Chapter Thirty-Three
F or three days, Rio and Becca waited for word. Sarah was unfailingly kind, and took Becca on more horseback rides. She was quick, funny, and tough. Becca liked her.
At night, she slept warm and snug in Rio’s arms, his big body curved around hers. It felt right. And it felt good. Becca never wanted her time with him to end. She couldn’t bear to face the day when he might wish to part from her. So, she didn’t think about it. When those thoughts arose, she pushed them firmly aside.
On their fourth afternoon, she and Rio sat together on the screened porch, enjoying a cool glass of white wine. Sarah was busy with chores and Jim had gone to town for a tractor part. Beyond the porch, the alfalfa fields gave way to the towering mountain range. Two blue jays winged past.
Rio held Becca’s hand, their fingers linked. He smiled at her.
“Sarah shared with me how you two came to have a home here with Big Jim,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
His smile didn’t falter. “I don’t mind.”
His easygoing attitude encouraged her. “Well, I’m curious. Do you ever wonder about your mother and your true father?”
“Big Jim is my true father.” His smile abruptly faded.
“I’m sorry,” she rushed out. “Of course he is. I meant your natural father.”
“The sperm donor?” He scoffed. “Why should I spend a second thinking about him? I don’t even know if my mother told him she was pregnant. For all I know, he has no idea I’m even alive.”
Becca nodded, and squeezed his hand. She’d gone plenty far enough with her probing. Time to drop the subject.
“You’ll make a good mother,” he said out of the blue. “You’re responsible, logical, affectionate. Any kid of yours coming into this world will grow up lucky.”
“Thank you,” she said, touched by his praise. He sounded sincere.
To hide her pinkening cheeks, she sipped her wine. She felt certain that a child of Rio’s would also be lucky, but she couldn’t voice that thought. If they had children together, how blessed they’d be as parents.
She couldn’t say that aloud either. She imagined, only briefly, nursing a little boy of his. He’d be blue-eyed, with golden baby curls. How adorable he’d be. How wonderful. Awed at her own thoughts, she marveled at herself. Until then, she hadn’t even known she wanted children. But she did. Suddenly, she was certain. Stealing a glance at his handsome profile, her heart pounded.
To keep her thoughts private, she took more sips of wine. Because he’d never mentioned any promise of a future relationship, he could never know her fantasies. The glass quickly emptied.
“You’re swilling that wine like a sailor on leave,” Rio said with a laugh. “It’s only afternoon. Maybe you’ll want to slow it down a little?”
Becca managed an innocent smile. She held out her empty vessel. “This country air is invigorating. I’ll slow down after the next one. Another glass, please?”
****
O n the fifth day, Agent Webster phoned to tell them it was all over. Rio, Big Jim, Sarah and Becca gathered once again around the kitchen table. Rio put the phone on speaker so they could all hear.
“The sting went down without a hitch,” Agent Webster said. His voice came through the speaker sounding tinny but loud. “Tim has been arrested together with his aides in the commission of illegal gun and drug transport and kidnapping.”
Her hand at her throat, Becca leaned toward the phone. “And my father?”
“Daniel De Monte has been brought in for questioning. He made incriminating statements and was arrested. Big surprise, he’s already lawyered up. Now, his senate campaign will be suspended. I’m sorry.”
Hearing this, Becca’s heart ached. Naturally she knew her father’s attorney, his name and office address. At least he was in sound legal hands.
Rio pulled her to his side and stroked her arm.
“We have temporarily shut down operations at your father’s hubcap distributorship and sent the employees home,” the agent said. “However, I don’t expect this to be for long. We have the perpetrators in custody. Now, the wheels of justice will begin to turn.”
“Thank you, Agent Webster,” Becca whispered.
“Eh, just a minute. We’re not finished, Miss De Monte. We’ll need both you and Rio Lang to come in for a thorough interview. The branch office in San Antonio will be fine.”
She pushed hair out of her eyes and met Rio’s steady gaze. “Of course. We’ll do that.”
Rio spoke up. “We’ll leave here tomorrow.”
She didn’t object. The call was ended and abruptly she got to her feet. “I’m going for a walk,” she told the surprised table.
Rio began to stand up and she held out a hand. “No, I need a little time alone.”
He sank back down.
****
D uring a private walk around the corrals, she made a long phone call to her shocked brothers, explained matters, and told them to stay strong.
“Dad has been arrested,” she told them. “And so has Tim.”
Both were thoroughly bewildered. She could tell they had a hard time believing their father could have stooped to such lows.
