They’d shared something deep and profound, and he’d seen a part of her that he didn’t think she showed to very many people. Her core strength. Her determination.
Turning his head and kissing her temple, Bubba was rewarded with her mumbling something under her breath and snuggling into him even tighter.
Someone would pay for daring to try to kill her. He hoped Tex was able to find Eva Dawkins and get to the bottom of the plot sooner rather than later. But in the meantime, he’d keep Zoey safe. She was where she belonged. Right there next to him.
Eva Dawkins wasn’t happy. She was running scared and pissed off that she hadn’t gotten her money. Her kids were still with her psycho ex, and she had no idea what to do next. She’d hightailed it out of Seattle because staying in one place wasn’t a good plan, and had been hitchhiking her way back up into Alaska. It wasn’t smart to go back to the place where she’d been hired, but what other choice did she have? Her kids were there. And if she wanted to get them back, she had to face her ex. With or without the money he was demanding.
For the first time in days, the burner phone she’d been using to communicate with the woman who’d hired her rang, and Eva quickly clicked on the green button to answer it.
“Where’s my money?” she asked in lieu of a greeting.
“There’s no money,” the woman said tersely.
“What? That’s bullshit!”
“No, it’s not. You didn’t hold up your end of the bargain.”
“The hell I didn’t,” Eva told her. “I did exactly what you told me to. I dropped them off in the middle of fucking nowhere.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t good enough. They were rescued, and the reading of the will went down as the law required.”
Eva felt a pang of relief flow through her. She hadn’t killed anyone. But she’d still certainly done something that was so fucked up, no jury would let it go. That, along with her record for transporting drugs, would get her thrown in jail without anyone thinking twice about it.
Shit. She was fucked.
She made a last-ditch effort to get the woman to wire the money she’d promised. “That’s not my fault. I did what you wanted. You owe me.”
The woman sighed. “You’re right, you did. But here’s the thing…there is no money. I gave what I promised you to the guys who were supposed to sabotage your plane—so all three of you would die when your plane crashed after takeoff.”
Eva gasped. “What?” she whispered.
“That’s right. If you’d have thought about it for two seconds, you would’ve realized that having Mark and Zoey declared missing made no sense. No money would be released until they were proven dead, and how could we do that if they disappeared into the Alaskan wilderness forever? No, I needed everyone to know they were dead, and not by some suspicious mugging or something. That fucking plane was supposed to go down in a ball of flames.”
“I can’t believe you,” Eva said, stunned beyond belief. She was lucky to be alive.
“Believe it,” the other woman sneered. “The only reason you’re alive is because those assholes must’ve double-crossed me.”
“Like you did to me!” Eva protested.
“Yeah, well…sorry.”
She didn’t sound sorry at all.
“You bitch!” Eva said. “You owe me, and I want my money.”
“I don’t owe you shit!” the woman told her. “I’m calling to let you know any association between us is done. If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I’ll have you arrested so fast your head will spin. Who do you think the cops will believe, you or me? I’ll tell you who, bitch. Me.”
“But what about my kids?” Eva wailed in despair.
“They aren’t my problem. Maybe you shouldn’t have spread your legs for the first asshole who came sniffing around. You got yourself into that situation, you can figure a way out of it.”
“I had! I did what you wanted,” Eva said desperately.
“You’re nothing but pure trash,” the woman on the other end of the line said heartlessly. “Your kids never stood a chance. And they’re going to be nothing but trash too. Use this as a chance to wipe your slate clean. Move to Maine or something and start over. It’s probably the best thing you could do for those fucking kids.”
After that soul-crushing retort, the line went dead.
Eva stared down at the phone in her hand and did what any other mother would do.
She cried.
Then she reached way down deep inside and vowed to do whatever it took to get her children back.
They weren’t trash. They were beautiful and innocent, and Eva would do whatever it took to make sure they stayed that way.
The woman thought she could cheat her out of the money she owed her fair and square? Eva would ruin her. She didn’t know how she’d do it, but she would. One way or another.
Chapter Fifteen
Zoey hid a smile in her teacup as she sat across from Jess on her couch a week later. The older woman had a habit of saying exactly what she was thinking, whether it was appropriate or not. And Zoey loved it.
“I’m not kidding, right to the vice admiral, Frank said, ‘If you’ll excuse me, Sir, I’ve been at this navy ball for four hours and haven’t been able to think about anything other than getting my wife home and into bed.’ Then he saluted the man, took me by the arm, brought me home and had his way with me.”
Zoey couldn’t hold back her laugh at hearing that. “Are you kidding me? I mean, you do like to joke a lot.”
Jess held up a hand. “I swear I’m not kidding. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment, but apparently the vice admiral was jealous that we could leave, because he merely said, ‘Have fun, sailor,’ before we left.”
Zoey shook her head and stood, taking Jess’s teacup with her to get her a refill. It was hard to believe she’d only met the older woman a week ago. It felt as if she’d known her for ages. She wasn’t hard to work for, not at all. In fact, most of the time Zoey felt like Jess didn’t need her. Her house was already fairly clean, and Jess had no problem getting around. But after thinking about it for a while, she realized Jess was lonely. She had no family to visit and spent most of her time cooped up in her house.
Every day, they’d gone out and done something. Grocery shopping. A short walk in the park. They’d gone down to the beach and watched people surfing. Zoey had even taken Jess to the zoo. It was as nice to get out and see the city for Zoey as it was for Jess.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come to the barbeque with us this afternoon?” Zoey asked as she sat back down next to Jess on the couch. The get-together at Gumby’s beach house had been postponed a bit, and now it was going on as planned later that day.
“I’m sure. I invited Gretel over to play cards this afternoon.”
Gretel was a woman who they’d run into at the library a few days ago. Apparently Jess had been friends with her years earlier, but they’d lost touch. The two women had been absolutely giddy to see each other and had made tentative plans to get together.