When she responded, her voice was softer. “She doesn’t exist anymore.”

“So you’ve told me—and the evidence I’ve seen supports that. Unless it’s an act.” Too blunt, perhaps, but she already knew how he felt about her. He’d made that crystal clear during their first two encounters.

“It’s not.”

“In that case, I have questions. Like, what happened to bring about such a dramatic change? Who is this person you’re trying to help? What sort of obligation do you have to them?”

Her chin rose a hair, and a spark ignited in her blue irises. “I don’t see how those answers are relevant to the position you’ve offered me.”

“I don’t want to leave my daughter in the care of someone who could be in trouble or is of questionable character. I’m a cop—and your desperate financial situation raises major red flags. If there’s a reasonable explanation for your predicament, I’m willing to reserve judgment and listen.”

Her knuckles whitened around the mug. “I’m not in trouble. My character is sounder than it’s ever been. And there is an explanation for my situation.”

He waited—but that was all she offered.

Time to play hardball.

“I need more than that—and the job offer and loan are contingent on the answers.”

And not just because he wanted to ensure he was leaving Hannah with someone he could trust.

The truth was, hard as he’d tried to deny it, Christi’s plight had been eating at him almost from day one.

Whether she wanted the loan badly enough to bare her soul, however, remained to be seen.

If she didn’t? If she called his bluff, threatened to walk away and leave him in the lurch with Hannah?

He could be the one who caved.

The reality was that this gamble depended on who was most desperate to get what they needed.

And he wasn’t placing any bets on the outcome.

19

Jack was willing to give her the loan—and a job that was far preferable to her gig at the sports bar—if she bared her soul.

A hard bargain.

Sharing her distressing secrets with this man would be the ultimate humiliation.

Yet she had to get that money.

Gripping the mug with both hands to keep the liquid from sloshing over the rim, she took a fortifying sip of the strong brew that suited the man on the other side of the table. Peeked at him over the rim.

While his impassive expression was impossible to read, one fact was clear.

She wasn’t the only one who’d changed.

The cop sitting across from her was a much more mature, insular, cautious, and skeptical person than the fresh-off-the-farm, innocent young landscaper employee who’d worn his heart on his sleeve and trusted unreservedly.