“Where are they holding Dad?” James asked in a tight voice. “We have to go see him.”
Quickly, she gave them the attorney’s contact information.
“But where are you?” John asked. “We’ve been worried sick. Are you okay?”
“I’m in a safe place and I’ll be home in a day or so. Don’t worry. You won’t be able to go into the office for a few weeks, but the authorities are working things out. We three will have a sit-down and decide what to do with the company. Personally, I think we can run things ourselves.”
“We’ve been doing it right along anyway,” James offered. “I think we should keep it running. You know ... for Dad.”
She agreed, and promised to be home soon and tell them more.
Becca leaned on a fence post and watched the placid cluster of Hereford cows chewing cud just on the other side. This whole nasty predicament was almost over. It felt anticlimactic, as though something else should happen first but she couldn’t imagine what.
However, she was glad to see the end of the violence. If Tim and her father were convicted, and it was clear now that they should be, she must accept that. They had chosen to break both the laws of the land and the laws of morality. Sex trafficking! Becca shuddered. How could they? For political gain? For power? It was inconceivable, and something she realized she would have to deal with for a long time.
One last concern nagged at her: Rio had still made no mention of a future between them. He hadn’t asked her about her plans or said a single thing about what might happen between them once they arrived back in San Antonio.
He’d given her no reason to believe he’d thought about it at all. Beyond his caring for her safety, which was his job, and even including their incredible sex, what ties might he feel to her? Very few, she concluded miserably. She clutched the fence so tightly her fingers ached.
If she were honest, she couldn’t allow herself to be surprised. He’d told her that first time in the cabin that “no woman would have him.” He was wrong about that, but he’d also said he was an adrenaline junkie, used to being in the scrum, on the move, part of the action. He implied it would last forever.
She wouldn’t beg. She wouldn’t abandon her dignity, and even if she wanted to, it wouldn’t work. Rio would move on to his next job, his next hostage rescue, his next mission, and she’d become a memory. She wondered if, in time, he’d forget her.
The possibility knifed through her.
She was now about to lose the man she’d loved as an uncle, and about to see her father face ruin and shame. Most likely, he’d be incarcerated. Her life was imploding.
Would her heart be broken, too?
****
L ATE THAT NIGHT WHEN Becca was asleep, Rio eased out of bed, picked up Becca’s phone, and padded barefoot downstairs. Letting himself out into the night air, he took a seat on the front steps. In the pasture, moonlight shone on the cattle’s white faces. A light breeze ruffled the trees. An owl began a solitary hooting. He punched in a number.
The man answered as though it were a reasonable hour and not two AM. “Ben Paxton,” he said.
“Hey, Ben. It’s Rio.”
“Hey, fucker,” Paxton replied easily. “How’s it hanging?” He and Rio had served in the Teams together. These days, they didn’t talk much, but the hairy missions in Afghanistan they’d barely survived had forged their friendship into a rock solid, unbreakable bond.
“Can’t complain,” Rio said. “Could use a little assistance.”
“I’m here for you, brother. What do you need?”
They spent an hour talking and at the end of that time, Rio was satisfied.
“We’ve got work for you here,” Paxton offered. “If you want it.” Like Rio, he was now in the private sector. He and a few of their old teammates had formed a successful security business.
“Thanks. I’ll consider it,” Rio answered. They hung up.
Still on the steps, he examined every angle of the matter and decided he had it pretty well figured out.
At last, he made his final call. First, he made certain Becca’s cell number was blocked from view.
“Where the fuck are you?” Harrison practically shouted into the receiver. “I told you that you have to come in.”
“Sorry. I’m ready now. I’ll be in San Antonio soon. You said you’ve got a new job for me and I’m a little low on funds. I need the work. Where do you want to meet?”
“That’s more like it. By the way, have you had any contact with Rebecca De Monte? The family still doesn’t know where she is. She doesn’t answer emails or her phone. It’s been turned off.”
“Yeah, I do,” Rio admitted. “She’s been in hiding and scared to death until she can talk to the Feds. She’s going in day after tomorrow. They want to ask what she knows about some illegal crap going on at her father’s hubcap business.”
“She’s talking to federal agents in two days?” Harrison’s voice sharpened.
“That’s what I said.”
There was a short pause. “I’ll get a hotel room there in San Antonio—tomorrow—so we can have privacy when we meet.” He named a hotel and a time. “If you’ve got the girl, bring her.”
“Sure,” Rio said. “She’ll be safer with me.”
“Good thinking. You don’t want to leave her behind. There’s a bad element lurking out there. Make sure you bring her along.”