Page 97 of This Moment

Turning to Mick, I asked, “What do we know?”

He ran his hand along the back of his neck. “Her car is here. Her purse is here as well. That’s why we thoughtshewas still here. No one came in through the front.”

“The back of the house?” I asked.

He looked down at the ground then up at me. “Lionel was posted there, said he didn’t see or hear anything.”

“So you mean to tell me that a bunch of unexperienced mob guys were able to sneak in here under the FBI’s nose and take Cadie?”

“It was only one mob guy.”

Turning, I looked at Lionel who was walking down the drive from the main house.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“I found footprints. One set coming in, two leaving.”

It felt like someone dropped a brick into my stomach. “He has her then?”

His gaze went to Mick, then back to me. “It appears so. I’ve already called in a helicopter and I’ve got one of the guys on the team looking at traffic cameras to see if we can find the car he’s driving.”

I started to pace. “I can’t believe this. Mark said they might be able to find her, but I thought for sure she was safe here. How in the hell did they find her so quickly after the FBI?” I stopped and looked at Lionel. “No, that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is how do we find her?”

A car pulled up and a younger woman, maybe in her mid- to late-twenties, jumped out. “We know where she is.”

Cadie

One hour earlier

It was rare that I got to the bakery this late in the morning, but Opal needed someone to cover the few hours before closing, so I offered to do it. It had been nice sleeping in this morning, but not something I would want to do each day. I had gotten in a good workout, though, at the gym up at the house. A part of me wanted to stay at the guest house, but I longed to get to the cabin and enjoy the peace and quiet it offered. Not that the guest house wasn’t peaceful, it was just strange for me to be living there, knowing that Kian’s parents owned it.

After pulling my hair up into a ponytail, I took one more look in the mirror before heading back into the bedroom to grab my purse and sweatshirt. I swear Opal kept the bakery at subzero degrees, and if I wasn’t busy baking, I was freezing.

A strange sound caused me to pause and listen. Turning toward the door, I waited. When I didn’t hear anything else, I headed out of the bedroom. The hair on my arms stood, and I knew something was wrong before I even walked into the living room. I abruptly stopped when I saw Michael standing in the living room, dressed entirely in black. When he saw me, a slow smile spread over his face.

“I would say it’s a pleasure seeing you, Katy, but then I wouldn’t be telling the whole truth.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “How did you find me?”

He tilted his head and gave me a slow once-over. Meeting my gaze with his, he laughed. “I have to admit, I was ready to give up. Wanted to give up. My father kept pushing and pushing to find you. The crazy thing is, if you hadn’t run, you would have been fine. I would have thought you simply left the dinner and went home. But when you disappeared, my father figured you saw something. It really put me in a sour spot, Katy. Now my father wants me to bring you back to Boston so he can deal with you.”

My legs nearly buckled out from underneath me. Could that have truly worked? Had I jumped the gun by running? Randy was the worst CIA agent ever!

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“What makes you think I left town because of you?”

He folded his arms over his chest and sighed. “Let’s not pretend either of us is stupid, Katy. When you vanished without a word, my father got suspicious. He pulled the video from the cameras in the hotel. It showed you running down one of the hallways, your shoes in your hands.” He closed his eyes, and a pained look came over his face. “Why did you run, Katy? Why? Now I have to do this, and I really don’t want to take you back to my father.”

I stared at him then shook my head. Talk about regretting one’s actions. Michael was being forced to bring me back to his father. I looked around the room for someone else but knew it was just us. I decided to go a different way.

“Then don’t. Why do you have to tell him you found me? Just turn around and leave and I will never even think of you again.”

He frowned. “You know, I might have believed that if you didn’t have a barrage of FBI agents watching the house.”

I shook my head. “How do you know that?”

“My father is in the mob; I know what it looks like when the FBI is watching your every move. After finding out where you were, I watched you for days after getting here. It’s hard not to miss the one who follows you every day when you leave for the bakery, sits across from it, and waits all day. Or the one behind the house who walks the back property to check on things at the same time every damn day. He really should have changed up his routine. It was too easy to sneak onto the property when I knew his schedule. Are these rookies or something?”

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