Page 85 of Nothing to This

And with a child growing inside her, the woman had perspective on the privilege of parenthood.

“You flew straight here from New York?”the head S.I.S.guy asked Roxanna.

“Jane and I were already in the air.We diverted from LA to Seattle.”

Chief Security was either grateful or impressed.“You have an audience, Rox.”

“Yes.At your disposal.I have a laptop ready to go.”

“It’s more grassroots than anything we have access to and it’s global.”

Oh, God, she hadn’t thought about that.Would someone smuggle her child out of the country?They weren’t just looking in the city, they had a whole planet to cover, and Sky was so small.She’d never been aware of how many closed doors there were in the world.Now, with her daughter captive behind one, they were all she could think about.

“I’ll get on it,” Roxanna said.“Stone…” That was the head guy’s name, yes, she remembered.“If this is—”

“We’ve got it handled.”

Stone touched Roxanna’s jaw for a second.

“Where’s Zairn on this?”JD asked.

“On calls, audio and video, pulling people out of beds and meetings.He won’t stop.Rourke is going higher, to the top.If you need an address or a statement from the head guy, we’ll get it.And if you need black ops…” Roxanna took Lilya’s hand.“There’s no limit to your resources.”

“Why would you do this?There’s no negotiation—”

“We understand family too.Maybe you were the cousin no one invited to dinner, but you’re a part of our sphere.You became one of us the moment you dropped Gramercy for the sake of Kintyre’s unborn child.”

Unborn.That was the only time a mother could safeguard her child.Even then it wasn’t absolute.While pregnant, she took fewer risks, maybe.Either way, she must’ve done something right.Her children arrived in the world perfect and innocent.Now their parents’ deeds could cost one of them their life.

Still saying things that she couldn’t hear beyond the ringing in her ears, JD, Stone, and one woman walked over to the dining table in the background of her awareness.

“How are you doing?”

A woman’s voice, a…

Shit, it wasn’t in her to be friendly.“I’m sorry, Ms.Kyst, I don’t mean to be rude—”

“But you couldn’t give a shit about small talk right now,” the woman said, putting an arm around her to guide her toward the living room.“And it’s Roxie, please.”

“Do you have children?”

“Not in 3D,” Roxie said, earning herself a frown, she shook her head.“Never mind, sorry.No, we don’t have children.”

“You’re theTalk at Sunsetwoman.Didn’t I read somewhere you’re pregnant?”

“Just the media making the news.”

They sat together on the stairs.“Before this, it didn’t really occur to me that JD might be famous… or have famous connections.”

“That we hope will come in useful.Fame is one thing and power is another.How long have you and JD been together?”

“We’re not, we haven’t been.It’s…”

“Complicated?”Roxie took her hand on a smile.“Yeah, I’ve been there.”

“Do you think it’s why…?JD said he’d pay any ransom, but we’ve had no communication from—not that they’ve told me.We’ve had our differences, especially recently, but… he loves his children.”

“I don’t doubt that he does.”