Page 131 of Wilde Abandon

Mason and Dean followed.

Fox spun back around.“I’m going alone.I’ll take care of this.”

Mason shook his head.“You need law enforcement to take her down.”

Fuck.“I go in alone.I’ll get a confession out of her.”

“And if you can’t?”Dean asked.

“Then we’ll wait for the ransom demand and I’ll pay it.”

4:17 a.m.One hour, fifty-nine minutes without her.

He’d do anything to get her back, including facing Tanya, her denial, her warped sense of what she thought she deserved, and the reality that his selfish mother was never on his side.She’d never wanted his happiness.She only wanted what he could give her.

The only people who cared about him were the family he’d made.

And the person who loved him the most—Melody.

He wouldn’t stop until he got her back and everyone involved paid.

Chapter thirty-five

4:46a.m.Two hours, twenty-eight minutes without her.

Fox wasn’t particularly surprised to pull into his mother’s driveway and find the lights on in the house at nearly five in the morning.He parked the car, took a deep breath, then rushed up to the door, knowing exactly how he wanted to play this out.

Dean and Mason were in a separate car.They’d have his back.

But he didn’t need help getting Tanya to talk.He had a feeling he’d get exactly what he expected from her.

He didn’t bother knocking on the door.He didn’t have to.

She opened it for him.“Fox, what are you doing here so late?”

“Actually, I think it’s early.”

Her gaze darted past him as she scanned the yard.“What’s wrong?”

“Melody’s been kidnapped.I’m expecting a ransom demand any second.”

No surprise or concern showed on her face.“Then what are you doing here?”

He took a step closer to her, then another, backing her up and into the house.“I need to know who you told about the lottery win.”

“No one.”She held her hands out, then let them drop.“You asked me not to tell anyone.”

Fox shrugged.“Your social worker knows.What about your doctor.A nurse.The grocery store clerk.The travel agent in town you’ve been talking to about all the trips you want me to pay for.”He tried to hold back his temper, but those last words came out with a bite to them.

She shook her head.“I didn’t tell anyone.You asked me to keep it a secret.”

“But you didn’t.Because someone knows.Someone took the woman I love, the woman I plan to marry and have arealfamily with.The woman who makes me happy.The woman who would do anything for me, including saving me from you.”

Her shoulders squared.“You don’t need to be saved from me.I’m your mother.”

“That’s biology.You’ve never been a real mother to me.Not when I was young.Not now.I’m just a means to an end.And if you used the woman I love to get money out of me, I will make sure your pathetic life ends even more miserably.But if you tell me what I need to know right now—you put me out of my misery—I’ll give you a million dollars.”He held up his phone.“I can transfer the funds to you right now.”

The surprise and greed in Tanya’s eyes turned to calculation.“I don’t know anything.I didn’t do anything.”

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