Hideaway At Hawk's Landing

They’d both also been taught how to read body language. And this woman’s body language screamed that she was frightened.

Charlotte reached for the doorknob, but Brayden placed a hand over hers. “Let me handle it.”

Tears blurred Charlotte’s eyes as she looked at him. “She didn’t do this, Brayden. Tell Lucas I know she’s innocent.”

Except she had operated on the man. Had given him a new face.

She hadn’t denied that.

Charlotte lifted her chin. “Tell Lucas I hired you to represent Mila.”

Oh boy. That was not going to go over well.

“I don’t want to come between you and Lucas—”

“You won’t,” Charlotte said. “But I have to do what’s right. Mila and her mother helped so many people that it’s time someone helped Mila.”

Maybe she was right.

He stepped into the hallway. Harrison met him, his expression concerned. “Deputy outside Austin spotted the van, but men shot at him, and he lost them. Looks like they’re headed west.”

“Let’s pray they catch them,” Charlotte said from behind him.

Harrison nodded. “Did Dr. Manchester give Lucas any information?”

Brayden shook his head. “Not yet.”

“I hired Brayden to represent her,” Charlotte said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Maybe she’ll confide in him.”

Harrison’s frown was exactly the reaction Brayden expected.

“Tell Lucas I want to talk to her,” he said.

“Brayden—”

“Tell him,” Charlotte said. “Or I’ll go in there and tell him myself.”

Brayden fought a tiny smile. Lucas said the woman had spunk. He was right.

Harrison grunted, then gestured for them to follow him, and a minute later, he knocked on the interrogation room, then poked his head in. “Lucas, a word please.”

Lucas joined them in the hallway, took one look at Charlotte and grimaced. “You should have stayed home.”

Charlotte folded her arms. “I couldn’t. I know Mila, and she’s innocent.”

“We have proof,” Lucas said.

Brayden cleared his throat. “Let me talk to her.”

“This is an interrogation, Brayden. We’re trying to find the man who runs the Shetland ring.” He aimed a look at Charlotte. “You do want him to be arrested, don’t you? Because he will keep trafficking young girls unless we stop him.”

“Of course I want him to be stopped,” Charlotte said, her eyes widening in anger and surprise that Lucas would suggest she didn’t.

“Maybe you should let Brayden try,” Harrison said. “She might talk to him.”

Lucas glared at Harrison. “If he speaks to her as her lawyer, he’s bound by attorney-client privilege. What good will that do us?”

Brayden squared his shoulders. “Listen, Lucas, I’ll find out the truth. If I think she intentionally helped the Shetland group, I won’t represent her.” He gestured toward the closed door. “But I was watching what happened in there. She looks terrified. She couldn’t fake that kind of reaction when she saw those pictures.”

Lucas stood ramrod straight. “Give me another minute. If she doesn’t offer anything, then you can come in.”

Brayden agreed, and Lucas disappeared inside again. He and Harrison and Charlotte returned to the room to watch the interview.

Mila was wiping her face with a paper towel. She looked pale and fatigued and on the verge of a breakdown.

“Dr. Manchester,” Lucas said in a quiet but firm tone. “We know you performed plastic surgery on DiSanti. We just don’t know why you helped him.”

Mila rubbed her forehead, a sound of anguish coming from her, but she didn’t reply.

“We understand that DiSanti will need time to recover from the surgery. He’s well guarded by his pit bulls. Where were they taking him?”

Mila’s lower lip quivered. “I don’t know.”

Lucas’s jaw snapped tight. “If we don’t stop him, he’ll kidnap more young girls.” Again, Lucas tapped the photos one by one, his tone full of disgust. “More innocent girls who will be turned into sex slaves to build his empire and pad his fortune.”

Mila stared at the pictures, ashen faced.

“Where were they going?” Lucas pressed.

Misery darkened Mila’s expression as she looked up at Lucas. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t.”

Lucas stared at her for a long minute, then swiped the photographs into a stack, jammed them in an envelope and stalked from the room.

Brayden rushed to meet him in the hall, Harrison and Charlotte on his heels.

“All right, see what you can do,” Lucas said. “Finding DiSanti is what matters. Tell her we’ll offer her a deal if she talks.”

Brayden reached for the door.

“I hope to hell you’re right about her,” he heard Lucas tell Charlotte just before he stepped inside the room.

One look into Mila’s tormented eyes, and Brayden had to remind himself to be neutral. Beautiful women lied and deceived people all the time.

He had to convince her to tell him the truth. That was all that mattered. That and putting the Shetland ring out of business.

* * *

MILA TWISTED HER hands together, fighting another wave of nausea. More than anything, she wanted to tell Agent Hawk what was happening. To beg him to send someone to her house and check on Izzy and the nanny.