Kevin ignored me and kept going. “The worst
part is that I dragged Tiffany into this. She’s a
good woman. Her only mistake was falling in
love with me. If you can’t get the money
together, then…”
Before he could finish, one of the kidnappers
cut him off. “Shut your trap! What do you
think this is? I’m kidnapping you, not running
a freakin‘ therapy session.”
I jumped in. “Anything, we’ll give you anything as long as you don’t hurt my husband.”
The kidnapper nodded. “Five million. Not a
penny less. I’ll give you two days. I’m a man of
my word. You pay up, and we won’t hurt
them.”
“And no cops! If you call the cops, the deal’s
off. We’ll just off them.”
Carol almost fainted. Kevin, on the other
hand, looked confident. He even said, “Yeah,
don’t call the cops. Seriously, don’t. If there’s
not enough money, save Tiffany first.”
I knew what Kevin was thinking.
He thought Tiffany was behind this, that she’d
get in serious trouble if the cops got involved.
If no cops were called, he could play along
and come out without a ruined reputation or
losing Tiffany.
But Kevin didn’t know the kidnapping was real
this time.
Four:
Amy turned off the TV. “Mom, don’t worry.
They just want money. They won’t kill anyone.
Not in this country. They can’t escape if they
do.”
Seeing that Kevin seemed okay, Carol relaxed
a little. She turned to me, looking annoyed.
“Get the money. And don’t think that because
Kevin cheated, you don’t have to save him. If
you don’t get the money, I swear to God, I’ll
kill you.
“Believe me, I mean it.”
what it Like father
THI
If Kovin
I didn’t doubt it. Like father, like son. If Kevin
would drag me to my death, Carol would do
the same.
I just sighed. “I’ll do anything to save Kevin,
but… I don’t have any money.”
I wasn’t lying. Kevin treated me really well, so
I never worried about finances. Last time,
when he was kidnapped, I found out the bank
account was empty.
Back then, the kidnappers wouldn’t let me call the cops or anyone else. I had to sell my
parents‘ old house for next to nothing to get
the five million.
And that got me nothing but trouble. That’s
why I didn’t answer the phone this time.
Г
I pulled out the bank cards and showed
everyone the balances. “When Mom called
and said Kevin was in trouble, I thought it was
a car accident or something. So, I checked
the accounts. Turns out Kevin transferred all
the money to Tiffany.”
Carol and Kevin’s sisters looked closely,
making sure I was broke. Then, they all froze.
I didn’t give them time to react. I dropped to
my knees and started begging. “You’re the
closest people to Kevin. Please, save him!”
Five:
200
Amy and the other sisters realized I wanted
them to pay. They almost had a stroke.
Amy pointed her finger at me “What
L
Amy pointed her finger at me. “What are you
saying? You want us to pay? Where would we
get that kind of money?”
Her sister, Beth, nodded. “Exactly. You know how much we’ve helped Kevin over the years.
There’s no way we have that much money
now.”
The third sister, Sarah, was the most worked
- up. Her spit almost landed on my face. “Five
million, not five bucks! You think I can pull
that out of my butt because you kneel and
beg? How about I kneel and beg you for some
cash?”
DO:.
They were acting pretty much as I expected.
Carol favored Kevin, and the sisters had been
helping him out for years. But they were
getting older, and they weren’t exactly flush
with cash. Five million wasn’t pocket change.
No way they could just cough it up.
