Page 69 of Justice Denied

“Get out, both of you. You make me sick.” Ryan turned away, unable to look at his brother and sister. His heart ached for his father, who had made his life as CEO miserable, but Yasmine had been right—Peter Topher cared more for his namesake company than for his three children. Maybe he shouldn’t want to preserve his father’s legacy, but Ryan had invested too much of his own life in Topher Robotics to back down now. If a fight was what they wanted, he would be more than happy to oblige. In fact, he wouldn’t cancel the interview with the journalist but use it to start his own campaign to win the shareholders to his vision for Topher Robotics.

ChapterTwenty-Five

“Jetta?”

She opened her eyes a crack, her body not ready to leave the warm embrace of sleep. “What?”

“A Fairfax County detective is here to talk with you.” Seth held a cup of something hot and steaming under her nose. She sniffed in the welcome aroma of hot chocolate. If she couldn’t have caffeine from coffee, at least she could drink hot chocolate.

She pushed to a seated position and brushed her hair off her cheek. “Give me a minute,” she said to the man wearing rumpled khakis and a wrinkled button-down shirt.

“Take your time.” He flipped pages in a small notebook while she tried to blink the last vestiges of sleep from her brain.

It wasn’t going well, but the hot chocolate would help. She reached for the cup, and Seth handed it over. The first sip was heavenly. “Hmm. Where did you find this?”

“A Cuppa Joe via DoorDash.” He held up his own insulated paper cup. “I knew they opened at four for the shift change crowd, so I put in the order.”

She’d slept for nearly three hours, but her body craved even more. “Any news on my mom?”

“She was taken for the X-ray about half an hour ago, so we should hear how she’s doing soon.” Seth resettled in his chair, his five o’clock shadow now more like a scruffy beard.

The desire to run her fingers over his jawline had her raising her hand, but she covered the gesture by shoving it through her own tangled locks. She must look a mess, but she couldn’t care less. More sips of the deliciously creamy cocoa gave her brain enough of a kick she thought she could carry on a reasonable conversation. “I’m ready.”

“I’m Detective Mason Harwell, assisting with the investigation into your mother’s kidnapping.” The older man tapped his pen against the notebook. “There’s not much to report about your mom’s abduction. We did request the security camera footage from the data center, but that will take some time. Forensics is sifting through all the trash we collected, but most of it appears to have been there for weeks, if not months.”

“Maybe Mom will remember something useful.” Jetta drank more hot chocolate.

A nurse came over to them. “Ms. Ainsley? Your mother’s back from X-ray.”

“Okay.” Jetta rocked in her seat, careful not to spill her drink, to build a little momentum to stand. Who knew being pregnant would make simple things like rising from a seated position difficult?

“Is Mrs. Ainsley able to answer some questions?” Detective Harwell stood as well.

“I think so,” the nurse said. “Follow me.”

Seth hung back. “I’ll check in with Brogan while you two talk to Emily.”

Disappointment he wouldn’t be by her side made Jetta almost ask him to come with her, but she held her tongue. His presence beside her would only fuel her mother’s determination to play matchmaker between them. Better to not encourage Mom to see a future where Jetta most certainly did not, despite her growing affection for Seth.

“After you.” The detective gestured for Jetta to go first, then fell into step behind her. Soon, they arrived at her mother’s cubicle. Mom had her eyes closed when they entered but opened them when Jetta touched her arm.

“Hey, sweetheart.” Her mother’s voice was stronger than before, and Jetta hoped that meant she’d gotten a little sleep too.

“Hi, Mom.” She introduced the detective. “He has a few questions for you, if you feel up to it.”

Mom nodded.

“Walk me through what happened yesterday.” Detective Harwell settled into one of the plastic chairs with his notebook open.

“I’d gone to the bathroom in my room. When I came out, two men dressed in scrubs with facemasks and gloves grabbed me. One of them said if I squealed, they would hurt Jetta.”

Jetta covered her mouth with her hand to hold back a cry as her mother detailed the men bundling her out of a back door of the building, across the grass, and through the hedge to a waiting van.

“We found your slipper by the hedge,” Jetta interjected when her mother paused to sip some water. “That’s how we knew someone must have taken you, as you couldn’t have walked that far on your own.”

“They kind of half carried me, and I remember deliberately kicking it off to leave behind a clue.” Mom gazed at Jetta. “I knew you’d find it and realize something had happened to me.”

The detective cleared his throat. “What happened next?”

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