Page 6 of Forever His (The Donovans: Secret Son #6)
Tia
Two days later
Los Angeles
She was waiting for him when he returned to their suite at the hotel. The text message she’d sent him half an hour ago said she would be. It also said “it’s time”.
Trent walked into the living room area to music playing and the doors to the balcony open. There was a bottle of wine opened on the bar and one glass, which meant she was probably already enjoying a glass out on the balcony by herself. Yes, she was waiting for him.
He sighed as he ran a hand down the back of his head and made his way to the bar and that wine. It wasn’t going to be enough, but he’d had something stronger while he was at the restaurant at The Gramercy with Linc and Adam.
That had gone as well as Trent suspected it would. His brothers were angry and hurt, and worried.
“What’s the news on Bailey?” Linc asked the moment Trent took his seat at the table.
His brothers had arrived before him. Trent expected that from Linc since he actually worked in the building, but Adam was just showing off.
“Yeah,” Adam added. “It’s been over a week since Devlin told us she was gone.”
Trent took a sip from his glass of water before sitting back in his seat and addressing his brothers. The news wasn’t good and they weren’t going to like it. Hell, Trent didn’t like it himself.
“Dev said everything in her apartment was in place so she must have left for work that morning and was taken before she could arrive at the D&D offices in Greenwich,” Trent began.
He’d been over these facts with Dev more times than he could count and hated that there wasn’t much more to be added to them.
“Her car was found parked in a garage in Hartford. Nothing seemed out of place there either. Dev checked it out himself. He also had a forensic guy come out and go over every inch of the car. Nothing. Well, nothing that didn’t belong to Bailey,” he added.
“Unbelievable,” Adam blurted out. “So she just vanished. No ransom note, no phone call. Nothing.”
“This is not about money,” Linc offered.
Trent concurred. “No, Roslyn doesn’t give a damn about money at this point. Her revenge is set on suffering. The more she can inflict, the better she feels about the situation.”
“Stupid bitch!” was Adam’s next comment.
Trent couldn’t help but agree with his younger brother.
“Dev’s been retracing her steps. Everyone at D&D in Connecticut is working on this as a priority case, but they’re coming up empty. Meaning that she’s most likely not in the area anymore.”
“What a minute,” Linc said leaning both his elbows on the table as he looked at Trent. “Who are we thinking has her at this point? Do we think Roslyn burned down mom and dad’s house and then flew cross country to kidnap Bailey? Why? She could have stayed here and kidnapped someone?”
“Yeah, but who?” Adam asked. “I guess she had her pick of the Donovan families here on the west coast, but how did she narrow it down to who she wanted?”
“The only women here were married into the family. Dad and Uncle Everette don’t have any daughters,” Trent told them.
“If she’d gone up to Seattle she could have had Brynne, but none of us have seen or heard from her in weeks.
So if she’s looking to continue to hurt the Donovans, it’s logical to want a naturally born Donovan, not a married one, working on the assumption that the bond might be stronger.
Aside from Keysa, who’s very pregnant right now and Regan who just gave birth a few months ago and is under constant security courtesy officers from Miami PD as a favor to Gavin, Bailey was next in line. ”
Trent had just thought of this a few days ago as he’d spoken to Dev again.
The discussion had been tense, as most of Trent’s calls with Dev had been lately.
Trent wanted to be a more active participant in searching for his cousin, but Dev insisted Trent focus more on the fire.
So, that left Dev and the other D&D staff to talk to possible witnesses and to follow up on any leads they found regarding Bailey’s kidnapping.
But when Trent had shared his theory with Dev about why Bailey was taken, his friend had agreed she was the best target.
“I’m sure she didn’t go quietly,” Linc said.
Trent had to shake his head at that one. “Not at all. Bailey might have been the best target, but she certainly wasn’t the easiest. I’m betting she’s giving them hell right now.”
“So you think she’s still alive?” Adam asked. “You think Roslyn has her and she’s still alive?”
Trent wasn’t totally willing to say that much.
He just didn’t want to bullshit his brothers or anyone else for that matter.
He’d been in these situations before and sometimes they didn’t turn out well.
If he could prepare everyone in his family for that fact he would, but Trent could barely wrap his own mind around it.
