Page 75 of The Ice Queen in the Corner Office

It hurt to have him look at me that way. My limit for abuse was close to being breached.

“Sure,” I said. “Just answer two questions honestly, and I’ll leave. Who is Willow? And how much money do they want to get her back?”

Alex glared at me, looking angry but also…Scared. Not scared like he’d been at the ropes course, but flat-out terrified.

“Willow is Alex’s younger sister,” Lee said. I turned to him, my face probably displaying complete shock, because he nodded, looking just as sad and scared as Alex did. “The crew kidnapped her as collateral for the money.”

“How long have they had her?”

“Three days, fifteen hours, and twelve minutes,” Lee said. He glared at Alex. “Way too long.”

I ignored the obvious tension in the room and focused on Willow. I couldn’t imagine what that poor girl must be going through. “How much do they want?”

“Alex has already given them fifty,” Lee said. “They want a hundred thou more.”

“Alex hasn’t got any more money, what about the rest of you? What can you contribute?”

“Honey,” Fin drawled. “We don’t know what Alex’s told you about us, but we aren’t made of money.”

I just stared at him. “Alex hasn’t told me anything about you, but every little bit counts. Whatever you can give would help. We need to get this woman away from those thugs.”

“Jill,” Alex said, his voice strained. “This isn’t your fight.”

“Figures,” Bert said. He was seated in the armchair on the other side of the room, but his voice was deep and somber and turned every eye in his direction. “Alex didn’t tell his pretty friend about us, the guys he’s known since he was in diapers. He didn’t tell you we all work our asses off at the kind of jobs where we get our hands dirty and our backs bent, but we barely make rent every month. Bet he didn’t tell you he grew up in one of the worst neighborhood in Atlanta, little better than a slum. He’s so intent on pretending he’s some rich asshole so he can fit in here—”

“Enough,” Alex said. “I get it. You’re all pissed at me and hate me for leaving you behind and making something of myself. But this—”

“Bullshit,” Bert said. “We’re pissed at you for acting like you’re too good for us.”

“Shut up, Bert,” Lee said. “You two bitching at each other like toddlers fighting over a toy ain’t going to get Willow away from those assholes.”

“We should go to the police,” I said.

“Already tried that,” Alex said. “The feds have some undercover operation going on. The crew is pretty small-time, but they do business with some bigger fish the feds want to nab. Feds can’t help us, and we don’t trust the local cops.”

“Okay,” I said, wondering if I was dreaming because this all sounded like a scene from a movie and not real life. “I want to help. I can get my hands on sixty thousand by tomorrow morning. Do you think they’d take that until we can get more?”

Lee pulled out a cell phone and tapped in a number. He put the phone to his ear, stood and left the room.

“He’ll find out, gorgeous,” Fin said. He’d taken a seat on the floor and was leaning against the wall, his knees bent and his arms resting on his knees.

I looked over at Alex, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze, his attention on the view out the window as we waited.

Lee was back in a matter of moments, a grim look on his face. “They said for one-ten, they’d give us an arm and a leg. If we want Willow whole, they need the full one hundred and fifty grand.”

I’d never wished harder that I’d been better about networking, that I had generous friends with deep pockets. My friends were well off, but I doubted any of them had forty grand just laying around. Still…”I could ask—”

“No,” Alex said. “We can’t involve more people. We need to go to plan B.”

Fin groaned, and Bert paled. Lee swallowed hard and nodded. “Darrell swears they’re holding her at some safe house over in Suburbia.”

“Darrell’d sell his own mother for a six pack,” Fin said. “We can’t trust him.”

“You got a better idea?” Alex asked.

“Easy for you to push this plan, man,” Bert said. “You’ll be waiting in the car nursing your gimp leg.”

“Darrell wouldn’t lie,” Lee said. “He might work for the crew, but Willow saved his little brother’s life last winter when she told their mom his cough sounded like pneumonia and not bronchitis. He’s pissed about what they’re doing to Willow, and he wants her out.”

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