Chapter Forty
KNOX
The voice in my ear was terrifyingly familiar. I'd missed the second call, but he left a message that sent my world tilting sideways, tipping me out of reality and into a nightmare.
“Knox Sinclair. I know you have the numbers. I have your house surrounded. Charges are planted. Send your men in and I'll blow it up. Fail to give me my money and I'll blow it up. Try to get the woman and the boy out and…you get the picture. I look forward to hearing from you.”
For far too long, I stood there, unable to move, unable to breathe, the thud of my heart deafening in my ears. Adam. Alice. How?
As if he could read my mind, a text came through. A picture of my house, exactly as I'd left it, except for the small, white block beside the front door, black wires protruding in a tangle. A second picture, another white block, this one at the corner of the house. Another by the garage.
I called Alice. Voicemail. We already knew Tsepov had access to tech. He probably had the signals blocked at the house. I'd have to think of a way to warn Alice.
First, the accounts. They were empty. I couldn't let Tsepov learn the money was gone while he still had Adam and Alice.
“Knox?” Lily hovered on the edge of the living room, worry heavy in her eyes. Fuck. I held up a finger. She stayed silent, but she didn't leave. Fuck.
Normally my first call would be to Cooper. I thought of Alice, trapped in my house, surrounded by bombs. Not Cooper. Not yet.
I needed to talk to Tsepov, and I absolutely couldn't call him. Not with Lily standing right there. I thought about telling her to get into the car. She trusted me, but she also knew me. She knew something was wrong. Chances of getting her out of here? Zero.
I texted in response to the message.
Get rid of the explosives and I'll give you the numbers.
An answer shot back in seconds.
I see what's in the accounts, then I let them go.
Fuck. That was exactly what I couldn't let happen. I had to buy time.
I'm not in Atlanta. I need time.
Get me the money or I'll blow the house.
You blow the house, you'll get nothing.
You have two hours.
I had to hope that would hold him. The clock was ticking. Way too many things could go wrong, with two lives in the balance. Cooper might call Alice, Alice might notice the wireless and mobile signals were down. Adam might want to play outside. Anything could happen.
We were done here.
A tug on my sleeve. I looked down to see Lily at my side. So quiet her voice was almost inaudible, she asked, “What's wrong? What happened?”
I thought about lying, almost managed to convince myself it was the right thing to do. I didn't need Lily to lose it. Not now. I thought about it, and I knew I couldn't do it.
Aware LeAnne was listening, I matched Lily's almost silent tone. “I need you to be strong for me, Lily—”
I didn't have to finish. Her skin turned to ash beneath her normal tawny glow. “Adam,” she breathed.
“Tsepov has the house surrounded. Adam and Alice don't know. They're fine. But we need to get him the account numbers.” I didn't mention the bombs. Lily didn't need that much truth. Not yet.
She swayed against me, pupils so wide her eyes were almost black. Sucking in a breath, she pressed her forehead to my chest, body trembling, the struggle to control her panic taking every ounce of her attention.
“Lily—”
“I'm okay.”
“We need to go,” I urged.
“Wait. Just give me a minute.”
We didn't have a minute. I gave her another few seconds anyway. Her breathing evened out. She straightened and pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes, then wiped beneath with her fingertips, erasing any signs of tears.
Voice tight and barely a whisper she said, “You can't give him the numbers, right? Because there's no money in the accounts. And not enough time to put it there.”
“Right,” I confirmed.
“What if we could give him something else?”
“We can try,” I started, “ask him how much he wants. I'll give him everything I have if it will get Adam back.”
Between the money Trey left with Lily and my own savings, we had assets. None of them were worth shit if we lost Adam.
Lily shook her head. Reaching out, she took my hand and tugged me back across the hall, ignoring LeAnne's curious gaze. I wanted to tell her we didn't have time to waste, that we had to deal with LeAnne and get moving, but I couldn't bear to shut her down after delivering such devastating news.
Lily pulled me past LeAnne to the far end of the living room, coming to a stop in front of a garish brass curio cabinet.
“What if we give him that?”
Holy fucking shit. The snuff box. Why would Trey have given it to LeAnne Gates?
“Get it,” I said.
Lily opened the curio cabinet. LeAnne twisted in her seat. When she saw what Lily was doing, she surged to her feet, vodka sloshing from the crystal glass in her hand.
“What the hell do you think you're doing? Get your hands off my stuff.”
“I believe this is mine,” Lily said, her voice coated in ice.
This was a Lily I'd never seen before. She wasn't shy or tentative. This was a woman who would do anything to save her son. LeAnne Gates no longer scared her. Nothing scared her but Adam coming to harm.
“That's not yours,” Leanne insisted, striding across the room, vodka spilling over her fingers. She reached to snatch the snuff box from Lily's hands. I closed my fingers around her wrist and yanked her back.
“Interesting,” I said, holding her away from Lily, “because we have a bill of sale that says it belonged to Trey. And Trey left it to Lily. Do you have a bill of sale?”
Lavender fire burned in Leanne's eyes. “I don't have a fucking bill of sale. Trey gave it to me. It's mine.”
Lily held onto the snuff box with both hands, her spine poker straight. Her usually warm eyes were frigid as she stared down LeAnne.
“I'm taking the box. I'll give you a hundred thousand dollars for the contract. Or, we walk out of here and you get nothing. Decide.”
Leanne looked from me to Lily, her lower lip quivering. Was she about to cry? I didn't give a fuck.
Dropping the pathetic act the moment she saw no one cared, LeAnne ground her teeth together and said, “Two hundred thousand.”
Lily took my arm, the box tucked against her chest. “Let's go.”
We turned for the door.
“Wait!”
We stopped, Lily looking over her shoulder. “We don't have time for this,” she said.
“One hundred thousand. I'll take it. I'll get the contract.”
Lily released my arm. Leaving her by the door, I said, “Stay here.”
“I'm coming with you,” I said to LeAnne, dogging her heels as she led me to a home office on the second floor. It looked unused except for the file cabinet built into the desk, stuffed full of papers.
Rifling through, she muttered, “I know you don't have the cash on you. Don't even think about stiffing me, or—”
“I'm the least of your worries right now,” I told her, honestly. “Andrei Tsepov is on a rampage. What do you think he'd do to you if he found you with that box?”
Her face went white.
“You'll get the money. I'll be in touch. Unless you can't find the contract.”
She tore a folder from the drawer and shoved it at me. I scanned the few pages, seeing all I needed. Trey and a woman's name I didn't recognize listed as the parties to the contract. In the section assigning parental rights: Trey Spencer and Lily Spencer.
“Why did Trey give you the box?”
“He owed me,” she shot back, her chin raised in defiance.
Lie. I'd bet anything he asked her to hold it for him, spreading out his assets, just in case.
She turned her head to the side with a jerk and lit another cigarette. I closed the folder with the contract and walked away, leaving LeAnne behind.
“Wait, what about my money?” she called down the stairs.
“We'll be in touch,” I said over my shoulder.
She might get her money. She might not. At that moment I could not possibly have cared less.
I had to get my boy back.