Behaving Badly in Vegas (Vegas Love #3)

46. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Hunter

I passed Jennifer Johnson’s information to Rudy. Since he’d failed to find Carina’s mother, he owed me. I had him run a complete background check on the woman while we waited for the results of the DNA test.

“What did you find?”

The private investigator cleared his throat. “She has no employment records for the last three years, hasn’t filed taxes for longer than that. She’s probably worked for cash; there’s no shortage of those jobs in Vegas. Her last record of employment was at a diner in Michigan.”

“What about the address?”

“The apartment is leased to a Brenna Houston. I went over there and showed her picture to the leasing office and the neighbors. Both confirmed she lives there. The only thing attached to her social security number is a phone. No utility bills, no car, nothing. This woman seriously wanted to disappear, and she picked the right city to do it in. ”

“Disappeared so much that you couldn’t find her, could you, Mr. Mendosa?” It still pissed me off that the woman caught me off guard by showing up at my home.

“To be fair, you didn’t give me much to go on.”

“You’re supposed to be the best!”

“I am, but I’m not a fucking miracle worker. No one could have found her.”

I tapped my fingers on my desk and let out a sigh. “I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

“You want the rest of the report or not?”

“Proceed.”

“She’s been arrested twice for petty theft and once for prostitution. Never served time and was let out on bail. Pretty typical for Vegas. Other than that, her record is clean.”

“Anything else that throws up a red flag?”

“Besides the fact that she barely exists… nothing.”

The arrest record wasn’t great, but Rudy was right, in Vegas those were minor infractions. Part of me was relieved she seemed legit. The selfish part of me was annoyed he didn’t find anything that would give me just cause to keep her away from Carina.

I couldn’t imagine letting that woman take my child for visitation. What would she be exposed to? Would she be in danger? Would she be taken care of? Would Jennifer try to disappear with her?

The last question felt like a knife to the gut. I already knew Jennifer was good at disappearing and not being found. Having my daughter stolen away would destroy me.

After hanging up with Rudy, I stomped down to Trent’s office. In a weak attempt to stop me, Tom held out his arm. “He’s on a phone call.”

“Do I look like I give a fuck?” I pushed open the door without knocking and signaled for Tom to follow. He did but remained by the door while I parked myself in front of my brother’s desk with one leg crossed over the other .

“I have to go,” Trent said into the phone. “An unexpected pest scurried into my office, and I need to call an exterminator. I’ll talk to you soon.” He hung up and scowled at me.

Like I cared. “You shouldn’t be telling people you need to call an exterminator. They’ll think Mystique has a cockroach problem.”

“It kind of does,” he deadpanned.

This back and forth with my brother felt good. Normal. Almost comforting. With the chaos my life had become, I needed it. “God, you’ve always been such a drama queen. I thought since you’ve been getting laid on the regular that would have stopped.”

Trent stood and leaned forward on his desk. “I always got laid on the regular. You were the one who had an intimate relationship with your right hand.”

“Left, actually, but that was before I stole your girlfriend in tenth grade.”

Trent jabbed his finger into the top of the desk. “You didn’t fucking steal her. She and I were done long before you came snooping around. She had the IQ of a fish.”

My lips tipped up and I chuckled. “She kinda smelled like one too.”

“There may be some truth to that.” He tried to hold back his laughter, but it slipped free as he sat down. “What do you want?”

“I need Tom.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you’re in my office.”

“Because yours has the better view and since my life is a gigantic shit show right now, I thought I’d come annoy you.” I turned to Tom, who was still standing by the door and beckoned him to join us. “This”—I pointed between the three of us as Tom sank into a chair—“is the triangle of trust. I need to know where we are on the Leonard situation. With Carina’s mother showing up, I can’t take any more bad news.”

“Did you confirm she’s actually her mother?” Trent asked.

“I’m still waiting for the DNA test results and since I’m really shitty at waiting, I figured I’d obsess over Leonard. I need something positive. Please tell me you have good news. ”

Tom cleared his throat. “Intentional Hospitalities Corporation is owned by a shell corporation. Two actually.”

I threw my hands in the air. “So you’ve got nothing!”

“Calm down,” Trent said. “Let him finish.”

“It’s not nothing. I dug into those shell corporations and guess what? They’re also owned by shell corporations. Whoever set this up knew what they were doing.”

“And?” I asked impatiently.

“And it’s going to take some time. You’re asking me to hack into financial institutions with top-notch security and massive firewalls.”

