Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,49
do.”
“What did they want with him?” She held her breath hoping for a different answer than the one she knew in her heart.
“They wanted to use him to get to me. They promised him money if could turn Gavin over to them.”
“B-but he refused.” Jenna hugged herself because she couldn’t hug Cade.
“Did he?” He swerved sharply to avoid roadkill in their lane. “He knew I’d never let him get close to Gavin, so Kevin had another proposition for me.”
He stopped speaking and clenched his jaw so tightly that Jenna could hear his teeth grinding.
She waited, afraid to touch him—afraid not to.
After a few minutes, he continued. “Kevin figured we could make a deal with Zendaris. I’d hand Gavin over to Kevin, Kevin would hand Gavin over to Zendaris and then I’d hand the plans over to Zendaris and get Gavin back.”
Her jaw dropped. “Kevin really believed that would work? He really believed you’d let your son anywhere near that maniac? Either of those maniacs?”
“I don’t know what he believed. The dollar signs had clouded his vision and probably his senses.”
“And that’s when you left?” She shifted her gaze to her hands folded in her lap, her knuckles white, her fingers red.
Cade sucked in a breath. “Do you think I had something to do with Kevin’s murder?”
Did she? When Cade got that dangerous look in his eye, when his muscles coiled into a spring until he looked ready to strike anyone, she didn’t know him anymore. That wasn’t the same man who could color balloons and cows with Gavin. That wasn’t the same man who could tease her to heights of passion.
“No, but I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”
He drew his brows over his nose and shot a curious look at her. “I didn’t. I left.”
“What did Kevin tell you about how he left things with Zendaris?”
“He said he’d told them I wouldn’t let him anywhere near my son, and didn’t know where I was, anyway.”
“Either he was lying to you or Zendaris’s men thought he was lying to them.” She shivered and cranked up the heat. “What if they had tracked Kevin to the bar while he met with you?”
“They may have.”
“Kevin called you on your cell phone. What if they have that phone now?” Her gaze darted to the black phone in the cup holder. “What if they call you?”
“I’ve told you. The phone is special, untraceable. Even when someone calls me, the number doesn’t show up on their phone. They’re not interested in calling me. They’d rather do other things.”
“And yet they didn’t make a move on you last night?”
“They may have tried.” He shoved his foot against the accelerator. “I might have been careless last night, but I always make sure there’s nobody following me—always.”
“Nobody followed you back to the hotel last night?”
“I made sure of it, but they must’ve been at the bar. If not when I was at Ted’s, then later to meet with Kevin. Who knows? Maybe Kevin had set up a meeting with them, thinking he could make the deal with me and then let them know he’d be getting his hands on Gavin.”
“Instead, they killed him.”
“I warned him.” Cade pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can see him trying to con a couple of thugs for an international arms dealer. He probably thought he had them up to the second they took his life.”
His armor seemed to have slipped a little, so she rubbed her knuckles on the rough denim covering his thighs. “I’m sorry, Cade.”
“Why?”
“He was your father. You loved him once as a child.”
“He wasn’t worthy of it.”
She turned her head, blowing out a breath and fogging the window. “At that moment he was. At the moment he made you laugh, at the moment he cheered you on at your first swim meet, at the moment he read you a story. He was worthy then.”
She didn’t know if she was getting through to him at all, but her words made her own nose tingle. She’d never even had those moments with her parents. They’d been too busy with their social scene, taking exotic vacations without her and her sister, using them as props for the obligatory family portrait.
“I want to be there for the long haul with Gavin.”
Wiping her cheek, she faced him, or at least his hard profile. “You will be.”
“Haven’t done such a great job of it yet.”
“When are we going to tell him you’re his father?”
“Maybe we should wait.”
“Really? Wait for what?” In her bones,