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“I want you to.”
I heard Brooke sigh as they resumed playing, but the conversation stuck with me. The idea of Daniel wanting her to stay with us filled my heart with something I hadn’t felt in days.
Joy.
A smile slid across my aching cheeks as I relaxed back in my chair. Daniel brought up a good point. Would Brooke stay once Sydney was back with us? I wasn’t sure how she felt about the idea. She seemed a bit on the fence about it, like she didn’t know if she wanted to stay or not. But she was good with the kids. Really good, in fact. She had a way of talking with them and teaching them lessons without needless discipline. She had the energy to run around with them and put smiles on their faces and pump them up about the smallest of things. She was a comfort to them. To me.
To us.
But was that something I could ask of her? After everything we were currently weathering—and with our past—was it fair of me to ask her to stay?
My phone rang, pulling me from my reverie. I looked down at the screen, but the number wasn’t familiar. Adrenaline coursed through my veins.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Do you have my money?” a disguised voice sounded in my ear, making all the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“I can get it,” I said.
“You have twelve hours. Call this number when you have it.” The phone disconnected.
I stood up and paced around the room. I started to dial Owen’s number, but Brooke’s voice stopped me.
“Kevin?”
I turned around and saw Brooke in the doorway. The look on my face must have clued her in to the fact that something was wrong.
“What is it?” she asked, rushing to my side.
“They called. The kidnappers. They told me I had twelve hours to get them the money.”
“I think I have an idea of how to get Sydney back.”
I furrowed my brow and slid my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
“Yeah, fuck what the police say, I’m going to give them the money,” I said.
“No, Kevin, not like that. The Chief of Police said something today that struck me.”
“What was it?”
“The thing about the one hundred million. About it being the exact amount Gianni needed.”
“Yeah?”
“What if we gave him a reason to ask for more?”
“I’m not following,” I said.
“If he took someone else, he’d have reason to ask for more money, right? Two girls are more than one, and with Gianni as desperate as he seems to save his company, he’d go for it. Right?”
“No way,” I said.
“You haven’t even heard me out.”
“No, this isn’t happening,” I said.
“Kevin, just let me get it out.”
