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“You work for him, don’t you?” she asked in a low whisper.
A sinister smile crept onto his face. “What did you tell them?”
She guessed that was her answer. “Nothing.”
His thick brows shot up. “Nothing? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said. “I have no idea how they learned he was at my clinic.”
“You didn’t tip off that nurse to call them?”
“No.” Anger made her voice hard. “I did exactly what I was told. Now, where is my daughter? Is she safe?”
He made a low sound in his throat. “What did you think would happen to her when you tried to escape at the clinic?”
Her stomach roiled, tears choking her. She shook her head in denial. They couldn’t have hurt her little girl; she had to be all right. Izzy was her whole life.
“Where is she?” she said through gritted teeth. “Did your people hurt her? Because if you did, what’s to stop me from talking to the FBI?”
“Now, now, just calm down,” the man said in a condescending tone. “Your daughter is safe. At least for now.”
Her breath rushed out. She hated this man and DiSanti with every fiber of her being. “She’s an innocent little girl,” Mila whispered. “Please don’t harm her. She has nothing to do with this.”
“But she’s important to you,” Polk said sharply. “So, if you want her to celebrate her next birthday, then you’ll cooperate.”
“I already did,” Mila said. “I performed the damn surgery. DiSanti has his new face, so leave me and my daughter alone.”
“You said yourself that there’s a risk of infection. Your services may be needed for recovery.”
He stood, and ran his hand over his diamond-chip tie clip. “I will be back tomorrow to post bond. Meanwhile, you are not to tell anyone about our conversation. And you won’t discuss DiSanti.”
He strode to the door and turned back to face her, his look ominous. “Remember what I said. Your daughter has lovely eyes and hair, Dr. Manchester. And a perfect face for now. Wouldn’t you hate for something to happen to change that?”
Cold terror shot through Mila. She pressed her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream as he walked out and shut the door behind him.
* * *
BRAYDEN DID NOT want to leave Mila locked up in that cell tonight. For all they knew, DiSanti had someone on the inside who might try to hurt her to keep her from talking.
Unless Polk had threatened her into silence.
“Let me talk to her one more time,” he said to Lucas.
“She has an attorney,” Lucas said tightly. “And you seem to be forgetting that she’s a criminal.”
“Not if she was coerced.” Brayden gritted his teeth. “For God sakes, Lucas, don’t be such a hard-ass. Your own wife asked me to represent her.”
“I’m doing this for my wife and those girls at Mother’s and all the other teens and women DiSanti has forced into sexual slavery.”
Brayden silently counted to ten to gather his composure. On the surface, he knew Lucas was right.
But there were extenuating circumstances.
“She was on the verge of talking to me,” Brayden said. “Give me one more shot.”
A muscle ticked in his brother’s jaw. “All right. Five minutes. But then I take her to a holding cell. Maybe a night in lockup will persuade her she needs to come clean.”
Brayden agreed. What else could he do?
Lucas escorted him to the interrogation room, his expression grim. If she agreed to accept Polk’s help as her attorney, his brother’s hands were tied, too.
Brayden forced a neutral expression as he entered the room. The moment he saw the tears in Mila’s eyes though, he nearly lost it.
Ever since he’d represented his friend, who’d been wrongly convicted, and gotten him off, he’d earned a reputation for fighting for the underdog.
Mila Manchester might be fooling him. Those tears could be due to the fact that she was upset about getting caught.
Or they were out of fear.
He crossed the room and claimed the chair across from her. “I don’t think you wanted to perform plastic surgery on DiSanti, Dr. Manchester,” he said quietly. “But I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”
Emotions twisted her face, and she averted her gaze from his.
“If you’re being coerced, I’ll protect you.”
She looked down at her hands, then lifted her head and her gaze met his. Emotions warred in her eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Hawk, but you can’t help me. Mr. Polk is my attorney.”
He studied her for a long minute, frustrated because he sensed she wanted his help, and that she needed it. But as Lucas said, their hands were tied.
He sighed, then stood. “All right. If you change your mind, let me know.”
She stared at the card he laid on the table, but didn’t pick it up. He waited another minute, hoping she’d change her mind, but she dropped her gaze to her hands again and remained silent.
Those hands had given DiSanti a new face so he could escape and continue spearheading the Shetland operation.
The man was despicable and needed to be put away.
If he was wrong about Dr. Manchester, she deserved to be prosecuted, as well.
Still, his gut churned as he left the room.
Chapter Five (#u402f873b-7859-5b97-9746-6a8a7e5d8571)
Frustration filled Brayden as he watched Lucas lock Mila Manchester in a holding cell.
He thought she was terrified and had been coerced. But what if her teary eyes and trembling hands were part of a well-orchestrated act?
Lessons learned in the past taunted him.
He’d been fooled once by a client’s lies. A pretty young woman who’d batted innocent-looking eyes at him and cried on his shoulder. A woman who’d used him to put her boyfriend away for a crime that she’d committed. He’d gotten her off, then realized that she was a manipulative user.
