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  Jackson gave an impatient huff. “I don’t doubt that, but I need to know if you cut any corners.”

  “None,” Ryan insisted. “The only mistake I made was listening to Shannon and her apparent pack of lies.”

  “How did you meet Shannon?” Jackson asked, taking the question right out of Bailey’s mouth.

  “Shannon and some of the other maternity hostages are being represented by another attorney in my firm. The hostages are suing the hospital for poor security measures. I met Shannon while she was doing some paperwork here, and that’s when she confessed that she was Caden’s birth mother.”

  Bailey shifted Caden in her arms so she could get closer to the phone. “But when you first set up the adoption, you were in contact with another woman, the student, who claimed that Caden was hers.”

  “Yes,” Ryan readily admitted. “I didn’t actually meet her, though, and I never spoke directly with her. I dealt with her attorney, Phillip Dalkey.”

  “I want his number,” Jackson demanded.

  “I can give it to you, but it won’t do any good. I’ve been trying to contact him for two days, and he’s not answering his phone. His office insists they don’t know where he is.”

  Oh, mercy. Did this Phillip Dalkey have a run-in with the person who’d hired those gunmen, or was Ryan lying about this as well?

  “Go back four months ago,” Jackson continued. “You said you put out feelers to find a baby for my private adoption. Was it Phillip Dalkey who first contacted you about Caden?”

  Ryan made a sound to indicate he was giving that some thought. “No. Actually, it was someone else, someone we both know.”

  “Shannon?” Jackson asked, his voice loaded with sarcasm.

  “Not Shannon either. The person who called to tell me about Caden was your business manager, Evan Young.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Evan.

  Jackson didn’t like the way his business manager’s name kept popping up in this investigation. Evan shouldn’t have had anything to with the adoption; but according to Ryan, Evan had been the one who started the ball rolling when it came to finding Caden.

  If Ryan was telling the truth.

  After all, Ryan had actually profited from the adoption. Jackson had proof of that, since he’d paid the attorney a large amount in legal fees. As far as Jackson knew, Evan hadn’t received a dime for anything related to the adoption.

  Of course, maybe this wasn’t about money.

  “You think Evan is playing some kind of mind game with you?” Bailey asked.

  She had worry written all over her face, and it shouldn’t have been there. This should have been a time for celebration. For Bailey anyway. She’d found her missing baby and was holding him in her arms. Jackson figured this was the best moment of her life, and yet that moment was clouded with the possibility that the person who’d orchestrated the illegal adoption might be planning something worse.

  Since both Caden and she were staring at him, Jackson went to them and gathered both in his arms. He kissed Caden’s cheek and intended to do the same to Bailey. A simple, reassuring peck. But hell, he needed more than that, and judging from her expression, so did she.

  So Jackson kissed her on the mouth.

  He hadn’t planned for it to go on, but it did. And despite the fact that Caden was right there, Jackson still felt the heat from the attraction. Even the danger couldn’t make that go away.

  Soon, very soon, he would have to figure out what to do about the attraction. And about Caden. He didn’t think Bailey was ready to jump into a custody battle with him, but she would want to claim her son.

  At that thought, Jackson pulled back and took a deep breath. Caden laughed, apparently amused with the kiss and his daddy’s reaction. Jackson pressed his forehead to Caden’s and hoped his son wasn’t also aware that his daddy’s heart was breaking.

  He couldn’t lose Caden.

  Jackson opened his phone again and called Steven so he could ask the man to track down numbers for Shannon and the attorney, Phillip Dalkey. Normally, that would be an assignment he would give to Evan, but Jackson wanted to keep his business manager, and anyone else from the office, out of the information loop until he was sure Evan had no part in any of this. Steven assured Jackson that he would get back to him with the contact numbers as soon as possible. Jackson ended that call and made another one. To Evan.

  Evan’s phone rang. And rang—five rings before it went to voicemail. Strange. In the seven years that Evan had worked for him, Jackson couldn’t remember once, not even on Christmas Eve, that the man hadn’t answered on the first ring. Evan often joked that he even showered with his phone close enough to reach.

  “Something’s not right,” Jackson mumbled.

  “I agree.” Bailey kept Caden close to her. “Part of me wishes they’d all just disappear. But we have to know who’s behind all of this.”

  Yeah. And then they had to figure out how to deal with the aftermath.

  Bailey stared at him, huffed and dropped her head on his shoulder. “I know what this is doing to you.”

  “And I know what you’ve been through for the past four months,” Jackson countered. “Don’t worry. We’ll work out something.”

  Though he had no idea what.

  He could ask Bailey to move onto the estate. There was plenty of room. That way, they could share custody. Of course, Bailey would almost certainly want full custody, and Jackson was afraid the law would be on her side, especially since the adoption wasn’t final yet.

  That got his mind and heart racing.

  All she had to do was go to the police and tell them the DNA results. Family services would step in and probably take Caden and place him in foster care until they got this mess all sorted out. That could take months or longer.

  Jackson had never felt this kind of panic before, and it shocked him when Bailey came up on her toes and kissed him.

