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“Did I tell you we own the whole apartment building now?”
I gulped. It was massive. And undoubtedly expensive. Apparently the Elliotts had more money than I thought, not that I’d considered it much. They never treated anyone as if they were less than them.
“You said you knew several of the tenants,” I said, still a little dizzy that they owned an entire building in Tribeca.
“Pretty much our whole family lives here. Except the ones out in Texas, but I’m working on getting them to move to New York.”
“Not a snowball’s chance in hell, V,” Stone called from the background.
“He has no idea how convincing I can be,” she said low into the phone.
“Yes, I do,” he yelled.
“Pshhh.” I could picture her waving him off. “By the way, I think we should cancel the adoption event.”
I abruptly stopped pacing. Muffy ran into me.
Relief I hadn’t expected ran through me. “You do?”
“I want to keep all of them. I’m too attached,” she wailed. “You could’ve warned me I’d fall in love.”
Was she serious?
“I haven’t exactly talked it over with Daniel, but he’ll figure out they aren’t leaving eventually.”
I leaned against the counter. She wouldn’t joke about that, would she? That was a ton of responsibility. They’d had time to see just how much, but still. I—I didn’t know what to think.
“Pepper? Are you there?” Concern came through the phone at me.
“I’m here,” I said quietly.
“We should’ve had this conversation in person.” She sighed. “Sometimes I get ahead of myself.”
“Sometimes?” I heard Muriella in the background.
Something that sounded like paper crumpling and then landing on a hard surface came through the line. A knot of the tension in my chest eased.
“We can discuss it further when I drop by if you’re serious.” The idea of Daniel and Vivian having the dogs wasn’t so bad.
“Sure thing. I’m going by Paths of Purpose in a bit. Mrs. Quinn is totally on board with a resident and dog program. But we need to get your expertise on that. Assuming you want to partner with us,” she said in a rush.
“Umm, yeah. We can talk about that too.”
Paths of Purpose was an abused women’s and children’s shelter Vivian and Muriella worked closely with. I liked the idea of incorporating our dogs into their program in some capacity. It could be therapeutic for both their residents and ours. The dogs couldn’t become service dogs without a lot of training, and given how they needed loving and a place to heal, they wouldn’t be ready for that anyway. But they could certainly be used to provide a soft pelt to pat, a warm, if slobbery, hug for a woman needing that.
Those potential plans seemed like getting ahead of myself. Every moment felt like borrowed time. I had no idea where Teague was now, but I could admit I was scared. And clearly, given how calm Vivian was right now, she had no clue that I’d been kidnapped. Well, no one knew, because I didn’t tell them. But from what Teague said, they already suspected their dad.
“Is there any news about the inspector?” I blurted.
Daniel had promised to do all he could to get the man off our backs. If that threat was eliminated, that would be a relief.
Not to say Teague’s father couldn’t have another one show up.
Vivian was silent. Too quiet for too long for my liking.
“Not yet. He’s pulling in every resource he has,” she finally said.
“Thank you.”
