32. Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter thirty-two
F ox stepped out of the shower for the second time that night still quaking with rage. He snagged his already damp towel off the bar and patted down his raw skin. He’d had to scrub that bitch off him before he could touch Melody again.
How dare she!
If he’d done that to a woman…
He’d never do something so vile.
And how was he going to make this up to Melody?
He’d brought Amy into their lives. It was his fault he didn’t see how far she’d go to get his attention. He should have fired her after she insinuated herself into his and Melody’s dinner date.
He should have listened to Melody the first time she warned him that Amy had designs on him.
He tossed the sopping towel on the tile floor and went into his bedroom to drag on a clean pair of jeans and a thermal. He’d make Melody a cup of hot chocolate, maybe something to eat, then they’d sit and talk this out.
Barefoot and surly, he walked out into the living room expecting to find her on the couch, or in the kitchen. Instead, he stared at his haggard best friend. “Where is she?”
Dean looked up from his phone. “She’s not back yet.”
He stopped midstride to the refrigerator. “What?” It should have only taken her a few minutes to get her phone and come back up.
Dean shrugged a shoulder, then pointed toward the window. “Her car is still parked outside. Maybe she needed to take a walk around the block to clear her head.”
Fox ran back into the bedroom for his phone and checked for messages. Nothing. He texted her.
FOX: Where are you? We need to finish our talk.
FOX: Please
He walked back out into the main living space, practically holding his breath while he waited for a response. Nothing.
He hit the speed dial for her and got voicemail. “Hey, it’s me. I’m worried about you. Call me back.”
Dean looked up, his eyebrows raised, suspicion in his eyes. “She’s not answering?”
“She didn’t respond to my text either.” He held the back of his hand to his forehead, hoping his phone went off any second.
Dean stared at him. “I thought she understood this wasn’t your fault.”
“Me, too. She kissed me before she left. Not like she used to, but…” I won’t lose her. I’ll get her back.
“Pull up the security footage.” Dean motioned with his head for them to go into the office.
Fox, heart pounding, senses blaring a warning, took a seat at his desk and pulled up the surveillance feeds, then rewound the lobby camera footage so he could see when Melody left and if she’d come back.
“Stop.” Dean pointed to the right of the screen, time-stamped 2:22 a.m. “There she is.”
Which meant he’d last seen her at like 2:18.
He looked at the clock on his monitor. 2:34. Sixteen minutes since I last saw her. “Fuck.”
Amy stepped out of the elevator behind her.
And then his heart stopped when he saw the van, Amy holding on to Melody’s arm, the ensuing struggle. He watched Melody deck Amy, not once, but twice, and his heart pounded with dread. She shouldn’t have to defend herself like that. She shouldn’t have to deal with someone he brought into their lives. She tried to run, only to be tackled by the guy from the van, then bound, and abducted. The van sped away with the woman who was his whole life.
“Fuck!” He stood to run after her on instinct, but Dean clamped his hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down into the chair.
“Wait. Think. We don’t know who’s helping Amy. We have no idea where they took her. We need to call the cops.”
Fox shook his head. He didn’t want to wait around for the local cops to try to figure things out. He needed someone who had both the means and incentive to get Melody back. He tapped the name on his phone and waited for the call to be answered.
“It’s two-forty-two in the fucking morning.”
Twenty-four minutes without her.
“Who is this?”
“Lyric, it’s Fox. Melody’s been kidnapped. I need to speak to Mason.” He needed an FBI agent who’d do anything to keep his wife happy. One who would move heaven and earth to make sure her sister came home alive.
“Start talking,” the gruff voice said immediately.
“Long story short, one of my employees broke into my place tonight, trying to break up me and Melody. It didn’t work. Melody went down to her car to get her phone and take a minute after what happened. Amy must have followed her down, there were words exchanged in the lobby, then a van pulled up; one guy wearing a ski mask jumped out. Amy tried to subdue Melody, but she got in a couple of punches, which are on the surveillance video, she tried to run, got tackled and subdued by the van guy, who bound her wrists, put a hood over her head, then dragged her inside, right before Amy jumped in with them. They sped off. Now fucking help me find her.”
