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“Honestly, I had a feeling the first time I saw him,” Marcus says.
“Really?” I ask, and he drops his gaze onto mine.
“He looks just like me, Natalie,” he says.
And now I can’t help the smile. “Yeah. He does.”
“Not to mention his middle name is Ash,” he says.
“You caught that, huh?” I grimace.
“Why do you think I took off after that?” he asks.
“I guess that’s what I was afraid of. That if you knew…you’d take off,” I admit.
“Why would I do that?” he asks.
“Oh, I don’t know. Because you just realized you have a child with the woman you fucked on a Ferris wheel years ago, and I’m not sure that was on your Bingo card,” I say.
“Natalie. I wouldn’t have abandoned him. Same as I am not abandoning him now. I have lost so much time with him over the last five years. I don’t intend to lose any more. We are going to get him back. And I will be a part of his life from here on out. You can count on that.”
I swallow hard, my heart slamming against the walls of my chest. I nod, and Marcus’s phone rings. It’s Tuck, and he gets up from the couch and walks away, leaving me questioning his words.
He’s lost too much time. He’s going to be in Jamie’s life now. But what else? The way he said it, the way he looked at me when he said it, makes it sound like he wants to be around Jamie and that’s it.
And maybe that is it. Maybe he wants to get him back and then wants him to himself. Jamie and only Jamie. And where does that leave me?
Chapter 36
Marcus
“For two people who seemingly have all the money in the world, they sure are frivolous with it,” I say as I study the screens in the command room.
“Frivolous? Or sloppy?” Tuck asks.
“Both.”
He snorts, but he is not running this investigation. Special Agent Maya Chen from the FBI sits at the center workstation with a Miami-Dade detective beside her. Tuck and his security team are here to sort company records, property data, and anything else the agents request.
Emergency court orders and preservation requests have opened the records investigators need: bank transfers, shell companies, toll data, the private jet’s flight plan, and location information tied to Garrett’s phone. We have not reconstructed every move Reese and Garrett have made, but we have a fast-moving trail and a child in danger.
“They’ve still been busy,” Tuck says, switching screens. “Luxury homes in Miami, Orlando, the Keys, Jamaica, New York, Seattle, even Croatia. And two cabins in the Everglades held through shell companies.”
“Croatia,” I echo.
“I kid you not.” He taps one of the property records. “Most of those places are obvious and empty. This cabin is different. A camera account linked to Garrett’s phone covers the driveway and common rooms. The provider gave law enforcement access under the emergency order and activated motion alerts.”
Agent Chen looks over. “If the phone, cards, car, jet, toll records, or that camera account move, we see it. Until then, we keep working every other lead.”
“Traps are set, boss,” Tuck says, leaning back long enough to take a swig of an energy drink. I cannot stand the things, but he practically lives on them, along with oversized pub pretzels and beer cheese. I still could not tell you how the man stays so jacked.
And I wish I could have that amount of chill right now. But between Jamie still being gone and Natalie handling a meeting at Mission Events right now concerning the lawyers setting up a lawsuit against Reese and Garrett, I am anything but relaxed. I should be with her. I should be helping her deal with the lawyers. She shouldn’t be doing it alone.
Alright, well, she’s not entirely alone. Jim and Margaret are there. But still. I should be there.
“We’re going to find him,” Tuck says.
“I know,” I say, and I do know. I know it because I won’t stop until I do. I won’t stop until he is safe with Natalie–safe with us again.
