Page 67 of Nanny for the Single Dad Cowboy
“That fucker,” I curse, unable to hold it in.
Sienna continues, “I don’t have a confirmed location yet. But he’s using a private satellite link that’s been pinging off the same grid coordinates all week. Somewhere rural, close to the border. I’m working on narrowing it down.”
“How close can you get?” Tessa asks.
“Close enough,” Sienna says. “Give me another hour. If he’s moving, I’ll know it.”
Tessa nods. “Okay. Keep me updated.”
When the call ends, the silence rushes back in—heavy, thick, electric. She exhales, rubbing her temples. “He’s not even trying to hide anymore.”
I reach for her hand. “Then he’s getting sloppy. Which means we’ve got the upper hand.”
Her lips twitch, the ghost of a smile that never quite forms. “You make it sound easy.”
“It’s not,” I say quietly, kissing her temple. “But you’re not facing him alone anymore. We’ll find him.”
There is no going back to sleep after this, so we get out of bed, get dressed, and shift to my office, where we can work better.
The hunt has begun.
In my office, Tessa and I work side by side, but I’m mostly support while she types away, her laptop screen casting a blue glow across her face, eyes sharp, focused, unblinking. I’ve seen that look before—the same one I used to wear on deployment right before a mission went sideways.
The office smells like coffee and determination. A mix of the battle we are currently fighting.
When I promised Tessa that she’s not alone, I meant every word. I will protect her with every fiber of my being so that she doesn’t have to run anymore.
An hour later, Sienna calls back, her voice filtering through the speaker. “I’m sending you a data packet now. It’s a dump from an encrypted drive linked to Richard’s shell company. Be careful, it’s dirty. He’s been laundering money through small business fronts, some of them registered under fake charities.”
Tessa mutters, “Of course he has,” as her fingers fly across the keyboard. “What kind of numbers are we talking about?”
“Millions,” Sienna says. “And that’s just the surface. I think he’s got offshore accounts that connect to some government contracts. Defense-grade stuff. The kind you don’t touch unless you’ve got protection.”
I cross my arms, leaning against my chair. “Sounds like a man with too many secrets and not enough sense to cover them all.”
Tessa glances at me, the faintest spark of a grin in her eyes. “You almost sound impressed.”
“I’m not,” I tell her. “Just taking notes for when I break his face.”
Sienna snorts through the line. “That’s one way to shut him down.”
The air hums with tension as files open—PDFs, spreadsheets, communication logs. It’s a mess of names, numbers, and coded messages, but Tessa works through it like it’s instinct. Her brain runs faster than I can follow, and I’ve seen combat planning that looked less complex.
She pauses, frowning. “Jace, look at this.”
I move behind her, my hand brushing her shoulder as I lean in. She points to an email thread, dated just a week ago.
RK: “Everything must proceed as planned. She’s gone silent, but I’ll find her. She doesn’t get to walk away.”
I feel the heat rise in my chest. “I’m going to kill him.”
She swallows hard, her voice steady but low. “He’s obsessed. He thinks I’m the one who ruined him, when all I did was expose what he was already doing.”
“You did the right thing,” I say, my tone firm enough that she looks up at me. “Don’t let him make you doubt that.”
Sienna chimes in again. “Hold up. I’ve got another lead. The IP that’s been pinging from that satellite feed? It’s moving. Southwest, about thirty miles from the last trace.”
Tessa straightens. “He’s on the move.”
