“She’s pregnant.”
“Oh.”Travis muttered a curse under his breath.He blew out a breath and raked his fingers through his hair.
“It changes things,” Conrad said.
Travis brought his hand down.“Not necessarily.”He paused a beat as though letting those words sink in.“Nikki is smart enough to hide the pregnancy.She would know that would raise the stakes.She is also likely formulating a plan to escape her captors, plus the feds are watching and waiting to make a move.”
“What if she is formulating a plan, goes for it, and doesn’t succeed?”Conrad asked.
He made a good point there.She would be recaptured and possibly injured or worse.
Chloe joined them in time to hear the update.Hudson might be imagining it, but he could have sworn he saw Travis’s gaze drop to Chloe’s belly as she stood across the hallway.Travis couldn’t give her children, but he was a damn fine stepfather to her son, Grayson.
Hudson didn’t want to think about this ordeal causing Nikki to lose the baby.Miscarriages happened under stressful circumstances, and it would break Conrad’s heart.It would cause more pain for everyone in the family, as close as everyone had become.They were each other’s lifelines and closest confidants.Working the family business together had brought everyone closer.Except Beau.Their relationship with him was still a work in progress.Hell, Hudson’s relationship with his family fell into the same category.He was only beginning to open up and speak his mind.
Travis’s cell buzzed.He immediately answered.“What is it?”
His gaze intensified on the patch of floor in front of him.His free hand came up to his hip.He didn’t look anyone in the eyes as he said a few uh-huhs into the phone; a bad sign.
Travis ended the call.When his gaze came up, it fixed on Conrad.
“An unidentified female body is being dragged from Lake Aberdeen.She fits Nikki’s description.”
13
The family mobilized.Chloe would stay with Beau.Everyone else would head to the lake.The idea being that there was safety in numbers.Cassie figured she could escape the family once she was at the lake.She would take off while everyone was distracted.Nikki’s blood was on Cassie’s hands.The thought of mother and unborn child dying because of her brought hot tears to the backs of her eyes.She’d done enough damage to this family—a family who’d done nothing wrong except open their home to her.
A long-buried memory surfaced as she sat in the back of Travis’s SUV.She’d been ten years old, maybe eleven, and had been placed in charge of her foster family’s seven-year-old at a birthday party.It had been hot with kids jumping in and out of the pool.Cassie had warned Hailey to stay away from the pool.When Cassie had excused herself from the playroom to go to the bathroom, Hailey had been playing with dolls.A pair of moms had sat on a nearby loveseat, one eye on the kids while they’d sipped their adult drinks from long, skinny glasses.
The house was big.And there had been a line of two people in front of her to go to the only bathroom she’d been shown.Water puddled on the tile floor as a kid with a beach towel wrapped around his shoulders dripped in front of her.
Face forward, she’d waited for her turn.
According to later police reports, no one had seen Hailey leave the playroom.No one had watched the little girl slip into the swimming pool to cool off from the heat, and no one had seen her float to the surface—until it was too late to save her.
One of the kids in the pool had bumped into her and thought she was playing dead.When she hadn’t moved, the little boy screamed.
Cassie had been washing her hands when she’d heard a cry that sounded so different from the others.Still, Hailey was in the playroom, so Cassie hadn’t been worried.When she’d finished up and then walked over to the playroom, it still hadn’t dawned on her that the crowd gathering outside could be doing so because of Hailey.
The playroom had emptied.She figured the moms had ushered everyone outside to figure out what was going on.It wasn’t until she’d seen Hailey…
Cassie’s eyes watered even now at the memory she’d suppressed for almost two decades.
The Browns had been called.Mrs.Brown met them at the hospital.Her red-rimmed eyes had said everything Cassie had needed to know.Hailey was gone.
What Cassie hadn’t been ready for was the blame.
You were supposed to be watching her.Why did you kill my little girl?This is your fault, Cassie.What have you done?
Those were a few of the accusations that Cassie remembered.Others, she’d blanked out.
The ride in the back of the police SUV had said she wasn’t going home again.She’d lived with the Browns for almost two years, the longest she’d spent in one place.She’d loved Hailey like a little sister.And despite there being a dozen or more grown-ups at the party, not to mention the hosts, Cassie had still been the one the Browns had blamed.
“Cassie?”Hudson’s voice broke her from the reverie.The wrinkled concern marking his forehead said he was worried about her.
“I’m good.”The lie was necessary.She needed to throw him off track so he wouldn’t suspect her plan to ditch town.She would draw Jarek out in the open.She was certain now that he was the one following her.
First, she would check on Christian to make sure Jarek didn’t head there next.Once she knew the boy was all right, she would leave Texas.Forever.And not look back.