A Billionaire's Redemption - By Cindy Dees Page 0,84

old-fashioned plastic receiver to her ear.

“Hello?” she managed to croak.

A raspy voice, obviously disguised or altered in some way, said, “Get away from your security guards. Meet me at your house in an hour.”

“Who is this?” she mumbled.

The caller ignored her question. “One hour,” the caller added.

“Or else what?” she asked, past really caring.

“Or else I’ll start killing your students. One by one, I’ll strangle the life out of their little bodies. And I’ll make them scream first. Lovely screams of pain and terror. The animals in your garden were all right...but to kill a child by slow degrees...” The caller let out a groan of nearly sexual pleasure.

Willa’s eyes went wide with revulsion and fright. The caller could have threatened her mother, or even Gabe. Those would have been the obvious choices. But no. Innocent five-year-olds who barely knew her were at risk. Yes, indeed, the caller knew her very well to harm kids if she didn’t comply.

“Don’t believe me? Let’s listen to one of your little brats cry, shall we?”

She heard a sharp crack like a palm across a cheek, followed by the wails of what sounded like a small child. Her blood froze in her veins at the sound. This monster had one of her kids?

The children of Vengeance hadn’t done anything to anybody. The school year had been barely two weeks old when her father had died and she’d had to take a leave of absence. The sounds of crying in the background turned her gut to jelly.

She had to save that child. She ought to call the police, but what was the point? They didn’t believe anything she said anyway. Not to mention that unlike most of the guys on the force, she had no one to go home to. No family. She would be no great loss to anyone.

Frankly, she didn’t much care if she lived or died right now. Losing Gabe on top of everything else was the last straw. Her spirit was broken. She was finished. She couldn’t take any more. She was sick of being a pawn, sick of being jerked around by other people. No, she would personally deal with this bastard once and for all.

“Don’t hurt that poor baby,” she pleaded in a whisper, eyeing the security guard who was watching her now from over by the door. “It may take me a little while longer than that to get there, but I’ll be there. I promise.”

The phone clicked and a dial tone buzzed in her ear. Crud. How was she supposed to get away from the brute squad hovering over her like protective bears? Panic made her jumpy, and a need to bolt and run for home threatened to overwhelm her at any second. She felt like she might throw up. Hang on, sweetie. I’ll come save you. I’ll figure out a way.

She lay there for several minutes racking her brain for an escape plan, but to no avail. Gabe had surrounded her with too much effective protection.

If she was going to take care of this mess herself, she had to ditch them, too. Besides, they’d gotten all chummy with Gabe since she disappeared yesterday. Was there no one at all whom she could trust? Her gut answered with a resounding no.

In the meantime, that poor child was depending on her. Panic and despair clawed at her. But then, her door swung open, and a pair of doctors stepped inside. Inspiration struck. She didn’t know much about medicine, but she figured faking double vision and a terrible headache, oh, and drowsiness, would alarm them enough to run some more tests.

Sure enough, it worked like a charm. After about one minute of examining her, one of the doctors ordered her taken down to the imaging department for an emergency MRI.

An orderly pushed her in a wheelchair while her two inside-the-hospital bodyguards walked alongside. The guards had to stay outside of the MRI area and the orderly pushed her through a pair of swinging doors. One hurdle crossed; inside guards ditched. Now, to get out of here and somehow dodge the outdoor contingent of security.

She asked for a restroom visit before she went into the MRI machine and a female technician was happy to let her go. Thankfully, the bathroom had a window. It was small and fairly high, but as soon as she was alone, Willa climbed up on the counter and slid it open. It would be tight, but she could make it. And this side of the