“Selena came to my house. When she left, a car came in. Two men stuffed her inside. I have no idea where they took her. Seb is on the case, and it’s possible that Ximena from Ecuador is behind it.”

  David chewed on the information. “She has her cell phone, which should have tracking stuff on it.”

  “Give me a minute.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and hit the mute button.

  I texted Seb about the cell phone, giving him the number. He told me that they’d already looked at her cell phone, but it wasn’t moving. It was located one block away from my home, so it wasn’t much of a lead. Someone could be sent to recover it later. We had to get back Selena within the first 48 hours, or we had way worse chances of getting her back intact. I was already concerned about David’s torture in Ecuador. I didn’t want my pregnant lover to be tortured as part of Ximena’s games.

  Via text, Seb told me that Kyle Shirling offered to reach out to Sergei to see if the bratva could be called in to look out for Selena. I didn’t even consider if the price of the resulting favor would be too high. I told him to go for it.

  I clicked the mute button again so I could talk to David. “Okay, Seb says that Kyle is reaching out to a bratva contact to see if we can get people to help search for her.”

  David was quiet for a few minutes. “Why was Selena at your home?”

  I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t know how to explain everything that had happened to my long-term business partner who had been all over the world with me.

  “Did you seduce my daughter?”

  “It’s worse than you’re thinking,” I told my business partner.

  “Hit me,” David replied.

  “Selena is pregnant.”

  “You motherfucker,” David spat with venom into the phone. “How could you get my nineteen-year-old daughter pregnant? You’re lucky I’m not with you right now, because I’d knock your lights out.”

  “I admit that I deserve it. We both know I’m not father material.” I still knew about what people thought of my parenting of Kayla.

  “What are you going to do?” David asked me.

  “I’ll make sure Selena doesn’t have to worry about money. We’re still working on the details.”

  David said to me, “I don’t like it at all.”

  “I know.”

  “This conversation isn’t over.” David was quiet. “I have to wrap my head around being a grandfather at my age.”

  MEETING XIMENA

  Selena

  My stomach roiled, so I opened my eyes. I was sitting on a couch. My stomach was definitely upset. I was still fully dressed, and I started to vomit. A trash can appeared in my field of vision. I threw up into the trash can. Once I stopped heaving, I heard someone female say, “It could be the chloroform or the pregnancy.”

  How could she know about the pregnancy? I had only just learned myself.

  Someone handed me a bottle of water. After opening it, I swished some water around in my mouth. I spat into the trash can, lacking many options. I wished that I were at home, where I was safe.

  “How do you know about the baby?” I asked.

  The woman near me smiled and said, “I like to know everything about my enemies. You were the best target for me to take, since you are important to both David and Charlie. You’re the perfect hostage for me to hold so that they’ll back off and cancel the contract with Ofelia.”

  “You can’t make them do anything, even holding me hostage,” I pointed out. “For one thing, they know their own minds. For a second thing, you’re not going to stop Ofelia totally.”

  “Don’t be too sure.”

  “You’re just going to delay the startup.” I shook my head. “I don’t think you’ve thought your plan through.”

  “By the time I’m done, there will be nothing left of the oil fields that Ofelia’s little company has the rights to access, so they won’t be a threat. If I am just playing for time, it is worth it to me.”

  “Why are you so against this contract?” I asked Ximena. For a criminal mastermind, she seemed calm and easy-going.

  “Ofelia has too much popular support in Ecuador. Once she gains too much power, anyone who goes against her will be finished. I have to snuff out her ascent before she actually gains it.”

  “Is it necessary?”

  “You have no idea what I’ve done to get to the position I have now.” Ximena stopped for a second. “I have no interest in losing the power I’ve killed many times for. Ofelia is just another body to me.”

  I was scared of Ximena now.

  She smiled at me, and now that smile just made my entire body go cold. “Don’t worry. I won’t kill a pregnant woman if I can help it. We’ll definitely have some problems if you’re going to give birth while you’re a hostage, but they aren’t insurmountable problems. People have home births all the time. I’ll just have to find an Ecuadorian doula to walk you through everything.”

  I was really worried, because it had only been about 8 weeks. She was talking about the end of my pregnancy, which was around 40 weeks. I didn’t want to be a hostage for that long.

  “What about school?” I asked her.

  “You’re going to have to take a leave of absence.” Ximena was extremely blasé.

  “Why aren’t you ready to kill my dad and Charlie?”

  “They’re also too well connected, especially with American military forces.” She sighed. “You’re not as important, despite being David’s daughter. Your value is sentimental more than anything else. I don’t want to kill you while you’re pregnant.”

  I was worried about what would happen after the home birth. Dad had freaked out that I was watching video lectures and doing homework outside of San Diego. Now, it looked like Ximena would probably give me the paperwork for me to request a leave of absence while she held me hostage.

  “Would you like to eat? You can make yourself at home.”

