Fuck no. He was going to have to choose Plan B.
Turning the phone over in his hands, he sighed. Denial raged. Regret swelled. Fury decimated. Son of a bitch. He didn’t want his vengeance to end this way. But he’d always put Sasha first. End of story.
For the first time in his miserable life, he’d finally had something good. Which meant he couldn’t afford to keep it.
If she were awake, she’d fight him. She’d probably insist on standing beside him, too. But when it came to her safety, this wasn’t a democracy.
Cursing, he looked up the number for the DA’s office. After a little prowling, he found the man’s direct line. Voice mail. Shit.
“Clifford, Nick Navarro here. Let’s negotiate. I have what you want. I’ll give it to you if you agree to leave Sasha Porter and her daughter alone. In exchange, you can have the video and my life. I will make sure she never says a word. That’s the deal; take it or leave it. Be at Popp Bandstand at nine tonight.”
Nick didn’t tell the man to come alone; he wouldn’t. Just like he also knew that Clifford would never believe that Sasha would keep her mouth shut simply because Nick had told her to. Men like Walter Clifford understood violence, brute force, and death. Luckily, Nick spoke his language. He probably wouldn’t come out of this meeting still breathing…but neither would the fucker who had killed Mike and ruined Sasha’s life.
As far as Nick was concerned, that was a fair exchange.
Feeling older than his thirty-three years, he stood, holstered his gun, and paced across the room to Sasha, bending to press a kiss on her forehead, his lips lingering. The inevitability of the moment choked him. He dragged in a rough breath filled with her floral scent and the smell of their sex. At least he’d be walking away with one of the best memories of his life. Better to go out on top.
“I’d hoped we’d have a million tomorrows, baby,” he whispered. “At least I can give that to you and Harper. I love you.”
Taking the car keys and weapon—leaving behind his phone, the video evidence, and his heart—Nick departed the motel and disappeared into the night.
Chapter Eleven
Sasha woke alone with a start. She sensed the emptiness in the room immediately. With a gasp, she sat up, looked around. Nick was gone, as was his gun. The phone and the computer still sat on the desk. What did that mean?
Heart pounding, she tossed on her clothes and searched the room, just in case. But as she suspected, Nick was nowhere in sight. She had an ominous feeling, a lot like the one she’d gotten the night Mike had disappeared.
She refused to lose another man she loved to the same killer. She would not lose Nick now that she’d started to live again.
What could she do? Where had he gone? How could she help him?
Sasha raced to his phone and looked at the last call he’d dialed. An unfamiliar but local number. She lifted the laptop lid to do a reverse search on the digits, but the open browser gave her the answer. Cold slithered through her blood. The DA’s office. He’d located Clifford’s direct line.
Why would Nick call the man? Sasha refused to believe he was selling her and Mike out. He wouldn’t take favors from the criminal in exchange for the video. A few days ago, she might have believed the man was capable of that—and worse. Now she knew better.
She clicked on the other browser tab he’d opened. A local news story. Gasping, she read the headline. Josh had been killed in a seemingly random drive-by? Sasha didn’t believe it had been happenstance for an instant. Clifford had offed his own employee before he could see Mike’s evidence and take it to the task force.
Suddenly, she feared she knew exactly what Nick was up to.
Panic gripped her heart as she plucked up his phone and flipped through his contacts. Thankfully, there were few, and Xander was easy to find.
The man picked up on the first ring. “Thank fuck. After our last call, I was afraid you were going to do something stupid and heroic, you prick. Don’t?—”
“I think he is,” she breathed into the phone. “This is Sasha. I woke from a nap to find him gone. He took his gun and left his phone. The ADA we were going to see in thirty minutes is dead.”
“Okay, don’t panic. I talked to him maybe ten minutes ago. I’m hoping he hasn’t been able to manage too much stupid in that time.” Xander swore aloud. “Listen to me. Logan Edgington is one of my best friends.”
“Former Navy SEAL. Nick told me.”
“Yeah. He’s headed your way. Best there is. Give me your location.” As soon as she did, Xander went on. “I’ll get him to you. I’m also trying to track Nick down. Any idea where he might have gone? He disabled the GPS on the SUV. Bastard.”
Sasha tried to think but drew a blank. “It’s a big city. He could be anywhere.”
“Tell me the places you’ve been lately.”
She recited each location in chronological order. “I can only think of one he’d go back to, and that’s Popp Bandstand. It had meaning for him and Mike. On a Monday night, it wouldn’t be that crowded, especially as the hour grows later. But he could be somewhere else entirely…”
“I’ll keep working angles here. I need you to do something, Sasha. E-mail that video to every local TV station you can find. I’m doing the same in Lafayette. Tell them you’re Mike’s widow. We need to make Clifford a public target as quickly as possible. Logan can make the two-hour trip down there in about an hour and a half since he drives like a NASCAR pro. I’m also contacting the FBI. I tried to tell Nick that I know a guy, but he hung up. Sean will put us in touch with the right people.” Xander finally took a breath. “We’ll save Nick.”
