a strong sense of duty.”
She could agree with that. “I hope he finds the people responsible for all this.”
Rory turned from the window and gave her another quiet stare. “Hunter is good at his job and he has a knack for sniffing out bad people. If anyone can solve this puzzle, it’ll be Hunter Lawson.”
“That’s why I came across the country to hire him,” she admitted. “I’ll be fine here if you and Hunter vouch for this place.” She hung her jacket across the chair. “And Alec assured me this is okay. I got the feeling he’s here a lot.”
“He’s devoted to the cause,” Rory said. “And his PR assistant had to move to the West Coast with her air force husband, so he’s doing double duty for a few weeks until he finds someone to replace her.”
“That is devoted.” Chloe imagined working here could be very rewarding.
“Okay, then. A few things to know.”
Rory showed her the small bathroom connected to her room and then took her to meet some of the staff members and showed her the kitchen and dining area and the lounge where a television, magazines and books were located, and explained the Wi-Fi hotspots to her but suggested she didn’t get on the internet for her own protection.
“Stay on the premises and mostly in the training yard,” he told her. “This place has tight security. It’s well lit and it has a state-of-the-art alarm system. We’ll all come by and check on you around the clock, and knowing Hunter, he’ll find someone he can trust to sit right outside your room. You can also alert the staff at any time, day or night.”
“Who will come by?” she asked. “I need to know what to expect.”
Again, that patient smile. “Me,” Rory said. “Alec and probably his wife, Marla, Blain and his wife, Rikki, if she’s in town, and my fiancée, Vanessa. She’ll force you to look at wedding stuff and she’ll go on and on about her dress and the food and how much she loves me but just humor her, okay?”
Chloe liked the preacher. She smiled and nodded. “Okay. I don’t mind looking at wedding stuff or hearing how in love your fiancée is with you. I think that’s sweet.”
He grinned over at her. “It’s a girl thing, right?”
“Right.”
Rory said a prayer with her and then gave her a preacherly hug and a pledge to pray for her. “Call if you need anything.”
She waved bye to him and took some clothes and toiletries out of her suitcase, but Chloe couldn’t relax. She felt as if she’d been relegated to a nice prison. Rubbing her hands down her arms, she tried to stay calm, but her skin crawled with fear and anger and dread while her pulse pounded against her temple like a warning bell that wouldn’t stop. She needed all the prayers people were promising.
What if they didn’t find those men?
What if something bad happened to Hunter or one of his friends? When would they be able to sit down and really get to the bottom of this? What if Hunter left her here and took off on his own?
What if...
She finally sat down on the bed and had a good cry. Followed by serious prayers. She missed her sister, Laura, so much. Laura had been completely solid in her faith, so sure that the world still had some good in it. Chloe had doubted. Her faith was more lukewarm and shaky. But she had to admit, when she’d seen Hunter’s name scrawled in Laura’s notes, she’d considered it a sure sign from God.
So why couldn’t she tell him everything? Why couldn’t she tell him that he might be more involved in this than he realized?
Hunter would have been the last person she’d think of in a time such as thing. But Laura had obviously thought of him.
“Laura, help me to find the answers,” she whispered. Then she asked God to guide her. “And...please, Lord, protect Hunter.”
Chloe squared her shoulders and sank down in the chair across from the bed. She thought she’d smoothed things over with her father before she left by telling him she needed to get away for a few days, but her father had a way of discovering the truth. He didn’t know she’d come here to find Hunter Lawson. She’d told him she was coming to Florida for a getaway trip, since she’d been working overtime for the last few months. Had her father really tracked her here and tried to have her killed?
No. Wayne Conrad was a hard, stubborn, powerful man, but he’d never kill one of his own children. He’d been mourning the loss of his only son for years now and then Laura had died, too. Her horrible death had been hard on all of them.
Lately, her father had lost focus on the vast empire he’d created. Tray had been a mean alcoholic drug abuser who’d beaten his wife and controlled every aspect of her short life. But her father had never given up hope that Tray would get clean and have a good life one day.
Hunter’s older sister, Beth, had loved Tray in spite of all of that. She’d never managed to break away from the hold Tray had over her.
But Hunter had avenged her death and put Tray in prison.
Wayne Conrad hated Hunter Lawson.
Chloe sat up and put her hand over her mouth. Laura had written Hunter’s name down in her notes. Had there been more to that than just wanting him to help her? She’d have to come clean with Hunter one day but not right now. It was too dangerous to even mention the theory she had developed when she couldn’t sleep at night.
“Daddy, did you send those men after me? Or did you send them to kill Hunter?”
When she heard a knock on the door, Chloe’s pulse spiked into overdrive.
“Who is it?” she asked before opening the door.
“Hunter.”
Chloe grabbed the doorknob and let him in, her hands shaking, her heart skipping and jumping. “Did you find them? Did you find the people who’re trying to kill us?”
“No, but I will find them. All of them.”
Hunter held his hands on Chloe’s arms while he tried to reassure her. She felt tiny and fragile, but there was muscle underneath her slender frame. He saw that shard of steel in her eyes and that caused him to worry about her even more. He did not want to worry about her. Or this mess.
But he couldn’t walk away now. This was getting serious. Too serious. They’re tried to get to Chloe by every means possible, and now they’d upped things a notch.
They’d contacted him with a warning.
A dangerous warning.
He didn’t tell her about the cryptic phone call he’d received once he left her with Rory. Plenty of time for that later. She needed to rest and stay calm right now.
“Tell Chloe Conrad to go back to Oklahoma before she loses everyone she loves.”
Just that and then nothing. But Hunter had heard what sounded like a boat’s motor revving in the background and the sound of the water taxi horn blowing to indicate it was leaving the public docks. Those docks were a
