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“Possibly. Actually, that’s a good idea.” Piper looked toward her window. “I sent Vivian home, but I think I hear her. She’ll know off the top of her head what she has on hand. And I can go over to the lab tomorrow to see what I have there.”

“Who has access to your lab besides you?”

“I have no idea. But someone has to have access. What if I were to die?” Piper was up and pacing her office, trying to dispel the anxious energy coursing through her system.

“You’ve got to stop saying that about dying. I don’t like that, especially when Amanda Harcourt could be kidnapped. Though, I’m saying the bad guys didn’t succeed. If she were kidnapped, it would be on the news.”

“No, if she was kidnapped, they would keep it off the news because they would want everything to be on the downlow while they tried to figure out how to get the ransom money to someone.”

“Why would anybody need the money delivered? This isn’t the 1980s. People just crypto the cash over.”

Piper stilled. “Chanti, I’m pretty scared.”

“I can’t even imagine,” Chanti said soberly.

“The tarot reader said bad things were headed my way. Well, the cards that fell onto the table looked pretty scary. And John said you needed to cull people from your contacts.” Piper licked her lips to keep them from sticking together. “Maybe you need to stay away from me. It’s me, John saw. I’m the chaos agent.”

Chapter Eleven

Vivian

Tuesday

Vivian sat motionless on her sofa with the lights off.

Today had been a day she never could have imagined. She was part of an attempted kidnapping.

Failed, if she believed what she’d overheard Piper saying.

Piper had been chatting with her friend Chanti with a closed office door. Vivian had to assume Piper didn’t realize the vents in the wall meant that, in the corner of the lab by the sink, nothing was private.

When Vivian heard Piper say someone might have tried to kidnap Amanda Harcourt to get their hands on her formula, an idea snapped into place.

She was going to save Jay and Ben … and Wade. And, ultimately—by protecting the men she loved—herself.

Vivian had been sitting there for hours, thinking things through, hoping none of the three—Wade, Ben, or Mike—had been arrested.

Frankly, Vivian didn’t trust that either Wade or Mike wouldn’t sell them all down the river in order to save their own butts.

Ben would protect her and Jay.

It was dark outside, and the guys weren’t there yet. So the picture of the jail cell grew vivid. But now, there was the hoped-for scratch of a key in the lock.

From her spot on the couch, Vivian called out. “You failed?”

“So cynical,” Jay said as he made his way to the recliner and leaned over to click the lamp on. “Why would you think we failed?”

“Because my boss was giving a speech at Alabaster when they got the call about Amanda. So, did the plan fail or do you have the money?”

“Failed,” Ben said, as he followed Wade into the room, holding an ice pack on his arm.

“Ben, what the actual hell?” Vivian moved to the edge of her seat. “Did Yuri catch up with you again?”

“Dog,” Ben said as he lay on the floor.

Wade flicked a throw cushion over to Ben, then sat at the far end of the sofa, away from Vivian.

Vivian went over to pry the ice from Ben’s arm. “Shit, Benny. You need to go to the doctor for stitches and an antibiotic. Those butterfly bandages are first aid at best.”