LITMIR.BIZ

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to death. All I want is my fee and you out of my life. I’m not interested in getting involved in whatever sick game you and your husband are playing.”

      With that, he turned and headed for the door.

      Madison rushed toward him. “We’re not married. Did he tell you that? We’ve been divorced for over six months. I’m sure there’s a way you could check the court records to verify it.”

      Tanner stared at her. Divorced? He glanced at her left hand. No ring and no marks to show one had been removed recently. Neither Hilliard nor her father had said anything about a divorce. In fact, Hilliard had made it very clear he wanted his wife home with him, where she belonged. Tanner remembered wondering about Mrs. Hilliard’s feelings on being such an important possession.

      Not that it changed anything, he told himself. Divorced or not, he’d been paid to complete a job and he had. Except…

      He swore under his breath. There was something about her desperation, something about her words and, most important, something about the tension in his gut. He’d learned from hard experience to never ignore that feeling.

      Madison must have sensed she had his attention, because she started talking very quickly.

      “I left him nearly two years ago. He spent the first six months trying to convince me to come back and the next year fighting the divorce. Fortunately California is a no-fault state, and in the end, he couldn’t stop it.”

      “Why was he so interested in keeping a woman who wanted to get away?”

      “Money.”

      “You’ve brought that up before. Your ex is loaded.”

      She shook her head. “No. He’s not. His lifestyle sucks up a lot of his company profits. Plus he’s into something big. I don’t know what it is—I’ve only heard my father talking about it from time to time.”

      “Didn’t he get a big chunk of your net worth after the divorce?”

      “No. There was a pretty tight prenuptial agreement.” For the first time since he’d met her, she smiled. “Besides, I’m not worth all that much on my own. The bulk of the family fortune is tied up in Adams Electronics. My father is the principal stockholder, not me. I only own a few thousand shares. Christopher did get the house, which was fine with me.”

      So Hilliard had lost the eye-candy wife and access to the big bucks. That couldn’t have made him happy.

      “He and your father are working on something together. It came up in my research,” Tanner told her.

      “I know. I’ve read the same thing. I don’t talk to my father about it. I’ve tried to convince him to stop doing business with Christopher, but he won’t listen. He doesn’t understand how I could have let such a good man get away.”

      She tilted her head, which caused her long blond hair to fall away from her face, exposing the side with the still-red scar. He narrowed his gaze. Why would such a beautiful woman keep such an ugly mark on her face? She would have had access to the best plastic surgeons in the world, along with the money to pay them. As much as he hated to admit it, a lot of things didn’t make sense.

      “He set up the kidnapping to get the ransom money,” she said earnestly. “I doubt there was any other company looking for me. I’m sure he told my father there was to keep him from worrying.”

      “Why wouldn’t your father have insisted on going to the police?”

      Her mouth twisted. “He trusts Christopher implicitly. As far as he was concerned, his son-in-law would handle everything perfectly.” She glanced down at the floor, then back at him. “My father is something of an absentminded professor. He likes it best when the real world doesn’t interfere with his time in the lab.”

      Which meant what? That her father hadn’t been all that worried about the kidnapping because good old Hilliard was taking care of it?

      Tanner recalled his meeting with the two men. Hilliard had done all the talking. Blaine Adams had seemed concerned, but not overly so.

      “If nothing else, you should make sure you get paid,” Madison told him. “My ex has a bad habit of offering fees in halves. Half up front, half at the end of the deal. Only that second half doesn’t ever seem to get paid.”

      “Hilliard wouldn’t try that with me.”

      “How do you know?”

      “Because I’d hunt him down and make him beg to give me the rest of my money.”

      “Good luck with that.”

      She spoke with the confidence of someone who had lived the truth. Tanner grimaced as he realized he’d carefully checked out Blaine Adams when he’d taken the job, but he’d only done a cursory check on Hilliard. After all, Daddy had been the one paying the ransom. But Hilliard had offered to take care of the bill.

      Sloppy work, he told himself. Sloppy gets you dead.

      He glared at Madison. He didn’t have time for this or her or her sob story. He wanted her gone. But he couldn’t—not with his gut whispering that she just might be telling the truth. Hilliard kidnapping his ex-wife to get his hands on the family money wasn’t his business, but he wouldn’t send her back if she was at risk. No matter how much he wanted to.

      He was going to have to check out her story.

      “I don’t believe you for a second,” he said flatly. “But I’ll look into what you’ve told me.”

      Her relief was a tangible creature in the room. Before she could get too relaxed, Tanner moved close and cupped her neck. He applied just enough pressure to make it difficult for her to breathe.

      “If you’re playing me for a fool, I’ll make you sorry. Is that clear?”

      Her eyes widened. Color fled her face, but her gaze never wavered. She stared right back at him and slowly nodded.

      He acknowledged that she hadn’t flinched. At least she had some backbone. And she wasn’t a screamer. Two small points in her favor.

      When he released her, she stood her ground. She didn’t whimper or complain or even rub her neck.

      “You don’t understand,” she told him quietly. “There’s nothing you can do that’s worse than what Christopher has already done to me. I’m not trying to trick you, I just want to stay alive.”

      Funny how at that moment, he almost wanted it to be true. That she was just what she said.

      Not a snowball’s chance, he thought. He studied her face, her long blond hair, her slender body. Except for the scar, she was perfect. Tall, leggy, beautiful. And completely useless.

      He had no time for women like her in his life, but he wouldn’t mind finding her in his bed—just for the night. She would be a hell of a ride.

      

      Tanner left Madison in the holding cell and returned to the front office of the small warehouse building he rented down by the airport. His laptop sprang to life when he hit the keys. Seconds later, he was on the Internet and tapping into sources to check out what Madison had said about her ex.

      Two hours later, he had a detailed financial profile of Christopher Hilliard, along with e-mails from two informants. Word on the street was that Hilliard had a habit of skipping out on bills. An interesting practice for someone born to money. There were also some hints about shady dealings, but nothing specific. The most interesting point came from a casino employee Tanner had on retainer. Hilliard liked the high-stakes games, but they didn’t like him. He was up to his eyeballs in serious debt to some not-friendly people. Could that be why he needed the ransom money?

      Speaking of which…He made a quick call, then leaned back in his chair. Now what? While he didn’t want to believe Madison, so far he hadn’t caught her in a lie. Sure, she wasn’t anyone he could respect, but that didn’t mean he wanted her dead. And until

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