LITMIR.BIZ

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you’re also the only one who has as much to lose as I do. I’m out of options to keep my...our son safe.”

      Our son. She’d have to get used to saying that.

      Jared didn’t speak for a moment. His reproachful gaze burned into her. She met it with unblinking eyes. Obviously he didn’t doubt Dylan was his son. How could he? Their matching eyes were the tell. But the threat, the money, that could be an elaborate hoax. If Jared didn’t believe her, she had no plan B.

      She gnawed on her lower lip considering her options. There were none.

      “We’re not paying.” The muscle in his jaw pulsed. “I refuse to be blackmailed. They’ll just keep coming and it will never end.”

      She opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head. “This is nonnegotiable. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep our son safe. Giving into a blackmailer isn’t the answer. I know—” His voice cracked. “Excuse me.”

      He quickly rose, scooped up the rifle and strode out of the room, shutting the door with a soft click.

      Courtney stared after him. She wasn’t quite sure what had just happened. She rocked Dylan against her, staring at the closed doors. Jared King wasn’t what she’d expected. He definitely wasn’t the suave man she’d encountered in the bar of the Waldorf, but she didn’t need that man. She needed a fighter, and she’d witnessed the fury in his eyes.

      For the first time since she’d walked into her apartment she felt a slight easing in her breath. Jared King was a warrior. A warrior with money.

      A warrior willing to help them.

      Whatever he thought of her, something in the set of his jaw gave her a glimmer of hope that Jared wouldn’t fail.

      She had to believe that. For Dylan’s sake...and her own.

      * * *

      JARED SAGGED AGAINST the heavy doors of his study, his entire body shaking. The idea someone might kidnap his son... This couldn’t be happening. Not again.

      Though unlike Alyssa, who had been taken without warning, the threat to his son had put them on notice. He would do whatever it took to prevent the abduction.

      This time, the outcome would be much different. Only one question ate at his gut. Was Courtney Jamison telling the truth. Was she a victim, or was she after his money? And how could he be sure?

      He’d find out which, but it didn’t impact his actions. Whether she was trying to play him or not, he’d never forgive himself if anything happened to Dylan.

      The rest...well, the truth would come out. It always did.

      Velma exited the kitchen carrying a tray. “What’s wrong?”

      “Someone’s threatened to kidnap my son. They demanded a lot of money or they’ll take him.”

      She gasped, set the tray on the foyer table and walked over to him. She pressed her palm to his chest in comfort. “This isn’t five years ago.”

      “You’re damned right it isn’t. I’ll be smarter this time.” Jared shoulders knotted as he stood there. He couldn’t meet Velma’s gaze. He gritted his teeth. “It feels the same. I’m shaking, Velma. Like the moment I walked into the nursery and found the message.”

      “It’s not the same. It’s not him. This doesn’t have anything to do with you or your past. You didn’t even know about the boy until she arrived.”

      “Maybe.” Jared shot Velma a sidelong glance. “Did you see him, Velma? He looks like me.”

      She patted his cheek. “I know, boyo. No doubt about who his daddy is.”

      Jared stared at the scuffed toes of his boots. “I’m going to lose him, you know. Even if we catch the person threatening my son, Courtney won’t stay. They don’t belong here.”

      “Just because Alyssa didn’t fit in—”

      “Like you always say, the past is over.” He gently eased away from her. “Have Tim quit messing with Angel Maker so he can bring in Courtney’s luggage. Put her in the room across from mine. I want to be close at all times.” The staccato words came out harsher and more clipped than he intended. He bent down and kissed her cheek in apology. “I’ll be back. I have some plans to make.”

      He turned on his heel.

      “Jared?” Velma called out. “He needs a safe place to sleep while he’s here.”

      He slowed his pace, but didn’t stop.

      “Don’t let the past rule the present, boyo. You’ll regret it.”

      Did she think he didn’t know that? Did she have any idea how tempted he was to grab that little boy and hug him tight. To take Courtney into his arms and convince her that they could make a city girl–country boy relationship work like a Hallmark movie.

      Except life wasn’t a movie. There were no happy-ever-afters. Not in his world.

      There was only reality. And bad guys won way too often.

      Determined not to let history repeat itself, he strode down a barren hallway. His first order of business was to take care of his son. He veered from the door of the brand-new wing he’d completed just last year and made his way to the end of the original house’s hallway.

      He hadn’t opened the door separating the old part of the house since he’d renovated, though Velma kept the place spotless. He stepped through, into the past. A white door loomed at the end of the corridor. His heart pounded, rushing through his ears. He forced his boots to cross the decade-old carpet to the end. For a moment he stood there. With a deep breath, he turned the knob and walked inside.

      A never-used crib rested in the corner of the room. A yellow crocheted blanket lay abandoned on the floor. As his gaze took inventory of each item, one after another, pain twisted his heart. He would have bent over in agony if he’d allowed himself to feel. This room represented his failure to protect his family. And the threat that still loomed large over his life, a threat he would never deny.

      He let his attention settle on a large hole in the drywall, marring the perfect paint job. A sledgehammer lay beneath the opening, a tool he’d swung with anger and fury and unrelenting grief.

      Jared hadn’t ventured inside the room in five years. He almost hadn’t climbed out of the dark abyss after losing Alyssa and their unborn daughter. He couldn’t go through that kind of pain again.

      Jared would make it impossible for the blackmailers to harm his son. To do that, he needed to identify the person who wrote the ransom note.

      Actually, it was more like a blackmail note. A demand before the kidnapping. Strange. Dylan hadn’t been taken, but he could have been.

      Why? What was the end game? To take a nine-month-old baby? To hurt Courtney? The more he considered the note she’d shared with him, the more he kept coming back to the unusual ransom amount. The number had to be the key.

      He’d do whatever it took to find out who had threatened his son, and make them pay.

      And then what? Jared closed his eyes. The moment he’d recognized Dylan as his child, his soul had threatened to reawaken.

      He couldn’t allow it.

      After it was over he’d send both of them away, back to the city, where they belonged.

      And when they left, Jared had no doubt what was left of his heart would crumble to dust.

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