  I looked around the room. It was pretty plain. There were chair around a small table and a kitchenette. There was a sink there, and I could see a full bathroom through a door. If I was going to be held hostage, it was not the worst place for me to be held.

  “What can I have?”

  “Prenatal nutrition is so important,” Ximena said, pursing her lips. “I already had the housekeeper prepare some soup with hominy and chicken for you.”

  My stomach growled, indicating that I wanted to eat something after emptying it.

  Ximena laughed, which made her much more human.

  “I’ll send someone in. You can’t leave the room, of course. I’ll have someone leave a notebook in here with a pen, so you can write down what you require. Within reason, we’ll send someone to a SuperTarget or Walmart Supercenter to pick up your necessities, such as clothing. You might be here for a while.”

  Ximena walked out of the room. I didn’t know what they’d put in my food, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I had a vague recollection of what hominy might be, but I was just going to have to wait and see.

  When the food arrived, I thanked the person who brought it in. I tucked in, glad that they were feeding me well. I loved the chicken and hominy soup, which had plenty of other stuff in it as well, such as cilantro. When I was done, someone came in to take the tray away. I guessed that I was being monitored in here.

  Ximena came back in with an iPhone. My eyes widened.

  “Don’t get excited,” she warned me. “Most of it has been disabled, so the real function of the video is for you to be able to take a video for David and another for Charlie. They need to know that they should back off.”

  “I won’t do it,” I told her. “It’s not a good plan.”

  “I think both of them would be distressed by seeing pictures of your bruised face,” Ximena replied. “It might be better if you comply with my request the first time.”

  I gulped hard. I thought that I might never see Charlie again.

  I recorded a message for my dad, telling him that Ximena wanted him to back off. In the second video, I spoke to Charlie. Because I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again, I said, “You don’t owe me anything,” as a secret message to him. I had been so worried about him being a bad father and only sending money. I should have been more careful. Kayla had been raised by a grandmother who adored her and made sure she always felt loved. Charlie had his own ghosts and emotional wounds to deal with. I didn’t know if the video was my last goodbye to him, so I had to make it count.

  VIDEO’S IMPACT

  Charlie

  David had gotten his video, and I watched it. It was brief, but she asked her father to back off. I was reminded of the prisoners of war who were coerced into sending videos out that were anti-American propaganda. I didn’t care much about what she had to say about Ofelia’s project. At this point, it was in Ofelia’s hands. Even if we walked away as her suppliers, we had already discussed a backup option where we washed our hands clean and Ofelia still went full speed ahead. Ecuador was a patriarchal society, and Ofelia should be married and have an ornamental position somewhere. Instead, she chose to be a hard-charging businesswoman, something nearly impossible in Ecuador. I had to hand it to her. I wouldn’t mind Kayla turning into the same kind of person one day, but it was safer for Kayla to work in the criminal justice system in the United States than it was for Ofelia to own oil rights in Latin America.

  Listening to Selena tell me that I didn’t owe her anything made my stomach churn. I knew that we hadn’t resolved things before she got kidnapped, and I knew that I had much more to make up to both Kayla and Selena if I got the chance.

  David and I had already sent the videos to Kyle Shirling. He had some kind of software that would analyze the audio and other clues in the videos to pinpoint the location.

  I heard a knock on my door. “Dad? It’s me.”

  I opened the door to find my pregnant daughter. “Hey, sweetie.” I kissed her forehead. “What brings you here?”

  “Brandon told me that Kyle’s working on something to get Selena back. It reminded me of when I got abducted, so I knew you and David might be worried.”

  “We should be able to recover her. She sent us videos.”

  “Why would Selena send you a video?”

  I touched the back of my neck, hating this conversation.

  “Are you in a relationship with her?” Kayla asked me gently. She put a hand on her stomach.

  “I got her pregnant.” My voice was very soft. I was a former drill sarge, and Kayla knew that I took accountability for my actions. “You already know that I’m not the dad of the year or anything. I promised her that I’d provide financially for her and the baby, but it clearly wasn’t enough for Selena. She said some stuff about how I raised you.”

  “You weren’t there like other dads were, but you were grieving after Mom died.”

  I stared at my hands, worried.

  “I know you’ve been trying, ever since Brandon came into my life. It would be a complete blunder for you to turn away from Selena and your new kid just because you might have made mistakes with me. My grandmother loved me to bits, even if she was strict. I always had phone calls with other people in the family, including your side.”

  “Really?” I asked her.

  “Sure. She wanted to make sure that I was surrounded by family and friends I was on good terms with.”

  “Did you know that she sent me emails from the time that email became a thing?” I asked her.

  “No, but it doesn’t surprise me.” She shrugged her shoulders. “She was crazy about taking photos, saying that we had to remember everything. She never said that she was sending them all to you, but I got the impression that she had some kind of purpose. I knew that you grieved the loss of my mom.”

  It made me feel better that Kayla didn’t want to condemn me for what I had done over the nearly two decades of her life. I knew that there was still room for growth in our relationship. I was given some confidence about trying to talk things over with Selena about our baby and potential family.

