Page 178 of The Stalker

“You know where Hayden is?” Sebastian asked.

She didn’t answer Sebastian’s question, just nodded at him as she ended their call and immediately dialed Derek.

“Do you have more information for me?” he asked.

“Yes. The stalker is Sarah Fielding, and I have an address for a property where it’s likely she’s taken Hayden. It’s two hours outside of San Antonio.”

Derek blew out a breath of air and said, “Great. Send through the address.”

Tatiana considered it and knew she was probably pressing her luck, but she wanted to go with them to find him.

“I’ll only give it to you if I can join you guys when you go get him.”

The stunned faces of Hayden’s friends stared at her in the room, while a matching stunned silence met her from the other end of the line.

Derek collected himself before Hayden’s friends, who were still gawking at her when he said, “Tatiana, there is no way that—”

“Then I won’t give you the address and you’ll have to waste time finding it while I head there alone. Now seems like the perfect time to ‘go rogue.’”

“Be reasonable, Tat—”

She cut him off again. “This is me being reasonable. Get me in a car with your team, and I’ll point them in the right direction. I’m not expecting to be a part of the action. I just want to be on the ground to confirm my client’s safety when you find him. I have a quarter of a million dollars sitting in escrow that’s riding on this contract being fulfilled to completion.”

If she thought that Hayden’s friends looked surprised before, their eyes almost fell out of their heads at her lie. The penalty for her contract was nowhere near that amount, but it certainly helped with the believability that she might actually go to the location on a solo mission.

“Let me talk to my boss, and I’ll call you back.”

“Five minutes and I get in a car, Derek. Don’t think I won’t shake off my FBI tail, either.”

She ended the call and looked at the people in the room in front of her.

“Okay, so I guess that was a lot.”

“Is your fee really that much?” Heather gasped.

At the same time, Sebastian asked, “Are you really going to go get Hayden on your own?”

“No, and no.” She shook her head. “But I meant it when I said that I want to be there to confirm Hayden’s safety when they get him. I also know the FBI’s procedures prevent that from happening unless I have information they need. I needed them to think I have motivation enough to go on my own, and they can’t risk me doing that.”

Sure enough, her phone rang a couple of minutes later, and when she answered it, Derek said, “Okay, you can come. What’s the address?”

“As if I’m that stupid. Get me in a car, and I’ll point them in the right direction, as I said.”

There was silence for a few seconds before he sighed. “Sure. Come to the lobby. I’ll meet you there.”

She was met in the lobby by a team of agents, all wearing black suits, and she smirked as she began singing Will Smith’s song in her head while approaching them.

“Good morning. Ready for a road trip?”

The woman who had taken the stage yesterday glared at her. “I don’t appreciate being held hostage, Miss Swanson.”

“Neither does my client, I’m sure. So let’s go get him.” She gave her a pleasant smile.

They headed to a group of black SUVs at the back of the hotel, and Tatiana was reminded of driving Hayden around in a similar vehicle back in Chicago. What would life be like for them when all of this was over?

She imagined a world where she was in the passenger seat while Hayden drove his Lamborghini to dinner with his friends. Their friends? Ariana had certainly proved a worthy friend, and this time spent with the rest of them had really shown her how much they loved Hayden.

Cooper had called them co-dependent when she’d first met him, but it wasn’t that. They were a family, and they looked out for each other. Whenever one needed support, they had the others nearby to help them get through it.

---