“No, but I trust Sean. Could it be he thought your husband was still in trouble? Called you in order to protect you? Sean is good at getting information, maybe your husband was forced to call.”
“No, no, that’s not it.” But Madison didn’t look at her. There was definitely something more to whatever was going on. “Sean went because of Jesse. I should never have come here. I was just so worried … and now my entire life is a mess.”
“You’re scared. I understand. But your life isn’t a mess. Sean and Kane are the best in this business, they will bring back your husband and son, safe.” Lucy paused, not sure how much she should say. And she was beginning to worry about Sean as well. They’d spoken last night, and he’d sounded preoccupied, but she expected that. “Sean mentioned your husband may have gotten involved with a shady business deal.” That seemed a delicate way to broach it. “Could he have found out that you hired someone to find him? Maybe that’s why he called, because he doesn’t want anyone knowing where he is until he, well, completes his business. But anytime there are … less-than-legal business arrangements, everyone is at risk. Sean isn’t going to be concerned about what your husband is doing as much as making sure your family is back, safe.”
Madison stared at Lucy. “You really don’t know Sean, do you?” She stood up and started pacing. “He’s doing this as payback. I told him to stand down, and he won’t because he’s stubborn and angry. He’s going to make me pay because of one little secret, one stupid mistake. I will not lose my son to him. He has no legal recourse to take him from me. You have got to talk to him, tell him to leave this alone and forget I ever came here. If he ever once cared for me … please … my husband’s life—my son’s life—depends on it. Please. I’m begging you, Lucy.”
Lucy might have been naive about interpersonal relationships, but not this. It was as clear as glass.
“I will talk to him,” Lucy heard herself saying as she stood up. The room faded around her, and all she saw was a long tunnel. It was like she was swimming through molasses as she walked Madison to the door. “That is all I can promise.”
“Thank you. Really, thank you so much. Tell him if he does this for me, if he leaves this whole thing alone, I’ll tell Jesse the truth. On my terms, in my way. I’ll tell him everything.”
“Okay.” Lucy walked Madison to the door, said something she didn’t quite remember, and closed it behind her.
On autopilot, Lucy walked to Sean’s office. She logged into his computer. Sean was super-security-conscious, but he gave Lucy all his access codes in case she needed “the best computer money can buy,” as he said.
She didn’t need his computer, except for the fact that all the research he’d done on Carson and Madison Spade would be here.
She didn’t need to look far. All she needed was to look at the photograph of Jesse Spade to know that he was Sean’s son.
*
Jesse was up early. Well, maybe because he didn’t really sleep much last night. When he was certain his dad was asleep, he snuck into his room and grabbed his cell phone. He tried to call his mom, but the call wouldn’t go through. Jesse didn’t know why—just that cellular service was unavailable. Then he went downstairs in search of a landline, and couldn’t find one. He knew there was one in Dominick’s office, but the door was locked. Jesse thought that he might be able to break in, but he was too scared. So he went back upstairs and lay in bed until the sun was up. He might have slept a bit, but when he woke, he was still tired.
His dad was sleeping and the house was quiet. He went swimming, but not for long. Antsy, he returned to his suite and took a shower and played his DS because he didn’t have anything else to do. As soon as his dad woke up, he said, “Can I call Mom?”
“Maybe later.”
“Can we leave today?”
“I said we might be able to—I have to go to town and set up a new bank account for business. If everything goes well, probably tomorrow. Friday at the latest. Like I said.”
“I really miss Mom.”
“I talked to her last night, when you were sleeping. She didn’t want me to wake you up. You know, she is a little angry with me because you’re missing so much school, but she can’t wait to hear about the football game. That was fun, right?”
“Yeah.” It had been the best night since they’d been here, until those two men grabbed him and tried to tell him his dad was some sort of criminal. “If you talk to her tonight, would you wake me up?”
His dad smiled and ruffled his hair. “Of course. I would have woken you up last night if I knew it was so important to you.”
“Can we go do something after you go to the bank? Maybe I can go with you and check out the museum, they have a reptile exhibit—”
“No, this is business, Jesse, you need to stay here where it’s safe. I can’t keep an eye on you if I’m working with the bank to set up a complex business account.”