Page 127 of Running to You

“Don’t hurt them. Whatever you want—”

“Of course I won’t hurt them, Elizabeth. You know I’m a man of peace.”

“Let me talk to them.”

The demand was met with silence that stretched a long moment. And then, “Here you go.”

“Eliza?” Mom’s voice was strong.

“Are you all right? Have they hurt you?”

“Levi and I are fine. And your friend, Nicole.”

Nicole? Nicole was there?

“She’s…going to be all right,” Mom said. “Levi, you want to talk to your mother?”

A second passed, and then, “Hi, Mommy.” His voice, so innocent, was a sunbeam in a dark cavern. “Grammy took me to the beach, and I picked up shells and I even saw a fish! The water goes on and on forever! I got my feet wet. It was so cold. And then Dad and Miss Lola came to surprise us.”

“I’m…” She swallowed her tears and cleared her throat. “I’m glad you’re having fun. I miss you.”

“Are you coming soon? Gil’s gonna let me walk in the woods, and then—”

“That’s enough, Levi.” Jed’s voice was distant, but she heard the command in it.

“Yes, sir. I love you, Mommy.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart.”

She waited through another long silence, and then Jed’s voice came back on the line. “This is going to be very simple. You—”

“Keep Gil and the rest of your thugs away from my son.”

“Now, Elizabeth. If you hadn’t betrayed me, I wouldn’t have any need for the guards. But everything can go back to normal when you return what you stole. I’ll release your mother, and you—”

“Both of them. All of them.” She cursed the fear in her voice. “You get nothing unless you release all of them, safe and sound.”

“Your mother will be released, and you and Levi will be with me, of course. And Nicole. That’s the only way this works.”

“No.” There. That sounded strong. Sounded sure. “I’ll give you whatever you want, but then we’re walking away. I will not come back to you.”

“Ah.” The single syllable was low. Jed rarely got rattled. Never raised his voice.

She’d liked that about him when she’d first met him and Lola. She’d liked how calm and sure he was, a shelter in a storm. Now, she cursed his confidence borne of…insanity.

“Levi is my son,” Jed said. “And he belongs with his father.”

She closed her eyes, but not before she saw the shock on Sam’s face. The horror.

Too late. She was too late to tell him the truth.

And it didn’t matter because if she lost Levi…

She lost everything.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Her son?