Gabi attempted to keep all emotion from her face and forced her eyes from returning to the baby.
Sheila’s jaw tightened. “He owes me. He owes our son.” The anger in Sheila’s eyes dimmed quicker than a light switch. “If you have one decent bone in your body, you’ll convince him to take care of his son.”
A thousand different retorts died on Gabi’s lips. She bit her lip. Anything she said could tip the woman off to Hunter’s intentions.
Gabi noted Sheila’s hand gripping the strap of her purse, the baby at her side all but forgotten as the other woman stepped toward her. Shoppers funneled around them, annoyed with their stationary presence in the middle of the mall.
Sheila’s hard stare returned and she inched away from Hayden, moved closer to Gabi.
Too close.
“You look like the perfect cold bitch to his bastard.”
There it was . . . the unstable part that Hunter talked about.
Gabi pivoted but didn’t turn her back on the other woman. “If you’ll excuse me.”
The welcome voice of Solomon interrupted them. “Mrs. Blackwell?”
Sheila placed a smile on her face that hadn’t been there before. “Already have a toy?”
Gabi moved to Solomon’s side. “I’m ready to leave.”
He placed himself between the two women and nudged her toward the door.
“We’re not done,” Sheila called after her.
Gabi didn’t respond but felt the woman’s anger as they walked away.
“Who was that?” Solomon asked as they walked into the parking lot.
“Someone who can’t be trusted. If she approaches me again, please step in.”
He ran his hands through his hair, looked behind them, and walked faster.
Once they were in the car, Gabi sucked in a deep breath. “Take me to Hunter’s office.”
“You got it, Mrs. B.”
Half a mile away from the mall, Solomon said, “I should have jumped in sooner. I failed you.”
“She could have been a friend. I doubt many assailants are pushing around babies. You had no way of knowing.”
“It won’t happen again.”
Gabi tried to put the man at ease. “Don’t worry about it.”
Tiffany ushered Gabi into Hunter’s office without an announcement. Solomon stayed behind by Tiffany’s desk.
Hunter’s face lit up when she walked into the office. He kept the phone to his ear but waved her over to his side. “That’s right. I really don’t care how you deal with it, just deal.”
Hunter stood as she approached and wedged herself between his desk and his chair. His hand found her waist and squeezed.
“I don’t have time right now,” Hunter said to whomever he was talking to. “Something important just showed up on my desk.”
Gabi felt the tension placed by Sheila drift away.
“Right . . . do it.” Hunter reached around her and hung up the phone before nuzzling her neck. “If it isn’t Mrs. Claus. What did I do right to have you visiting me here?”
Gabi leaned her head back, liked the feel of his lips on her neck . . . distracting as it was. “It’s not for pleasure, I’m sorry to say.”
He stopped kissing her neck and looked into her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Was she so transparent?
“I met Sheila.”
The hand holding her waist tightened, his face darkened. “When? Where?”
“The mall, thirty minutes ago.”
Hunter set her up on his desk and gripped her knees as she told him about the encounter. “Where the hell was Solomon?”
“Right there. I didn’t call out to him . . . he had no way of knowing she was a threat.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“Yes it is. Having a bodyguard glued to my side is unnecessary and uncomfortable. She was sizing me up, not assaulting me.”
“Once we have Hayden, that might change.”
The memory of Hayden’s tiny face, pouty lips parted in his sleep, placed a soft smile on her face. “I saw him.”
Hunter paused. “Hayden?”
She nodded. “He’s beautiful, Hunter. He was sleeping in the stroller. I didn’t get more than a glimpse before Sheila started in on the ugly.”
“It’s the ugly I’m worried about,” Hunter said.
Gabi agreed. “Which is why we need to be slow and methodical about this. The woman wasn’t right. Pulling Hayden away if she can still manage partial custody would be tragic.”
“She isn’t expecting me to petition for custody. She’s expecting a payoff.”
“Makes me wonder what kind of crazy is going to happen when Hayden is removed as a bargaining chip.”
“The kind of crazy that requires a bodyguard . . . or two . . . or three.” He looked worried.
The phone on his desk buzzed.
He dropped his hand on the intercom. “Yes, Tiffany.”
“Sorry to interrupt, but there’s an Officer Delgado on the phone.”
“Did he say what this was regarding?”
“Something about a missing person report.”
Gabi shifted as Hunter brought the call to the speaker on his phone. “This is Hunter Blackwell.”
“Mr. Blackwell . . . thank you for taking a minute to talk to me.”