Page 57 of Safeguarding the Witness

“That was how I got started talking to Tim Youngblood. He promised to help you and report any problems to me. Somehow, our arrangement stretched out longer and longer. I was paying him more and more money.”

“And he double-crossed you,” Mollie said. “Turned to Julio.”

“They make a good match. Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dumber.”

Mollie leaned against her sister’s shoulder. Her warmth fulfilled a special need in Mollie. The twins were back together. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

Spence made a nearly perfect landing at the rose garden on the relatively flat north lawn at his grandpa Oliver’s house where an ambulance was on the way. He wished Mollie had been awake to see him being heroic and daring, but she’d passed out. When he tried to lift her from the floor of the helo, she roused and brushed him back.

“I can walk,” she said.

He knew better than to argue. She was determined to get off the chopper by herself.

Spence couldn’t dismiss a creeping, itchy feeling that something was wrong. There was a detail he’d overlooked, some minor problem that was going to rise up and bite him on the tail.

He shut down the motor.

His grandpa strode toward the helo. Beside him was a handsome gent with white hair and a mustache. Hiram Harper, the father of the twins. He’d been staying with Mrs. Hernandez in her cottage behind the barn. Spence feared that Mollie’s dad was the problem.

If Julio knew the old man was here, he’d try to approach. To get even with the twins by harming their father. But how the hell was Julio going to get inside the grounds? The security here was top-notch.

Spence helped the pilot climb down and guided him to a stone bench in the rose garden. Madison climbed down next. She and Spence helped Mollie move across the lawn to the bench.

As soon as they were closer, the twins went to their father. Madison flung her arms around his neck. Mollie needed her sister’s assistance to stand beside her father. With one arm around each daughter, Hiram held them close and wept. His girls. His family. After all these trials and tribulations, the three of them were finally together.

The pilot—bleeding from wounds on both arms—sat up and winced. “Family reunion?”

“Long story,” Spence said.

“Mollie’s sister is really pretty. Is she dating anyone?”

“Don’t even think about it,” Spence warned. “Madison is trouble with a capital T.”

The ambulance drove through the front gates and turned onto the asphalt path leading to the rose garden. Spence recognized another vehicle waiting at the gate to be admitted. That was Agent Jamison’s car.

Madison chattered to her dad about her wonderful business near Mexico City and how she was proficient in Spanish and the muscular beauty of Diego Rivera’s murals. She paused for breath, and he asked which was her favorite mural.

“It’s always about art with you,” she said. “You and Mollie have so much in common.”

Too exhausted to respond, Mollie rested her head on her dad’s shoulder.

“I love both my girls,” he said. “I never want us to be apart again.”

The ambulance parked and the rear door opened. Pushing a gurney, Julio stepped out. Gun in hand, aimed at the Harper twins and their father.

“Princesa,” he said with a scowl. The irritation from the pepper spray had not faded, and his dark eyes were red-rimmed. “Get in the ambulance. Sit in front.”

“I’m not going with you. I refuse.”

“Don’t make me shoot you, Madison. You know I will.”

“Why did you lie to my sister? Why tell her I was pregnant?”

“Simple,” he said. “You and I will marry. I will own your company. When Raquel has her baby, we’ll tell everyone it’s ours—yours and mine. I will have an heir.”

“And what will I have?”