in regards to the abduction of Ms. Carson last year.”
As the intel slowly penetrated Serena’s brain, an odd buzz started within her. Free. She was finally free. The bad guys had been caught and she no longer had to live on the run. The TV screen zoomed in on two grainy images of the suspects, taken at the airport she guessed, and she vaguely recognized the two thugs from the villa where she’d been kept.
Real. This is real.
Gracie began to fuss, jarring Serena out of her thoughts.
Noah. She needed to find Noah and tell him. Serena pushed aside her half-eaten food and stood. He’d gone out to do his morning check of the perimeter, so he probably didn’t know yet. She hurried out the side door and into the gardens in the back, searching the edge of the property for him, all while giddiness bubbled inside her like champagne. She could go home, back to New York. California. Wherever she wanted. She could wear new clothes again, buy Gracie whatever she wanted.
She was so lost in her daydreaming that she nearly collided with Noah, who was standing near one of the large trees at the corner of the property, talking on his phone.
He put out a hand to steady her, then held up a finger for her to wait.
“Yep. Got it,” he said, his gaze locked on hers. “Thanks, Levon.”
Noah ended the call, then looked back up at her, saying at the same time she did, “They caught the guys.”
Serena started laughing and Noah grinned.
“I heard it on the news inside,” she said, rubbing Gracie’s back. “I think I’m still in shock a little bit. I can’t believe it’s over. Just like that.”
“Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “With a whimper instead of a bang, right? Not that I’m complaining.”
“No.” They started walking back to the house together, Gracie over Serena’s shoulder. Serena kept pinching herself to believe it was real. “I get it. It’s sort of…anticlimactic considering we were planning for hellfire and bullets, but yep. I’ll take it too. But what does this mean about the bounty on me? Is that still out there?”
“If the two guys arrested were the ones offering it? No—the bounty should be gone.”
“That’s…so amazing,” Serena said with a sigh of relief. “Were you talking to your team back home?”
He nodded. “They called me with the intel about ten minutes ago, just before it broke on the news.”
“Do they know any more about those two thugs? Why they took me?”
“Nothing yet.” He swatted away a couple of mosquitos buzzing around them and raked a hand through his hair. “The authorities haven’t revealed much. Clint’s been digging around in their histories after we learned their identities, but so far there’s no real connection to you that we’ve been able to find, other than they wanted money.” He shrugged, frowning. “I always assumed there was more to it than that, but sometimes people are just greedy, I suppose.”
“Hmm.” She transferred the baby to her other arm and stepped up onto the veranda. “So, what are our next steps? Do we head back to the States right away or…”
“Not until tomorrow. The guys already had everything booked, and the earlier flights in and out are full, so it’s less hassle if we wait until tomorrow morning to go. Without the thugs out there tracking us, we shouldn’t have any problems.”
“Awesome.” She followed him inside and upstairs to their room. “Are we spending the night here or in Frederickston?”
“The capital. Levon got us booked into some swanky hotel-casino for the night. I tried to get him to change it to something less exposed, but he said it was the only room open.” He set his phone on the dresser to charge, then headed for the bathroom door. “Besides, I guess we can consider it a celebration now instead of a staging area.”
“Staging area?” She set the baby down on the bed and rolled her stiff shoulder.
“Yeah. The guys are working to get us safely out of St. Dourdane, but now we don’t have to worry.”
There was no holding back her smile anymore. The more she heard those words, the better they sounded. She wanted to spin around and scream with joy. Instead, she just crossed her arms and bounced on the balls of her feet to avoid waking up a snoozing Gracie. A new idea occurred to her, and her eyes widened. “We can get a car this time. No more trekking through the jungle. And we can