Every Breath You Take (Second Opportunities 4)

ransom demand is for ten million dollars, ready by nine o’clock tonight.”

Gaping at him in disbelief, Kate said, million dollars? But I don’t have that kind of money. I could raise two million dollars if they’ll give me a little time to arrange for loans and—”

kidnappers aren’t going to give you that time.”

Nausea welled up in Kate’s throat, and she got up to make a dash for the bathroom.

Gray watched her walk back to the sofa a few minutes later, her face the color of chalk, her arms wrapped around her stomach again. In the middle of the room, she paused and looked around. “I keep expecting Danny to dash out of the kitchen or his bedroom,” she whispered, looking at Gray, her green eyes swimming with tears. want my baby. I want to see him smile at me. You have to p-promise me you’ll get him b-back. Please, promise me you will.”

’s talk about the ransom money—”

don’t have it!” she cried. ’t you listening to me? I can’t raise ten million dollars. I’m not sure I can raise two million dollars, but I’ll start trying.” Suddenly she launched into feverish haste, heading for a telephone on the table beside the sofa. ’ll call our banker—”

, you won’t,” Gray said shortly. ’ll call Danny’s father.”

She wrinkled her forehead as if she didn’t know what he was talking about.

you certain Mitchell Wyatt is Danny’s father?”

I certain—” Her mouth dropped open, and she glared at him through her tears. course I’m certain!”

get him on the phone.”

Kate felt as if her heart were breaking and her mind were splintering. you think for one minute that if I knew how to reach him—and if he actually took my phone call—that he would believe me or come up with the money?”

you have any other choices?”

’s not a choice. That’s not even a long shot.”

repeat, do you have any other hope of raising the ransom money?”

Kate stared at him, frozen in a trance of stark terror, anguish, and helplessness. Slowly, the realization began to penetrate that she could take action now, and that any action—no matter how futile—was a way of doing something to help keep Danny safe. In the space of seconds, her realization became resolve, and she threw herself into desperate action. Crossing swiftly to the sofa, she picked up the phone, then she stopped and looked at Gray. “I have no idea how to reach him. Do you?”

have various addresses and phone numbers for him, but it could take hours to track him down. He has close friends here in Chicago—Matt Farrell and Meredith Bancroft. Matt Farrell heads Intercorp. He may be able to head us in the right direction.”

Kate bit her lip as she dialed information for the phone number of Intercorp. Leaning forward, she jotted it on a pad, then she handed the phone to Gray. ’ll talk to him, but you’ll need to get him to take my call first.”

He nodded, dialed the number, and shot her a quizzical look.

last time I saw Mitchell,” Kate explained in answer to his unspoken question, was with him and she heard the things he accused me of being. When she walked away, she looked at me as if I’d just become invisible. Believe me, she told her husband all about it, and Matt Farrell won’t want to give me the time of day.”

’ll get him to take your call. There’s one more thing,” he added after he asked Intercorp’s operator to connect him to Matt Farrell’s office. “Wyatt is going to want some form of proof that Danny is his before he forks over ten million dollars. I have Wyatt’s DNA on record, and we’ll have Danny’s DNA in a few hours. If you will guarantee me that there is no way Danny is anyone else’s child, I’ll vouch for a DNA match now, on this phone call. If it turns out you’re wrong, I’ll retract my statement before Wyatt hands over the money and tell him there was a mistake.”

’s no mistake!”

He nodded, then spoke into the phone. is Gray Elliott,” he told Matt Farrell’s secretary. Matt in? This is an emergency.”

Kate unconsciously held her breath while the seconds ticked by, and she thought of Danny out there somewhere with strangers.

,” Gray said suddenly into the phone. ’m with Kate Donovan. Her little boy was kidnapped this morning. You’ll hear an amber alert any minute now if you turn on a radio or television set. Kate needs to talk to you.”

Kate stood up as she took the phone. . Farrell,” she said formally and firmly, Wyatt is Danny’s father.” Kate paused, waiting for some reaction, and when there was none, she forged ahead. “The kidnappers are demanding ten million dollars by nine o’clock tonight. I can’t even come close to paying that much money.” Again Kate paused, and again there was no reaction, so she drew an unsteady breath and said shakily, “Would you please ask Mitchell to call me. I’ll give you my phone number. Tell him . . . tell him I’ll sign over the restaurant to him in return, and I’ll find some way to pay him back the rest.” Tears constricted her throat, and Kate grasped the telephone harder. , you have to find Mitchell and tell him. Danny isn’t even two yet and he’s out there somewhere with—” She broke off, swallowed, and got herself under control. Mitchell that Gray Elliott will talk to him when he calls and will assure him that Danny’s DNA matches the DNA in Mitchell’s file at the state’s attorney’s office. Here’s my phone number at the restaurant. I have an apartment above it,” Kate added quickly so that Matt Farrell wouldn’t think she was working as usual while her son was missing.

Finally, the silent man on the other end of the phone spoke. will call him,” he said, I’ll give him your message.”

you,” Kate said weakly. She’d started to take the phone from her ear when he added, ’m very sorry about your son.”

That snapped Kate from pleading to ire. isn’t just my son; he is also Mitchell’s son.”

’ll remind Mitchell of that,” he said to her surprise.

Chapter Forty-five

,MR.FARRELL,Mr. Wyatt is in his office. Just one moment.” Mitchell’s New York assistant, Sophie Putnam, had been in the process of showing a newly hired secretary named Claire around the office. She paused in that endeavor in order to put Matt Farrell’s phone call through. . Wyatt, Mr. Farrell is on line one,” she told Mitchell.

you, Sophie,” he replied.

With that duty completed, Sophie returned her attention to Claire, but before she could continue, Claire glanced toward Mitchell’s closed door and said, long does it take before you stop noticing how incredibly handsome he is?”