“How long has she been gone?”
I glanced at the screen of my phone. “Nearly three hours now.”
Ruben Garcia studied my face like he could see beyond the flesh and bones and read my thoughts. As though he could see any deception hidden just beyond the outer fa?ade. But there was nothing more to know.
“I called you as soon as I realized what was happening.”
“Why would someone kidnap my daughter?”
I shook my head. “I was hoping you would be able to answer that.”
Ruben Garcia was a scary looking man. He was about five foot six, but he was all muscle. He’d been a cop for most of his adult life, opening a private detective agency after he retired. His daughter followed in his footsteps, going to the military and then joining his agency when she came back. That’s how we met. I hired Ruben to figure out how a reporter found out about a diabetes device I’d developed through my company that was days from being granted a patent. He sent Adrienne to pretend to be my girlfriend so that she could figure out who’d leaked the information. One thing led to another… It wasn’t pretend anymore. And whoever leaked the information was clearly the one behind all this.
“You thought I was doing this. But I’m not. And now Adrienne—”
“I still don’t know that you’re not behind this,” Ruben said. “All I know is that my daughter goes out of town with you without telling me, and now she’s gone.”
“I told you, I stepped out of the room for a few minutes.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because my blood sugar was high and I needed a bolus. I forgot to bring a vial of insulin…”
“Convenient, if you ask me.”
Ruben didn’t move, but it felt the same as it would have if he’d come chest to chest to me, if he’d gotten into my face. And it was starting to piss me off.
“She would still be here if you’d done the job I hired you to do and found out who was behind all this.”
Ruben’s eyebrows rose, and I felt the stilling of movement in the men he’d brought with him. There were two of them, going through our things, invading our privacy like it would lead to clues I’d missed. But now they were watching, waiting. No one stood up to Ruben except for his daughter herself.
“Someone wants something from my company,” I said slowly, never taking my eyes from Ruben. “They took Adrienne to get it. I suggest you go back and figure out who the hell it is behind all this.”
Ruben didn’t respond until I turned and started for the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m going back to Houston to talk to my brother and to see if I can figure out what’s going on.”
“You aren’t going anywhere.”
I turned. “Do you really think that standing around here is going to solve anything? It’s been three hours, and whoever this is hasn’t texted again. For all I know, they have no intention of ever texting again.”
For a brief second, I thought I saw panic in Ruben’s eyes. It was only then that I realized I was talking to the father of the woman who was missing, the father of the woman I was quickly falling in love with. We both had more to lose than either of us wanted to admit.
“I need to be in Houston so that I can give this kidnapper whatever they want,” I said, my voice softening. “I want Adrienne back as much as you do.”
Ruben’s eyes fell to the floor for a moment.
“Okay. But Sergio goes with you.”
I didn’t know which of his goons was Sergio, but I nodded as I headed for the door again. I needed to find Jacob. If the point behind all this was that Alzheimer’s drug, I’d need his help to do what came next.
Chapter 26
Adrienne
“Stand.”
The vehicle had stopped moving, and I heard a door open, but it was still pitch dark. I didn’t think I had a blindfold on, but I couldn’t see anything. I’d only been a few hours; it should still be daytime outside. Yet…darkness.
“Where am I?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“We’ve been driving long enough to be back in Houston.”
“Or we could be in Austin or Dallas or half a dozen other places. Stand up!”
She was right, of course. I had no idea what direction the vehicle had been moving in. But instinct told me we’d come back to where it’d all started.
I stood unsteadily, the plastic cable tie gone from around my ankles, but my hands still bound behind my back. A hand kept me upright with a hard grip just above my elbow. It must have been a van. I could feel the roof, but I could almost stand completely upright. I was led to the open doorway and instructed when to step down. And then a doorway, and light so bright that I had to close my eyes until they adjusted.
A house. I got the impression of a kitchen before I was pushed through another door.