Delores Fossen - Daddy Devastating

“Identical twin.” Which explained the match in the DNA. Identical twins didn’t have the same fingerprints, but the standard DNA test couldn’t distinguish one from the other.

She shook her head. “But your brother didn’t come up during Sentron’s search.”

“He wouldn’t have. RJ is … was black ops for the CIA. It would have taken more than Sentron or a traffic camera to find anything on him. All of his real records were sealed years ago.”

Her gaze slashed to his. “Was?”

“Was,” Russ repeated. And he repeated it again to give himself time to clear the lump in his throat. “He was killed on assignment nine months ago, probably just days after he met your cousin. He’s the reason I was in San Antonio at that bank. I was the beneficiary of his estate, and I had some paperwork to sign.”

“He’s dead,” Julia mumbled. But she continued to volley glances between the photo and him. “And you really are who you said you are—Russell Gentry?”

“Russ,” he said, automatically making the correction. Russell had been his dad’s name, and he wasn’t comfortable calling himself that.

The answer had no sooner left his mouth when her cell rang, and in the dimly lit car, he saw Sentron Securities flash on her caller ID screen.

Russ merely motioned for her to answer it.

“Burke,” she said, placing the call on speaker. “You have something for me?”

“Julia, he’s telling you the truth. Russell Gentry is an FBI agent.”

She pulled in a hard breath. “Thank you, Burke.”

“I’m sorry about this, Julia. We dug as deep as we could go, and we didn’t find his FBI records.”

Russ cut off what sounded like just the beginning of an apologetic explanation. “Silas Duran will clear up loose ends with you,” Russ informed the security specialist, and he reached over, took her phone and clicked it off.

“I’m sorry—” Julia began.

But he cut her off, too. “Sorry won’t help. The only thing that will help is damage control, and that’s about to get started.”

Julia nodded and handed him back the picture.

“What can I do?”

“For now, you can go back to your hotel, take the baby and return to San Antonio. Did you fly or drive here?”

“I drove. Emily’s only two weeks old. She’s too young to fly.”

Well, in some ways that made it easier. No trip to and from the airport, but that meant she had to go about a hundred and fifty miles to get home safely.

“You have some kind of security system, I assume?” he asked.

Another nod, but her eyes widened with alarm. “You think Emily could be in danger? “

She shoved the car in gear and darted out of the parking lot. The tires squealed and kicked up bits of rock that spattered against the car. She didn’t stop there. She grabbed her cell and made another call.

“I need to speak to the nanny. Don’t worry. I won’t mention you,” she explained. “Zoey,” she said, when the nanny answered. “I need you to make sure the door is locked. Don’t let anyone in until I get there.”

Julia ended the call, but she continued to mumble to herself.

Russ actually welcomed this high level of concern. It might get her to cooperate. “The baby’s probably not in danger … probably,” he emphasized. “But I don’t want to take any chances.” He carefully placed the photo back in his wallet and put it in his pocket. “After all, she’s my niece.”

Russ mentally repeated that. He was an uncle.

Later, he’d come to terms with that and the fact that RJ had fathered a child he’d never seen, never even known about. But that had to wait.

“I have a security system,” Julia explained. “Supposedly, it’s the best money can buy. And I can hire bodyguards. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Emily safe.”

Russ nodded. “I’ll arrange to have an agent or a cop follow you home. And once I’ve wrapped up things down here, I’ll contact you.”

She had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. “Milo can’t hurt her.”

She was taking his warning very seriously, but there was no reason for Milo to go after Emily.

Because she looked ready to lose it, Russ reached over and skimmed his hand down her arm. Why, he didn’t know. After everything she’d just learned about him, his touch probably wasn’t very comforting.

“How badly did I mess up your investigation?” Julia asked. She stopped when the light turned red and drummed her fingers impatiently until it turned green. She gunned the engine.

“I can salvage it,” he assured her.

But Russ wasn’t certain of that at all. Still, he had no choice but to try.

Julia pulled to a quick stop in the parking lot of the Wainwright Hotel. Even though it had three floors, it was a fairly small building and only had about two dozen rooms. He’d already guessed that that was where she’d be staying, since it was the nicest hotel in a town that was seriously lacking nice things. The outskirts of the town were okay—more family oriented; and more likely than not, if you were in downtown San Saba, you were looking for trouble.

“Let me call my partner, Silas Duran,” he told her. “He can make the arrangements for a security escort, and I can wait with you until everything is in place, so you can leave.”

“You trust this Silas?” she asked.

Russ nearly gave her an automatic yes—but stopped. He settled for a nod.

Silas was a fellow agent and probably well trained. But Russ didn’t like that Silas had only been on this case for a couple of days. He also didn’t like that Silas might have pulled strings to get the assignment. That’s the way it seemed to Russ, anyway. But that was a problem for him to mull over when he had more time.

She opened her door and looked at him. She nibbled lightly on her bottom lip, caught it between her teeth for several seconds. “I suppose you want to see Emily?”

He did. But the timing was all wrong.

Or was it?

Russ didn’t know how long it would take to get this investigation back on track, and he couldn’t leave San Saba until Milo put him in touch with the head honcho—the slimeball only identified as Z. Russ wanted to find Z and lock him away for a long, long time for what he’d done. If it took him weeks or longer to do that, it would be weeks before he first got to see his niece.

“Yeah,” Russ heard himself say. “I’d like to see her. I won’t stay long.”

He had to pay an uncle’s tribute to his dead brother’s child and give Julia a promise that he would be back as soon as he could.

Since Julia was obviously too anxious to stay put any longer, Russ took out his phone and called Silas while they made their way into the hotel. He also kept watch around them, and breathed a little easier, once they made it into the lobby.

“Russ,” Silas answered, “I was just about to call you.”

Oh, no. Even though he’d only been working with Silas a short time, he knew that tone, and this wasn’t good news.

“Where are you now?” Silas asked.

“With Julia Howell.” Ahead of him, Julia made it to the elevator and jabbed the up button. “She’s about to leave for her estate, but I need to request a security detail for her.”

“We have a problem. She can’t leave,” Silas said.

Russ hoped he’d misunderstood. “What do you mean?”

“I mean she can’t leave. If she does, this investigation is over, and you get to start it from scratch.”

Because he might lose signal in the elevator, Russ clamped onto Julia’s arm to stop her from stepping into it.

“I need to check on Emily,” she insisted.

Russ pulled her to the side so he could continue this conversation, a discussion that he was positive he wasn’t going to like.