ring. “Hey, partner, was about to call you.”
“Do you have a lead on Ortega?”
“Uh, no?” His voice sounded very baffled.
“Well, I do, and don’t give me bullshit about taking it easy because I have a damned concussion.”
There was silence and then, “You all right, Woodward?”
“I will be if you tell me there’s an Our Lady of Lourdes clinic in our case file on Ortega.”
“That sounds familiar, but I’ll have to take a look.”
“That’ll take too long. Just come and get me.”
She ended the call without waiting for his response, and jumped into the shower with a renewed purpose.
“What’s your game, Claudette?” Declan navigated the Porsche SUV out of the Brentwood district. He figured they could drive around. He still didn’t know how to handle her, how to pump her for information without showing his disgust. The urge to shove her away when she kissed him was so strong, it was a wonder he stood as still as he did.
He glanced at the rearview mirror. Her bodyguards were following them in a black Explorer. It figured if her boyfriend was a billionaire.
“I missed you, Dec.”
His skin crawled. He hated that name since he was a kid and forbade anyone to call him that except Gabby. Somehow it felt right for her to use it.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Gabs does.”
“She was my wife.”
“Exactly. Was. So why does it matter if I call you the same?”
Claudette could be dense. She didn’t get it.
“Why don’t you tell me how Theo came to be your son?”
“He was better off with me and Peter.” Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Claudette squirming in her seat.
“Don’t feed me that bullshit.”
“She was only keeping the baby to hang on to you. It was for the best!”
“So your answer was to steal our kid?”
“I did you a favor. I set you free. If you found out you had a son, would you have gone on with your dream to join the Army? You hated her. You were going to divorce her. But you had second thoughts, didn’t you? You had the restraining order on her, but you were the one stalking her.”
Declan glanced sharply at Claudette. “How did you know?” It took months before he was able to think about Gabby and the baby. Deep down he knew it was his, but he couldn’t erase the image of her in bed with another man, letting his rage keep him physically away. Watching over her from a distance was all he could do. But that one night he got hung up on a modeling job, she got attacked. Guilt crushed his heart and he let her go.
“How, Claudette?”
“I had you followed,” she said slowly. “I got involved with a very dangerous man.”
“Raul Ortega?”
“How …” There was surprise on her face, but also satisfaction. “Of course. This is why I contacted you. You have connections that I need.”
“Tell me how Ortega is connected to this baby switch.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call it that. Theo will always be my son.”
He was fast losing his patience. “Talk, Claudette. Why did you do it? Did yours really die?”
“How dare you! Are you suggesting I killed my own baby?” she gasped. “I cried for days when I found out my baby was dead in my womb.”
He stilled.
“Are you saying,” he had to space out his words, fury curdling the blood inside him. His knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. “The switch was premeditated?” He had to continue driving. If he pulled onto the shoulder, he might murder her and damn the consequences.
“You don’t understand!” she sobbed. “Ortega would have killed me if I had no baby to show for it.”
“He was the father.” His voice was dead quiet.
“Yes!”
Declan took a couple of deep breaths to process this confirmation. He waited until they reached the next traffic light before he spoke again. “Let’s back up a bit. How serious was your affair with Ortega?”
Claudette started talking. Telling him that Ortega was obsessed with her and prized her connections into Hollywood via her marriage to Peter Woodward. A jealous lover yet selfish when it came to what she did to his bottom line. She admitted her infatuation with the crime lord and the danger he represented. She loved the thrill it gave her and then she got pregnant.
“He deliberately planted his baby inside me,” she whispered. “When Raul found out I was pregnant, he was scarily ecstatic. He threatened me. Said he would kill me if I had an abortion. For all his criminal