Page 86 of Her Reluctant Hero
But Alex wanted to pound Saldana into the ground anyway. Likely that was the reason the captain wouldn’t allow him into the interrogation room. Alex had promised Bella he’d stay and learn what he could about Hector. He just hadn’t had the chance and the helplessness was making him restless.
He might feel better if Saldana was talking, but he remained stoically silent, hands folded on the table, eyes focused on the mirror, telegraphing some sort of message. Perhaps he thought Isabella was watching.
Agent Michaels entered the room, holding a folder. Ignoring Alex, he walked to the window and knocked to draw the captain’s attention.
“What is that?” Alex asked, gesturing to the folder.
“More information we got off the drive the mistress brought us.”
“Isabella Canales,” Alex corrected. He knew what she’d been, could live with it, but he didn’t want others thinking of her like that. Like he had. Judging her. “She risked her life to get the drive from Saldana’a office and bring it to us.”
Agent Michaels shot him a glance. “Right. It should come in handy now. This stuff should get a rise out of him.”
“He’s waiting for his lawyer.”
“Lawyer’s been held up at security.” Michaels’ grin was quick. “Too bad.”
“Any information in there that might tell us where he stashed the kid?”
Michaels turned to face him full-on now. “You’re still worried about that?”
“She wants her kid back. The least you can give her in exchange for all that.” He nodded to the stack of papers in the folder.
Michaels flipped open the folder, thumbed through the pages. “I think there were some real estate records in here, other houses Saldana owns. Poor kid doesn’t stand a chance, though, with either parent. You gotta wonder if the state will let her keep him. Here you go. Three more properties Saldana owns, none in the US. He probably stashed the kid in one of those places.”
Alex trembled with the desire to slam the agent into the wall for saying those things about Isabella, but hadn’t he thought the same? He hated himself for having made those judgments about her.
But he pushed the desire aside, thinking of the joy he’d bring Isabella when he told her he’d found Hector. He could already imagine the way her eyes would shine. He grabbed the folder from Michaels, jotted the information down on a scrap of paper and slapped the manila folder against Michaels’ chest.
“For the record,” he said. “She’s the strongest, bravest woman I’ve known. You keep that asshole in here so he doesn’t touch her again.”
Isabella was numb on the flight to Belize. Alex had been so excited when he’d burst into her hotel room, scaring the hell out of her, and had gotten surly when she didn’t respond the way he thought she would. Didn’t he realize how afraid she was to hope that she’d find her son? She’d been crushed so many times.
So she’d sat silently while he made arrangements for a friend of a friend to fly them down immediately. He’d lost his temper when she insisted she needed a new dress for the occasion. The only way she’d convinced him to stop at a department store was because she didn’t even have shoes. He didn’t understand that everything had to be perfect when she saw her son again.
She tightened her grip on the toy puppy Alex had grabbed while she changed into the red knit dress. That he’d thought of her son, of something to please him, made her heart swell with more emotion she had to squash. One step at a time.
She caught her reflection in the plane’s window. She hadn’t been able to do anything about the bruises and swelling on her face, and had been painfully aware of the stares she and Alex had received. That only made his mood worse, and he hadn’t said much on the flight so far.
Now the plane was circling, and Isabella’s thoughts right along with it.Please, God, let him be here. Please, God, let me hold him. Please, God, let this be over, even if it means saying goodbye to Alex.
He was watching her now, gauging her reaction, she supposed. Unable to meet whatever expectations he might have of her, she turned and looked out the window at the green land, the blue water, her son’s favorite colors. She hummed softly to herself, the Black Eyed Peas song she’d altered to teach her son his colors, as the plane circled, then touched down on a tiny airfield near the coast.
An SUV waited for them. Alex took her arm as he guided her toward it, casting a disgusted glance at her new heels.
“Didn’t you learn anything this past week?”
“I learned I can run barefoot,” she retorted, then opened her bag to show him the Keds she’d picked up. “I learned how to be prepared.”
His grin surprised her as he opened the passenger door for her. “I wonder if I’ll ever figure you the hell out.”
A little pop of joy burst in her chest. Did that mean he was going to stick around once this was over? No, no. One step at a time.
She gripped the armrest in the SUV as Alex guided it over rough roads, then, using the GPS as a guide, up a winding road, trees thick on both sides. Isabella’s heart hammered in anticipation and fear. On the plane, Alex had assured her getting Hector out of the compound wouldn’t be difficult. He carried paperwork that verified her claim of parenthood and more that showed Santiago was in jail, and would be for a long time. Still, she’d feel more secure if the Rangers had come with them.
The road made a final turn, revealing an Italian-style mansion overlooking the Caribbean. The stucco walls gleamed in the sunlight, the arched windows reflected it. The house itself was surrounded by bougainvillea and hibiscus, thriving in the tropical climate. A wall matching the house ran the length of the yard, and a moment passed before Isabella found the wrought-iron gate, hidden from the road.
This compound wasn’t hiding. It was huge and looming and actually pretty. Why couldn’t Santiago have kept her here?
