Sophia loosened her grip on the shelving bar, her fingers uncurling against her will.
“Come on back to your chair, princess,” the woman snapped. “Carefully now. I don’t want to have to use this gun, but unlikeVictor, I will if I have to.
Sophia stepped back from the shelf, set one foot behind her and spun slowly to see the odd couple at the end of the aisle. Her vision of a blonde woman, a good foot shorter than a fidgeting Frank, was lost when her eyes zoomed in on the gun in the female’s grip. Arms straightened, short fingers with pink, glitter-polished nails aimed the pistol in Sophia’s direction.
Sophia gulped, forced her suddenly numb feet to keep moving toward the pair. It felt like she was on the set of a movie. All the theatrics were there. Dim lighting, a volatile couple armed with a cocked gun and a list of demands. And a very terrified woman who would fight to survive.
“Faster,” the lady with him snapped.
Against her best efforts to keep her eyes off the female, Sophia snuck another look at her as she neared. Tan skin, platinum hair, and the starts of crows’ feet cornering her eyes; she was significantly older than Frank.
“Don’t look at me,” she ordered.
Sophia glanced at Frank next, but he wouldn’t look at her.
“I told you she’d get out of those zip ties,” the woman grumbled.
Frank didn’t offer a verbal reply, but as he lead Sophia back to the chair, he nodded in return.
Sophia glanced down at the shoes she’d slipped off, wondering if she could use her heel as a weapon. A stiletto would have carried more of a threat, but the heels she’d worn could be dangerous enough. She kept that in mind as she lowered herself onto the seat, eyeing the barrel as it followed her every move.
“Maybe we should call them again,” Frank mumbled. “See if they’re getting everything ready for us.”
“No,” the woman said. “That would be weak. We’re not talking until I hear a helicopter out there.”
“Why are you pushing Frank to do this?” The question had lingered in her mind for several minutes now. Why not ask it aloud?
Frank shook his head “That’s not what’s happening.”
“Do you hear that?” the woman asked, tilting her head dramatically to one side. “Watch her for a minute. I think maybe our helicopter is here.” The woman shifted her aim from Sophia to the back wall.
For just a flash, Sophia considered her conversation with Blayze on the porch. If something happened to him, would she regret telling him to bite back his words?
She considered jumping to her feet and making another run for it. But then another idea came to mind. Something more along Blayze’s approach to things. “Frank, you don’t want to mess up your future,” she said under her breath. “Yourmadreand your brother need you.”
Frank’s upper lip scrunched up as he shook his head. “They’re why I’m doing this.”
“Are they?” Sophia asked. “Or isshethe reason you’re doing this?” Sophia nodded toward the back wall where the woman had her head tilted heavily to one side to hear.
Another question jumped to her lips. One that might haunt her the rest of her life if she made it out alive. “Frank, I have to know… did you really do that to my mother? Make her crash like that?”
Frank scratched long bony fingers down his arm and looked at her, his green eyes hooded by a severe scowl. “Why should I tell you?”
“Please.I need to know.”
Frank shook his head and shushed her. “Nobody did. Jacquie read in the paper that they suspected foul play, so she thought we should take credit for it to be taken seriously.”
Sophia might have been in the midst of a deadly situation, but the truth of that relieved and empowered her all at once. Her mother hadn’t been killed after all.
“Frank, you had a weak moment,” Sophia said under her breath. “I understand that after all you’ve been through. But don’t let it ruin your life by participating in this … crazy game any longer.”
“Shut up over there,” the woman hissed.
“Sorry,” Frank mumbled quietly. “I can’t back down now. But we’re not going to hurt you.”
“I said shut up!” The female aimed her gun at Sophia again and hurried back to them, the overhead light casting deep shadows over her face.
And suddenly an idea came to her. One just as crazy as everything going on around her. Before Sophia could even play it through in her head, she snatched one of her shoes off the ground and shot to a stand on the velvet chair.