  “We’ll work it out,” she promised. And because Jackson desperately needed something to hang on to, he believed her.

  He was about to seal that promise with another kiss, but his phone rang, and since the call was from Steven, Jackson answered it right away.

  “I got the numbers for Shannon and Phillip Dalkey,” Steven explained, “but neither is answering their phones.”

  Great. First Evan and now Shannon. Ryan had already told him that Phillip seemed to be missing, but Jackson had hoped he would get lucky.

  “Robin Russo is back,” Steven added. “She showed up at the gate about five minutes ago. Sir, she’s practically hysterical and says someone’s trying to kill her.”

  On most days, Jackson would have been alarmed by that, but this wasn’t most days.

  Welcome to the club, Robin.

  “Should I let her in?” Steven asked.

  Jackson didn’t even have to think about it. “No. I don’t want her inside the estate, and it’s too cold for an outdoor meeting. Are you at the gate with her now?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then use the security camera to set up a video feed into my office.” Jackson ended the call and looked at Bailey. “I doubt I’ll learn anything from her—”

  “I want to be there when you talk to her,” Bailey insisted.

  Jackson hesitated, figuring, at best, this conversation with Robin would be a waste of time, but he understood Bailey’s need to get to the truth. “Come on. We’ll leave Caden in the nursery with Tracy. It’s time for his bath anyway.”

  Since Tracy was already in the nursery waiting for them, it didn’t take long for Bailey to give her Caden so they could then head to his office. By the time they arrived, Steven had already set up the video feed, and Jackson saw Robin on his laptop screen.

  The woman was indeed waiting by the massive front gates. She had also gotten out of her car and was staring directly into the camera. She had her coat wrapped tightly around her and had ducked her head against the bitter winter wind. Judging from her red, swollen eyes, she’d been crying.


  Jackson hit the button on his laptop that would allow two-way communication. “Robin,” he greeted. “Back for round two already?”

  “I’m back because I need your help.” She moved even closer to the camera so that her face took up the entire screen. “Please let me in.”

  “You can say what you need to say right where you are,” Jackson insisted.

  Robin didn’t get angry. She fired several glances over her shoulder as if she expected someone was about to ambush her. Jackson hoped that wasn’t true, but he couldn’t risk Bailey’s and Caden’s lives by allowing this suspect back onto the property.

  “Could you get your man to leave?” Robin asked. “I don’t trust him. I don’t trust anyone right now.”

  Jackson thought about that a moment. “Is the gate locked and the security system activated?” he asked Steven.

  “They are,” Steven answered. “Should I go?”

  Again, Jackson gave it some thought. The fence was crash-proof, something he’d never thought he would need, but he was glad he had it now. “Leave her there and drive back up the estate. I need you to keep checking those numbers for me.”

  For Shannon, Evan and the attorney, Phillip Dalkey. Plus, if there truly was a threat to Robin’s life, Jackson didn’t want Steven out there in the open.

  Jackson did a split screen so he could watch as Steven got back into his vehicle and drove away. Robin didn’t utter a word until the man was out of sight.

  “After I left your estate, someone tried to run me off the road,” Robin continued, her voice and expression a tangle of nerves. “At first I thought it was an accident. But about an hour ago, someone tried to do it again.” Her mouth was trembling so hard now that it was difficult to make out her words. “If you or Bailey set someone on me, please call him off. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Neither Bailey nor I set anyone on you,” Jackson let her know. “You’ve been to the police?”

  “I just called them, and I’m going there after I leave here. But if you’re behind this, I don’t think San Antonio PD will be able to stop it.”

  Jackson and Bailey exchanged glances. Since Bailey and he knew they hadn’t hired anyone to go after Robin, that meant someone else might have, or else the woman was lying.

  Either was possible.

  Bailey moved next to Jackson so that Robin would be able to see her on the monitor. “Maybe this is because of the house you purchased. Did you borrow the money from the wrong people?”

  “No!” Robin practically shouted, but then just as quickly, the fight seemed to take everything out of her. “If you must know, I got a legal settlement with the hospital, but I signed a confidentiality statement. That’s why I couldn’t say where I got the money.”

  Convenient. That wouldn’t be an easy thing to verify or disprove.

  “You’ve come to the wrong people,” Bailey explained. “Jackson and I don’t want you dead.”

  “Well, somebody does.” Robin looked over her shoulder again and swallowed hard. “Maybe it’s Shannon. Maybe she’s trying to kill us all.”

  “Why would she want to do that?” Jackson asked.

  Robin opened her mouth as if she were about to blurt out something, but then she glanced around her again. Either she was a good actress, or she truly thought she was in danger just by being there.

  When she turned back to the camera, her breath was uneven, and she was trembling even more than when this bizarre conversation had started.

  “You’re positive you’re not trying to kill me?” Robin repeated.

  “Positive,” Jackson assured her.

  She nodded and swallowed hard again. “Then it has to be Shannon.”

  Jackson couldn’t assure her that Shannon wasn’t guilty, especially after the stunt she’d pulled about saying she was Caden’s biological mother.

