Delores Fossen - Reining in Justice

Of course. Jewell . Yet another source of bad blood between them.

Jewell McKinnon and Addison were friends despite their age difference, and Jewell was his boss’s estranged mother. Estranged in a very bad way because twenty-three years ago, Jewell had abandoned her sons and husband and left town under a cloud of suspicion that she’d murdered her lover. Well, the suspicion had caught up with her, and now Jewell was in jail waiting on her upcoming murder trial.

A trial that would put Addison and Reed at odds yet again since Addison believed Jewell was 100 percent innocent. He thought the woman was as guilty as sin. Plus, Reed wasn’t exactly fond of Jewell abandoning people he cared about—like Jewell’s sons.

“Call the county jail,” she insisted. “Make sure these men don’t go after Jewell.”

“The jail’s secure,” Reed reminded her, and he tried to make her sit back down. “If those men show up there, they’ll be caught.”

Of course, Reed doubted they’d get that lucky or the men would be that stupid. It was ironic, but right now Jewell was safer than the rest of them.

“I also called my attorney, Dominic Harrelson,” Addison quickly added. “You think they’d go after him?”

Reed couldn’t rule that out so he made a quick call to the sheriff, Cooper McKinnon, and asked him to have someone check on the attorney. “Who else did you contact?” he pressed when he’d finished the call.

“No one. I’ve been spending all my time with Emily. I haven’t had much time for anything else.”

For the investigation, that was a good thing. Fewer contacts meant fewer people might be in danger.

Of course, Reed had no idea how many people were involved in this.

The door opened again, and Reed automatically moved away from Addison so he could stand in front of her. However, it wasn’t the kidnappers or the nurse. But rather Colt. And Reed hadn’t moved fast enough away from Addison, because Colt had seen the close contact between them.

Colt frowned, added something that Reed didn’t need to catch to understand. His fellow deputy certainly knew the emotional wringer Reed had been through with Addison and the divorce. Reed was right there with Colt in the disapproval department, and he made a note to keep his hands off Addison.

Reed soon realized, though, it wasn’t just the close-contact stuff that’d put the look on Colt’s face. Colt and he had been deputies together for over six years, and that was plenty enough time for Reed to know something was wrong.

“Before the CSI team could get out there and have a look around, someone torched Addison’s house,” Colt explained. He’d said it practically under his breath, but Addison must have heard it, because she gasped and clutched the baby even closer to her.

“They burned down my aunt’s house?” she asked. And even though Reed had told himself that there’d be no more close contact, he took hold of Addison again because she looked ready to sink to the floor.

“They did cleanup, too, of the blood in the yard,” Colt added. “Still, they might have left something behind.”

Addison was mumbling, shaking her head.

And crying.

Yes, the tears came, too, but Reed tried to focus on what this turn of events meant. The men were pros, definitely. Someone with lots of money and with a whopper of a motive. But what?

Everything that Addison had said and done in the past couple of days could be critical to finding out what they wanted.

And how to stop them.

“I have to get out of here,” Addison insisted.

Colt and Reed exchanged glances. “She needs to give us a statement about what happened,” Colt reminded him.

Reed hadn’t forgotten that, but he also didn’t think Addison was in any shape to do it right now. Except he rethought that when he looked at her. She was still pale. Still well past the shaky stage, but she met him eye to eye.

“What can I do to stop them?” she asked.

That was a good question, but it wasn’t the foremost one in Reed’s mind. “We’ll be the ones doing the stopping. You need to be in protective custody.”

She blinked. “Yours?”

Reed went through the options. There weren’t that many.

Either Addison would have to be with him or she’d have to stay with one of Jewell’s sons—sons who disliked Addison because of her friendship with their murdering, abandoning mother. With the trial bearing down on them, that would breach all sorts of legal issues because Addison would no doubt be called as a character witness for Jewell.

“I’ll stay with you for now,” Reed said. But he’d remedy that soon even if he had to call in the Rangers or the marshals.

“Take her statement, Reed,” Colt added over his shoulder as he left.

He intended to do just that, but something wasn’t right here. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. That something wasn’t right feeling only got worse when Addison dodged his gaze again.

“Who was involved in the adoption?” he asked Addison, and that was when Reed noticed she’d gone pale again.

Hell.

“You did cut corners,” he spat out.

She swallowed hard. “Not like you’re thinking. I went through a private agency called Dearborn, but they don’t only do adoptions.” She paused, gathered her breath. “They have surrogates.”

“Surrogates,” he repeated. Reed gave that a moment to sink in.

It didn’t sink in well.

Oh, man.

“I hired a surrogate to carry her,” she said. Addison’s gaze came to his. “Emily is our baby.”

Chapter Four

The only thing Addison could do now was wait for the fallout. And there would be fallout. She was certain of it. She’d just delivered a bombshell to Reed. One that was going to make him hate her even more than he already did.

If that was possible.

Reed’s gaze rifled from her. To Emily. And back again.

“Oh, man,” he said, and Reed just kept repeating it while he got up and went to the other side of the stall. As far away from Addison as he could get.

“I’m sorry,” Addison said.

That covered a multitude of things but not Emily herself. Addison wasn’t sorry at all that she had her precious little girl, but she’d made mistakes to get the baby.

Well, one big mistake anyway.

Reed groaned, put his hands on the sides of his head and turned away from her. For several long moments he stood there, repeating that “Oh, man” before he swung back around to face her.

“It’s true,” Reed said. Not a question exactly, but Addison nodded. “How? Why?” he asked.

His questions no doubt covered a multitude of things, too, so Addison started from the beginning. Well, the beginning after the end of their marriage, that is. The past year had been eventful to say the least.

“Six weeks after we separated, I got the divorce papers your lawyer sent. Even though I’d known they were coming, I was still shaken up.” A massive understatement, but it wasn’t something Reed would want to hear now.

Maybe not ever.

He’d washed his hands of their marriage and wasn’t the sort to take treks down memory lane.

“As you know, I’d already had two miscarriages and three failed in vitro procedures, and there was only one of our embryos left in storage,” she continued. “I figured I stood a better chance of having it work with a surrogate than me trying again.”

His jaw muscles seemed to freeze. Not his eyes, though. He glared at her. “And you didn’t think you should include me in a decision like that?”

“Of course I did, but I knew you’d say no. And at that point, I knew I couldn’t live with a no. I wanted a baby, and I was desperate and willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.”