Page 31 of Ransom for His Secret Son

And fast.

Chapter Nine

Brody gripped the wheel, pushing the cruiser as fast as he dared over the dark roads leading home. His pulse pounded, his mind racing ahead, playing out every worst-case scenario.

Beside him, Remi was on the phone with his mother. “Sandra, we’re almost there,” she said, voice steady but laced with the same nerves that Brody was feeling. “Are you still with the baby?”

“Yes,” Sandra answered immediately. “The house is locked up, and the deputies are here.”

Brody barely registered the words. It didn’t matter how secure the place was. He needed to see his son with his own eyes.

“When we get there,” Remi went on, “maybe you could help Brody think of a name for the baby.”

He knew what Remi was doing. She was trying to get his mom’s mind on something else other than the terror she had to be feeling. And Brody was so thankful for that. He couldn’t manage it, but Remi had.

“Yes,” his mother said, sounding slightly less stressed than she had earlier. “So many choices. I remember Miranda and Brody keeping a list. Joe was at the top for a boy and Sophie for a girl. But we’ll need two boy names,” she said.

“Why don’t you think of some, and you can tell us when we’re back,” Remi said. “But you’d better think fast,” she added as Brody took the final turn to the house, the tires squealing on the asphalt, “because we’ll be there in under a minute.”

Under a minute was right. Brody didn’t let up on the accelerator until the house was in sight. He also spotted the cruiser in the driveway, red and blue lights flashing. Two of his deputies, Reese David and Marcus Calloway, stood guard near the porch, their hands resting by their holsters.

Brody barely put the cruiser in Park before he was out, moving fast. Remi was right beside him.

“Anything?” he barked at Reese as he passed.

“Perimeter’s clear,” Reese reported. “We’ve done two sweeps. No signs of forced entry.”

Brody didn’t slow down. He hit the front door, unlocked it and strode inside, his heartbeat hammering in his ears.

Sandra met them in the hallway, her face tense but composed. “He’s fine,” she said before Brody could even ask. “Sleeping.”

Still, he had to see for himself.

He pushed into the nursery, his breath catching for just a second at the sight of his son. Small and peaceful, curled in his crib. He was oblivious to the chaos outside.

Relief slammed into Brody so hard it made his hands shake. Hell. The sight of his son, safe, nearly brought him to his knees.

“Everything’s okay, boss,” he heard Holt say from the hall.

Brody managed to give him a nod and mutter a thanks, but that was all he could get out. He stood there, staring at his son, his body locked tight with tension. The relief that he was safe should have been enough. But it wasn’t. His mind wouldn’t stop spinning, wouldn’t stop seeing all the ways this could have gone differently.

A light touch on his arm pulled him back.

Remi.

She didn’t say anything at first, just squeezed his forearm, grounding him in the moment. He looked at her, and whatever she saw in his face must have set off alarm bells.

“We need a minute,” she said, turning toward Sandra and Holt. “Brody and I need to debrief about what happened tonight.”

Sandra hesitated, concern flickering in her eyes, but she nodded. “Of course.”

Remi glanced at the baby, then back at Sandra. “And you might want to keep thinking of names for both boys.”

It was more of that distraction. Something to give Sandra a focus beyond Brody’s unraveling state.

Then Remi led him down the hall, all the way to the end until they reached the laundry room. She pushed the door open, flicked on the light and pulled him inside.

The moment the door shut, the tightness in Brody’s chest cracked wide open.