Thankfully, she’d tried her scam on another guy and been caught red-handed.
But he’d walked away feeling like a fool and had vowed never to fall for another pretty face again.
Still, the sight of the doctor’s forlorn expression as she sank onto that dingy narrow cot made his gut tighten.
He turned away and noticed the same frustration in Lucas’s scowl.
“Charlotte’s going to be angry,” Lucas said between gritted teeth.
Sympathy for Lucas swelled inside him. Charlotte had gone through hell because of the Shetland ring. She’d been injured, had lost her vision for some time and had been sick with worry about her students who’d been kidnapped. She had good reason to want DiSanti locked away.
The fact that she praised the doctor’s humanitarianism spoke volumes on Dr. Manchester’s behalf.
“What are you going to do?” he asked Lucas.
“Check out that lawyer,” Lucas said. “Maybe we can find something to charge him with and force Dr. Manchester’s hand.”
“I could talk to her coworkers,” Brayden offered.
Lucas shrugged. “You aren’t her lawyer, Brayden.”
Brayden walked beside Lucas until they reached the front door of the field office. “I know. But I might find out something to explain why Dr. Manchester performed surgery on that monster. It just doesn’t feel right.”
Lucas nodded. “I agree. I’ll get our analyst to pull up everything she can find on Polk as well as the doctor.”
“There has to be something DiSanti’s people used to force her to work for them,” Brayden said. “Maybe an indiscretion in the past.”
“Or maybe she met him when she was volunteering abroad,” Lucas suggested. “Seeing the vast needs and poverty in the underprivileged areas she visited may have driven her to accept money to fund her clinic.”
True. For Charlotte’s sake, he hoped not.
“You want me to drive Charlotte home?” Brayden asked.
Lucas shook his head. “I need to talk to her myself.”
He didn’t envy that conversation between his brother and Charlotte.
Meanwhile, he’d talk to Dexter. His PI skills could be helpful in finding information on the doctor’s clinic and her coworkers.
Talking to them might provide insight into what had driven Mila Manchester to break the law.
* * *
MILA DROPPED HER face into her hands, her body shaking with worry and fear. Where was Izzy now?
Was she safe? Was the nanny still with her? Or had the men taken Izzy somewhere else so the police couldn’t find her in case a neighbor reported a disturbance at the house?
She rose and paced the cell, her agitation mounting. The image of that man holding a gun to Roberta and Izzy taunted her. Izzy must be terrified.
She was only three. A tiny little pip-squeak of a girl with big dark eyes and an infectious laugh and an obsession with playing dress up. She loved dolls and pretending she was a princess with a tiara and poufy skirt.
But other times she liked to dig in the earth and play with worms and kick the soccer ball in the backyard.
Izzy had started a campaign to convince Santa to bring her a puppy for Christmas and had drawn pictures and cards of how she’d take care of the animal.
She liked strawberry ice cream with sprinkles and brownies and loved mac and cheese. She enjoyed making her own pizza and PB&J sandwiches. She snacked on carrots and cheese, and apples with peanut butter and wanted b-b’s, blueberries, for breakfast with her pancakes.
She hated tuna fish, turned her nose up at broccoli and stirred her green peas around on the plate to make it look like she’d eaten some when she hadn’t put a single pea in her mouth.
She was stubborn and loud and messy and got up way too early on the weekends, but Mila loved her with all her heart.
Another wave of fear washed over her.
Even if she did exactly what DiSanti’s men instructed her to do, how could she trust that they’d let her go and release Izzy and Roberta?
What if she did everything they demanded, but they killed her when they were finished?
What would happen to her daughter?
She heaved a breath, her lungs aching for air as panic seized her.
Would DiSanti keep her hostage or sell her into his sex slavery business when Izzy got older?
The thought made her so sick inside that she sank onto that thin mattress, then dropped her head down between her knees to keep from passing out.
* * *
BRAYDEN TRIED TO stay out of the way as Lucas explained the situation to his wife.
Charlotte burst into tears. “You can’t do this, Lucas,” Charlotte cried.
Lucas rubbed his wife’s arms. “Brayden offered to represent her, but this other lawyer showed up, and she deferred to him.”
“There has to be an explanation,” Charlotte said.
“If there is, we’ll get to the bottom of it.” Lucas wrapped his arms around Charlotte and hugged her, the bond between them so strong it made Brayden envious. When they pulled apart, he stroked her arms. “I’ll check out this lawyer tonight and see what I can find on him.”
He glanced at Brayden as if he needed backup, and Brayden fought a chuckle. Nothing scared Lucas more than failing his wife.
“Hang in there, Charlotte. I’m going to look into Dr. Manchester’s coworkers and see if they know what’s going on,” Brayden said.
She still looked worried, but she nodded and thanked him.
Brayden said good-night to them then hurried out to his SUV. As soon as he got inside, he phoned Dexter and explained the situation.
“I’ll see what I can dig up on her and her staff,” Dexter said.
