car,” Marcel said. “Hopefully, we’ll find something. And we have someone keeping an eye on Duncan’s home. We don’t want to tip him off that he’s under suspicion about anything, especially since we don’t know for certain that he had anything to do with Jace’s disappearance.”
Shana shook her head. “I can’t believe Vidal is doing this. My suspicions had been focused on Shelton Fields. He’s been acting strange lately and hanging around Brandy’s desk a lot.”
“They’re having an affair,” Dalton spoke up and said.
Everyone turned to Dalton. “And how do you know?” Caden asked incredulously.
“She told me. That’s why we aren’t sleeping together,” he said as if there was nothing wrong with his having an office affair. “She’s already involved with him.”
“He’s divorced and she’s single. Why are they keeping it secret?” Shana inquired and then thought that she of all people was a fine one to ask, considering what she and Jace had been doing.
“They weren’t sure how Jace would like it, so they decided to keep it hush-hush.”
At that moment, one of the agents who’d been searching the parking lot approached. Marcel looked up. “Yes, Greg?”
“This was found in the parking lot near where Mr. Granger’s car is parked,” he said, lifting a see-through baggie that contained a syringe.
Marcel frowned. “Get it to the lab immediately. I have a feeling it was used on Jace.”
* * *
Eve nervously paced back and forth in her hotel room. Jace was missing? What on earth was Vidal doing? Was he certain no one would suspect him? Or her?
Caden had called, questioning Jace’s whereabouts, and she had made sure he believed she hadn’t seen or talked to Jace in a couple of days. There was no way she would get pulled into anything.
She had tried calling Vidal, and he wouldn’t answer. So she would sit here and wait and hope like hell he wouldn’t do anything stupid.
* * *
“Your ex-wife keeps calling me,” Vidal mumbled, placing his cell phone next to where he’d set the gun on the table. “I guess people are looking for you, and someone called her to see if the two of you were together. That’s funny.”
He then took a sip of his drink and said, “Now to take up where I left off. You didn’t take the bait and return to Virginia like Eve wanted. Then you found out about the abortion and kicked poor Eve to the curb. In the meantime, your grandfather began suspecting that someone was selling trade secrets. He wanted to bring Ms. Bradford on