  A part of me was still afraid that I would never be a good parent. I wanted to commit to trying for the sake of Selena’s kid. I felt guilty now about the situation with Kayla, but Kayla had given me some level of absolution.

  My phone buzzed.

  “Don’t worry. That’s my cue to exit.” Kayla got off of her seat and went to the door. I guessed that she had driven herself, because she didn’t wait for anyone. I answered the phone.

  “Yes?”

  “I’ve narrowed down the location to somewhere on the water. There are trains in the background. I’m sending a few teams on the ground to check out potential sites. I need you to stay in place until Brandon’s men find the right place.”

  I felt like we were making progress. “Understood.”

  “I’ll be in touch.” He hung up the phone call.

  I went and dialed David through a video call, “Kyle has some news.”

  “Yeah?” His tone was somewhat belligerent.

  “Selena is in a location that’s on the water with trains in the background.”

  “There aren’t trains all over Los Angeles. It has to do with our transportation system. Is she near the ports?”

  “She could be.” I paused for a moment. “I’ve been an idiot about hiding my relationship with Selena, but I’m not sorry that I love her.”

  “You told me so many times when I tried to set you up with people that Annemarie was the love of your life. I don’t want my kid to settle for second best.”

  “When I was sitting in the hotel restaurant eating dinner with your daughter, I realized I was wrong about it. I’ve clung to that belief as an excuse to avoid looking for love again. Grief was a major factor for a long time.”

  David looked at me for a long moment. “Okay.”

  We had talked things over in enough detail for us to declare a temporary truce. We had known each other for so long that David understood that I was pretty serious about Selena, despite how new the relationship was. Ordinarily, I’d be skeptical of someone getting into a relationship with Kayla. I’d given my wife’s ring to Brandon along with my blessing. I did think that Kayla’s pregnancy had hastened things along, but now I was dealing with a very similar situation to Brandon’s. I imagined that Brittany might have had some strong words to say to Brandon if he had just knocked up her intern and not done the right thing.

  My phone rang. “I’ve got to go,” I said to David.

  “Keep me updated,” he said before he ended the call.

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  “It’s Sergei. Arseny knows where Selena is being held. I sent Kyle Shirling the location.” Sergei got off the phone quickly. The habits that he had honed for years as someone in deep cover were still there. I texted David that we had more information. Sergei had given me critical information, and all I had to do now was wait for Kyle and Brandon to get teams into position to extract Selena.

  CHANGING OF THE GUARDS

  Selena

  I was bored after my time spent inside as a hostage. I had books to keep me company. I had also asked for an adult coloring book, which had been accompanied by a large set of crayons.

  I was keeping track of the movement outside of my room. I could tell people apart by their footsteps, even if I only saw the people who came in and left food and prenatal vitamins for me at regular intervals. Ximena seemed to care a lot about the baby I was carrying.

  I didn’t like sitting around and being a hostage, but I had to admit that Ximena wasn’t treating me like she had treated my dad. There wasn’t any torture going on, which I was grateful for. I guessed there was an upside to being a pregnant hostage. The food was fine and nutritious.

  I had a tentative plan to break out. I knew that the guards’ shifts were regular. There wasn’t a clock in my room, but I was tracking the angle of the sun from my window. My meals arrived at approximately the same times each day. I knew when the guards also switched shifts. Right before the end of the shift would be the best time for me to pick the lock and get out of the room, when they were done working. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pick the lock, but I’d get there when the day came for me to get out. I had no tools to speak of, because Ximena was only giving me stuff that wouldn’t be useful to break out.

  I took a shower at the end of every day. I had written down some of my hair products for Ximena’s team to supply. True to her word, she had made sure I got everything I could get from the average Walmart Supercenter or SuperTarget.

  I spent a lot of time thinking about how to escape. When Charlie opened the door and got into my room, he said, “Let’s go.”

  “We should wait for another ten minutes,” I blurted out. “We need to deal with the guards.” I was amazed that Charlie had found me.

  “The guards have been dealt with.” Charlie’s mouth came down on mine, hot and heavy. “We have to move.”

  When I got into the hallway, I saw a bunch of guys I didn’t know and my father. He was giving me some side-eye. I knew that we’d have a discussion about my relationship with Charlie, but right now, we had to get out of here. I hugged my dad, but I didn’t say a word. His body was tense. I guessed that he wasn’t on board with Charlie kissing me.

  The whole group moved out. I hung back a little to reconnect with Charlie. “Does he know?” I whispered to him.

  “Yeah.” Charlie didn’t say much else.

  I would be freaking out a lot more if I weren’t already hyper-vigilant due to the situation. My dad could lay down the law and forbid us from seeing each other. I didn’t like the idea of just cutting my dad off. How would I pay for school? I didn’t like relying on anybody besides my family. Charlie had already made it clear that he’d provide financially for the baby, but I needed someone who would give my kid enough love.