Page 32 of Single Mom’s Undoing (Lucky Lady Reverse Harems #1)

DAMON

W e’re not strangers to Baker City. Some of our clients run businesses here—businesses that require our personnel and intelligence resources, which is good, because those very resources can help track Clara down.

Our quest takes us to the city hospital, where Clara was scheduled to bring Matty in for surgery.

“They never showed up,” the head nurse says as she goes through the hospital’s patient registration database on her computer. “We tried calling several times, but according to my colleague’s notes, they weren’t able to get through.”

“Did Clara provide you with a correspondence address?” Carter asks, his brow furrowed as he leans over the counter.

“It’s in Blackthorn Falls,” the nurse replies.

“The cabin,” Jace mutters. “That won’t help.”

“She was staying here in Baker City for the duration of Matty’s surgery and treatment,” I say. “Somewhere close to the hospital or with easy access to it, anyway. Can you think of hotels or motels she might’ve opted for?”

The nurse thinks about it for a moment. “I’ll pull up a list for you, if that helps.”

“Thank you; it does. It’ll narrow down our search,” I reply.

“Is she okay?”

“We hope so,” I say with a weak smile.

“You’re the father of the child,” the nurse says to Carter.

“Yes, ma’am.” He takes out a business card and gives it to her. “Please, call right away if Clara reaches out. Please.”

“Will do.”

“Thank you.”

By the time we’re back in the car, our tempers are flaring. My patience is running thin. Carter keeps cursing under his breath, trying to figure out what we’re going to do next, while Jace sits quietly in the back, tapping away at his laptop.

I glance back at him. “What are you doing?”

“I just tapped into the city’s CCTV system.”

“What?” Carter whips his head around. “Jace, that’s insanely illegal. It could get traced back to your IP.”

“Nope. I’m using a darknet-acquired VPN mask,” he replies with a cool grin. “Hey, man, we agreed. No matter what it takes. This qualifies. Besides, with the list of hotels that the nurse gave you, it helps me narrow down the grid search across the city’s cameras.”

“You can’t just stare at camera footage until you spot Clara somewhere,” I say .

Jace shakes his head. “I don’t have to. I’m pairing the grid search with a facial recognition add-on. It’s sending Clara and Matty’s pictures into the system as the algorithm combs through every frame within the parameters. We should get results soon.”

Carter pinches the bridge of his nose. “I don’t understand what possessed her to do this, Damon. We were doing good. We were together. She knew we weren’t going to let anything happen to her.”

“I hate to say this, but given what we’ve just learned about her past with Bill and what Jodie told you about his visit from last week,” I reply, carefully choosing my words, “what if he threatened her?”

“Threatened her?”

Jace nods. “He paid her off once after she saw him kill her brother. I’d say that tracks, Carter. Sorry, man, but your father is a fucking monster.”

“Jace, please,” Carter replies. “I’m not contesting that, I’m just wondering what his angle could be at this point.”

“Well, let’s look at it from his perspective, as best we can,” I suggest. “Bill has at least one dark secret, and Clara knows about it. Bill also knows that Matty is your son by blood, which makes him a Lockwood, and Bill is all about bloodlines and heirs like he’s some kind of fucking royalty.”

“He offered Clara more money to take Matty and leave, though,” Jace interjects.

“A knee-jerk reaction perhaps. His secret staying a secret matters more than anything else. He could’ve just killed her, but she is Matty’s mother. Maybe Bill still has some shred of conscience left. ”

“But then Clara would’ve stayed,” Carter says. “We’re missing something.”

“Something must’ve happened between Bill’s visit from last week and the night Clara decided to leave,” Jace mutters.

“That makes more sense,” I reply.

“And I think I know why she was so scared,” he adds, turning his laptop around so we can all see what’s on the screen. “I found footage of her at a motel on the edge of Baker City. It’s got a direct route to the hospital. This is Clara checking in a couple of nights ago.”

I watch footage of her as she pays for the room and gets a key from the motel receptionist. Jace keeps tapping on the mousepad, following her around from one camera to another. Slowly but surely, we retrace her steps from the moment she checked in, my heart tightening with each passing frame.

“She seems fine,” I say.

“Give it a second,” Jace replies and speeds through the footage.

That’s when we see it. The dreadful moment in which she and Matty are accosted outside her room. The woman jabs her shoulder with what looks like a syringe. The man takes Clara, while the woman takes Matty. My blood boils as the scene unfolds.

“This happened yesterday morning,” Jace says.

“Run facial rec on those two,” Carter replies.

The color has drained from his cheeks. His eyes are dark with deadly rage as he takes deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He knows he needs a clear head in order to figure out who took Clara and his son.

Watching it fills me with genuine, soul-crippling fear.

They kidnapped our woman.

They took Matty.

Jace turns the laptop back toward himself so he can input specific details and frames. “Running facial rec,” he says.

“Who the fuck are they?” I ask Carter. “Who the fuck would take her and Matty like that? It looked targeted, organized, well-planned.”

“Shit,” Jace exclaims. “I’ve got them.”

He shows us the screen again, two clear employee files with pictures of the man and woman from the motel footage.

“Wyatt Smith and Laura Wells. The names don’t sound familiar. Do we know them?”

“No, but Bill might,” Jace says.

That prompts an eyebrow raise from Carter. “How so?”

“They’re both employees with Lockwood Mills do it.”

He hangs up, pressing his lips tightly together.

“Got it,” Jace says. “They drove out in a red Camry. The license plates were captured through the state’s road cam grid. With a little bit of luck, we’ll find out where they went.”

“We might already know where they went,” I mumble. Carter gives me a wondering, almost-desperate look. “Well, they work for Bill. We all know they probably acted on his orders. Where’s your father now?”

“I’m not sure,” he says, briefly lowering his gaze. “But I’m going to find out.”

“We should drive back to Blackthorn Falls. There’s nothing left for us to do here,” Jace advises. “I’ve got the traffic cam search on, and I’ll give you updates as they pop up.”

It’s better than sitting here in the hospital parking lot, fiddling with our thumbs and letting the worst-case scenarios overwhelm us. My judgment is clouded enough as it is. I need to focus. I need clarity so that I can be fully present when we do find Clara.

“Why would he fucking do this?” Carter wonders aloud as he drives out of the parking lot. “I mean, it doesn’t make sense. ”

“I think there’s a much harder question we need to ask here,” I say.

“What’s that?”

“How far are you willing to go to protect Matty, Clara, and the baby she’s carrying, given what you’ve learned?” I ask.

Carter keeps his eyes on the road, but I can see the muscle ticking angrily in his jaw. “Everything and anything, Damon. She’s the love of my life. He’s my son. And that is our kid she’s carrying. My father took her away from us once. I can’t let him do it again.”

“Think we should get the Feds involved?” Jace asks.

“Let’s figure out what his endgame is first,” Carter replies. “There’s no way he’s getting out of this unscathed; I promise you that much.”

I believe him.

Bill Lockwood crossed the one line he never should’ve crossed with his own son. He backed Carter into a corner. And Carter doesn’t like corners very much. He fights tooth and nail, blood and bone, to get himself out of them every time.

Something tells me Bill Lockwood’s turn is coming.

And it’s coming soon.