“This sounds too risky. If he gets caught, we’re all going to jail. This whole scheme is crazy. Maybe it would be better to turn it over to the FBI or something,” Trent said.

“Don’t be a pussy. The only one going to jail is Leonard.” I turned to Tom. “You’re not going to get caught, right?” Charli told me he was the best, but I needed to hear it from him.

Tom sat up straighter. “I know what I’m doing. I’ve rerouted my IP address through ten different countries. No one can trace it back to me or Mystique.”

I gave him a smirk. “I’m almost jealous of what goes on in that brain of yours.”

“You don’t even want to know."

After making the phone call I dreaded, Jennifer Johnson was now sitting on my couch. Much to my chagrin, she was indeed Carina’s mother.

“I told you I was legit,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Well, excuse me for not believing the first woman who showed up at my door. You’re the one who made this difficult, not me.”

“Can I please see my daughter now? ”

She looked up at me with her green eyes, but all I could focus on was the cleavage spilling out of her low-cut shirt. Good god! No wonder I slept with her. I remembered the big boobs and blond hair, but that was about it. In my state of mind that night, I didn’t need anything else. “One more question. How did you know I was the father?”

Jennifer sighed. “I’m a stripper, not a prostitute. I don’t normally sleep with my clients. I give them a lap dance and maybe a blow job then send them on their way. You fit the time window.”

“You have an arrest record for prostitution,” I pointed out.

Her lips puckered. “Mighty judgy of you, considering you paid me too.”

“Touché.”

“Besides, I never said I was perfect. I did what I had to do to survive when I moved here. I don’t do that anymore.”

Except that she did, or we wouldn’t be sitting here right now. It didn’t matter what I thought. It’s not like I could take the moral high ground when most of my life I did whatever served me best. I was the king of deception and amorality.

I had to face facts; this woman was going to be part of my life. It wouldn’t do me or my daughter any good to tear her down.

“Let me get Carina.” I went down the hallway to the nursery. Charli sat in the rocking chair rubbing Carina’s back as she sang to her. “It’s time.”

Charli turned to me, eyes wide. “I don’t like this, Hunter.”

I stuck my hands in my pockets. “Neither do I, but we don’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“Yeah, and none of them are good. This is the best option.” At least that’s what the lawyer told me. I had to believe this was in Carina’s best interest. She deserved to know her mother.

“Alright. Let me carry her out?”

I nodded and Charli hugged Carina tighter as she carried her. This process was difficult, and I was glad to have Charli on my side. We were partners, not only between the sheets but in loving my daughter. Although I initially questioned my decision in hiring her as Carina’s nanny, I knew now that it was the right choice.

The only choice.

Jennifer squealed when we entered the room. “Oh my god, my baby! I missed you so much! Come to Mama.” She reached out for Charli to hand her over.

Carina buried her head in Charli’s neck, and Charli protectively squeezed her tighter. I understood her hesitation, but this had to be done.

I pried Carina from Charli’s arms and gently handed her to Jennifer. “Careful, she’s getting heavy.”

Jennifer rolled her eyes. “You act like I didn’t carry her in my womb for nine months. I’m perfectly capable of handling my daughter.”

Carina’s face scrunched up and her lips began to quiver. She reached out for Charli. “Ma….ma…ma.”

Jennifer held Carina up and scolded her. “I’m your mama.”

Charli held a hand over her mouth and her eyes welled. “That’s her first word.”

Jennifer glared at me. “Well, isn’t that sweet? You’ve allowed our daughter to call the nanny Mama . Jesus!”

Fucking hell! The whole first-word moment was ruined by this woman. “It’s understandable that Carina would be confused. She hasn’t seen you in months.”

“I plan to be around a lot,” she said. “Isn’t that right, my little boo-boo bear?” She nuzzled into Carina’s belly.

Charli backed away into the kitchen. She leaned over the sink as she got a glass of water and guzzled it down, then filled the glass again.

I went over and put my hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”

She waved away my concern. “Yeah, yeah… it’s just… her first word.”

“I know.”

Charli pointed to her chest. “She called me Mama .”

“I know. ”

It was a monumental moment that neither one of us fully got to appreciate. I looked over at Jennifer, who had Carina on her back, tickling her belly. My daughter smiled and laughed. As much as I didn’t want this woman a part of our lives, she made my daughter happy.

And that’s all that really mattered.