King of Evanston Read online

  “Yes, baby.” Camilla’s smile was captivating. Her eyes sparkled and the joy in them stole his breath.

  Shaz wanted every bit of that directed at him. He scanned the area around them again, conscious that the park bench left them wide open to anyone who meant them harm. Over the past few days, he had the uncomfortable feeling he was being watched. He hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary, but the sixth sense his grandmother told him would serve him well in life, kept him on edge. Plus, he was conscious of his run-in with that thug a few days ago. By now, the man’s car would probably be in repair but that didn’t mean he’d given up on shadowing him.

  They sat under a tree on a park bench with the baby bag between them. Groups of people moved in both directions, cycling, skating, and strolling.

  When his gaze went back to Camilla, he took her hand. “Have you changed your mind about going home?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not leaving her here.”

  “Don’t you have family you trust?”

  Looking sideways at him, she said, “I trust Auntie Mabel, but she has the restaurant.”

  “What about your other people?”

  “They work.” Her tone was clipped and warned him not to press. “You know why I don’t trust anybody. Not after what Derrick did.”

  A skateboarder zipped past, distracting Shaz. When he looked back at her, he said, “I truly understand that, but d’you hear what’s going on in the news?”

  Her eyebrow arched, encouraging him to continue.

  Over Ayanna’s babbling, he said, “Illegal immigrants. The way they’re treated.” He let his words sink in. “D’you want to find yourself in that situation?”

  Ayanna squealed and pointed at a black and brown Terrier, who trotted by on a leash. After kissing the little girl’s cheek, Camilla met his eyes. “That’s not likely to happen to me. I’m not trying to stay here permanently.”

  Her words caused a pang in the region of his heart. Shaz ignored it and pressed on. “You can’t be here on an expired visa. You will be deported. Unless …”

  She shook her head. “I have better sense than that. Jamaica is my home.”

  “I understand that.” He stared at his shoes, then swallowed a sigh. “Negotiating is easier when you have a leg to stand on.”

  “Are you chastising me?” she asked, pulling a coil of her hair out of Ayanna’s tiny fist. The breeze ruffled the rest of it, shrouding her face in layered waves that flattered her face.

  Shaz chuckled. “Take it however you like. I’m thinking about what’s best for you and Ayanna.”

  “I know.” She squeezed his fingers while holding Ayanna around the waist with her other hand. “Thanks for picking us up from the hospital.”

  For a few seconds, she closed her eyes. She hadn’t complained, but he felt the stress coming off her in waves when he met her in front of the facility. In reply to her question of what he was doing there, he explained that he’d gone to Aunt Mabel’s and she directed him to the hospital. He dared not tell Camilla her aunt commanded him to pick her up.

  “Not a problem.”

  Ayanna sat, pulling at the neckline of Camilla’s loose blouse, exposing the royal blue tank top that hugged her breasts. He shut down his immediate thoughts and cleared his throat, happy that the breeze kept Camilla busy, pushing the hair away from her face.

  “After Ayanna has her procedure, it may be good to have her visit the holistic center at The Castle. Jai Maharaj, a friend of mine, will have it up and running by then. His approach to treatment is less invasive. I’m sure that even after surgery, she can benefit from visiting.”

  “That’s a thought,” Camilla said, removing Ayanna’s fingers from her mouth.

  Camilla’s changing micro-expressions and her casual response intrigued him. If he read them correctly, she was wondering how she’d pay for any service inside that exclusive property. Now wasn’t the time to tell her he’d take care of it. The woman was not only independent, but feisty and wouldn’t accept what Jamaicans called ‘freeness’ from him.

  He turned his face up to the sun. The warmth of it was welcome. Although it was Saturday, he’d gone to the office today to deal with paperwork for his pro bono clients. His mind circled back to Camilla and her aunt and what they wouldn’t allow him to do for them, without charging. Despite what Camilla told him about her sponsored travels for her blog and her work as a model, billing them didn’t sit well with him. The last time he raised the argument, Camilla point blank told him she wouldn’t accept that kind of help from a man with whom she wasn’t intimately involved. Getting her to that point was high on his list of priorities, but they weren’t there yet.

  “You okay, Shaz?” Camilla asked, disrupting his thoughts.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” He shifted sideways and looked her in the eyes. “Actually, I’m not. I want you to level with me.”

  Her tone hinted at defensiveness when she asked, “In terms of what?”

  “You. Ayanna. Porter.”

  He saw, rather than heard, her sigh. Apparently, she thought he was about to confront her about something else, but what?

  “What d’you want to know?” Camilla asked.

  “How did things get to the point where he’d think it’s okay to give your child up for adoption?”

  Camilla stared at the water drifting in the pond a few feet away and spoke in a monotone. “Derrick and I want different things.”

  “That’s fairly obvious,” he quipped.

