Guarding Hope

“I’m sorry, baby.” He bent down and scooped up the bowl while she grabbed a dish towel to clean up the mess on the gorgeous flooring. Once they had all of it picked up, and she asked, “How are you?”

“Could have done better, but we went with what I have for repairs. I’ll have to get more supplies tomorrow. You’re doing great, it seems.”

“We haven’t gotten started yet. I was trying to bake a cake when you came in. I needed to work with my hands or something. I don’t know how many times I’ve run them through my hair, waiting for them to be ready for me.”

“Don’t be nervous. You’re going to do just fine.”

Dax came back into the room. “Hey, we’re heading out. Our team will be listening in on the call. Once we’re in place, we’ll contact you. You can do this, Hope.”

Chambers and two other officers left the house to join the SWAT team for the arrest. Dax had no intention of missing the look on Cummings’s face.

An hour later…

“Okay. We’re set up, Ms. Cummings. We’re setting your location to New York City.”

Hope rubbed her hands together. “Game on.”

Chapter 14

A little shiver ran up Cummings’s spine as he pulled up to Navarro’s mansion. Guards stood around the perimeter of the walled-in home while another two guards manned the entrance. Navarro called the meeting two days before, but Cummings stalled, claiming to have to dispose of a body. He knew things could go south in a heartbeat. Cummings killed two of his men in forty-eight hours because of this. He straightened himself and stuck out his hand.

“Cummings, it’s good of you to accept my meeting,” Navarro greeted his guest and led him into the house.

Baxter Cummings felt his entire body shiver, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he took a deep breath and entered the large home at Navarro’s side. “Well, I understand that you’re a little upset with your prize missing. I will bring her to you.”

When they entered the study, Navarro waved his hand toward the two large leather chairs facing each other. “Please take a seat.” Cummings looked around the room, checking the exits and the number of guards Navarro placed around the room. “Relax. Do you want a drink?”

“Um…yes…please.” Navarro’s maid came over with two glasses of cognac on the rocks.

“That’s quick service.” Cummings grabbed the glass with shaky hands, staring at the glass with a quirked brow.

Navarro chuckled, unbuttoned his suit jacket, and said, “Well, she knew to be prepared. Something that you get with loyal employees.”

“I’ve already dealt with some of the disappointing ones.”

A glint in Cummings’s eye caused Navarro to tilt his head. He didn’t ask because it was of no concern to him, but it gave him a second look into who Cummings really was.

Navarro took a drink from his glass then set it on the small table next to him. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs, and added, “I want you to know the deal is off. It’s been a week since she left. She’s not worth the two million, and I’m glad she ran because I had a change of heart.”

“What? I mean, would one million work?” Cummings needed the money, and he couldn’t wait a day longer to find the bitch who cost him so much. Her death played in his head as he pictured killing her over and over again. Different scenarios crossed his sick mind from a straight shot between the eyes to slow, painful torture.

Navarro tapped Cummings’s knee, then sat back to have another drink. “That’s if you find her in two days. Every day after that, it goes down a hundred thousand. Then I don’t want her at all.”

Biting his tongue and with a closed mouth, he said, “That’s fair. My men believe that she’s hiding up in Frisco.”

“Then you better find her soon. If she’s lost her cherry, then the deal is off.”

Navarro stood up, finished his drink, and straightened his suit. Cummings took that as a signal that the meeting was over. As he rose, Cummings’s phone rang in his pocket. Navarro raised his brow, waiting for him to pick it up. He looked at the number but didn’t recognize it even though it had a San Antonio area code. “Hello.”

“Hello, Father.” Cummings’s face reddened. The bitch had the nerve to call me?

With his teeth clenched, he asked, “Where the fuck are you?”

The smile could be heard over the phone. “Oh, don’t worry about where I am. Just worry that your two-million-dollar price tag has gone, poor daddy. You couldn’t sell me at a garage sale. I had to pay my way to New York somehow.”

“Bullshit. You’re still in Texas. You’re calling from here.”

“Damn, even locked away without access to the real world, I’ve got more sense than you. There are ways to fake numbers. God, you’re fucking stupid.”