Page 26 of Greed
“Hey, it’s okay.” Grace touched Lilo on the arm and gave a gentle squeeze. “It will work out fine, don’t worry.”
Lilo smiled, but the turmoil inside her refused to abate. “I don’t know. I have no leads. Nothing.”
“No leads at all?”
“Well, the fake vigilante wanted Nathanial dead.” Lilo paused and then took a deep breath. She’d been avoiding the subject since she arrived, but if she couldn’t speak about it with one of her best friends, then who could she do it with? “My cousin said my father’s been kidnapped, and there is a ransom involved.”
Grace sat next to Lilo on the bed. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.”
Grace put her arm around Lilo’s shoulders. She didn’t say anything, just provided comfort.
“I don’t know what to do,” Lilo admitted.
“What can you do?”
“Before he died, Nathanial said there is enough in my father’s safe to pay the ransom and that I’m the only one coded to the lock. I think I have to do it.”
“You should take Griffin with you.”
Lilo pulled back. “Why would he come with me?”
“Lilo. You put too much of yourself out there for others, and you never expect anything in return. I’m one hundred percent sure that if you ask him, he’ll come with you. Maybe even tell Liza.”
“No police. You know how these things go.”
“And it never works out.”
“As far as I’m concerned, if I do this, I just want to hand the money over, collect my father and go back to ignoring him.”
Grace pulled her phone from her pocket and started typing. “I’m getting Griff’s number. There. Sent. Call him.”
Lilo’s phone pinged with Grace’s message. She’d only just met Griffin, but knowing Grace trusted him made Lilo feel the same. He’d helped her out today on numerous occasions. She knew holding her hand at the precinct had made him uncomfortable, but he never pushed her away. She appreciated that.
Perhaps Grace was right, and asking for help just this once wouldn’t be too bad.
“Thanks, Grace.”
“And if Griff is being obtuse, then Evan will go with you.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. You’re family to me, Lilo. He’d help you in a heart beat.”
Tears burned the back of Lilo’s eyes. It might take a while, but she knew that if she kept surrounding herself with people who cared, she’d build herself a new family.
Chapter Ten
Donald Doppenger strode into his apartment, shed the Greed leather hoodie and kicked his Chesterfield couch ten times.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
He tugged the mask from his face. Then on second thought, lifted it clear off his head and threw it across the room. It didn’t even fly properly. It floated and flapped until it landed limp on the carpeted floor. He bit his lip until it bled, then stomped on the scarf with his boots.
“Take that you—fucking—I don’t know. Aargh!” He pushed over a lamp on the side table. It crashed to the floor.
The serum he’d been given still coursed through his veins, giving him excessive energy and strength. He needed to let it out, and with nowhere else to do it, he punched a hole in the wall until his fist bled, and the frame holding his university degree fell to the ground, shattering the pane glass within. When his fist couldn’t stand the hard surface of the wall, he punched his leather cushions on the couch until they split, then he threw them in the air.