“I’ll tell you what I told Uncle Albert when I spoke to him on the phone last night. I don’t think Roslyn’s plan is to hurt Bailey immediately. Why kidnap her if she just wanted to kill her?” Trent posed the question to them and was pleased to see both of them following his line of thought.
“So we still need to get to her before Roslyn does whatever it is she’s planning to do?” Linc asked.
“Yes,” Trent replied.
“And how do we do that? Have we asked Amber if Roslyn has been in contact with her family?”
“I talked to Brandon and I think Dev called Amber himself the moment we found out Bailey was missing. They haven’t seen or heard from her and Brandon’s trying to keep Amber as stress free as possible.
She had a scare with the pregnancy early last week,” Trent told them, his mind immediately wandering to Tia and their plans for another baby.
Adam sighed heavily. “Really? What happened?”
“Something about spotting and cramping, Brandon said. They’re putting off wedding plans and she’s in Houston with him on strict bed rest for the next few weeks. They want to at least get her through the first trimester without any more issues,” Trent reported.
Linc nodded. “The first trimester can be hard. I know Jade was touch and go those early months too, especially since she was carrying twins.”
“Camille’s biggest problems were morning sickness, but man, after watching her get so sick and barely have the energy to crawl back in the bed some mornings, I was scared out of my mind. I can’t imagine going through any real pregnancy problems,” Adam said.
Trent didn’t want to imagine it either. The entire time Tia had been pregnant with Trevor, Trent had thought back two years prior when Tia had miscarried with her daughter.
Sure, it had been as a result of trauma caused by a car accident, but the baby had died just the same.
As hard as Trent had worked during that time to keep Tia optimistic and assured that she would not miscarry again, he’d never been totally convinced of that fact himself.
Fear had clawed at him each and every day until the moment Trevor was delivered, and even then, since it had taken what seemed like endless moments for his son to cry, he’d still been afraid of the possibility.
What was he going to do a second time? How was he going to cope when he had to watch his wife go through another pregnancy for another nine months?
“Brandon’s going to take good care of her,” Trent commented. “Now, we need to talk about taking care of mom and dad.”
“Good luck with that,” Adam quipped. “Those two are too stubborn to help. Dad’s brooding and mom…I don’t really know what she’s doing.”
“It’s been frustrating,” Linc said. “We’ve been out to the property and it’s all gone. I mean, what’s there is burnt and destroyed. I could strangle that woman with my bare hands for doing this to us.”
“Did she do this to us or was she pushed into it?” Trent asked the question that Tia had posed to him the night of the fire when he’d been raging and saying basically the same thing Linc just had.
“What? Are you serious? How can this be anybody’s fault but hers?” Adam asked. “Normal people don’t hold grudges over a broken heart for more than thirty years, Trent. And normal people certainly don’t start having people killed to get their point across.”
“Look,” Trent said holding up both hands toward his brothers. “I’m not defending her in any way, I’m just saying that we need to look at this objectively. It’s the only way we’re going to be able to get a step ahead of her in this.”
The brothers were quiet then, each of them stewing over their own thoughts.
“Have you talked to Dane?” Trent asked Linc.
Linc frowned. “Why am I the designated Dane Handler?”
“Because you’re the oldest cousin. He’s closest to your age and um, did you forget that you volunteered for that job when we were waiting for the DNA results?” was Trent’s quick retort.
Defeated this time, Linc replied, “No. I haven’t spoken to him since he found out who his father is.”
Trent nodded. “So the mess is still piling up.” He sighed. “In the meantime, mom and dad are thinking of building a house on the beach.”
“What? Why not rebuild on the property they already own? Show Roslyn Ausby that we cannot be beaten?” Adam raged.
“I think, to some extent, they have been, Adam,” Trent added quietly.
“Tia and I spent the entire afternoon with them and they’re barely talking to each other.
The tension is so thick it’s hard to even breathe.
The only solace was Trevor. They both loved him being near, so much so they wanted him to stay in their penthouse tonight instead of coming back to the room with Tia and I.
He’ll be their distraction until we leave town tomorrow. ”
Linc was first to agree with Trent. “Mom’s been to the house almost daily to see the girls. One day last week she picked up Jordan and Josiah and had them all at my house in the pool. She’s filling her time with her grandchildren because she doesn’t want to be around her husband.”