  Robin moved even closer to the camera, so close that her breath fogged-up the screen. “I think Shannon was having an affair with one of the gunmen who took the hostages.”

  One look at Bailey, and her shocked expression confirmed that this was something she hadn’t heard before. But like the other things Shannon and Robin had said, it didn’t necessarily make it true.

  “Did you hear me?” Robin pressed. “Shannon was sleeping with one of the gunmen, and she probably helped him set up the entire hostage mess.”

  “You have proof?” Bailey asked.

  Robin shook her head and the tears returned. “No. But I heard her talking about him one day. Danny Monroe. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that one of the gunmen had the same name.”

  Jackson immediately saw a flaw in Robin’s accusation. Two of them, in fact. “Why didn’t SAPD find this connection, and why didn’t you tell them?”

  “I didn’t remember until yesterday. Maybe it’s the danger, but that conversation I had with her just came back to me. Here’s what I think—we know that the gunmen wanted to kill Bailey that day….”

  “They did,” Bailey confirmed in a whisper. “They thought I’d seen them without their ski masks.”

  “Exactly!” Robin continued. “So I think Shannon hid you because of the baby. She didn’t want her boyfriend coming after you and hurting the child.”

  That turned Jackson’s stomach, but he couldn’t dismiss that part. The mystery woman had told Bailey to keep quiet or the gunmen might try to use the baby to get to her. And by getting to her, the gunmen no doubt wanted to silence her permanently.

  “So if Shannon took my baby, then why didn’t she return him after the gunmen were killed?” Bailey asked.

  “I’m guessing greed,” Robin readily supplied. “I figure she sold the baby or something.”

  Jackson slipped his arm around Bailey. It was obvious this nightmare was difficult to relive.

  “Robin, you should tell the police everything you just told us,” Bailey insisted.

  “I will, but for now I need your help to stop Shannon from trying to kill me.”

  “I’m not letting you in,” Jackson repeated. “Leave now and go to the sheriff or SAPD.”

  Robin cursed, and she was still cursing when she made another glance over her shoulder. The profanity died on her lips. Her eyes widened, and she screamed.

  But Robin’s scream didn’t drown out the loud blast. Someone had just fired a shot.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Bailey broke into a run, headed for the nursery. She didn’t wait to see what was happening to Robin. She had to get to Caden and make sure he was safe.

  Jackson was right behind her, but he had already grabbed his gun and then taken out his phone, no doubt to call and make sure no one had breached security.

  “The gate’s still closed,” Jackson reminded her, shoving his gun into the waist of his pants.

  Yes, but there could still be another attack on the estate.

  Bailey raced into the nursery, and her heart dropped when she didn’t see Caden. She hurried through the massive room and to the adjoining bathroom.

  And there he was.

  He was sitting in a yellow safety ring in the center of the bathtub. He was splashing water and laughing.

  “What’s wrong?” Tracy asked.

  “Someone fired a shot near the gate,” Jackson answered. “Go ahead and take Caden to the panic room.”

  Tracy had already started to do that before Jackson even finished. The nanny grabbed a thick terry cloth towel and swirled it around the soaking-wet baby. Caden obviously didn’t like having his bath interrupted, because he started to fuss and squirm.

  “You should go with them,” Jackson told Bailey while he still had his phone pressed to his ear.

  It was tempting to be safely tucked away with her son, but she didn’t want anyone breaking into the estate. Jackson would need all the backup he could get.

  “I can help you keep watch,” Bailey insisted. But it nearly brought tears to her eyes to see Tracy whisk Caden in the direction of the panic room. “We need to put an end to this.”

 
; Yes, it was stating the obvious. They did need to end it. But how? The only way to stop the attacks was to figure out who was behind them. Could Robin possibly help with that?

  “Steven,” Jackson said when the man came back on the line. “What’s happening out there?” Jackson grabbed Bailey’s hand and headed back to his office. The moment they were inside, he locked the door and used a keypad to engage the room’s security system.

  Bailey couldn’t hear Steven’s response, but she could see the security monitors when they got to his desk. He still had the split-screen images, and on the one by the gate, she saw the car speeding away. Robin’s car perhaps.

  But Bailey didn’t see the shooter.

  Jackson took out his handgun, put it on the desk and typed in something on his keyboard. He pulled up six more images on the screen. Both of them moved closer, examining the various camera angles.

  “I don’t see anyone either,” Jackson relayed to Steven. “Maybe the person followed Robin. Call the sheriff so he can get someone out there on the road to protect her.”

  Of course, it might be too late for that. Robin could already be dead. And if so, the shooter might come back to the estate.

  “Make certain everything is locked up tight,” Jackson told Steven. “No one is getting in or out of the estate until the sheriff has the shooter in custody.”

  Jackson ended the call and sank down behind his desk so he could continue to scan the security feed. Bailey’s heart was pounding now, and the adrenaline was raging through her. Her body was preparing itself for a fight. A fight she prayed wouldn’t be necessary.

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  “We wait. Steven and his men will patrol the grounds and make sure no one gets onto the property. Then we let the sheriff do his job. It wouldn’t be smart for me to go out there and leave Caden and you here.”