Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 110360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
And Lofton.
I had pinned her against the seat while a child she loved with her whole heart screamed for help.
I would carry that. The sound of Zoey’s voice in that parking lot. The look on Lofton’s face when I’d told her I couldn’t leave her. The specific image of Brooke on the pavement, with blood running into her eyes, still trying to get to her daughter.
I would carry all of it for the rest of my life.
And the only thing I could do to make that weight bearable was to get that little girl back.
Finally, exactly eighteen minutes later, Brooke’s phone lit up on the table.
Unknown number.
Her hand shot for it, but I was faster. My fingers closed around it, my other hand coming up, one finger pressed to my lips.
The room went absolutely still. Every person in it holding their breath simultaneously.
I answered it and put it on speaker. “What do you want?”
The voice that came back was wrong. Mechanical. Processed through something cheap that flattened every human quality out of it. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Cut the shit, Jason. If you’re gonna snatch a kid, at least have the balls to use your real voice.”
Silence for a few seconds. Then a click, and the filter dropped.
What came through instead was breathing—ragged and fast, running hot on whatever he’d snorted up his nose or shot into his vein.
“Where the fuck is Brooke?”
Brooke shook, and I couldn’t tell if it was adrenaline or rage. I shook my head at her, a silent order to stay quiet.
“You’re not talking to her,” I said. “You’re talking to me. Where’s Zoey?”
He laughed. The laugh of a man who thought he held all the cards. “All right, tough guy, how about I let you listen to me put a bullet in her head and—”
“I’m here!” Brooke’s voice cracked across the room before I could stop her. “I’m right here, Jason. What the hell are you doing?”
“Okay. Now we’re getting somewhere.” He laughed. “Where’s your girl?”
“You took her,” Brooke seethed.
“Not that girl. I mean Queen Moneybags.”
Lofton started to say something. I put my hand up and she stopped.
“You don’t get anything else until I have proof of life,” I said.
“For fuck’s sake,” Jason grumbled. Then there was rustling. Movement. A door somewhere opened.
And then a sound hit the room like a bomb.
“Mommy!”
Brooke came absolutely unhinged, flying toward the phone. “Zoey!” she cried, reaching for it as I slid it away. “Baby—”
“Mommy, I want to come home.”
“I know, I know, I promise I’m coming to get you. Just hang on, baby, I’m on my way—”
“Mommy.” A hiccupped sob. “I can’t find my purse.”
“It’s okay,” Brooke choked out. “We’ll get you a new one. I’m coming, baby. I’m coming—”
“Enough,” Jason cut in, Zoey’s cries dropping to a soft whimper behind it. “Now, is Lofton with you or not?”
I looked at Lofton and dipped my chin.
“I’m…” she started, barely able to speak. She cleared her throat. “I’m here.”
He laughed, long, slow and deeply pleased with himself. “So fucking predictable. I think you forgot a zero the last time you paid me. You got twenty million on that piece of shit movie. Then you gave me half a mil for my own fucking kid? You cheap bitch.”
“Tell me what you want,” Lofton snapped, her emotions shifting to anger.
“Five million. Crypto. Untraceable.” He was speeding up now, the way people did when they’d been rehearsing something and had finally gotten to the part they’d practiced most. “You show up—”
“No.” I cut straight across him. “She’ll pay. You’ll get your money. But Lofton and Brooke are out of this. You deal with me. Same way you dealt with Marty.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Do I get to put a bullet in your chest too?”
That hit Lofton like a sledgehammer. Her whole body jolting.
I didn’t rise to it. “Even exchange. You don’t see a dime until I have eyes on Zoey.”
“Fine.” His voice dropped. “But don’t try to pull any shit. If I smell so much as one cop, you’re gonna need that money to bury her. And if you think I’m bluffing and decide not to show, you’ll never even find her body.”
“Jason, please.” Brooke shouted. “She’s your little girl. She didn’t do anything wrong. Please, don’t hurt her.”
“I would never hurt her. Jesus, I’m not a fucking monster.” There was a long, loaded silence. “I’ll make it fast so she never sees it coming.”
“Jason!” Brooke yelled.
“I’ll text you the address.”
The line clicked dead.
For exactly one second, nobody moved.
Then the room came apart. Voices overlapping from every direction. Leo, Jude, and Lark were already on their phones, but I moved straight to Lofton.
She was already coming straight for me, so we collided in the middle. Her arms went around my waist immediately. Full body, head to toe, cheek to chest, she anchored herself to me.