What exactly had he been told about her?
At last Jeremy’s voice told them to come into his study.
“You can leave,” he told McCord as they entered. McCord turned and left, closing the door behind him.
Looking straight at Lily, Jeremy trotted out what she called his campaign smile. “Well, look who came home,” he said. He did not get to his feet. His sandy-colored hair showed a few gray streaks, his eyes were so blue she knew he wore contact lenses to boost the color. He was dressed for the office in a custom-made gray suit. It was one of the more expensive worsted wools, which probably meant he had been in court that day.
Was he handsome? Not in the way Chance was, not with classic features, broad shoulders and a devilish smile that ignited the color of his eyes. But he was commanding. His cold eyes could look warm when he put in the effort and he knew how to twist words more adroitly than a clown manipulating balloons into giraffes.
She stepped to the far side of his desk. “First of all, this is not my home. Secondly, of course I came. You stole my son.”
“The law sees it the other way around.” He nodded at his phone. “I should warn you. The police will come as soon as I ask them to. They have a warrant—”
“I know about that.” She’d had twenty-one minutes to cool her heels and face reality and what she’d decided was that she was going to have to do the whole thing the legal way and that meant going through the system. “Listen, Jeremy,” she pleaded. “Just let me see Charlie. I have to know he’s okay.”
Jeremy chuckled. “How very melodramatic. Of course he’s okay. He’s back where he belongs and no longer at the mercy of his unpredictable mother.”
Lily’s chin tilted. “You might be able to fool other people, Jeremy, but you can’t fool me. I’m the one who lived here. I’m the one you set up to look like a lush. I’m the one you knocked unconscious. And then there’s that minion you sent to kill me, Jodie Brown.”
“You’re delusional,” he said. “I think you always have been. Well, you know what they say drugs and alcohol will do to a person.”
“I found the barbiturates in your desk.”
“So what? The prescription is in your name, prescribed by your physician to relieve anxiety. I was very troubled when I discovered you were mixing them with booze. I even talked to him about it. He was going to hospitalize you for observation, but you disappeared about then. I swear, getting custody of Charlie was a walk in the park.”
“If it was such a walk in the park then why did you employ Jodie?”
“I knew nothing about what he did,” Jeremy insisted.
“Did you kill him when he failed?”
“I believe he died in a drunk driving accident. Surely you’re not blaming me for that, too?”
“You think you’ve covered all the bases, don’t you? Let’s try this one. I know about your affair with Valentine Richards.”
He leaned back in his chair, a man in his domain, a confident man who could lie without effort. “I suppose you found out about her when you snooped through my files.”
“It doesn’t matter how I know about her. You were cheating on me. I wonder what your precious community would think of you if they knew that.”
“As usual, you have it wrong. Valentine was an intern in my office. Sweet girl. Lost her grandmother while she worked here. I wanted to cheer her up so I sent her flowers.”
“You hate flowers.”
“But she loved them.”
“I love them, too. That never made a difference to you.”
“Are you jealous?”
“Oh, please. I just find it interesting that you’ve finally met someone who makes you think beyond yourself. Maybe you’re ready to give me a divorce now.”
“No,” he said.
“Why?”
He smiled. “Because you want it so badly.”
“I don’t need your permission,” she said.
“If you’re hiding from me, it’s going to be tricky to show up in court. And oh, then there’s that nasty warrant.”
Bantering with Jeremy was wasting time. Maybe that was the point. Maybe the police were about to arrive. If that was the case, then she was going to at least see Charlie before it was too late. She walked across the room, grabbed the doorknob and advanced on the staircase.
Jeremy caught her arm and pulled her around. She stumbled on the stair and fell against him. A visceral wave of distaste filled her body as she struggled to stand on her own. He slapped her face so hard her neck snapped to the side. She put a hand up to her stinging cheek and stared into his flat eyes. “Get away from me.”
He lowered his head until his mouth was close to her ear. “I could kill you tonight and explain it away however I want. No one on earth would give a damn, not even Charlie, not after a while.”
“You never give up, do you, Jeremy. Stop trying to bait me. It doesn’t work anymore.”
Pounding footsteps from the top of the stairs broke a stalemate. They looked up to see a young woman rushing across the open mezzanine. She stopped short at the head of the stairs and looked down at them.
“What’s going on?” Jeremy said.
“It’s the boy,” the woman responded.
Lily tore herself from Jeremy’s gasp and ran up the stairs. Jeremy was right behind her. “What about Charlie?” Lily demanded as she reached the quivering woman who glanced at Jeremy, then back at Lily.
“I’ve looked everywhere,” she said. “He’s not in his bed. I don’t know... I don’t know where he is.”
Lily tore down the hall. She entered Charlie’s room. It was filled with toys, many of them still in their boxes. The bed was empty. The other two appeared in the doorway as Lily stared at the rumpled sheets. She set her palm against the pillow. It was cool to the touch.
“Is he hiding somewhere? Did he run away?” Jeremy asked.
“I don’t know,” the woman responded. Lily walked to the window and examined the sill. Then she looked at the wooden window casing. Scratch marks clearly revealed the window had been pried open from the outside. She looked out the open window and saw nothing but the blackness of night. The light that should have illuminated this side of the yard wasn’t burning and the moon hadn’t yet risen high enough to help.
Her baby had been taken from this room. Had Chance done it? It was possible and if so, at least Charlie was safe. She’d been inside the house for more than thirty minutes, so he could have had time to do this. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Was Chance that rash and impulsive? Yes, at times. But he was smarter than that, she was sure of it. The thought of him trying to help her and actually jeopardizing his freedom—for surely if he had done this and was caught he would wind up in jail—well, it made her sick inside.
“Damn that spoiled brat,” Jeremy said under his breath. “If he ran away—”
Lily whirled around, ready to slap him as hard as she could. “How dare you call Charlie—”
“How dare you?” He caught her raised hand and twisted it down to her side but didn’t release it. For the first time he seemed to be interested in what she’d been staring at. He pulled her out of his way and turned to examine the window in silence. She knew the gouges on the wood were unmistakable. At last, through clenched teeth, he addressed the other woman. “I employ you to watch my son. You’re his damn nanny. Where the hell were you while this