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  “He’s been called,” Joe said.

  “Good, thank you.” I took the baby from James’s arms and told him, “I’m going to feed him and then shower. Will you let me know if they need me before that? I can’t stand here and look at him or my kick-boxing classes are going to start kicking back in.”

  James smiled and said, “You pack a mean punch there. You go on ahead and I will definitely call you if they need you.”

  Still shaking from either fright or fury or both, I headed up the stairs. I sat in the nursery, far from the window even though it was upstairs, and fed Michael. He ate like a little glutton, finally passing out like a drunk on New Year’s Eve. I put him down gently in his crib and taking the baby monitor, I headed for the shower. I showered quickly and dressed. When I came back out, there was another security officer at the door of Michael’s nursery. He saw my curious look and took out his I.D. and held it out to me. I went over and looked at it and then I handed it back and peeked in at the baby.

  “Thank you.” He gave me a nod and I went back downstairs to see what was happening down there. I found them all still on the sunporch, only now there were two more security officers and two police officers and one man that looked like a detective in the room as well.

  “Vicki!” I turned around and Alex was there. He opened his arms and I folded into them. “Are you and Michael okay?” I nodded and pulled back just a little so that I could see his face.

  “We’re fine. I’m sorry you have to keep rushing home. You’re never going to get any work done.”

  He laughed. “I don’t care, as long as you two are okay. I hear I shouldn’t make you too mad either. Dad says you fight like Ali.”

  I laughed too. “Not quite… but yes, not making me angry is a good thing.”

  “Did this idiot say what he was doing here?”

  “Before he went upstairs he didn’t say anything.”

  “His mouth probably hurt,” he told me with a wink. I looked in at Jason. He looked so pathetic. Just a year ago he was on top of the world. He had a great job and a big circle of friends. I have no idea how he fell so hard so fast. He was still looking at the floor and refusing to speak.

  The man in the suit came over to me and said, “Mrs. Reigns?”

  “Victoria,” I said. I wanted to say, “Not yet,” but I wasn’t sure that was appropriate in this situation.

  “Victoria did you see Mr. Bowers outside the window?”

  I nodded, “But, I only caught a flash. I don’t know if he was actually looking in or just running by.”

  “It doesn’t matter. This is private property either way. I’d like to know how he got in here. I had trouble at the gate.”

  “Who was there when you came through?” Alex asked.

  The detective looked at his notepad and said, “Elliot.”

  Alex shook his head like he didn’t know him but I had a sudden thought. “What’s his last name?” The detective looked down again and said, “Hanson.”

  “Oh my God!”

  “What?” Alex and the Detective were both looking at me.

  “Elliot Hanson is Jason’s best friend. They’ve been friends since they were kids.”

  “Damn it!” Alex’s face was bright red and his fists were clenched. He took out his phone and called the front gates. “Is Elliot Hanson still here?”

  “No. He left about a half an hour ago.”

  “Okay, I need his home address.”

  “I’ll get it for you sir and call you right back.”

  “Just text it, thanks.”

  He disconnected the call and looked at me again. “What does he look like?”

  “I haven’t seen him in a while, but last time I did he had short dark hair and a mustache and goatee. He’s about six foot and he’s broad shouldered, usually.”

  I heard the sound of a text tone in his hand. He glanced at it and said, “Okay baby, thanks. I’m going to go with them.” James was standing behind me.

  “I’m going too,” he said. Alex looked at his father like he was going to protest but something in James’ face changed his mind.

  “Alex… what if it’s not safe?” I had a really bad feeling about this. I didn’t want him to go. I was suddenly afraid for his life.

  “I’ll stay out of their way and let them do their job, but when they have this creep in custody, I want to be there to hear what he has to say for himself.”

  I nodded slowly. I was worried and I felt sick, but I wasn’t going to be able to stop him. If I thought I could get away with going, I would go too. “Be safe.”

  “I will.” He kissed me softly and said, “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” I watched him go, surrounded by his security staff. The two officers that the detective left behind were getting Jason to his feet. He looked like an old man trying to stand up, Joe’s tackle must have done a number on him.

  I walked up to him and he flinched. Good, I want him to feel afraid and humiliated. The sight of him alone disgusted me. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to waste my time hitting you again. I just want you to know how disgusting I think you are. The only place I ever want to see you again is in court.”

  “You don’t understand,” he whispered.

  “What Jason? What is it that I don’t understand?”

  “They’re going to kill me.”

  “Who?”

  “The people I owe a quarter of a million dollars too.”

  “How the hell do you owe so much money, Jason?” He didn’t say anything. “Gambling? You’ve been losing at the track again and borrowing money?” He still didn’t answer. I knew his fondness for the track; that had to be it. “You know what, I really don’t care. You thought that you could get money to pay your gambling debts by hurting my family?” Still nothing. The officers on either side of him were looking at me. “Just take him please. I can’t stand to look at him.”

