Page 125 of The Billionaire's Virgin

She really was insane. I could barely follow her train of thought, but I kept glancing around me to try and figure out what I could do to get Jenna out of this situation. The open space made it hard for me to do anything at all. There was nothing around me that I could use as a weapon, and I had dropped my phone too. It was lying right in between Sofia and I. Lunging for it now would be too risky, especially since Sofia had the gun. And I didn’t want to leave Jenna without protection. If Sofia fired now… at least my body would be the shield.

“Sofia,” I said. “You wanted to talk… so let’s talk. What is your end goal? You want Reed, am I right?”

“Yes.” Sofia nodded.

“Okay, fine,” I said. “But if anything happens to Jenna, I assure you he’s not going to blame me. He will blame you, and then you’ll ruin any chance you have of getting back together with him.”

I saw Sofia’s confidence falter a little and I knew I needed to keep her distracted. “I spoke to him right after Jenna disappeared, right after you took her in the park,” I said. “He blames you.”

“Liar,” Sofia spat.

“I’m not lying,” I said. “You can check my call log.”

Sofia narrowed her eyes. “That only proves that you called him; it doesn’t prove what was said.”

“You took his child,” I said impatiently. “Who else should he blame?”

“How about the woman who lost his child?” Sofia hissed. “You were supposed to be watching her; instead, you got duped, and you allowed her to be stolen.”

“I know.” I nodded. “He’s angry with me too.”

“He is?” Sofia asked, and she looked happy.

“Yes,” I said, deciding to run with that. “He’s furious with me, in fact. He told me that he never wanted to see me again.”

Sofia’s smile turned into a laugh, and the sound was like nails on a chalkboard. I suppressed the cringe in my body and continued.

“You’re forgetting that he blames you too,” I said.

Sofia stopped laughing. “I can make him change his mind.”

“I’m sure you can,” I said. “But you need to make him listen first. He’s not going to let you close enough to him to allow you that opportunity.”

Sofia faltered a little. She opened her mouth and then closed it again.

“But I have a plan,” I said. “A plan that will help you.”

Sofia looked dubious, but I could tell she was curious too. “What’s the plan?” she asked.

“Let me go with Jenna,” I said. “I’ll leave New York and never come back. And then you’ll be free to go after Reed. He’ll be all yours. I won’t be around, and neither will Jenna.”

Sofia frowned. “Why would you leave New York?”

“Because I never liked it here,” I said, making up stuff as I went.

I knew I wasn’t making much sense, but I also realized that I didn’t have to make sense where Sofia was concerned. She was clearly insane. I just needed to tell her what she wanted to hear. If I told her that I would go and leave the way clear for her to be with Reed, that just might blind her enough to allow me to escape with Jenna. It was a crazy plan of action but I was desperate, and I saw no way out.

“I never liked it in New York,” I said. “I don’t have friends or family here…”

“And you’d take the girl with you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Sofia asked suspiciously.

“Because I love her,” I said, and it was probably the only honest thing I’d said to Sofia. “I love Jenna, and I’ve always wanted a child. You can tell Reed and the cops that I’m the one that kidnapped Jenna. You can tell them that I threatened you right from the beginning and you were scared for your life, so you did what I wanted like a puppet.”

Sofia frowned at me. “You hired me to do your dirty work?” she asked, trying to get her head around the story.