Special Forces Father - By Mallory Kane Page 0,44

spinning so fast. But every once in a while an actual phrase or question materialized.

How had he found out? Nobody knew, right? Who did he think was Max’s dad? Why did it matter? What would she say if he were right?

“Travis,” she mouthed silently. Where are you?

“What do you think I mean, Doc? I mean I know who the kid’s father is. Don’t you want me to tell you?”

Kate’s stomach churned with apprehension. He was leading up to something—but what?

Travis, help. I need you.

“Okay,” the kidnapper said. “I’ll take your silence as a yes. Your son is—a Delancey.” He announced it with the intonation of a game show host saying And the answer is—

Kate dropped onto one of the counter stools as though a thousand-pound weight had been dropped on her chest. She couldn’t breathe. Every effort to pull air into her lungs made her chest ache and tighten even more. “I don’t understand.” It was all she could think of to say. And saying it used up every last tiny breath of air in her lungs. She held the phone away from her mouth and took a deep, openmouthed inhale.

“Doc? You okay?” the man asked, with what sounded like a grin in his voice. “Did I surprise you?”

For a moment Kate couldn’t speak. She didn’t think she had enough air. She just sat there, her palm splayed across her chest, and tried to take long, slow breaths. As a psychiatrist, she knew what was happening to her. She was on the verge of hyperventilating. If she didn’t get it under control, she’d be gasping and heaving for air. She didn’t want to have to breathe into a paper bag or into her cupped hands. She wanted to be able to talk to this awful man—find out why he was telling her this and what he was going to do.

“N-no,” she stammered—not a complete lie. She’d been afraid he’d really known. It was useless to question how he’d found out. Useless to worry about what he planned to do with the information.

“That’s what I thought. Well, I must congratulate you on having managed to have a Delancey kid. I didn’t know much about the Delanceys before, but now I do. Very impressive. I wonder how much the kid’s grandparents would be willing to cough up to save their first grandbaby. Yep, I know that, too. Little Max is the first great-grandchild of Con Delancey, right?” He laughed. “Or maybe I should say the first one anybody knows about.”

Kate didn’t hear anything after cough up to save their first grandbaby. Her hand moved from her chest to cover her open mouth, just in time to stop the scream that was crawling its way up her throat. Oh, no, please. No, no, no.

“Apparently you’re speechless, eh, Doc? That’s okay. You need time to process what I’ve told you. Time to calm down. No sense in making you talk to the kid right now. It would just upset both of you.”

“No-o-o,” she sobbed. “Please, let me ta-talk to him.”

“Nah,” the kidnapper said. “I can’t stand to listen to the little brat cry.”

“Please,” she whispered.

“But I tell you what. You let your baby-daddy know what I know, and we’ll all have a great little conversation soon, ’kay?”

“Wait!” she cried. “Wait, please.”

She heard a sigh. “What? I’m not letting you talk to your kid.”

“Please, don’t call the Delanceys. Give me some time. I can get money. I can pay you. Just please don’t call them.”

“And what’s going to convince me that you have the kind of money the Delanceys have?” he asked.

“I don’t. But—” How could she convince him? Maybe the same thing that made her not want the Delanceys involved would make sense to him. “You don’t want to get mixed up with the Delanceys,” she said firmly. “Why do you think I’ve tried to keep my son’s father a secret all this time, when I could go to them and probably not have to work another day in my life?”

“I don’t know. You love your job?” The kidnapper was obviously getting impatient with her.

“Because their influence spreads all over this state. You don’t want them onto you, I can promise you that. There are at least four policemen in the immediate family, plus a prosecutor, plus a very dangerous private investigator. Not to mention an army Special Forces operative. How many of those do you want on your trail?”

There was a pause. “How do I know they’re not already?”

“You don’t. You’re just going