“You better cooperate with me or I’m telling everyone you aborted our baby.”
“I didn’t. I lost it.”
“It doesn’t matter. Once I tell them, they’ll always think it in the back of their minds.” He smirked and gave her a slow wink. “Come on, I know you can do it. They’re going to come to the door now, and I’m going to use you as a shield. You’re going to tell the sheriff to let us go. Tell them you and Glen came with me willingly. If we’re not followed into Nevada, I’ll drop Glen off at a gas station and he can go. But you, my sweetness, you’re mine.”
“I’m not going with you.” Cait knocked her head back, hitting him. “Brian already knows about the baby, and my family will believe me when I tell them you’re lying. There’s no proof. None. No visits to the doctor. No clinic visits. No witnesses. Nothing. I lost the baby in the toilet all by myself. So say what you want. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Don’t make me blow up your life.” Tommy’s eyes narrowed wickedly. “Don’t make me tell the world who your mommy’s baby daddy is. You play this right, and Thornton’s going to fund our travels. You screw up, and the world will know what a slut your mother was.”
Cait slapped Tommy hard. “You leave my mother out of this.”
The horror of finding that picture came crashing back on her and she reeled. She’d pushed it out of her mind while dealing with Brian’s problems, but could her mother have truly kept this secret from her all these years? And what would it mean if she was really the senator’s daughter?
She hadn’t recognized the man, but by Brian’s sudden silence, she should have known that he had.
“Your choice, witch.” Tommy twisted her arm behind her back, seemingly oblivious to the pain she inflicted, which meant he had to be high. With the gun on her temple, he marched her to the front door. “You better hope there aren’t any trigger happy cops out there. Oh, and if you see Brian, tell him you don’t love him anymore. That you’ve always loved me and you only used him.”
“What does hurting Brian have to do with this?”
“You say everything the way I want, and maybe I’ll keep your secrets. It would be a shame if the senator and your mother were outed. You know that sweet little baby picture of yours? I have it.”
“How did you know?”
“I read Mrs. Thornton’s diaries. She found a note from your mother telling Thornton she was pregnant. Of course it was way before her time, but she followed it up. She used that dirty little secret to make the senator overlook her own affairs.” He yanked the heavy front door open and pushed Cait out in front of him.
Cait gasped at all the spotlights trained on her. Behind the lights were rifles pointed at them.
“Tell them,” Tommy growled in her ear.
“Hi, I’m Cait Hart, I mean, Cait Wonder,” Cait recited. “I came willingly with this man. Here are his demands. You are to let us drive away. Me, Thomas, and the boy, Glen. If we are not followed, we will let Glen go at a gas station.”
“Tell them I want to make a deal with Senator Thornton,” Tommy hissed.
“Tommy has a deal he wants to make with Senator Thornton. It’s private, so you’ll need to get the senator on the phone.”
“That’s all for now.” Tommy said. Keeping the pressure of the gun barrel on Cait’s head, he shouted to the gathered cops. “Next time we come out, have Brian Wonder stand by. Cait has a message for him she needs to say face to face.”
Cait was dragged back into the house. There was no way the SWAT team could get a clear shot at Tommy, not with the way she shielded him.
Her stomach turned at the message she was supposed to deliver to Brian. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have had a single worry. She’d recite her lines, and Brian would know she was lying, that she was coerced to say those horrid things.
But Brian was different.
Brian took everything literally.
And Brian would be very, very hurt, because even though he’d never said it out loud, he loved her in his “own way.”
