Except it was not just her.
Even though they were enemies, she knew that Aiden was an honorable man. He wouldn’t risk an unborn child’s life.
Any unborn child.
Still, honor aside, he’d have a heck of a time dealing with the consequences. And worse. Kendall was terrified that destroying the evidence wouldn’t even help the baby and her. She hadn’t seen either of the men’s faces. Had no idea who they were. But they might not let her live anyway.
The thought of it broke her heart.
Not for her own life but for the baby’s. This child hadn’t been planned. Heck, it hadn’t even been on her personal radar. But she’d loved the baby from the moment that she’d known she was carrying it. However, she never expected Aiden would feel the same.
Ever.
“Get her to the doctor,” Aiden growled. “Now.” And he reached for his gun.
“Nope,” the man said while Aiden was in mid-reach. “I’m sure you’ll have no trouble coming up with another one. We’ll keep this one for now.”
Kendall’s imagination started to run wild. Once Aiden had destroyed the evidence, they wouldn’t have a reason to keep her alive. They could use Aiden’s gun to kill her and then somehow set him up to take the blame for the crime.
The baby would be motive.
Because an autopsy would reveal the pregnancy, and a DNA test would prove he was the child’s father. These men could make it look as if Aiden had completely lost it when he learned of the baby and killed her in cold blood.
“Oh, and, Braddock?” the man said to Aiden. “We’ll know if you call your buddies at the county sheriff’s office. Or any other law enforcement agency in the area for that matter. Because we’ve got ears in all those places.”
That was probably a bluff. Unless, of course, these guys had managed to plant some listening devices.
“Aiden,” she said before she could stop herself. Kendall hated to beg for his help, but she would. To save the baby, she’d do anything.
A flash of something went through his eyes, but Kendall had no idea what it meant. Aiden gave the men, and her, one last look before he strolled out.
Kendall tried to tamp down the panic. They wouldn’t kill her until they were sure Aiden had destroyed the evidence, and he’d said that would take about two hours. Not much time. But during those two hours, she had to find a way to escape.
One of the men stayed next to her, the gun still pointed at her head, and the other went to the window and peered out. Watching Aiden, no doubt.
Another sound only spiked the panic building inside her.
Aiden’s truck engine.
She heard it start, and then he pulled away from the house.
His place wasn’t that large by Texas standards, just a couple of acres of pasture for his horses, a barn and the house. From the man’s vantage point at the window, he would be able not only to see Aiden leave, but also to see him drive out onto the road.
“He’s out of sight,” the man said a moment later.
Still, they didn’t move. The time seemed to crawl by, and her throbbing arm and building panic didn’t help. Finally, the one who’d been silent latched on to her shoulder and hauled her to her feet.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” the other one snarled, “or you’ll get another bullet.”
Kendall was positive that wasn’t a bluff, but before this ordeal was over, she would almost certainly have to do something stupid. Or at least risky.
As soon as they started moving, she tried to work the plastic cuffs that bound her wrists behind her back. They were loose, but strong for mere plastic, and they seemed to tighten with each tug.
Those tugs also didn’t help the jolts of pain going through her arm. And the pain didn’t help the dizziness. She’d been light-headed since this whole ordeal started, but it was more than just a light head now.
The gunshot and the fear were no doubt to blame.
Kendall drew in several hard breaths and forced herself to look down at the wound. At the gaping hole in her jacket. It turned her stomach, but she tried to make sure she wasn’t bleeding out.
She wasn’t.
There was blood all right, but there didn’t seem to be much more than when he’d initially shot her. That was something at least. A serious blood loss could cause her to miscarry.
The men finally led her out the front door, the same way they’d brought her in after one of them had jimmied the lock. Aiden had a security system, but it hadn’t been on. He probably hadn’t felt the need because he was the sheriff.
Too bad.
If the system had been armed, Aiden might have been alerted and could have nipped this in the bud.
They went onto the porch, down the steps and through the yard toward a thick cluster of trees to the right where the men had left the SUV they’d used to kidnap her from the parking lot of her law office. After they’d grabbed her, they’d stopped several miles outside town to change the license plates and to make a call. Kendall hadn’t learned a thing from that call, because they’d said only one thing to the person on the other end of the line.
“We have her.”
No names used. No hint of the identity of the person they’d called.
So, who had put all this insanity into motion?
Despite Aiden’s accusations and suspicions, it wasn’t Jewell or her daughters. Not Jewell’s stepson, Seth, either. Yes, the three of them loved Jewell, but they wouldn’t resort to this. Unfortunately, other than those three children, Kendall and Jewell’s lawyer, Robert Joplin, there weren’t many people who wanted Jewell to beat this murder charge.
But clearly someone wanted just that.
When they were about ten yards from the SUV, Kendall stumbled just to see how fast the men would react, and she got her answer.
Fast.
Both of them grabbed her, and within a second, she had a gun jammed against her left temple again.
“Keep it up, and you’ll be sorry,” one of the men growled.
No matter what she did, she could be sorry, but Kendall cooperated.
For now.
She continued toward the SUV and didn’t resist when the men practically shoved her inside. As they’d done on the drive there, they buckled her into a seat belt in the middle, and the man who’d spoken only a few words dropped down behind her. The one who’d been doing all the talking walked around the front of the SUV toward the driver’s side.
But then he stopped.
That certainly got her attention, but it got his partner’s, too. “What’s wrong?” the man asked. Unlike the other one, he had some kind of thick accent.
The man still outside raised his finger in a wait-a-second gesture and lifted his head. Listening for something.
Or maybe someone.
Kendall hoped and prayed that it was someone who could get her away from these goons.
“Don’t move,” the guy with the accent said to her, and he stepped out of the SUV. Not far. Just a few inches outside the open door, and he, too, listened. His gaze also darted all around the heavily treed area.
Kendall looked, as well. She tried to pick through the trees and underbrush, but it was spring with everything in full bloom, so she couldn’t see anything.
However, she thought that she might have