Page 96 of Second Chance for Mr. Alden

“Is everything okay?”

“It will be if I can get to the airport. Please Greta. I don’t have time to debate this. If you can’t I need to get an Uber here.”

She looked at me then yelled into the house. “Paul, Jess has an emergency. I need to get her to the airport.” She grabbed her keys from by the door and ushered me to her car parked out back.

We both jumped in. I strapped on my seat belt and took a deep breath. I looked longingly at the little apartment Alden and I’d shared as we backed out of the driveway. I knew my decision was about to change everything and I wanted to hold on to the little bit of bliss he and I had found together a little longer.

“Thank you,” I whispered to Greta.

Mandy clicked back on. “Ms. Sulton, we have one plane available. It’s our most expensive option at ten thousand dollars an hour. I have a pilot that just came in and is ready to go back out.”

“I’ll take it. Book him for the next six hours.” I prayed it was far less time than that, but to be safe I wanted to make sure we had a way out of there if we needed it. The flight itself should only be forty-five minutes tops.

“I’ll email you the confirmation—”

“Is it possible to text me? I don’t have access to my email right now. And you can charge it to my card on file.”

“Absolutely,” Mandy replied.

I rattled off this cell phone number. “Thank you, Mandy. You don’t know what you’ve just done for me.”

“Take care, Ms. Sulton. I hope your friend is okay.”

“Me too. Bye.” I let out a sigh and leaned my head against the headrest.

“Jess, do you need to call Alden?” Greta asked, concern pinched grooves into the corners of her eyes.

“Not yet. I will after I’ve taken off.” If I called Alden now he’d no doubt meet me at the airport. And while I wanted him with me, I needed to make sure Lexi was safe before Alden came after the two of us.

It was probably why I was feeling a weird sense of calm. Alden would move heaven and earth to find us and if things went sideways, I could count on him. I was ready for this mess to be over.

The twenty-five minutes it took to get to the airport seemed to crawl by. My body tensed as each minute slipped past waiting for either Alden or the kidnappers to reach out to me.

They didn’t say what would happen to Lexi after the two hours was up and I wasn’t looking to find out.

Chapter Twenty-Two

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