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“Is that van gone?” Rosalie asked.
Bo nodded and went toward her. He didn’t want Mattie seeing Holly. But it was too late. She obviously saw the child, because Mattie went in that direction, as well.
He blocked her from moving any closer.
“What’s wrong?” Rosalie demanded.
Bo locked eyes with Mattie, but he addressed his comment to the nanny. “Just wait in the nursery.”
“You keep dodging the question, Bo,” Rosalie answered. “And I think it’s time you told me what’s going on. I have ears, you know. I can hear what this woman is saying. Well, most of it, anyway.”
Bo had no idea what to say to that, and it turned out that an immediate response wasn’t required. That’s because Holly squealed “Da Da” and toddled toward him. She had just taken her first steps two days before, so when she wobbled, she fell to the floor and crawled toward Bo.
Jacob followed her lead, babbled “Da Da” as well and wiggled and squirmed so that Rosalie let him down. Jacob had been walking for nearly a month now but still had some trouble mastering the carpet in his bare feet.
Holly made it to Bo first. Her loose brown curls danced around her beaming face, and despite everything else going on, Bo’s bad mood melted away. He scooped up his daughter in his arms and got rewarded with a sloppy kiss on his cheek. A moment later, Jacob reached him, as well, and both of Bo’s arms were suddenly filled with the children he loved more than life itself.
He looked at Mattie. This time, she wasn’t successful in blinking back those tears. She reached out, her fingers going straight toward Holly’s curls, but it was Rosalie who snagged her wrist.
“You said some powerful things,” Rosalie acknowledged. “What I want to know is why you’re saying them.”
Mattie kept her attention nailed to Holly. “Because it’s the truth.”
Rosalie met Bo’s gaze, and he didn’t see the immediate dismissal that he hoped would be there. He kissed the babies again and passed them back to the nanny. “I need to clear this up with Ms. Collier.”
Rosalie looked ready to argue, but thankfully she didn’t. She pulled both kids into her arms and headed back down the hall.
“I was going to name her Isabella,” Mattie said before he could speak. Her voice cracked. “But Holly suits her. It’s a good fit.”
He didn’t want to hear any of this.
“This ends now,” Bo quickly told Mattie. “I’ve already wasted enough time. If you were really Holly’s mom, you wouldn’t have come here.”
“I told you I didn’t have a choice. I’ve been keeping tabs on my uncle and his cronies, and I have reason to believe that Kendall or someone else has made the connection between your wife and me.”
There it was. The feeling of being punched in the gut. “And how would he have done that?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe that hospital video. Maybe by talking to eyewitnesses who were able to give him a description of me.” She paused. “As I told you, someone has been researching all the babies born around the time my child was due. It’s possible Kendall knows that you have my child. And if he knows that, then it won’t be long before he comes after her. Because he’ll probably try to use Holly to get to me.”
Every muscle in his body tensed. Bo couldn’t bear the thought of anyone being a threat to his child.
“I still don’t believe you,” he said, enunciating each word so that she wouldn’t misunderstand.
“Just think this through,” she countered. “Nadine and you must have known she wasn’t carrying twins.”
“We didn’t. There were no ultrasounds. Nadine had read a lot of articles about ultrasounds, and she was worried they might not be a hundred percent safe. Something to do with the way the high-frequency waves could maybe alter cells. Even though there’s no conclusive evidence that an ultrasound would be harmful, Nadine didn’t want to take the risk unless it was absolutely necessary.”
Mattie cleared her throat. “If what I’m saying isn’t true, then why else would I have been in that maternity hospital?”
He could think of a reason. A bad one. Maybe she’d been there to assist the gunmen. But if so, then why hadn’t she gone with them?
Or maybe she had.
Keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t go after Holly, Bo took out his phone, scrolled through his numbers and tapped Sergeant Garrett O’Malley’s personal cell.
“Bo, have you got ESP or something, because I was about to call you,” O’Malley answered, obviously seeing Bo’s name and number on his caller ID. “You’re not going to like this, but the guy in the black van hasn’t even gotten here, and his lawyer has already arrived. It’s Ian Kaplan.”
“You know this Ian Kaplan?” Bo asked. He heard Mattie’s breath rattle, and she took a step back.
“No, but I ran a check on him as soon as he showed up,” O’Malley explained. “Ian Kaplan is expensive and exclusive.”
He felt another punch. That was not a good connection. So what did this exclusive lawyer have to do with a van driver with fake plates?
