But there was still some fire in her eyes. “I’ve been digging into everything I can find about him and his mother. And it’s not fucking much.”
Nicky stood and went to her, sliding his arms around her tightly. In a rare show of emotion, Li buried her face in Nick’s chest. Simon had to look away from the intimate exchange. Because if Lila was feeling hopeless, then they were so very fucked.
Nicky sat back down, dragging his wife onto his lap so the three of them were huddled together at the conference table. It was just as rare that Lila would allow such a move while at Ripper.
But nothing was the same as it had been. Absolutely nothing.
“Did they call again?” Nick asked as he rubbed her lower back absently.
“Just the once,” she said.
“Do they know?” Simon’s voice was hoarse.
Maybe this time, their secret was a blessing.
“What?” Her voice gentled. “About the baby? I don’t know.” Lila closed her eyes. “How could you not tell us?”
Simon picked at his cuticle on his ring finger before fisting his left hand. His wedding ring glowed in the low light. He had to focus on that and not the worst case scenarios screaming in his brain.
He knew Lila had been running around doing everything she could for him—for them. Because she loved Margo almost as much as he did. But talking about this felt bigger than he could deal with. “At first it was because we knew the tour was important to all of us and we could be jeopardizing it.”
“Fuck the tour.”
Simon’s eyes widened at Lila’s harsh voice. “You say that now, but remember how adamant we were about Jazz and Gray holding off on getting pregnant? Then we’re the assholes? We felt like shit. It wasn’t planned.”
“We figured,” Nick said with a humorless laugh.
“She told me right around the time the Ian thing happened. Everything was such a mess and then there was this thing that was just…”
“Yours?” Lila covered his hand.
Simon blew out a slow, shuddering breath. “Yeah. Just ours. And we were going to talk to you guys about it right before all this happened.” He laughed. “We were looking at houses, for fuck’s sake. Being all grown up and teasing each other about it and then she was just…” His voice faded away, ground to dust.
“Oh, Simon.”
To go from pure joy to pure terror in a second. It felt like a million years ago, not just this morning.
His gaze locked on Ian, who was tucked in tight with Zoe. “And now I’m supposed to trust this piece of shit to get my wife back? My pregnant wife? Why did they have to go after her?”
Why wasn’t it me?
The commotion on the screen dragged his attention back from the guilt and shame spiral. It had been a long twelve hours since they’d taken her. Hours to obsess and plot Ian’s murder.
To wonder where she was.
If she was okay.
If they were hurting her.
If his lemon drop was still safe and warm.
Donovan turned toward the camera they were watching through, his phone to his ear.
Simon stood. “Turn up the volume.”
Lila popped up off of Nick’s lap and scrambled for the remote.
“I understand.” Donovan’s voice was low and even. He held up his hand to Simon as if he could see him tearing for the door.