“Well, it’s not a fast or easy payout with me,” she said. “Any of this money isn’t something I can get at right away.”
“See? I don’t think they know that,” Dane said. “I’m not sure they understand just how big money actually flows. They also probably assume, because your father had money, that you must have it as well.”
“Well, you don’t just walk into a bank and get ten million cash,” she said in exasperation.
“I don’t think they particularly care either,” Baylor said. “Just think about it. Everything else in their world is coming apart at the seams, so they’re getting desperate.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“Yes,” he said.
“And why did he kill the other guy?”
“Because Henry, the perv, was trying to screw up their deal. Henry wanted you, but he didn’t want to give money for you.”
“Jesus, that’s insulting somehow,” she said.
“But it was because of him that they even had the idea of going in that direction, but he didn’t want to cooperate. And I don’t even know if that part of it’s the truth,” he said. “It’s possible that this middleman took out Henry, your kidnapper, so the middleman could get the money on his own, for all I know.”
“Well, that makes more sense,” she said, shaking her head. “They’re just after money essentially, aren’t they?”
“Yes. The gunmen kidnappers took on the job, whether it was at the Russian government’s behest or at somebody else’s, but, when it all went south, they didn’t get paid, and now they’re in trouble. So they’re looking for a way to get out of town, and your father was promising big money. So, with his passing, now they’re looking to find that big money through you.”
“Great,” she said, then dropped her head against his chest and just stayed like that as she tried to calm down her pounding head. “It’s all just too unbelievable,” she said. “I just came for a vacation to celebrate, at the insistence of my mother. Little did I know it would turn into a disaster, and I’d end up an orphan, and in terrible danger, for some vast wealth I don’t even have.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “We won’t let them get you.”
She looked up at him, clearly tired. “Maybe not,” she said, “but you can’t be with me every hour of the day. Do we even know if I’ll be safe when I get back home?”
“I would like to think so,” he said. “I expect that the danger is just over here. I don’t think they have the connections to pull something like that off over in the US.”
She thought about it and realized he was probably correct. “Good thing I don’t enjoy international travel that much.”
“We just have to get you home, safe and sound,” he said.
“That works for me.” She slowly rolled her head, feeling the stress and the strain kinking her neck muscles. Immediately Baylor slid his hands up her back and across her shoulders. She loved the warm touch of his hands, though her mind immediately recalled everything that Dane had brought up. All the while, Baylor gently coaxed the muscles in the back of her neck to relax, easing up some of her stress. “It’s hard to imagine how you guys can live with this kind of stress all the time,” she said. “The constant tension is just killing me.”
“You get used to it after a while,” he said.
She immediately shook her head. “I can’t imagine.”
“And you don’t need to,” he said. “We’ll get you home. That’s what you need to focus on.”
“I get that,” she said. “It just seems nearly impossible at this point.”
“But it’s not impossible,” he said. “Just stay strong. We’ll get there.”
She nodded. “I know,” she said. “Where do we go from here?”
“Well, I was hoping to go to the airport but not until tomorrow apparently.”
“Is there anything else to even find out?” she asked. “Aren’t we just sitting ducks here?”
“Well, we definitely hid our pathway here,” he said, “and, as you know, we’re right across the hallway.”
She nodded at that. “What about Hudson?”
“He’s watching outside.”
“Fine,” she said, raising her hands, palms up. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance of coffee, is there?”
“Not right now, no,” he said. “Nobody can know we’re here.”
She frowned at that, then nodded and stepped away from him. “I just really want this over with,” she said quietly. “I want to go home, where I can just spend some time to grieve.”
“How about not grieving,” he said. “How about remembering instead.”
She gave him a lopsided smile. “That’s kind of what I’m planning on.”
“Good,” he said. “And, while you’re at it, whenever we meet up again, I’ll buy you a coffee.”
“Coffee?” she asked in a teasing voice. “Is that because you’re keeping it away from me now?”
“I would definitely give you coffee now, if I could,” he protested. “We’re just not able to do it right at this moment.”
She nodded. “I’m just teasing.”
“Well, I’m not,” he said. “I would actually love to see you when this is all over.”
She looked up at him, smiled, and said, “That would be nice. For old times’ sake.”
“Screw that,” he said calmly. “There’s nothing about old times in this. We connected all those years ago, and now we’ve connected again,” he said. “I would really like a chance to spend some time with you in a little less stressful situation.”
“I like the sound of that,” she said, with the gentlest of smiles, her heart warming at the thought. Maybe Dane was right after all. Baylor had been all she’d thought about this last week; now she didn’t want to lose that connection. Not again.
“Good,” he said. “Did you enjoy your time here?” He gestured around the room.
“You mean, besides the mad dash across the hallway?”
“Yes,” he said with a smile. “Come sit in the living room.”
“There’s not