Bo didn’t think he was going to like this answer, either.
“Do me a favor, Garrett. I told you someone’s been doing computer checks on me, and it flagged firewall markers. The person used a PC in a coffeehouse over on San Pedro. I had someone lift prints from that PC, and they were running the forty or so partials they found. Is that list ready?”
Bo heard Garrett’s keystrokes on the computer. “Yeah,” the sergeant said a moment later. “Forty-six partials but only two hits.”
The odds sucked, especially since the person responsible might not have prints on file in the database. “Is Ian Kaplan one of the hits?”
“No. But there is a name here I recognize. Kendall Collier.”
Bo thought his blood might have turned to ice.
“You know, the guy that beat that illegal arms rap about a year and a half ago,” Garrett continued. “His own niece testified against him, went missing and is presumed dead, but I’m thinking she went into Witness Protection and they faked her death. So why the heck would an SOB like Kendall Collier be digging into your files?”
Oh, hell.
“I’ll get back to you on that,” Bo told Garrett.
He shoved his phone into his pocket, caught on to Mattie’s shoulders and put her hard against the wall. “I want the whole truth, and I want it now.”
Chapter Four
Mattie wanted to give Bo the truth he was demanding, but she had no idea what that truth was. That would change. She had to figure out what was going on so she could try to keep her daughter safe.
Her daughter.
That nearly took her breath away. She was so close to her baby. Holly was just up the hall. Mattie wanted to run to her, take her and get as far away from this place as possible. But there were some big reasons why she couldn’t do that.
The biggest reason now had her pressed hard against the wall.
Bo was right there, in her face, his gaze drilling into her.
“Your uncle used a computer in a coffee shop to dig into my background,” Bo told her, though she didn’t know how he managed to speak with his jaw that tight. “I know it was him because we found his prints on the keyboard.”
It felt as if someone had punched her. “Oh, God. Kendall’s closer to learning the truth than I thought. I’d hoped we’d have at least a day or two.”
Bo got even closer. His chest pushed against her so that it was hard to breathe. “A day or two for what?”
“To get Holly to some place safe.” Mattie mentally cursed, as well. “If Kendall used a public computer and left his fingerprints, then he wanted you to know he was searching for information on you. Have the computer checked again, because I’ll bet he also used it to do searches on babies born the same day as Holly.”
His eyes narrowed, his stare became even more intense, but he finally backed away from her. “Why would Kendall want me to know he’s doing these things?”
“Maybe because he wants to use you to find me. So he can kill me. Of course, Kendall would never confess to something like that. According to him, he loves me and forgives me for testifying against him.”
He stepped back even farther, apparently giving her theory some thought. Finally, Bo groaned and pulled out his phone again.
“Whoever you talk to,” she warned, “be careful what you say.”
Not that it would matter much at this point. If Kendall didn’t know she was at Bo’s house, then it was just a matter of time before he did. That’s why she had to hurry up this conversation.
Bo dismissed her warning with an ice-cold glance with those intense brown eyes. But Mattie knew he wasn’t really dismissing everything she’d just told him. No. Bo was too sensible for that. And while this had to be ripping his heart apart, he would need to get to the truth.
She was counting heavily on that.
Mattie wasn’t sure who Bo reached with his call. Maybe Sergeant O’Malley again. But whoever it was, Bo requested information about her, about her Witness Protection file, and he also asked for the browsing history on the computer Kendall had used. Each request seemed to make him angrier, so Bo was in full stewing mode when he ended the call. However, she couldn’t give him the time he no doubt needed to work through his anger and the bombshell she’d just delivered about being Holly’s mom. They had too much to do.
“You mentioned Ian Kaplan earlier,” she reminded him. “Why?”
He glared at her so long that for several moments Mattie didn’t think he would answer. “He’s the attorney for the guy in the black van.”
Mattie’s nerves had already been right at the surface, but that caused the blood to rush to her head. “Then the man in the van is connected to Kendall, because Ian is one of my uncle’s lawyers.”
Bo studied her. “You know this Ian?”
She nodded. “We worked together a lot when I did some P.I. jobs for my uncle. He’s very loyal to Kendall. And Kendall was no doubt sending another message by having him represent the man who was probably sent here to kill me.”
“You’re a P.I.?” Bo questioned.
“I was. Am,” she corrected, since she still had her license. “Much to the disgust of my family. The Colliers aren’t big on family members with careers in law enforcement.” That was a massive understatement.
