Special Forces Father - By Mallory Kane Page 0,45

to have to trust me, like I’m offering to trust you.”

“All right. What’s your proposal, and more important, how much money can you get me?”

Kate tried to think fast. She knew how much money she had, down to the penny, and it wasn’t going to be enough to tempt this man. A small inheritance from her parents plus the money she’d been saving for Max’s college fund would add up to $73,000. Not even a drop in the bucket, when measured next to the funds of the Delanceys.

“A quarter of a million,” she said as confidently as she could.

“Really,” he said, disbelievingly. “On your own, without the Delanceys, you’ve got two-hundred-and-fifty big ones?”

“I’ll need a day—maybe more, depending on the bank—but yes.” She heard a slight flutter in her voice. Dear God, she hoped the kidnapper hadn’t heard it.

“I don’t like it. How do I know you’re not just stalling me to give your boyfriend time to get his detective brother on my trail?”

“You don’t. Like I told you, you’re going to have to trust me.”

“Yeah? Why? How’re you going to convince me to trust you?”

Kate took a halting, shaky breath. “Because you have the one thing in the world that I would give my life for,” she said. “You have my son.”

The phone clicked and went dead.

“No!” she cried, jerking the phone from her ear and looking at the display. “No, please!” But the call had been disconnected. After a couple tries, she pulled up the phone log and saw the same notation she’d seen every time she talked to the kidnapper. Private Number. She pressed Star-Six-Nine—nothing. She pressed Call—nothing. She clicked Edit, Store, every button she could find to press, except Delete, but nothing worked.

She slammed the phone down on the counter, then sat with her head in her hands.

What was she going to do now that the kidnapper knew that Max was a Delancey? If she thought her child was in danger before, it was nothing compared to now. Her heart felt as though the kidnapper had reached into her chest and ripped it out of her when he’d hung up.

She had no idea what he was going to do. Had he rejected her offer? Was he convinced he couldn’t trust her? But if he thought the Delanceys were already onto him, wouldn’t her plan still be better than him trying to get money out of them?

She turned her gaze up to the ceiling, wishing she could force an answer from heaven.

At that instant, she heard a key in the front door. It opened and Travis walked in.

“Wow!” he said, grinning. “It smells great in here. Spaghetti, right?”

* * *

WHEN HE LOOKED into Kate’s eyes, he stopped short. “Is everything okay?”

She pointed at the phone. “You wa-want to know who that was?” she said bitterly, not even trying to stop the tears that welled in her eyes and slid down her cheeks.

“Who?” Travis approached her gingerly.

“The kidnapper.”

Travis nodded. “I didn’t mean for you to have to talk to him by yourself. I’m sorry I didn’t make it home earlier. What did he say? Did you get to talk to Max?” He held out his arms.

She shook her head quickly, back and forth and back and forth. “No,” she said. “No. You stay away from me.”

“What happened? I don’t understand.”

“Really?” she said, still shaking her head. “You’re going to stand there and tell me you have no idea what you’ve done? My baby is in danger and it’s because of you.” She clenched her fists and worked very hard at channeling all her fear and despair and aching emptiness into anger at Travis. But it still hurt just as bad.

“Kate, tell me what he said.”

“You had to go and get involved, didn’t y-you?” she cried. “Had to get right in the m-middle of it and g-get your cousin involved.”

Travis regarded her with frank bewilderment and spread his hands. “I’m not sure what’s happening here. Why don’t we sit down on the couch and you can tell—”

“Don’t!” she cried. “Don’t patronize me. It’s you and your damn rich family. It’s always been my biggest fear. Why do you think I never went to your parents about Max? I never even told Cara Lynn, and she’s my best friend. And now—everything I feared has come true.” She blotted her face with the sleeve of her blouse. “He knows!”

Travis just stared at her.

“He—knows!” she screamed, pointing to the phone.

Then as calmly as she could, she said, “The kidnapper knows that Max