  A faint smile crossed her lips. Then she winced as Ayanna pulled her hair. “We met three years ago when I was here on vacation. We hit it off, but honestly we didn’t spend enough time together. Long story short, I got pregnant. I wanted the baby. He didn’t.”

  “Hmmm.” Shaz scanned the area behind them that ran parallel to the road. “So, if he’s not interested in being a father, why …”

  “Derrick likes the slot machines and the races,” Camilla said with a sour note in her voice.

  “Are you saying there’s actually a reason behind him trying to sell his baby?”

  She winced, took a deep breath and stared over Ayanna’s head. When she looked at him again, she spoke in a monotone. “You see, Derrick is from a dysfunctional family and when you’re not grounded, you do crazy things.”

  In two minutes, she gave him a deeper understanding of the man she’d gotten involved with. Single working mother. Six kids raising each other. Not enough parental supervision. A taste for the fast life.

  Her explanation backed up Daron’s findings in the report he’d sent to Shaz. The added challenge of financial troubles sometimes made men desperate. But to sell his own flesh and blood was unthinkable.

  The back of his neck prickled and he sat up. Casually, he got to his feet and stretched, looking around them. “We should go.”

  Camilla turned her face to the sun and sighed, while Ayanna grabbed her chin. “This break was good for us. Thank you.”

  “Not a problem.” He picked up the baby bag and waited as she settled Ayanna in her arms. The little girl seemed worn out by the sights and sounds and was half asleep.

  They chatted as they walked toward the SUV, but Shaz couldn’t shake the unease in his gut. He put a hand to Camilla’s back as he scanned the parking lot. From a few feet away, he opened the SUV remotely and deliberately slowed his steps, not wanting to alarm Camilla over what might be an overinflated sense of danger. Maybe his jumpiness had to do with Khalil’s situation, which they were still unraveling at the Castle.

  He held the back door behind the driver’s seat open for Camilla to put Ayanna in the booster seat. A car door slammed and the scuffling of feet came from behind them. “Yo, Shaz.”

  At the sound of his name, he spun. Eyes narrowed, he took in the two men crowding him. Small time thugs.

  He stepped in front of Camilla, who froze in the middle of strapping down Ayanna.

  “Am I supposed to know you?” Shaz asked.

  The man, who wore a do-rag and had a
mouthful of gold grillwork, raised his hand as if to shake Shaz’s. In his fist, he carried a small taser. His companion moved as if to get around Shz.

  With both hands, Shaz shoved him in the chest. He staggered backward and fell to the asphalt.

  His partner lunged toward Camilla, who ducked. The man pushed her to the side and yanked Ayanna out of the seat. He clutched her to his chest and turned took off running. The man on the ground scrambled to his feet and ran behind him.

  Ayanna woke, screaming as the two men jumped into a black Camaro parked a couple of cars down the row.

  Going on instinct, Shaz dived into the SUV, yelling as he sat. “Hop in, Cam.”

  Camilla had left his side, running toward the car that peeled out of its spot.

  Curious onlookers stared with their jaws slack.

  Seconds later, Shaz came abreast of Camilla, who screamed at the car with tears running down her cheeks.

  “Get in,” he yelled.

  To her credit, Camilla responded immediately, running around the hood and jumping in beside him. “They took my baby. They took my baby.”

  The words came in an unbroken loop while she stared ahead, keeping the car in her line of sight.

  Shaz squeezed her cold hand. “I know. I’m sorry. Hang on. We’ll get her back.”

  He stepped on the gas, engaging the audio system and throwing a glance at Camilla as she buckled the seatbelt with trembling fingers. She braced both hands on the dashboard as he raced onto the road. Her lips moved as if she was praying and she dashed her knuckles over her cheeks.

  Eyes trained on the car in front of them, Shaz gave the audio system a command. “Call Daron.”

  “The police,” Camilla cried. “We need the police.”

  Shaz swung in and out of the sparse traffic, gaining on the Camaro.

  When Daron picked up, Shaz said, “We have a situation.”

  In a few clipped sentences, he explained what happened.

  “Don’t hang up,” Daron said. “I have people in the area.”

  Shaz overtook a car driven by a white-haired lady, who shook her fist at them when he came close to clipping the bumper. He swung around the red and black Smart car in front of them, barely avoiding collision with a Ford truck. The Camaro raced around a corner with Shaz directly behind. As he gained on the car, he threw caution aside and clipped the back of the car.

  The men kept going.

  Camilla grabbed the dashboard, with her eyes trained on their target. “Come on,” she muttered.

  Daron came back on the line. “Where are you now?”

  “Coming up to Sheridan Road.”

  “Bryson and Linc will be waiting.”

  “Thanks, man. Talk to you in a bit.” Shaz ended the connection and rear-ended the car again.

  The man in the back seat turned terrified eyes on them.

  A smile that felt more like a grimace came to Shaz’s face. He was attracting attention, but he was at the point of no return. “Hold on tight, Camilla.”

