“No. We have to get back to the hotel. I don’t want to leave Maia alone any longer than necessary.”

“Okay. We’ll go now.”

“Not so fast. Ms. Hill, we have a few questions for you.”

Dominic placed his hand on the small of her back as two policemen approached. Just great. This was the last thing she needed.

“Fine. What do you want to know?” Ava asked.

“For starters, what happened?”

“I was on the phone with my boyfriend and I noticed a black sedan following me.”

“Do you know the model? Altima? Maxima?”

“I don’t know. The car was behind me,” Ava stressed.

The two cops exchanged glances, before writing something down on their notepads.

“Why would you say you were being followed?” the brown haired officer asked.

“Because when I sped up, so did the car behind me. In fact it sped up and slammed into the back of my car.”

“What did you do then?”

“I tried to hold my car on the road.”

“Why didn’t you call us?” the bald officer asked.

“Because my phone had fallen to the floorboard and I was trying to keep from crashing, which I eventually did when the car hit me again and knocked me into the guardrail.”

The brown-haired officer took a few steps and stood behind Ava’s car. “There’s extensive damage and paint transfer.”

“Is there anyone you know that would want to harm you in any way?” the officer asked.

Ava shook her head. “No.” There was no way she was about to tell the cops what was going on.

“Officer Donovan and I are going to investigate what happened. Is there a number where we can reach you?” the brown haired officer asked.

Ava rattled off her home and cell numbers.

“Either me or Officer Collins will be in touch.”

Ava nodded.

“Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” Officer Collins asked.

“Yes. I’m sure.”

“Come on, Ava. I’ll take you home.”

Ava allowed Dominic to lead her away from the crash site. “Where’s your vehicle?”

“On the grass.”

They walked on the shoulder of the road. Traffic was backed up as another policeman directed traffic into one lane. They soon came to Dominic’s Hummer. He opened the door for her and helped her inside. She groaned as she finally sat down. Ava sighed as Dominic came around and climbed in on the driver’s side. He started the engine and looked over at her. His eyes were narrowed.

“When I find who did this to you, I’m gonna have his balls.” He reached over and slowly touched her face.

“I’m alright. A little banged up, but I’m going to be okay.”

“I would still feel better if you went and got checked out. Just to be on the safe side.”

“As soon as we pick Maia up from the hotel, I’ll let you take me, okay?”

“Alright. Where is she?” Dominic asked.

He turned on his blinker and prepared to move into the slow flow of traffic.

“We were staying at Rushmore Hotel on Fifth Avenue.”

Dominic waved his hand as another vehicle let him slip into traffic. “That’s about five minutes from here with good traffic. Who knows how long it’s going to take with the accident blocking one of the lanes.”

“Hopefully it won’t be too long once we get around my wreck.” Ava grabbed Dominic’s hand.

He brought it to his lips and kissed it. “If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”

Ava leaned on his shoulder as he steered the vehicle. They crept along. Finally ten minutes later they were moving past her car. It was totaled. The front end was crumpled and smashed. The rear panel of the car had been hit so hard the panel had folded in and the tire was twisted sideways. The car was not fixable.

With traffic flowing again in less than five minutes they were pulling up in front of the hotel. Before Ava could unbuckle her seat belt, Dominic was stopping her.

“Take it easy. I’ll help you down.”

She smiled at him. “Okay.” She was too tired to fight.

Dominic came around and opened the door. He unbuckled her seat belt and helped her out. Closing the door behind her, he pulled her into his arms for a long, lingering kiss. He tasted of mint and safety. She eased back to look at him.

“You know just what I need.”

He smiled. “I try. Come on, let’s go get Maia.”

He linked hands with her and together they entered the lobby of the hotel. More people milled about than when she’d left this morning. They walked over the elevator and caught it as the doors opened. Ava leaned against Dominic as they took the ride up to where her room was. As soon as the doors opened, she pulled out her keycard and led Dominic to her room. She placed the card in the slot. When the light turned green she pushed it open.

“Maia, I’m back.”

Ava entered the room and froze. It was empty. A table was overturned. The bedding had been ripped off the bed and thrown on the floor. The curtains were yanked from the rods.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. They’re gone. Maia’s gone.”

“Calm down. Maybe Mrs. Valdez had to leave unexpectedly.”

“Dominic, I told her if I wasn’t back in three hours to take Maia somewhere safe and not before. I have an hour left. They’ve taken my daughter. They’ve taken my baby.”

Ava’s knees gave out and she sobbed. She barely registered as Dominic took her into his arms. Her little girl was gone and she had no idea where she and Mrs. Valdez had been taken.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Dominic, we need to call the police. We need to do something.”

“Ava, you know why we can’t involve the police.”

Another tear slipped down Ava’s cheek as they drove. Finding her child gone had rendered Ava so hysterical, she’d been ready to tear the world apart. Dominic had held her as she’d cried and raged about finding her child missing. Then he’d carefully rearranged the room and checked them out of the hotel. With Maia and Mrs. Valdez missing, there was no telling if the person that had taken them was still watching the hotel or not. They needed to be elsewhere. Somewhere safe. But to Ava no place was safe.

“I don’t care what they think of me, Dominic. If they can help find my baby, I’m willing to grovel before anybody. I just want my little girl home,” Ava said.

“Baby, I know you’re scared. I’m scared too, but we need to put this in perspective. If someone had wanted to hurt Mrs. Valdez and Maia, they could’ve done it right there in the hotel. There was no need to take them away.”

Ava looked at her lover. “What are you saying?”

“That whoever took Maia isn’t going to hurt her. This was done to send a message.”

“And what message would that be? We’re sick creeps who kidnap children?”

“No. Whoever is behind this wants you to know that they can get to you one way or another.”

“And what am I supposed to do now? Just sit around and wait? I can’t do that, Dominic. My child is missing.”

“You aren’t going to have to wait for anything.”

Dominic pulled into the parking lot of the new hotel they were moving to.

“How can you say that?”

“Because things have escalated. Whoever’s behind this wants you to know who they are. They’re going to call and soon.” He killed the ignition and climbed from the Hummer.

What Dominic said made sense. There was a reason her child had been taken. Everything was coming to a head and Ava feared what might happen next. Dominic opened her door. He had gathered their luggage from the trunk. She allowed him to help her down from the vehicle. Ava looked up at the hotel.

“The Four Seasons?”

“Yes. You’ve been in an accident today. You need to be somewhere nice to relax and recuperate before we have our showdown with who’s behind this. Please don’t argue with me, Ava.”

Ava raised her hands. “Fine. You win this round, but if someone has not called me about Maia before tomorrow evening, I’m going to the police.”

“Okay.”