“Don’t play overprotective big brother with me, not anymore.”
“It’s complicated. Dante Romero has survived this long in a dangerous business because he’s paranoid and cautious. Two Rogans is going to set him off. He can’t know that you were approached, that you’re the one who was hired. He especially can’t know that you have a personal stake. He’s smart. He’ll figure it out and leverage the information. Old family friends isn’t going to buy us shit. The story will be you’re my pilot. You’ve flown for me before, that’s not going to raise any flags. But if Dante knows you’re primary, he’ll want to know why. He’s good at math, and he is damn good at getting information. He’ll sell it, and that puts the kid at risk.”
Against every instinct, Sean reluctantly agreed with Kane. “Keep me in the loop, or I won’t stay with the damn plane.”
Sean watched Kane slip away, then checked the perimeter. He was going to go stir-crazy.
It was six in the evening. The sun would be going down soon, and Sean felt like they’d wasted the entire day. Half of it was flying time, and while Kane seemed to think the Romeros were the best lead, Sean didn’t like to be kept out of the loop. Of course he understood—he didn’t want to put Jesse’s life at risk because he was a Rogan. But dammit, Carson Spade did it! How could a man bring the boy he called his son into the drug trade?
Sean hadn’t had much time to sit and process his emotions, and they’d been churning inside making him physically ill.
He didn’t want to think about Jesse, or Madison lying to him, or what Carson Spade was really up to. Because then he started thinking about the future, and what he was going to tell Jesse, and how he could fight for joint custody—if he even had a leg to stand on. He could probably sue for a paternity test if Madison didn’t admit that Jesse was his. It was one thing to tell him, but it was another to admit to the world that you were a liar. As far as the legal system went, Sean had no rights. This was out of his area of expertise—but there had to be some way to force Madison to do the right thing.
But what if Jesse wanted nothing to do with him? What if he thought Sean hadn’t wanted him, or had just walked away from him and his mother? How could Sean convince a twelve-year-old boy that he would never turn his back on his son … but Jesse didn’t know him. Didn’t know what he would or would not do. As far as Sean knew, Jesse didn’t think about his real dad, didn’t care. He loved Madison and Carson as his parents, and Sean was going to walk in and wreck his perfect life.
But what was perfect about a father who was a criminal? A father who put his son in danger?
Sean opened his laptop to continue his research into the companies Carson Spade worked for—the so-called legitimate company and the illegitimate company. He also needed to dig deeper into Madison’s antiques business. A business like that was a great way to smuggle—or launder money.
He couldn’t concentrate. He really wanted to talk to Lucy.
The plane had a booster so he had cell reception. He dialed her cell phone.
“Sean?” Lucy answered. “Where are you?”
“Guadalajara. We think we tracked them down—I’m babysitting the plane while Kane talks to someone who may have information. I can’t get home soon enough. I miss you.”
Tell her, Sean. Just tell her about Jesse.
There was a muffled sound in the background. “Sorry,” Lucy said. “We’re leaving the morgue.”
“You’re with Noah or Siobhan?”
“Both.” She said something that he couldn’t make out. “Okay, I just needed to step away.”
“What happened? Why are you at the morgue?”
She didn’t say anything for a second, then her all-business, all-cop voice said, “One of the young women in the house Siobhan identified was found dead. She’d just given birth—an emergency C-section. We don’t know where, but we know it was late last night. She’d only been dead six to eight hours before her body was found.”
“Shit, Lucy—are you okay?” The situation was fucked, and he wasn’t there for her.
“It’s a mess. The Webb County sheriff’s department is working the case, they seem to be very competent. Noah and I are going to head back to San Antonio in a bit. We have one more thing to follow up on first.”
“How’s Siobhan?”
“As you would expect. Torn up, blames herself. The dead woman had preeclampsia, had a seizure.” Lucy paused, her voice lower. “The ME suspected that she seized and someone performed an emergency C-section to save the baby. Then they shot her in the back of the head. Dumped her with the garbage.” Her voice cracked.
Sean wanted to be there, right now, for Lucy.
“Say the word and I’ll come home.”
“I know you would, and I love you for it, but you need to find that little boy. I’m okay. Really.”
She didn’t sound okay.