  When Jason was gone I went up and sat in Michael’s room. The security officer was at the door and Michael was still asleep but after finding out that one of them was working with Jason, I didn’t trust anyone anymore.

  CHAPTER NINE

  ALEXANDER

  Dad and I followed the police and security in my SUV. Neither of us spoke. I couldn’t believe how close we had just come to losing Michael. I could see Dad out of the corner of my eye. He looked worn down and I wondered how much of that was PTSD from re-living the worst part of his life.

  Elliot Hanson lived in a nice neighborhood in Redondo Beach. It was a high rent district and when we pulled up into the circular driveway Dad said, “He must have been winning on those ponies at some point.”

  “Maybe or maybe this isn’t the first kidnapping attempt he’s been involved in.”

  The detective came over to my window and said, “I need you guys to park it on the street and wait there.”

  “Can my security man go in with you?”

  “Yeah, Joe can come in.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  It was hard, but Dad and I did as he asked. I parked along the street and turned off the car and then we watched. We were parked out of the line of fire if it came to that, but we could see the detective and two officers that had joined him here and Joe, at the front door. They knocked and a few seconds later the door was pulled open by a busty blonde in a bikini. She had a surprised look on her face and I could see her shaking her head. The detective must have asked to be let inside because she stepped back and let them pass. She did something before she closed the door that Dad and I both noticed; she looked over towards the garage. I turned the ignition of the SUV back on and waited. Maybe three minutes passed when we saw him. At least we had good reason to assume it was him. A twenty-something year old guy in a muscle t-shirt and jeans with tattoos covering his arms was pushing a street bike out the side door of the garage. We waited and when Elliot hit the street, he took off fast. I took off after him and handed Dad my phone. “Call Joe, he’s in the house with the detective. Tell him what’s going
on.”

  Dad pushed the call button and seconds later I heard him say, “Joe, this is James Reigns. Alex and I are chasing Elliot. He’s on a Honda CRV street bike. It’s green and he’s heading north on PCH towards Carnelian. Okay. No, tell him we’re following at a safe distance and so far I don’t think he even knows that we’re here. Okay.” Dad hung up and said, “The detective says for us to stay back, he’s putting out an APB so if we see law enforcement we need to stop and get out of the way.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Right. I’m not stopping until Elliot does. I want this to be over. I want to enjoy my beautiful family for a change without all of this drama.

  We followed him up to Carnelian and he made a right on Ardmore. I looked at Dad and he said, “I’m on it.” I saw him send a text to Joe and then he said, “He’s headed to Manhattan Beach.”

  I nodded. I still didn’t see any cops. Where the hell are they? Elliot gave no indication that he knew we were behind him. I kept following him as he made a left on Manhattan Beach Blvd. He was heading straight down towards the beach. He pulled into the lot near the pier and got off the bike. I parked the SUV and saw Dad sending a text as I got out. I’d taken about two steps when Elliot looked over and saw me. I might not recognize him, but he sure as hell knows who I am. As soon as he saw me, he took off running. I took off after him and heard Dad getting out of the car behind me. Elliot was running towards the sand instead of away from it which I thought was strange. There was no Marina here, so he couldn’t have a boat. He ran into a men’s restroom and I went in after him. That was my first mistake.

  “Hello Mr. Reigns.” Elliot had a gun pointed at my face.

  “Hello… Elliot, is it?”

  The bastard smiled. “Lock that door behind you.” I did as I was told and then he said, “Nice to know you finally know my name. You drive by me every day and cut me a check once a month and I’ll bet when they figured out it was me that let Jason on the property you had no idea who I was. You’re way too important to worry about the little guy who protects your precious estate and your illegitimate family.” He was goading me. He wanted me to make a move. I wanted to, so badly. I wanted to feel my fist connect with his face and I haven’t been in a fist-fight since high school. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction, however. If he wanted to shoot me, he’d have to do it from where I stood. I heard my father begin banging on the steel door. The little building is brick and the door is about two inches of steel. It’s made to withstand the high tide. It was also a fortress. Elliot knew what he was doing when he came in here.

  “What do you want, Elliot?”

  “Money, of course. I’m sick of watching you stinking rich people flaunt your wealth while the rest of us have nothing.”

  I cocked an eyebrow and said, “That house in Redondo Beach is pretty nice.”

  “It belongs to my girlfriend and she’s about to kick me out. The IRS and child support take most of my check. I’m barely left with enough to pay rent much less pay for anything else. I borrowed a lot of money from a guy who is demanding payment. I’m not going to let him take it out of my hide while I watch you pigs live like royalty.”

  “So you thought you’d just… steal a baby and solve all of your problems?”

  “That was stupid Jason’s idea. I was going to snatch the maid who is suddenly the hoity toity lady of the manor.”

  “So what now, Elliot? They’re not just going to let you walk out of here. If you kill me, you’ll be up for murder, so far, you haven’t really done anything. You might be better off calling this whole thing off now.”