“So at least two assailants in the van, plus Amy, and Melody as the hostage.”
“Yes.”
“Van details?”
“White, nondescript panel van with a side sliding door. No window in the back. Probably a delivery vehicle or rental.”
“Did you get a plate?”
Dean was playing with the video footage and shook his head.
“No. The angle’s bad. Not enough light this time of night to see more than the outline.”
Mason remained all business. “Why would they take her?”
He exchanged a look with Dean. “If it was just Amy, I’d say revenge and to get Melody out of the way so she could have me. But with others involved and after Amy made some pointed remarks to me, I’m guessing I’ll get a very high ransom demand.”
Mason didn’t mince words. “Several hundred million sure does put a target on your back, doesn’t it?”
Fuck. Mason knew.
“What are you talking about?” Lyric asked. Obviously Fox was on speaker with both of them.
“I might have done some digging on Melody’s boyfriend,” Mason confessed.
“You background checked Fox.” Lyric didn’t sound annoyed, she sounded grateful and appreciative.
“Just to be sure he didn’t have any skeletons in his closet we didn’t know about, Angel.”
“Great. So you know my not-so-secret secret.”
“Yeah, but I’ve got resources. How did Amy know about it? Did you tell her?”
“No. I don’t share that with anyone.”
“Does Melody know?” Lyric asked.
“Yes. But I only told her right before our trip to Boston.”
“Why would you keep it from her?” Mason asked.
“Because I wanted her to want me, not my net worth.”
“Melody is not like that,” Lyric, snapped, defending her sister.
“I know that. When you only have less than a handful of people you can really trust, it’s hard to open yourself up to others. Not when you’ve been disappointed, abandoned, mistreated, and used the way I have since I was a kid. But I don’t have to worry about that with Melody. She’s amazing. Now help me get her back.”
“We need to call the cops and get them looking for the van,” Mason said.
“Fine. But I want you in charge. When the ransom demand comes, I will deliver it.”
“First, we need to figure out who has her,” he pointed out. “Who else knows about the lottery win?”
“Dean and Max, my two best friends. Our attorney, tax accountant, and financial advisor. My mom, because her social worker discovered it,” he reluctantly admitted. “And a woman Dean was seeing seriously a while back that none of us have had contact with for over two years.”
“That’s a tight circle.” Mason sounded impressed Fox hadn’t blabbed to the whole world about his windfall.
“We were warned about letting word get out. The money is held in trust accounts, insulating us.”
“Because you shared with your buddies.” Mason had some skills at digging. Exactly what Fox needed now. His skill. His resources.
“Yes. They’re my only real family. Except now I have Melody and the Wildes. And you,” he added, hoping Mason would be another brother he could count on.
“I’m with you on this,” Mason assured him immediately. “So of the people who know about the money, who could have told Amy?”
No one in his circle would tell Amy. Dean barely tolerated her. So… “It could have come from a competitor of mine who dug up the secret and shared it.”
“How would Amy hear about it from someone like that?” Mason asked.
“Amy is a chef. She does a lot of catering in Boston. I hired her to come here to teach for a few months on contract. She could have been working a party, one I was at, which is how I met her, and overheard the rumors.”
“Or she simply knows you own your own successful business and are rich in your own right,” Lyric suggested.
Fox was shaking his head. “No. The way she insinuated knowing but also not saying it out loud made it seem like someone told her to keep it quiet.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t share my personal business with anyone besides Dean and Max and now Melody. Part of the reason I was reluctant to get so close to Melody was because I knew my wealth made her a target.”
“She’s not going to care about that,” Lyric interjected. “She loves you. You don’t put boundaries on that. You take the risks because you know the rewards far outweigh anything bad that comes your way.”
“And will she forgive me for being terrorized and kidnapped after finding another woman in our bed tonight? Because that might be one too many bad things to overcome. Especially if they hurt her. Or worse.” He choked out those last words.
Dean squeezed his shoulder. “They won’t hurt her. Not if they want to get paid.”
Fox picked up a pen and threw it against the wall. “Where the fuck is she?”
“We’ll get her back,” Mason assured him.
But it felt empty. He felt empty without her.
2:54. Thirty-six minutes without her.