“When can you get it?”
Gerard looked up at him and Brantley held up four fingers.
“Four hours.”
“Fine, but it’ll cost you. The price has gone up to two million,” the caller huffed. “Two mil in four hours. You better have it.”
“I will. Where do you want me to bring it?”
Another chuckle and this time Brantley glanced at Reese. He saw in his eyes the same morbid curiosity. Who the hell had Dante gotten to help him with this plan? Whoever it was … they were about as smart as a box of rocks.
“I’ll call you with instructions in four hours.”
The call ended abruptly.
Instantly Reese was making a call, most likely to Luca to see if he managed to get the trace.
“What do we do now?” Katrina asked, getting to her feet.
Brantley moved closer to the family. “Right now, I’ve got my entire team lookin’ at this. Give me a little time to work it.” He looked at Gerard. “I want Trey to stay here with y’all, and I’ll keep you updated when I have something. You bought us a few hours, and we’ll use ’em wisely.”
“What about the money? It’s not like we’ve got that kind of cash. Investments, sure.”
Although he had no intention of letting the Greenwoods hand over that kind of money, he figured it would give them something to do. “Figure out where it’ll come from, and I’ll let you know.”
*
Dante glared at Marcus when the calldisconnected.
“Two million,” he snapped. “We agreed we’d ask forone.”
Marcus’s grin was pure evil. “My price went up.”
“They don’t have that kinda money,” he argued.
“Well, they better take out a loan. That or they’ll never see their sweet little boy again.”
“Didn’t you hear him? It’s a holiday.”
Marcus shrugged. “They do it in the movies all the time. I’m sure your dear old dad will figure it out.”
Not for the first time since they’d made this arrangement, Dante felt real fear. This time he feared for his own safety. He got the feeling Marcus was willing to sacrifice him for money. Which meant, if his parents did fork over two mil, Marcus was going to take it and split. But probably not until he’d killed Dante first.
Marcus let out an evil laugh. “You should see your face right now. Looks like you might piss your pants. You scared, Dante?”
He schooled his expression, watching and wondering how the hell he was going to get himself out of this mess.
Chapter Nineteen
After giving his statement to Sheriff Endsleyand promising Brantley he’d keep his nose out of the investigation, Travis played the dutiful husband for the majority of the day, ringing in the new year in the best way possible, spending time with Kylie, Gage, and the kids.
They’d started off with lunch as a family, then watched a movie with Kate, who was back on board with the idea thatFrozenwas the greatest movie of all time. At six years old, he could see how she might think that. Travis would admit, he hadn’t minded the animated singalong. The first time. The six or seven dozen times after had been hell.
After the movie, he’d played a couple of rounds of video games with four-year-old Kade, who would be content with a controller in his little hand all day if they’d let him.
He’d then built a block fort with Haden, who was two and a half but, based on his little attitude, believed he was five. Moving on from that, he’d spent the better part of an hour with three-year-old Avery, coloring pictures of Disney princesses.
Plus he’d managed to spend some quality time with nineteen-month-old Maddox, who was content to put his chubby little legs to use by wobbling nonstop from one end of the house to the other.
