Anne frowned. “But if he doesn’t want her, why would he help us get her back?”

Cam laughed out loud, a startling sound in the midst of so much tension. But Anne didn’t get the joke. “To save face,” Cam explained. “There’s no way in hell that Cavazos would let Tower get away with kidnapping his kid, even if neither of them knew she was his kid at the time. Cavazos will welcome an excuse to bring the fight to Tower’s front door. The real challenge will be getting Hadley out of there without sustaining any collateral damage.”

“Maybe Kori…?” Anne suggested.

I shook my head firmly. “She can’t. It’s not her fault.” Not directly, anyway. Though it was her own fault she worked for Tower. “The most she’ll be able to do—if we’re lucky—is remove herself from the fight. If we’re not lucky, she’ll be forced to fight against us.”

“As will I,” Cam said softly, staring at the phone between his feet.

“We’re going to find a way around that,” I said. “Or else…you can’t be there.”

“He’ll call me in.”

“Give me your phone.”

Cam managed a small smile as he dug his cell from his pocket, clearly anticipating my next move. He handed me his phone and I set it on the coffee table, then took my boot off to use the heel as a hammer. Three blows later, his phone was obliterated.

“Can’t answer a call you don’t receive.” I would pick up a prepaid phone for him as soon as I got a chance.

“So, how do you want to play this?” Cam scooped the remains of his phone into one broad hand and crossed the room to drop them into the kitchen trash can.

I shrugged. “I’m going to call Ruben over and fill him in. You guys should probably stay out of sight until I’ve had a chance to…reason with him. If he thinks he’s been set up, he’ll call in the guard dogs and have us all shot before he even knows what’s going on.”

“You’re going to bring him here?” Anne glanced at Cam nervously, then back to me. “You really think that’s a good idea?”

“It’s better than the alternative. I’m not going back to his place while Michaela’s on the warpath. She nearly opened my femoral artery earlier tonight. Besides—” another shrug “—this is his apartment. It’s only a matter of time before he shows up anyway—his spies already know I’m here.”

“This is his apartment?” Anne demanded. “You were going to hide Hadley in her own father’s apartment?”

“Well, obviously I didn’t know about their shared DNA when I came up with that plan. But yeah, Ruben owns the whole building. Why? What did you think this was?” I said, spreading my arms to take in Cavazos’s would-be love shack.

“I don’t know.” Anne hugged herself, and the gesture made her look very fragile and naive. “I thought it was a safe house, or something.”

I stifled a laugh. “Annika, I’m a one-woman operation, not the fucking FBI. I take what I can get, and this was the only place I could think of where Tower’s men couldn’t follow us.” And it would have worked—if Kori weren’t one of Tower’s men.

I gave her a minute to absorb the new-to-her facts, then cleared my throat. “Are you two ready for this?”

“Looking forward to it.” Cam’s firm nod said he was looking for a chance to pick a fight with Cavazos, and the stern look I gave him othing to change that.

“As ready as I’m going to be,” Anne said, and I was pleased to find determination strengthening her gaze. She was channeling her inner mama lion, and I was relieved to see it.

“Okay.” I stood and headed for the front door. “I’ll be back in a minute. Stay out of sight and don’t come outside, no matter what. Got it?”

Cam nodded, but Anne’s agreement was a little shakier. But that was as good as it was going to get.

I patted my holstered gun beneath my jacket, then opened the door and stepped onto the second-floor landing. I jogged down the stairs and had only been standing in the parking lot for a few seconds when an unmarked black sedan rolled to a stop in front of me, and the passenger’s side window buzzed as it receded into the door.

“Evenin,’ Liv.” Gene smiled up at me from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat, faux-Southern gentleman, through and through. “What can we do for you?” I didn’t like many of Cavazos’s men, but Gene was at the bottom of my list.

“You can get on your phone, or your radio, or whatever toys Ruben’s passing out these days and tell him I need to see him. Here. Now.”

“Cool your panties.” Gene’s languorous gaze traveled south of my waist. “He’s already on his way.”

“I’m not sleeping with him,” I snapped, though I don’t know why I bothered.

“Right.” Gene laughed, and I wished he’d choke on his own disbelief. “You cover the windows and turn on all the lights for privacy so you can get yourself off.”

Bastard. “Just send him up when he gets here.” I jogged back up the stairs and into the apartment without looking back.

My heart thumped painfully when I closed the door and leaned against it. “He’s already on the way.” Which I might have known, if I hadn’t asked Cam to destroy my phone. “It’s only a five-minute drive, so you guys should probably head to the bedroom….”