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He sank down on the porch steps, head in his hands. Part of him wanted to storm back into the house and demand that she marry him.
But, he couldn’t do that. Not to Jennie. Chad knew even the suggestion of marriage to someone other than Kyle would kill her.
Somehow, someway, Chad was going to have to come to grips with the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to be with the woman who was having his baby. He wasn’t going to be able to share a life with her the way he wanted to. Hell, he’d be lucky if she’d let him be a part of things at all.
Chapter 23
Chad packed the last of the items in the extended cab of his truck. He was now ready to run with Jennie at a moment’s notice with everything they’d need to stay off the grid for months.
He’d called some old friends and arranged for fake IDs for both of them. If anything came of this, and it looked like she was in danger, he’d keep her safe until she was ready to take the stand. If he had to, he’d relocate his whole life with her to keep her and the baby safe, both before and after the trial.
He hoped like hell he was overreacting. In fact, there was nothing more than his gut telling him he needed to be ready. As far as they knew, the Masters brothers were feeding the FBI evidence and would continue to do so until all of the people involved could be arrested. There was no reason to think Jennie would be in much danger from this.
But Chad trusted his gut. Listening to the creeping-finger feeling that walked up and down his spine had gotten him through a lot of tight scrapes in the military. He sure as hell wouldn’t ignore that feeling when it involved Jennie.
At this point, his feelings for Jennie were a twisted mass of emotions he couldn’t begin to unravel. He loved her more than he could have ever imagined loving someone other than his family. But he also hated her for keeping his child a secret from him. No, that wasn’t true. It wasn’t hate. It was an anger that coursed through his veins like poison.
When he was away from her, he seethed with anger. How could she be pregnant with his child and not tell him about it? He trusted that she would never do what Andrew’s ex-girlfriend had done to him.
She would never abort the baby without telling him. He knew Jennie and knew she didn’t have that in her to do. But as the week dragged on, and Jennie didn’t come to him, his fury built.
Until he saw her. Whenever he saw Jennie, the anger drained away and hopelessness took over. He didn’t know how to help her. She looked so lost. She was hurting more than he could imagine.
Whenever he saw her, he realized that it must be killing her to be having a child with a man who wasn’t her husband. The husband he knew in his heart she still loved.
And, so he waited. She would come to him eventually. He knew that. She just needed time.
In the meantime, he planned. He had cash ready to go. Burner phones. Clothes for both of them. Dog food and a crate for Zeke. And a remote cabin. If the time came, Chad wouldn’t trust Jennie’s safety to anyone other than himself.
“M-m-matt, w-w-w-we can’t keep doing this. Bandon knows something. I can f-f-f-feel it.” Alan looked down right miserable and his stutter became more pronounced each day.
Matt knew his brother was right. Bandon hadn’t sent them any more money recently and he was avoiding all talk of business other than boat trips and dock rental on the phone.
The FBI was pressuring them for more information, for evidence they could use to track the other people involved in the money laundering, but Bandon wasn’t falling for anything.
“Don’t worry little brother,” Matt said, trying to calm Alan down. If Alan panicked, things would only get worse. Matt was always the one to take care of things. To fix things. He would do it now. He’d hold things together long enough for them to get the evidence they needed to get the FBI off their backs and then they’d move on.
He had been stashing money here and there for years. He had enough money for him and Alan to start over someplace. They wouldn’t live the way they had been, living it up in the sun, but they’d be alive. And, not in prison.
“I’ll figure out a way to get the agents what they need.”
“H-h-h—” His brother stopped, his frustration palpable as he struggled to ask the question.
Matt didn’t need to hear the question. Alan was going to ask him how they’d do that. Alan hated it when Matt finished sentences for him instead of giving him time to get the words out himself, but he couldn’t help himself right now.
Alan wanted to know how. And, he had no idea how he would take care of things. How he would get the evidence they needed.
He had already given the FBI the records they had, but they weren’t satisfied with that. They’d noticed the bigger numbers coming in lately, just as the brothers had. They wanted to know the same thing Matt had wondered himself.
Who was the other money being laundered for? Mafia? Other government officials? Maybe other housing inspectors. Who knew? The possibilities were endless, really.
“I don’t know, brother,” he said now to Alan, ignoring the unspoken rule not to answer questions his brother hadn’t managed to spit out. “I’ll think of something, though.”
He’d tried telling Bandon he knew there was more money coming than Bandon himself could need laundered. He had demanded to know where the money was coming from.
Bandon had acted like he hadn’t even asked the questions. He’d just kept right on talking about the boat business and refused to answer a thing. But, Matt would come up with something. He had to. He and Alan couldn’t go to prison over this. They just couldn’t.
Chapter 24
