Taken by the Highest Bidder

Sam’s stomach churned. It had come to this. No more running away from the inevitable.

“She’s a Bartolo,” he said, slowly, deliberately. “I’ve been trying to get her back for years.”

“But the gambling…Johann…”

“Why would I buy her? She’s mine, belongs with me. I knew if I took you Gabby would follow. I could have only taken Gabby if I destroyed Johann first.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Come on, Sam. Don’t play ostrich now.”

She sat still, one hand kneading the other, seeing but not seeing, thinking but not thinking. If what he said was true…if Gabriela were indeed his child…Sam had no place in Gabriela’s life anymore. It was Gabby he’d wanted all along, not her. Johann’s letter giving Gabby to her meant nothing. It was just another sick joke on his part. One last stab at her.

She felt close to throwing up.

Sam pressed a hand to her middle. “You’ve had a DNA test?”

“Yes.”

Her mouth was so dry it hurt to swallow. “And the evidence?”

“Conclusive.”

Dazed, she shook her head, unable to think clearly. Her thoughts were too wild, her fear and confusion too great. “But then, why isn’t she with you? Why didn’t the court appoint you her legal guardian?”

“The courts eventually will, but I don’t want to wait any longer. My patience had run out. I’ve missed out on the first four and a half years of Gabby’s life as it is. I won’t miss any more.”

A new thought came to her, a new, more frightening thought. She sat taller, stomach in knots. It took all of her courage to get the question out. “Were you behind the kidnapping attempt three years ago?”

“No.”

But he knew about the attempt, she thought, heart racing. He wasn’t surprised by her question. He was familiar with the incident. “What do you know?”

“I know you were hurt.”

Sam looked at him quickly, and then away. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“You were in the hospital for a week.”

She smiled grimly, remembering how Johann proposed while she was still in the hospital. Johann had said he needed her, and Gabby needed her and that by marrying him, Sam would make him a better man.

It didn’t work out that way, of course. After the wedding, and as soon as Sam had fully recovered from the beating, she assumed even more household responsibilities than before. She wasn’t just the nanny now, but the cook, the housekeeper, the bookkeeper, the gardener, the seamstress, the laundress because, Johann, citing financial difficulties, had let all hired help go.

“How did you find out?” she asked, knowing that even though the workload was exhausting, by that point she was so attached to Gabby that she couldn’t imagine leaving.

“I’ve been keeping my eye on van Bergen.”

She felt a shiver of apprehension. “You’ve been spying on us?”

Again he fell silent, and his silence was somehow more effective than other peoples’ words. His silence conveyed tremendous strength and power, as well as calm. The word, unflappable, crossed her mind.

She looked at him where he sat across from her in the oak booth, his long legs out and braced before him, his hands resting lightly just below his hipbones. Something in his stillness, something in his pose—his hands resting just so—reminded her of a gunslinger from one of the old cowboy movies she used to watch with her father late at night when there was nothing else on the telly.

“I’d prefer to call it investigating,” he said, speaking slowly, carefully. “I was intent on gathering facts. Evidence. Making sure Gabriela was safe until I could get her in my care.”

“So you’ve tried going to court?”

“We’ve been in court for years—but it takes so long. I expect a legal decree soon—”

She felt dangerously close to hysteria. “So why the poker games?”

“Revenge.” Cristiano’s upper lip curled. “I wanted to make him suffer. He made me suffer. It seemed only fair.”

“Suffering is never fair.”

“You’re such a good girl, Samantha.”