Special Forces Father - By Mallory Kane Page 0,46
is your child. He’s going to call your parents and see how much they’d pay to make sure their first great-grandchild is safe.”
Travis’s face twisted into a mask of horror as her words sank in. “Oh my God,” he muttered. “How did he find out?”
“You tell me,” she grated. “Maybe he saw you with Dawson.”
Travis shook his head. “No. He didn’t see us. Even if I didn’t notice him, Dawson would have.”
“Well, he found out somehow.”
Travis’s forehead creased in a frown. “Stamps or Whitley must have talked.”
“Stamps or Whitley? What are you talking about?” she asked. Stamps? She didn’t like the expression on Travis’s face any more than what he’d said. He looked chagrined and he wouldn’t meet her gaze. She saw his throat move as he swallowed.
“I—went to see Stamps yesterday, after I talked to Dawson. I figured he needed to know that we were onto him—”
“You went to see him?” The anger she’d been searching for earlier, that she’d hoped would sweep away the empty ache of missing her child, now began to burn through her. It didn’t get rid of the emptiness, but it felt good. “You went to see Senator Stamps. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Now, Kate—” Travis began.
“Stop talking!” she snapped, slicing a hand through the air. “Don’t even pretend you have an explanation for this.” She stepped over to the stove and turned off the spaghetti sauce, congratulating herself for having presence of mind enough to do that. She closed her eyes. As much as she wished she could depend on Travis, she knew from experience she couldn’t. She was the one who always handled things. So she would handle this, too. But she was going to need all the information she could get. With a huge sigh, she asked, “Who’s Whitley?”
“Congressman Gavin Whitley. He’s actually the one who hired the kidnapper. Dawson traced down the kidnapper’s phone number and found out where he bought it. I found that same number on Whitley’s phone. So now, with that information and using your phone, Dawson should be able to zero in on where they’re keeping Max.”
“Please, Travis. I don’t want you to do anything else. I don’t want Dawson to do anything else. I’m taking care of it, just like I always have. When you walked out on me in college. When I found myself pregnant with your child. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s how to get along without you.”
“Come on, Kate. You don’t have to—”
“I swear to you on your child’s life, if you don’t leave this alone right now, I will take Max and move away from here and you will never, ever find us. You will never see your child.” Kate felt sick, saying those words. It wasn’t what she wanted. It had never been her choice to raise her child alone. She’d always thought that one day he would come back and they would be a family.
But she knew now that her vision of them as a family was a pipe dream. The reality was what it had always been. Travis would walk away and Kate would handle it.
She lifted her chin and glared at him. “I don’t have much that’s mine. But Max is my son and this is my house. I want you to leave, now.”
Travis stared at Kate, trying to process everything she’d said. He knew how many times he’d let her down. But he wasn’t going to let her down this time. He wished there was a way to tell her that, to make her stop and look at him and see—not the boy he’d been, too angry and too immature to be responsible. But the man he’d become. Who knew how to channel his anger. Who knew what was worth living for—and even dying for. He’d sat in that filthy dark room where his enemy had kept him for five months, completely alone. He’d faced his shortcomings, his demons, his fears. And now, at last, he knew that only love could heal what was wrong with him. He hoped he wasn’t too late in recognizing it.
“Kate, don’t do this. We can get him back. I promise you.”
But her chin just went up another fraction of an inch and her glare never wavered.
He shook his head, held out a hand in supplication, then when she ignored it, let it drop to his side. Then he walked past her into their child’s room and threw his clothes into his duffel