“Yet your uncle hired you.”
“He did. After my parents died in a car accident five years ago, Kendall sort of took me under his wing. He hired me to do background checks on potential business associates. When I learned one of those associates was an illegal arms dealer, I told Kendall, but he didn’t believe me. That’s when I contacted the authorities.”
“A Collier with a conscience.” And it was obvious he didn’t bother to tone down the sarcasm.
Mattie couldn’t blame him for his attitude. He was right. Her parents had owned several investment businesses that were barely legal. She had known from an early age that they had questionable ethics, but only after she’d become a P.I. and had dug into their backgrounds had she realized just how corrupt they were.
“As you know, I testified against Kendall,” she continued, “but he was acquitted.”
“Because the FBI didn’t have the proper search warrant when they found the incriminating documents.”
She nodded, swallowed hard. “And I think because of that, Holly’s father, my fiancе, was gunned down when I was six weeks pregnant. The police weren’t able to find any proof of who killed him.”
Bo blinked, probably because that had struck a still-raw nerve. He’d lost Nadine, the love of his life, and Mattie had lost Brody, the love of hers.
Sometimes, life just plain sucked.
“After someone tried to kidnap me,” she continued, “I was placed in so-called Witness Protection. Turns out I didn’t get much protection there.”
Mattie took a deep breath to regain her composure, and she glanced toward the nursery. “Look, I know you have questions, but honestly they should wait.”
The glare turned sharp again. “For what? For you to try to tell me again that Holly is your daughter?”
Obviously, Bo wasn’t going to take her word on that, and she didn’t blame him. She had walked into his ideal family life and had essentially ripped it apart.
Mattie reached into her shoulder bag. Bo reached, too, lightning fast, and he snagged her wrist.
“You already have my gun,” she reminded him. Mattie waited until his grip eased a little, and she extracted the two DNA swabs that she’d bought online.
She saw the argument she and Bo were about to have, but his phone rang, cutting off the angry words that he was no doubt about to fire at her.
Bo let go of her wrist, but he stayed close, still violating her personal space. Normally, Mattie would have put some distance between them, but she wanted to hear his phone conversation, especially when she glanced at the caller ID screen and noticed that it was Sergeant O’Malley again.
“Mattie Collier,” she heard the sergeant say. “She’s in Witness Protection, but someone hacked into her file. Her identity was compromised.”
That didn’t soften Bo’s glare. “Someone tried to kill her?”
“Well, at minimum someone tried to kidnap her several times, and it’s highly likely the culprit had intentions to murder her. The FBI thinks the attempts are connected to her uncle, Kendall Collier. And that brings me to the computer in the coffee shop. You wanted to know what other searches Kendall made …”
Mattie automatically moved closer, so close that her cheek brushed against the back of Bo’s hand. He jerked away from her and went to the center of the room where she couldn’t hear a word the sergeant was saying.
“Yeah,” Bo said to the sergeant a moment later. Then the seconds crawled by. She certainly couldn’t tell from Bo’s expression what exactly he was being told, but she doubted it would be good news.
While he finished his conversation, Mattie glanced out the window to make sure all was well. There were cars parked in the pristine driveways. Her own vehicle was still in front of Bo’s house. Someone was walking a dog. But there were no menacing black vans or possible assassins lurking in the shadows.
Not now, anyway.
But they would come. She was certain of it.
Bo ended the call and closed his phone, but he just stood there, staring at the cell.
“You were right,” he finally said. He came back across the room toward her. “Kendall used the computer to search for babies born on Holly’s birthday.”
Mattie wasn’t exactly relieved, because it meant Kendall was closing in fast, but at least now Bo might realize that they both wanted the same thing.
To protect Holly.
“You need to know the truth about her DNA,” Mattie pressed. She opened one of the kits and swabbed the inside of her mouth. She put the swab back into the plastic bag and handed it to Bo along with an unused one.
More seconds crawled by, and Mattie could feel her heart in her throat. Everything hinged on this.
Bo snatched the kits from her. “I’ll have the tests done, but I’m not giving up my daughter. Got that?”
No. She didn’t get that. But now wasn’t the time to argue with a father on the verge of losing a child he loved. Even if arguing was exactly what Mattie wanted to do. She wanted her baby in her arms, right here, right now. But her need for her baby would have to wait. Holly’s safety had to come first, and since that safety depended on Bo’s help, she had to keep this as non-hostile as possible.
