He was searched by a guard before he was allowed to enter the luxurious property. The treatment hadn’t been appreciated, but given the situation between them and his volatile reactions lately, Cummings had expected no less. With a nod from the guard, the well-dressed Navarro stepped out onto the front portico with a powerful stride that forced Cummings to adjust his shoulders and take a step back. Navarro stuck out his hand and Cummings eased just a bit, taking it as a slight tension breaker.
“Cummings, it’s good of you to accept my meeting,” Navarro greeted his guest with a crack of his lips that one wouldn’t call a smile, but not a grimace either. Still, the host led him into the house.
Baxter Cummings felt his entire body shiver, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he took a deep breath and entered the largehome at Navarro’s side. “Well, I understand that you’re a little upset with your prize missing. I will bring her to you.”
When they entered the study, Navarro waved his hand toward the two large leather chairs facing each other. “Please take a seat.” Cummings looked around the room, checking the exits and the number of guards Navarro placed around the room. “Relax. Do you want a drink?”
“Um…yes…please.” Navarro’s maid came over with two glasses of cognac on the rocks.
“That’s quick service.” Cummings grabbed the glass with shaky hands, staring at the glass with a quirked brow.
Navarro chuckled, unbuttoned his suit jacket, and said, “Well, she knew to be prepared. Something that you get with loyal employees.”
“I’ve already dealt with some of the disappointing ones.”
A glint in Cummings’s eye caused Navarro to tilt his head. The host didn’t ask because it was of no concern to him, but it gave him a second look into who Cummings really was.
Navarro took a drink from his glass then set it on the small table next to him. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs, and added, “I want you to know the deal is off. It’s been a week since she left. She’s not worth the two million, and I’m glad she ran because I had a change of heart.”
“What?” His voice cracked as he straightened himself up in the chair. He sat the glass down and looked at Navarro pleadingly. Unbeknownst to the indebted man, he had nothing that Navarro wanted and was worthless. “I mean, would one million work?” Cummings needed the money, and he couldn’t wait a day longer to find the bitch who cost him so much. Her death played in his head as he pictured killing her over and overagain. Different scenarios crossed his sick mind from a straight shot between the eyes to slow, painful torture.
Navarro tapped Cummings’s knee, then sat back to have another drink. “That’s if you find her in two days. Every day after that, it goes down a hundred thousand. Then I don’t want her at all.”
Biting his tongue and with a closed mouth, he said, “That’s fair. My men believe that she’s hiding up in Frisco.”
“Then you better find her soon. If she’s lost her cherry, then the deal is off.”
Navarro stood up, finished his drink, and straightened his suit. Cummings took that as a signal that the meeting was over. As he rose, Cummings’s phone rang in his pocket. Navarro raised his brow, waiting for him to pick it up. He looked at the number but didn’t recognize it even though it had a San Antonio area code. “Hello.”
“Hello,Father.” Cummings’s face reddened.The bitch had the nerve to call me?He questioned. He had despised her more than her mother.
With his teeth clenched, he asked, “Where the fuck are you?”
“Oh, don’t worry about where I am. Just worry that your two-million-dollar price tag has gone, poor daddy.” The smile could be heard over the phone. Hope was dead as far as he was concerned. “You couldn’t sell me at a garage sale. I had to pay my way to New York somehow.”
“Bullshit. You’re still in Texas. You’re calling from here.”
“Damn, even locked away without access to the real world, I’ve got more sense than you. There are ways to fake numbers. God, you’re fucking stupid,” she spat out and then laughed.
“You’re dead to me. I will find you and put a hole in your head just like I did your mother.”
“What? Mad you can’t sell me now?” The evilness in her tone only confirmed to the old man that she wasn’t afraid and that she must be out of his reach for the time being.
“You owe me two million dollars. And when I find the bastard you traded your virginity to—he’s going to get a bullet in his head.” He pressed the end call button hard, then threw the phone across the room, hitting the shoulder of one of Navarro’s guards.
“So the bitch sold her pussy for a ride. Damn, she must despise you.”
Navarro shook his head sardonically and laughed as he strolled from the room and into the foyer. He’d reached the grand entryway when the door slammed open to a dozen law enforcement agents with their guns trained on Navarro. He raised his hands calmly with an unfazed smirk. Navarro had been through this twice before, but it wouldn’t matter, anyway; he’d had officials in his pocket. He’d be out in a few hours with the charges dropped.
Another group of twelve SWAT team members came in and surrounded Cummings who was frantic and looking around for a possible exit. “Get away from me. I’m not one of them. I’m only here for a possible land deal. You’ve got the wrong guy.” He tried to struggle with one of the men, but he was quickly dropped to the ground.
With a foot on his back, he was swiftly zip tied. “Baxter Cummings, you’re under arrest for human trafficking.” Alex Savage had the pleasure of reading him his rights.
“Savage, you’re the one protecting my daughter, aren’t you?” Cummings hollered as he was being cuffed.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law,” Alex continued, unconcerned about Cummings’s excited utterances. After all, they were admissible in court. He had to bite back a laugh as the older man gave himself away. Luckily it was all recorded for posterity.
He rocked his shoulders, trying to break the hold of the two officers leading him to the patrol car. “Cut the bullshit. I know my rights, you bastard. Where’s the whore at? She ran away and lied. I’ll have her head for this shit.”