including Grayson’s, and we can use it just for tonight. Since my cousins have lots of babies, it’ll be easier for us to get supplies.”
“It’ll also make them a target if Ronnie and his goon friends attack again,” she quickly pointed out.
“We can lock down the ranch, close the security gate and use some of the hands for extra protection.”
Maybe, but Caitlyn still wasn’t sold on the idea. Think. Where else could she go? And preferably some place that didn’t put others in danger.
“It’s just for tonight,” Drury said as if he knew what was going through her mind. “The baby will need to be fed soon, and it won’t be long before CPS arrives.”
True. Still, Caitlyn didn’t like it one bit.
“Are you, uh, okay with this?” But she immediately waved off her question. “Of course you’re not okay. First thing in the morning, I promise, I’ll start looking for bodyguards.”
He didn’t give her his opinion on that. “I’ll pull an unmarked car to the back of the building.”
Drury headed out as Grayson came in with the DNA test kit. He’d obviously done this before because he did the cheek swab in just a few seconds. The baby still stirred a little and made a whimpering sound of protest, but she went right back to sleep.
“I’ll have this couriered to the lab,” Grayson explained as he started toward the door again. But he stopped. “If the child’s not yours, I’ll expect you to turn her over to CPS. Got that?”
She nodded. Caitlyn understood that’s what would have to happen. Well, she understood with her head anyway. It was her heart that was giving her some trouble because Caitlyn felt as if this baby already belonged to her. It would crush her to learn differently.
Caitlyn heard the footsteps in the hall and automatically tensed, but it was just Drury. He glanced at the DNA packet.
“I’ll call you as soon as we have the results,” Grayson assured them.
Drury took her by the arm and led her to the back of the building and through a break room. He paused at the exit, opening the door and glancing around. He also drew his weapon before he helped her out and into the backseat of the waiting unmarked car.
Which wasn’t empty.
Drury’s brother Lucas was behind the wheel.
“Lucas came when he heard about the attack,” Drury said.
Since Lucas was a Texas Ranger, it made sense that he would know about the attack, but it surprised her that he would involve himself in this. Like most of the Rylands, Lucas disliked her, maybe even hated her, because of the nasty breakup between Drury and her.
Lucas didn’t say a word to her, though he did spare her a glance in the rearview mirror. He took off as soon as Drury had shut the door.
Drury kept his gun drawn, and he looked all around them. No doubt for any thugs who might be watching for them to leave.
Suddenly, a new wave of fear crawled through her. As bad as it’d been inside the sheriff’s office, this was worse.
“Is the car bulletproof?” she asked, and she hated the tremble in her voice.
“Bullet resistant,” Drury corrected.
She wasn’t certain, but Caitlyn thought that meant they could still be shot. Drury was certainly aware of that possibility, too. And this had to be bringing back god-awful memories for him.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
There was no way Drury could have known what the blanket apology meant. Or at least she hadn’t thought he would know, but when he glanced at her, she saw it in his eyes. The memories.
Or rather the nightmare.
Of his wife. Lily. She’d been killed by a gunman’s bullet in a botched store robbery, and while Caitlyn didn’t know all the details, she knew Drury had still been grieving her loss when they’d met. Heck, he probably still was.
And she hadn’t helped with that.
Just as Drury had started to risk his heart again, she’d stomped on it. It didn’t matter that she thought she had a good reason. Several of them in fact. No. It didn’t matter.
Drury’s phone buzzed, and Caitlyn prayed this wasn’t another round of bad news. However, that wasn’t a bad news kind of look on Drury’s face when he looked at the screen.
“Don’t say anything,” he warned her. He pressed the answer button and put the call on speaker.
It didn’t take long for her to hear the caller’s voice. “What the hell did you do?” the man asked.
Caitlyn immediately recognized the voice, and it only tightened the knot in her stomach. Because it was her former brother-in-law and one of her suspects.
Jeremy.
“Well?” Jeremy snapped when Drury didn’t immediately answer.
“Well what?” Drury snapped right back.
“You know. You damn well know.”
Drury huffed. “I’m giving you one more chance to make sense, and if you don’t, I’m ending this call. Then you can bother someone else. What is it that you think I did?”
“You sent those men after me,” Jeremy insisted.
Drury looked at Caitlyn, no doubt to see if she knew anything about this, but she shook her head.
“What men?” Drury questioned.
“The men who want money. A ransom, they said. They want me to pay them for Grant’s kid.”
It took Caitlyn a moment for that to sink in. Had the kidnappers really contacted Jeremy? If so, they’d probably done the same to his mother, too. Of course, that was assuming that Jeremy was telling the truth, but Caitlyn didn’t trust him. Trusted his mother even less.
Drury cursed. “Start talking, and tell me everything,” he ordered Jeremy.
“I’ve already told you everything. Two men showed up at my office a couple of minutes ago. Or rather the parking lot at my office. They accosted me, showed me a picture of some kid that they claimed was Grant and Caitlyn’s.”
“Who were the men?” Drury pressed. “And where are they now?”
“I don’t know. Never saw them before in my life. But they said something about the kid being born through a surrogate and if I wanted the kid that I was to pony up a million bucks. They said I had one hour to get the cash, and they left. They drove off in a black SUV.”
“I’m still trying to figure out why you think I had anything to do with this,” Drury said.
Jeremy made a sound to indicate that the answer was obvious. It wasn’t. “The men told me to pay the money to you.”
Because
