“A l-long trip where?” That tremor in her voice was detestable. Some of it was for show, to make Mrs. Kagan think she was weak. Easily manipulated.
But part of it was all too real.
“I’m going to see Simon again soon,” Mrs. Kagan said as if she hadn’t heard Margo’s question. “You won’t keep me from him, will you?”
Margo struggled to keep her panic and disgust from showing on her face. “No. Of course not. Are we going to see Simon?”
“We are. You, my dear, are going somewhere else.”
“No.” The word tasted like blood. She’d bitten her tongue in her hurry to speak, and the coppery tang filled her mouth. She swallowed it down, forcing the terror away with it. “Don’t send me anywhere else. I need to make sure the baby is okay. You want the baby to be all right, don’t you? We took a hard jolt from the accident—”
“Simon’s baby.”
“Yes.” She looked up at Simon’s mother even when every part of her wanted to shrink away. The older woman’s beauty didn’t do a thing to diminish the coldness of her eyes. They were like winter, icy and forbidding. “Simon’s baby,” she agreed quietly.
“You’ll let me see the baby after he or she is born. I’m sure the child will be beautiful like its father.”
Margo’s skin chilled and she couldn’t help shuddering. “Of course.”
Not while there was breath left in her body would she let this woman within fifty feet of her child. If that meant having armed guards surrounding the nursery, then that was what she would do.
“Drink some more water at least before you leave. You’re going to be on the road for a long time.”
Margo shut her eyes and sat up to drink when Mrs. Kagan tipped the glass to her lips. Some dribbled out over her chin, just as tears leaked down her cheeks.
She didn’t know where they were taking her or if her pleas had made any difference. It wasn’t as if she could fight. She was chained up and even if she wasn’t, Mrs. Kagan had referenced a ‘we.’ What chance did Margo have to overpower someone else as well, who was probably a man?
A short while later, Mrs. Kagan left her and two men entered the room. Both wore black and kept their faces averted as they moved toward the bed.
Margo dug her nails into her palms and debated scratching the first guy’s eyes out the minute he freed her wrists and ankles. What if it was her only opportunity to escape?
In the end, he moved too swiftly for her to even try.
Her throat grew tight as she shuffled out between the two men, each tightly holding her arms. If she tried to run, they’d hurt her. She had no doubt. Both were heavily muscled, and baby or no baby, she was certain that Mrs. Kagan wouldn’t allow her to stand between her and her money.
So crazy. To risk lives for so little. How could anyone be so callous?
A woman who’d abandoned her son to an abuser could be. Even if now she wanted to pretend she loved Simon so much.
Spare her from such love.
And was this their end game? They’d get the money and then what? Just disappear? Or vanish for a while, lull her and Simon into a false sense of security, and then return to try their luck one more time?
“Bathroom first.”
Since she’d had to go fiercely for the last hour, she didn’t protest. She’d only been given a chance to go twice since whenever she’d been taken.
“You got two minutes.” The first guy shoved her toward the closet-sized bathroom she’d been allowed to use earlier. “You don’t come out on your own, we’re coming in after you.”
She hurried inside and shut the door. Quickly, she took care of business, nearly letting out a sob of relief that she wasn’t bleeding. She’d checked each time she visited the bathroom after the accident, afraid of the worst.
&nbs
p; Nothing. Thank God.
All evidence pointed to her baby hanging in strong with her. They just had to deal with this a little longer, and then they’d be free.
She had to believe that or she’d go nuts.