Maizie got all dreamy-eyed.
“What are we doing here?” Kenna squeezed his hand.
Jax said, “Ryson and his cops will be here in a few.”
The waitress, in a salmon-colored uniform, pushed through a door with a circular window and came over on white sneakers.Her eyes lit, and her entire expression beamed with happiness. “Kenna!”
She managed to stand up before the younger woman got to her. “Nora Thibodeaux.” She opened her arms, and Nora gave her a hug. Kenna laughed. “It’s really you.”
“It’s been a while.” She shoved her hair back behind her ear; the rest of it was gathered behind her head.
“Since New Orleans, when you had your baby.” Kenna laid a hand on her abdomen. “How did you get here from Seattle?”
“I wanted to strike out on my own.” Nora lifted her chin in Preston’s direction. “He convinced me Salt Lake City was a good place to raise a child. Now it’s your turn.” She grinned. This young woman, whose life had been torn apart thanks to criminals in the south, had given birth under the worst kind of circumstances and then accepted Preston’s offer of a place to live.
“It’s a girl.” Kenna grinned back. “How is Elvira Makenna Sanders?”
Nora laughed, tugging out her phone to show Kenna the lock screen—an image of Nora and a chubby little girl with two bottom teeth and an infectious smile. “She’s so big. And so happy. There’s an older lady who lives next door to me, and while I work, she stays with Ellie.”
“I told her she doesn’t have to work.” Preston didn’t look up from his phone.
Nora rolled her eyes. “And I keep telling you I’m not the kept woman of an older billionaire. What will people think?”
Preston didn’t seem to care. “I’m still putting you and Ellie in my will.”
“And I’m still working. I’m taking care of my daughter and building a life for myself.” She shook her head. “Even if it’s cold as all get out up here.”
“You miss the bayou?”
Nora shook her head. “Not one bit.”
Kenna gave her another hug. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you.”
A tear escaped from the corner of Kenna’s eye, and she swiped it away. She shifted her chair closer to Jax’s and sat where he could put his arm around her, leaning into his side. Nora took their orders, and Kenna decided she wanted fries and a milkshake.
“You need some protein.”
Kenna nudged his side. “That’s why I’m going to eat one of your chicken fingers.”
His phone buzzed. “Ryson said there’s an officer down callout at the other end of the precinct, so he has to go there first. He’ll be here afterward.”
Zeyla said, “And if those guys find us here? They’re clearly still after what they wanted—the drive we copied and couriered back to that company.” She paused for a second. “Or they want revenge for what we cost them.”
“They probably think we forced them to kill Gabby.” Meanwhile, Kenna figured they might have been the ones who’d killed Gabby’s brother, too. “All for the software. Which they didn’t get.”
“What are you thinking?” Jax asked.
“Just that if it wasDominatus, they sent the wrong people. Or they didn’t realize they’d be going up against us.”
“I thought they waited for us to find the drive, and then they showed up.” Maizie glanced over from her computer.
“Maybe.” She had a point. “Then they used Gabby to try and get it from us. Now they’re mad.”
Jax said, “That makes the most sense.”
But why did she feel as if there was more going on?Dominatuswas involved, but what did they want with that software? Whoever wanted it should’ve just done a businessdeal with the software company—or a hostile takeover. Why hire mercenary-type guys to get it? The visibility on a murder case was far too great. They could’ve gotten what they wanted without anyone knowing.
