Damaged Billionaire Daddy Bear - Leela Ash Page 0,46
her dress. It must have torn yesterday when she had gone to take the samples of that lion.
She grabbed it and looked at him, “Why do you have this?”
“Because I’m a sentimental fool,” he told her in self-disgust as he snatched the fabric from her hand, flung it into the trash, and stalked around his desk, obviously dismissing her.
Chapter 19
“Carla? Do you think your plan will work?” Kal asked urgently, his eyes bright with childish curiosity as they peered through the hedge surrounding their new home in Exotic Rescue.
“Shhhh,” Carla whispered urgently. “Not so loud or someone could find us.”
Arizona looked down at the mud caking her pink trainers and her face fell in consternation. “I don’t like this place,” she wailed. “Why can’t we go inside and have popcorn and watch cartoons?”
“Because, Arizona,” Carla said, “we need your mom to coming looking for you. If she thinks you’re missing, she’ll call my dad for help.”
“Now, do you understand?” Kal asked his sister.
She shook her head miserably, her lower lip trembling as she forced back her tears. She badly wanted to burst into tears but Kal would just call her a crybaby if she did and he would never include her in anything he did again.
Kal sighed as he leaned down on his haunches in front of his little sister just like the grownups liked to do. “Listen, Ari. We don’t have a dad, and Carla doesn’t have a mom.”
“So?” she asked, looking at Carla suspiciously.
“You like Carla, don’t you?” Kal asked.
Arizona nodded, “Yes, she’s my friend,” she said, apparently more confused than ever.
“Great. Now, we want Mommy to marry Mr. Cooper, so we can have a new daddy and Carla can have a new mommy,” Kal explained.
“And,” Carla added, also dropping onto her haunches in front of Arizona, “if my dad marries your mom, you become my little sister, which means you can play with all my toys any time you want. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
Arizona’s eyes brightened, “Really? All of them? Does that include Mr. Bunny?
Carla grinned. Mr. Bunny was her most coveted toy for sure. Her dad had gotten it on a trip to Africa and she remembered him telling her all about the little girl who made it. But more importantly, he had brought it all the way home for her.
“Yes, Ari, even that.”
Arizona beamed. Then she looked at them, “Then why do we have to hide here. It’s so dirty.”
“Mom is almost done baking cookies, so she’s gonna come looking for us to give us some soon. We left the front door open when we left so she’ll think we’re missing or something. So shush, Ari. Please,” Kal said, placing a forefinger against his sister’s lips for emphasis.
The little girl nodded her understanding and fell quiet beside the others, though she kept staring worriedly at the mud caking her feet, which seemed to be rapidly increasing.
The kids were so intent on peering at the house that they didn’t notice the three men in camouflage uniform who were observing them. The men exchanged glances when they recognized Carla Cooper among the kids. Roy had sent them, a few nights ago, on a reconnaissance mission that hadn’t been successful, no thanks to Cooper’s installation of a high-powered security system around the perimeter of the sanctuary. They hadn’t been able to come within three feet of the fence, never mind scaling it.
They had returned this morning, hidden beneath a bed of supply materials, but they had had to be just three. Their leader, Sean, was a short man with a crew cut and a perpetually bad temper. He looked at the three kids and whispered, “How about we change the game plan?”
The two men with him looked at him dubiously. “The boss doesn’t like it when we change plans without his knowledge.”
“Maybe not, but we are the ones in the field, so I say we have more at stake. I mean, picture us capturing Carla Cooper. Everyone knows she is Theodore’s life. If we do so, he’ll be more than willing to cough up a whole lot more money for her rescue,” Sean predicted.
Moving stealthily, the men advanced on the three kids at the same time Jessica ran out of her home, looking this way and that, frantically, for the kids. The men saw her and immediately pounced.
Carla shrieked when large rough hands grabbed her, and Kal and Arizona screamed bloody murder too. Their shrieks brought their mother running in that direction and when she saw the men