Izzy hauled Andrew to his feet, not particularly gentle about it. He stumbled through the snow toward Cory's SUV, making panicked sounds through the tape.
Once they were moving, tires crunching through fresh snow as they descended the mountain, Izzy reached back and yanked the tape off his mouth.
He yelped then immediately started babbling. "They told me they were just going to grab you. Said it was just to scare you. Make you back off."
"Shut up, Andrew." She cut his wrist bonds with her tactical knife. No point in him being tied up in Cory's vehicle.
"That Sloane chick hired me." The words poured out like water from a broken dam. "Sloane Barnes-Something. Said I just had to file papers, make your life hard. Fifty grand to harass you, another fifty if I got custody. But then these guys grabbed me. Said if I didn’t get you to show up, they’d kill me."
Cory made a noise. “They planned to kill you anyway genius.”
“What?” Andrew’s eyes widened. “No.”
Cory shot her a look. “I could take him back. Text that theory.”
“No!” Andrew shouted.
Izzy twisted in her seat to stare at her ex-husband, this pathetic man she'd once thought she loved. "You sold out your daughter for money."
"She said no one would get hurt." Andrew's voice rose to near-hysteria. "Just legal stuff, custody battles. But then that mechanic died..." He paused, swallowing hard. “They were gonna kill me, weren’t they?”
“Both of us, most likely,” she added. Not that he cared about anyone but himself.
"When did you meet with Sloane?" Cory pressed, navigating the dark mountain road.
"Bunch of times. Always at a casino in Reno. She'd give me cash and instructions." Andrew looked between them desperately. "I have records. Times, dates. Get me out of this stupid town and I'll give you everything."
Cory flicked her a glance. “What do you want to do with him?”
"I know a place in Reno," Izzy decided. " Off the grid motel by the airport."
Andrew would hate it. Just an added little bonus.
Twenty minutes later, they were heading east on Highway 80, snow falling harder now, Andrew huddled in the backseat like a scolded child.
"Where will I go?" Andrew's whine cut through the dark. "What about my job? I can't just disappear. I have a life."
No mention of Chantal. No concern for the daughter he'd been willing to traumatize for money. Just me, me, me.
"You should have thought of that before you took money to terrorize your family," Cory said, his disgust evident.
"It wasn't like that?—"
"Wasn't it?" Izzy watched him in the rearview mirror. "Did you even think about Chantal? Even once?"
His silence was answer enough.
The motel by Reno airport was exactly what she needed—cash only, no questions asked. The kind of place that catered to people who needed to disappear. She registered Andrew under a false name while he cowered in the car, Cory on watch.
"Here." She handed him the room key and her last twenty. "Someone will contact you tomorrow morning."
"Who? How will I know them?"
"You'll know. Trust me."
"But what about money? My apartment in Florida? I can't just?—"
"You'll figure it out." Cory stepped between them, and Izzy had never been more grateful for his presence. "You took money to terrorize the mother of your child. You're lucky she's helping you at all."
