Page 101 of Risk

Another laugh. “It was too late for me a long time ago, girl.”

His ominous words leave me cold. All I can do is pray that my babies and I walk away from this in one piece, and so does Kaden.

THIRTY-SIX

It’s been one hour and fifty-six minutes of uncomfortable silence and meaningless, pointless fucking talking with Gary while we sit in this hot fucking car.

The only reprieve I’ve had from the heat is when Gary has a cigarette, which has been often, and opens the window.

I’ve never prayed more for a man to smoke so I could get some cool air on my face. Sweat is trickling down my back, and I have under-boob sweat that is now trickling down my sides.

I’m baking out here and intermittently watching the clock on the dashboard, counting down the minutes, and the entrance that we came through for Kaden to appear.

I hear a cell phone trill, and Gary pulls it from his pocket. He answers it, putting it on speakerphone.

“I’m here. Where the fuck are you?” Kaden’s angry voice fires out of the cell phone.

“You come alone?”

“I said I fucking would, didn’t I? Is Missy okay?”

“She’s fine, boy. Calm down.”

“I’ll fucking calm down when I see her.”

“I need reassurance that you haven’t brought the pigs or anyone else with you.”

“And how the fuck am I supposed to do that?”

“FaceTime, boy. Transfer the call to FaceTime and show me the inside of your car and your surrounding area. And do it now. I don’t want you having time to get rid of people and screw me over.”

I hear the distinct tone of the call transferring over to FaceTime, and I get a glimpse of Kaden’s face on the screen. Then, it’s gone, and he’s showing the inside of his car, which is empty, and then what looks to be a deserted street that I don’t recognize. Clearly, Gary didn’t give him this place as his meetup to start with.

I hate to say it, but Gary is a smart man. He’s a man who doesn’t want to go back to prison. Not enough to stop him from kidnapping his son’s girlfriend and holding her hostage though.

“Satisfied?” I hear Kaden say.

“Almost,” Gary responds. “You’ve got no trackers on you, do you?”

“For fuck’s sake, old man! When the fuck would I have had time to arrange that with anyone, least of all the cops? I’ve spent the last couple of hours convincing the bank that I wanted the five hundred grand for legal purposes.”

“It’s your fucking money. Why’d you have to convince them of that?”

“Because normal, moral people of good standing don’t usually withdraw five hundred grand for no good reason.”

“But you got it?”

“Just fucking said I did, didn’t I? Now, show me Missy. I want to know she’s okay.”

Gary pauses for a beat and then lifts his phone up, the screen facing me, showing me Kaden’s face.

The relief on his face at seeing me is palpable. I can almost feel it, like his hand is touching the skin on my cheek.

“You’re okay? You and the babies?”

Tears prick my eyes for the first time since this whole ordeal began.

“We’re fine,” I say through a watery smile.

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