Page 78 of Booked for Kidnapping

“People think you’re the queen over all gold diggers. Jez has strictly limited how much her inheritance will be because she doesn’t want to unbalance anything with her attorney. We discussed the situation with both of them; they’re getting an equal inheritance, and it’s capped at a certain amount. Bradley gets the rest. Any other children we bring into our home will end up with the same deal—and they’ll be told exactly why. Bradley doesn’t even need the inheritance.”

“I plan on establishing stocks for Jez and her attorney once things settle down. I will claim we’re using the inheritance funds to seed it. In reality, it’ll be the amount of the inheritance funds, but it won’t be their actual inheritance. I’ll do the same for the other kids whenever they come home. It’s only an inheritance if our parents don’t spend it before they kick the bucket.”

I was surrounded by clever, sneaky men. “You have my approval. You know about the little job tonight, Mr. Hampton?”

“We’re already monitoring the home. Dr. Castor has not left as scheduled. The alarm is still disabled, and the motion detectors are picking up activity inside. I suspect she got wind we’re sniffing around her turf. I expect when we knock, she’ll be there to greet us and invite us in for a chat. Beatrice is convinced she’s flying out on the three o’clock.”

“But what about her talk? Won’t she miss that?”

“As of yesterday, it’s being rescheduled. It hasn’t been publicly announced, but the attendees have been notified. Two of the main speakers had medical emergencies, and they refused to endanger patients to attend a talk, and Dr. Castor stated she would reschedule with them. Once the three stars of the show announced rescheduling, everyone else did, too.” Mr. Hampton chuckled. “Since the attendees are all top medical researchers, everyone was fine with the rescheduling, apparently. The kind of people who are going to that talk are the kind to respect the patients and put them over a small loss of expenses. The expenses will get written off anyway; those who do still go will have access to the vendors, they just aren’t having the official talks. They’ll figure something out. I received an interesting call, too.”

“What call?”

“You’ve received an invitation to attend the rescheduled talk. Dr. Mansfield contacted me as she got an invitation to attend, and she wants to take you to showcase the first round of work to your foot.”

If Dr. Mansfield wanted me to go, I’d go without even a hint of complaint. “Are you seriously telling me that this whole thing was rescheduled, and just on some freak coincidence, Dr. Mansfield was invited?”

“I’m of the opinion there’s no coincidence. I’m fully convinced it was done entirely on purpose. More importantly, because they want you to attend, the entire shebang is probably being moved to the United States. They’re looking for a convention center to host it, and they’re going to make it even bigger than the first one.”

What the hell? “That’s so weird. That’s not really how they do it, is it?”

“Apparently, the convention only had a hundred attendees in the first place, all prestigious researchers. From my understanding of the situation, they’re going to expand it to become an education convention, and they’re going to make some of the information accessible to the public.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

“It’ll be good money for the presenters, and a lot of doctors will come—or send assistants to gather information. I stopped trying to guess beyond that, but Dr. Mansfield seemed really excited about it.”

“Okay. I’ll go, but Bradley’s coming with me.”

“As if we’d realistically be able to separate you two for a while.” Mr. Hampton chuckled. “All right, Janette. Do your checks, fix what you think needs fixed, and scold me while you’re at it. And if you can’t fix something, I’ll schedule to go to a doctor as soon as we’re back in New York.”

I nodded, sat next to him on the bed, and took hold of his wrist, closing my eyes so I could concentrate better on the feel of his body. Despite my worries over not having used my magic much, it came to my call without issue, and I slipped into the old routine as though I’d been doing checkups on others the entirety of my disappearance. Within moments, I detected an oddity in the flow of his blood, something I’d witnessed time and time again in patients suffering from cholesterol or clots. It annoyed me that both problems often felt the same to my magic.

Heart disease caused by the buildup of cholesterol took a few minutes, a cut, and a cup to resolve until the plaque reformed, usually over a period of years. Clots needed the same sort of work, but done carefully, else I could kill him trying to help him. I tensed, seeking out the source of the blockages.

Sure enough, Bradley’s father had a severe cholesterol-induced heart disease problem, one I’d need about an hour to correct if everything went right and the plaque plaguing him wasn’t in every damned artery in his body. “I am going to have a serious talk with you about your cholesterol levels, Mr. Hampton!”

“Yes, I know I have heart disease. Yes, I meant what I’d said about only having you deal with it. It’s severe. I’ve been given the riot act by my doctors; it’s terminal within the next few years unless fixed, and you’re one of the few exsanguinators with the right skills and training to fix it.”

“I’m charging a fee of one fancy necklace and all the shiny things that goes with it to put up with this shit,” I announced. “In red. There. I’m officially a gold digger.”

“That’s not how being a gold digger works, Janette,” my fiancé said with laughter in his voice. “But if it makes you feel better about him buying what you liked in the store, my family would be happy to pay you in a fancy set of jewelry.”

I muttered curses over not having addressed the problem before I’d been kidnapped. “I’m going to need a very sharp knife, preferably a scalpel, a cup, and a first aid kit. Maybe a bucket. That’s a lot of plaque and cholesterol buildup. What have you been doing? Injecting cholesterol directly into your bloodstream?”

Bradley smiled. “I have another idea. A better one.”

“What better idea?”

“I think I’ll give a local doctor a call and make an inquiry.”

I raised a brow. “You’re going to call Dr. Castor?”

“Yep. She can supervise your work and provide supplies. And as Dr. Mansfield has been given an invitation, perhaps I can get the number.”

“I already have the number,” his father said. “I can call her, as Dr. Mansfield instructed me to call her regarding Janette’s attendance. It’s an easy tie-in. And, if we’re at the house, we can send Ren over with Ajani. If you can survive a slight delay reuniting with your fluffy goddess. They’ll come to the hotel first so she can stretch and use the litter box, though.”

He needed his heart addressed far more than I needed to hug my cat, although I would suffer through a meltdown if I didn’t get to hug my cat soon. “Call her. I will survive a delay reuniting with my fluffy goddess.”