Page 80 of Push & Pull
So she knows.Hailey wasn’t feigning it. Then again, a rich heiress getting kidnapped so dramatically was sure to make the national news before the end of the night. “I did nothing! I haven’t seen her since yesterday when we broke things off and went our separate ways!”
“So you did that?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. So what’s this about you being my oldest and dearest friend, Hail? What about Simone? What in the hell is going on with her? I know for a fact that the Evans don’t owe my uncle squat.”I have friends in Miami. That has to mean something.“Your family, though…”
Petra knew enough about that over the years, since Hailey’s father wasn’t exactly the whiz at investments and speculation like his own father had been.Plus the gambling.Petra assumed that was in the past. The Lamberts had been good about paying their debts to whoever owned it all. That included Michail’s organization.
“Does your dad owe my uncle ten mil? That’s how much they’re asking for in ransom. What’s going on? Why Simone? Your fucking friends,Hail!”
Hailey choked back something that sounded like a sob. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I promise. I didn’t know…”
Petra sat back down, the life out of her legs. “What the hell is going on?”
“My dad owes him almost twelve million, but we don’t have the money, okay? I even emptied out my own investments to help pay it back so your uncle’sgoonsdon’t rough up my dad. I ended up going to him myself. Said that I could make it really easy for him to get some money out of one of my friends. Next thing I know… your uncle finds out you and Simone are coming to my party, and he tells me to arrange it so she’s in your car the next day. You’ve been tailed your whole trip. I’m… I’m so sorry, Petra. I really am! I didn’t know he was going to do that! Just thought they would somehow access her and the family’s accounts like the way you usually do it withyourmarks! For all I knew, you were in on it! How was I supposed to know?”
I didn’t know she knew so much about what I do…While Hailey wasn’t completely in the dark, Petra had never regaled her with stories about pickpocketing and lying to get her way into places she didn’t belong, let alone seducing lonely men and sucking them dry.God, does she know everything?Petra pressed her hand against her forehead and nearly collapsed onto the carpet. She knew the day when everything unraveled would come. Today, though? Of all days? When she was still nursing the hurt she and Simone caused each other?
“I swear to God, Hailey.” Petra had never sounded so fixated on her rage.Because I’ve never felt such rage.First, she had been played for a fool. Then she was conned by the conmen to take Simone on a road trip that would inevitably end with someone being kidnapped and held for ransom.All while they probably knew I was sleeping with Simone.If they were being tailed that well, by Georgio or otherwise, then they undoubtedly knew that something was going on between Petra and Simone. Wasn’t like her real sexuality was a secret from the family. “If Simone gets hurt from this, I will personally see to it that you never throw a party again. Do you hear me? We’re through. You’ve betrayed meandSimone!”
She ended the call with a muffled scream.I can’t stay in this room.Nor could she simply run away and hide until this all blew over, whether with Simone’s safe return or her inevitable end.Simone…It was Petra’s fault this was all happening. She may not have known that was Simone’s fate, but Petra had played her role, and she had to do something about it.
Petra didn’t know where she was going when she grabbed her jacket and room key. All that mattered was that she save Simone.
Chapter 28
FindingSimone’sfamilyhomewas as easy as a Google search. The hard part was getting past the wrought-iron gate and the line of police cars that had pulled up to the front of the house, where most of the lights were still on at nearly five in the morning.
Petra parked the Volvo down the road. The cover of darkness was perfect for sidling up along the fence separating the country pavement from Evans Manor, which remained illuminated with flashing police lights. With everyone fixated on what was happening inside, it didn’t take long for Petra to wait for another car to approach, open the gates, and for her to follow behind it. As soon as the guardsman on duty looked her way, she slipped behind a tree and waited for the police escorts to talk to one another about the case.
After that, it was only a matter of getting into the house. Through the front door should have sufficed.
“…I know you’re tired,” a gruff voice said to a woman sitting in the front hallway, where Petra soon found herself, “but we need you to stay awake a while longer, Ms. Evans. We don’t know when the kidnappers might call you back.”
A uniformed officer moved out of the way. There, sitting on a low bench along the wall in the grand foyer, was a woman with long dark hair and a heavy sweater dress keeping her warm. She looked like she hadn’t slept in a whole day.
“I still can’t believe this is happening.” The woman Petra deduced to be Astrid shook her head and rubbed her temple. “I literally saw her an hour before everything happened. I can’t believe it. If I kept her here a few minutes longer…”
Two officers exchanged a look. A minute later, one of them ambled toward where Petra was and looked right down his nose at her.
“Who are you? There is an active investigation going on here.” He nodded to the front door, which was finally closed again. “How did you get inside?”
“My name’s Petra,” she said. Then, “I live here.”
The officer’s eyes widened. “Excuse me? We weren’t informed of anyone named Petra living here. In fact, all of the house’s residents are accounted for and their statements were taken.”
“Yeah, well… I’m a bit of a dirty secret around these parts.” Petra forced a labored sigh that was sure to garner the slightest bit of sympathy. “Go ask Astrid yourself. I know her stepdaughter. That’s why I rushed home as soon as I heard the news.”
“You wait right here.” A finger wagged in Petra’s face. Nevertheless, when the officer ambled back over to the exhausted woman on the bench, Petra followed close behind. If thinking on her feet was to work for her once again, she needed access to Astrid.
She didn’t hear what the officer said to Astrid. Yet when that haggard face looked in Petra’s direction, neither of them put up a fight. “Petra,” Astrid said in a flat voice.Thank God.Petra didn’t need Simone’s stepmother to question anything right now.
“I got home as soon as I heard.” Petra knelt beside Astrid, a wink exchanging between them. “I can’t believe this has happened.” Before the police could ask her any questions, Petra offered, “I saw her last night in New York. We… had a fight.”
To her credit, Astrid did not immediately throw this stranger under a bus. “I see. Why don’t we have a chat in my office? Alone.”
“That’s not necessary,” the lead detective on duty said as he approached in his suit and tie. “We need to take this woman’s statement. Why didn’t you tell us about her?”
“To be honest, I had forgotten about her,” Astrid said as she stood up and wobbled on her feet. Petra offered to steady her, carefully noting the soft hands and slight sheen of sweat covering Astrid’s forearm. Regardless of her opinion toward Simone, this whole ordeal had frazzled the woman who inherited more than Bernard’s only daughter. “I’ve got about twenty minutes of life left in me, officers. Let me ask Petra one question in the privacy of my office,thenshe can give you her statement. After that, I’m passing out. I don’t want to be bothered unless there’s a new development. You already know my answer to everything else.”