  She nodded, but didn’t answer as she brushed at another tear.

  He swung the SUV sideways and drew alongside the Camaro. The driver of the oncoming car blasted his horn and swung out of Shaz’s way at the last moment. Spinning the wheel toward the Camaro, Shaz forced it sideways. The driver turned bulging eyes on him. When his attention shifted back to the road, he screamed.

  CHAPTER 10

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Camilla asked over her shoulder as she let them into Aunt Mabel’s living room.

  Wearing a wry smile, Shaz placed the car seat on the floor and sat next to Camilla on the sofa. “I should be asking you that.”

  He had insisted on taking them to Jaidev Maharaj to be sure Ayanna was okay. That took them over an hour and he didn’t tell Camilla that detour was also an evasive move in case they picked up another tail that Daron’s men weren’t aware of.

  After kissing Ayanna’s cheek, Camilla turned her gaze on him. “As long as she’s okay, I’m good. Let me put her down and I’ll be with you in a minute.”

  When Camilla returned, she asked if he needed anything to drink.

  Shaz shook his head. “I’m fine, and really happy we got Ayanna back.”

  Her gaze probed him as she responded to his comment. “After what you did back there, I’m not so sure I’ll ever feel safe riding with you.”

  He folded both arms across his chest, surprised she hadn’t taken him to task before this. “Did you want your baby back or not?”

  She laid a hand on his wrist, then drew closer. “Don’t get upset. I was teasing.”

  He waited, because he knew there was something else.

  “Sorta.” She looked at him as if she needed more of an explanation.

  She wouldn’t be getting one.

  “You can thank my dad for teaching me defensive driving,” he said. “And anyway, I did what I had to do in the moment.”

  Camilla attempted to speak, but Shaz interrupted her. “Speaking of which, d’you know any of those men?”

  She answered immediately, but something flickered in her eyes. “Of course not.”

  “Are you sure?” Their gazes locked and he watched her keenly, allowing his instinct to lead him. Did she know something she wasn’t saying?

  “Yes, but …” She paused, staring at the blank television screen across the room. “What if Derrick set that up?”

  “Then he’d be looking for more trouble.” He gripped her arms and made her face him. “Let the authorities do their job.”

  “What authority?” Her brows winged upward and she all but rolled her eyes. “Those men who came looked more like private security to me.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Shaz assumed a more neutral expression, hoping she didn’t ask any more questions about Daron’s crew. “They won’t bother you again,” he added.

  “Spoken like someone who has clout to shift things about and make stuff happen.” She folded her arms and narrowed a steely gaze on him. “So about that lamp post they ran into. Who’s going to report that accident? And don’t think I didn’t notice how your people hustled the men into the back of their Jeep. I hope they don’t turn up with broken bones or anything like that.”

  Or dead, was the unspoken sentiment.

  Her frown deepened. “I trust you’re not involved in anything Miss Paula wouldn’t approve of. Auntie would have my head if you did any funny business on my behalf. She thinks the world of you.”

  “Trust me, I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of those two women.” As they laughed, Shaz made a mental note not to underestimate Camilla, who was more observant than he first thought.

  Daron’s three-man crew swept on the scene and carted the two would-be kidnappers away. Despite the group of onlookers, the third man backed up the Camaro and followed the Jeep. Shaz wondered what they’d have done if the car had been incapacitated. Plus, he’d been wondering if there were any street cameras to complicate things, but he doubted it. In any case, it was too late now to perplex his brain about things he couldn’t fix. Knowing Daron and his technical toys, if there were cameras, he’d find a way to jam them or erase the footage. When his mind strayed to possible consequences of hacking into the city’s computer system, Shaz shut down his thoughts.

  With one arm around Camilla, he whispered, “I’ll do everything in my power to protect you and Ayanna.”

  “I know.” Camilla’s eyes softened and she cupped his cheek. “Thank you.”

  Shaz turned his head and kissed her palm. “It’s what any man would do.”

  “Don’t be too sure about that.” She hunched and hugged herself. “Tell you the truth, I’m a little scared. Why would anybody want to kidnap Ayanna?”

  “Would Porter stoop to that?”

  She hesitated. “Hard to tell, but if he has an agreement with that disgusting politician and money is his goal.”

  Despite his instinct and the text update Daron sent, Shaz allowed his mouth to say the opposite of what he suspected, th
ough the park had been filled with other children. “Maybe it was a random occurrence.”

  With both hands, she combed through her hair and rested her elbows on both knees. “I sure hope so. It’s bad enough that she’s not well, but to think about her being a target.” She sat up and peered at him. “D’you think Alderman Bennett could have anything to do with this?”

  “He has no reason to do something that puts him at risk. Already, he’s walking a fine line.” He squeezed her to his side. “Sweets, don’t get your brain in a knot over this. Are you willing to let me handle this in the way I see fit?”