Page 70 of Protecting his Heart

“One million, twenty-four hours.”

The call ended, and Brett spoke into the phone. “Dr Wallis, are you still there?”

“Yes,” came the broken reply.

“Quick thinking on including us in the call. Thank you for that. We’ll get looking into it, and we’ll be in touch.”

“What about the ransom?”

Brett clenched his jaw. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll sort it.”

Brett spoke to the doctor for a few more minutes, but Owen had spaced out, recalling the words on the phone, and he froze.

Evan leaned closer. “What is it?”

Owen met his gaze and murmured, “He said, ‘see your daughter again,’ not ‘see your daughter alive.’”

Evan raised his eyebrows. “You think he said it like that on purpose? That he’s planning to kill her, anyway?”

Owen shrugged, though his gut was telling him that, yes, that’s exactly what he thought. The robotic style voice wasn’t giving away the person’s identity. Although it sounded fairly masculine, that meant nothing at all.

He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to bury all the emotions bubbling at the surface. While Evan had been in Italy, Owen had buried everything he’d been feeling, sometimes coming across as emotionless—which for his job had been a good thing—but it also meant he’d not been able to feel the hurt, the loss, the grief for anything that had hurt him. Since Evan’s return, his emotions had risen to the forefront, and it was that much harder to shove everything back down. It clouded his thoughts, and he really needed that clarity right then.

Nick came up to them. “Felix is just working on seeing if he can get a location from the phone call. Hopefully, he will and we can break down the door and grab them.” He clenched his fists. “Anyone who hurts kids deserves a funeral.”

Owen had an idea. “Would it be better or worse for the criminal to get publicity for this?”

Evan and Nick stared at him. “What are you thinking?” Evan asked.

Owen gathered his thoughts. “First, answer the question.”

Nick shrugged and turned to Brett, asking the question Owen had voiced. Brett joined their small group. “I suppose it depends on how much of a trigger point they have. Publicity makes thingsthat much more black and white. If they get frazzled, they’re likely to do one of two things: either blow up and kill her or give her back and slink off into the shadows. Why?”

“I was trying to figure out whether leaking something to the media would be beneficial for us.”

“Leaking what?” Brett glanced over at Felix, who was busily working away at his computer, a frown on his face.

“Just the disappearance and that there has been a ransom. Would it put the right kind of pressure on them or not?” Owen asked. He honestly thought it would be a good option, but he wasn’t the expert. There had been no ransom for Amy. Just the grief of finding her body.

Brett rubbed his chin, his mind going a mile a minute—Owen could almost see the steam rising from him. “In this instance, I don’t think it would work in anyone’s favour. Whoever was on the other end of the phone did not sound the least bit concerned. About anything.”

Owen nodded. Brett would know better than he did.

“Brett!” Felix called, and they all looked over. “Couldn’t trace it.” He sagged, visibly upset about it.

“I didn’t think they would be that stupid,” Brett said. “You did good.”

Owen could see Felix didn’t believe him because when something like this happened and you didn’t get results, it felt like a physical blow.

“I want you both to get some rest,” Brett said, glaring at him and Evan. “You’ve been up for long enough.”

Owen crossed his arms over his chest again and shook his head. “It won’t happen.”

Brett peered at him. “Just because you think you’re thebest in the businessdoesn’t mean you don’t have a breaking point.”

The reference to the words he’d said to Dominic wasn’t missed, and he found a smirk to send Brett’s way. “You wouldn’t like me if I wasn’t just a little bit like you.”

Brett’s mouth twitched, but then wiped clean like it was never there. “In which case, start checking through those hospital records to see if anyone Dr Wallis treated sends up a red flag.”

---