Page 98 of Heated Takeover

Suddenly, my phone rings.

“It’s Marcus,” I say, answering it before the second ring. “Marcus?”

“Natalie. We have a lead,” he says.

“Oh my God, did you find him?” I ask, bolting up from my chair, and my dad stands too.

“We did,” he says and the sound that comes out of me is half sigh, half sob.

“Oh my God. Where is he? Is he hurt? How do we get to him? I’m coming with you,” I cry.

“The FBI and Collier County SWAT are moving on the cabin. Tuck’s team is supporting at the perimeter. Marcus is going to the command post, but he is not entering until officers clear the scene,” he says.

I stop. “Collier County? That’s by the Gulf,” I say, and my dad’s brow furrows. I put the call on speakerphone.

“It is,” Marcus goes on. “They have him at a cabin in the Everglades.”

“The Everglades?” my dad echoes, and I think I might be sick.

“Why are they there?” I ask.

“Turns out your sister has a lot of properties nobody knew about. And if I had to guess, they knew that any of their more elite properties were too obvious. This place is an old camping and fishing cabin that they bought recently with almost no paper trail to it. But Tuck found it–”

“And Jamie is there,” I talk over him. I don’t care if Reese paid some old fisherman in peppermint candies for the heap; I just want to know that Jamie has been spotted and we are getting him back.

“Jamie is there,” he says. “Law enforcement has a live, court-authorized feed from the living-room camera. He appears unharmed.”

I start to cry. “Oh God. Oh, thank you. I want to come with you. I need to come with you.”

“That’s not a very good idea, honey,” my dad says, but I ignore him.

“Your dad is right,” Marcus insists. “It’s too dangerous, and we have to move fast. I’ll be at the command post, and the moment officers clear that cabin, I will bring Jamie home.”

“Okay,” I say reluctantly, swallowing back the lump of bile in my throat. “Okay. But keep me posted.”

“Of course,” Marcus says. And then in a softer tone, “And Natalie? It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

We end the call, and I nearly collapse on the couch. My emotions are a mix of relieved and still terrified and anxious and elated. They found him. Marcus saw him. He’s safe. He’s okay.

But all of this is a lot. Things are still a mess with the company, and as of right now, it’s more than I can handle.

“You can breathe now, honey,” my dad says, joining me on the couch with two glasses of water.

“I’ll breathe when I have Jamie in my arms,” I tell him, and he nods.

“That man,” he says, shaking his head, and I look over at him. “Never have I changed my opinion about someone so rapidly before,” he says.

“He’s a good man,” I say softly.

“A very good man,” he says. “He obviously cares deeply about both you and Jamie. Not many men actually rise up like this, but Marcus–”

“Is Jamie’s father,” I blurt out, and I’m almost surprised by my honesty. But I can’t hold it in any longer. From anyone. Especially not Jamie’s grandfather.

My dad just stares at me unblinkingly, his mouth in a small O shape.

So I repeat the statement. “Marcus is Jamie’s father.”

“I thought his father was some hippie you met at a bar,” he says.