Page 79 of Mile High Baby

“I’ll have Tanner bring us one. In the meantime, how about a drink? We can toast to our new partnership.”

I wanted out, but I also wanted to play it cool and make sure enough time had passed. “Sure. Why not?”

26

Victoria

Inever entertained the idea that I could be kidnapped, but if I had, I never would have imagined I would be held captive in an opulent library by a wealthy businessman on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Weren’t kidnapped victims usually held in dark, dingy basements?

Here I was, standing in the middle of George Pitney's impressive library, annoyed at myself for being in this position and nervous about what Alex was going to do to remedy it. Considering George Pitney's history, I should've been more nervous about what he planned to do to me, but perhaps I focused on Alex because the other option was too scary to consider.

When Pitney's minion pulled me out of the car and brought me to the room, Mr. Pitney entered from another door at the side of the room. It appeared that the library was attached to his office. He greeted me with a smile, acting like I was a long-lost friend or special guest whom he'd been eager to see instead of the victim he’d forcibly brought into his house.

"What am I doing here?" I demanded.

He laughed and clapped his hands in delight. "Right to the point, Ms. Banion. I like that about you. You are here because your father has become an annoyance, and I want to make it stop. I believe you are the solution to my problem."

I rolled my eyes at him, not sure where the bravado was coming from. "And you have to resort to kidnapping me? Are your negotiation skills not up to par?"

There was a quick flash of irritation in his eyes, enough to see how lethal he could be and how maybe I'd be better off keeping my mouth shut.

"You should be grateful that I have brought you here. You are in a comfortable room while I take care of business. I could've very easily made this difficult for you, but you're not a part of this. Your father is. As you can see, there are plenty of books to read to bide your time, and we have a small bar over there where you can have water or any other drink that we have in stock. I will be just through that door. At the door through which you've come, Guenther will be standing guard. Don't get any ideas that you can escape.”

I glanced at the window.

He smiled with humor, much like I imagined a cat did at its prey. “The window has alarms. Now that we've gotten that all out of the way, I have a phone call to make. If you behave and things work out, you will walk out of here no worse than when you came in."

He didn't wait for me to say anything. Instead, he nodded toward Guenther and then left the library, entering the side door into his office. Guenther gave me a hard scowl, probably to scare me into submission, and then left me alone in the library.

I immediately rushed over to the window, looking down and noting the long drop to the ground and, as I suspected, no way to ease myself down. That was if I could bypass the alarm, which I couldn’t. I didn’t know the first thing about disarming alarms.

I looked across to the building next door, thinking maybe somebody would be there. I could flag them down. But all the rooms were dark. On the off chance that someone might look over, I decided to search the room for a pen and a piece of paper. Maybe I could put a sign in the window letting them know that I was being held captive and to call the police.

I searched every shelf, the one desk that had no drawers, and even in the cushions of the couches and chairs. While there was plenty of paper in the books, I couldn’t find a single pen. Was that on purpose? Were they afraid I’d use it as a weapon? I didn’t know how to do that either. I bet Alex could both disable an alarm and kill with a pen. I hoped he found me and then didn’t throttle me for being reckless.

I went over to the door of Pitney's office, pressing my ear to it to listen to what he was arranging with my father. The only thing I heard him say was “Two hours."

A chill went down my spine, wondering what that meant. Maybe it was a meeting between him and my father. I hoped it wasn't the time of my demise. I sent out a silent prayer, hoping that my father would call Alex and others from Saint Security. My father was just the type of man who could be reckless, especially when it came to protecting me. I hoped he was smart and called Alex instead.

For the first half-hour, I wandered around the library, checking out the books and other items Pitney displayed there. I might've been impressed if I weren’t scared out of my wits.

For the next hour, I plopped myself in one of the plush chairs and just sat, contemplating my life. I thought about the decisions I'd made in the past and the goals I had for the future. I rethought my decision to keep Alex from knowing about the baby. So much of my decision to keep the baby a secret was out of fear. Perhaps I needed to be brave, be willing to hear his rejection so that I could go through life with no regrets, without any questions of what if.

Finally, bored, I got up and made my way around the room again, wondering if it would be weird to find a book to read while I waited. As I browsed his collection of Lord Byron poems, wondering how such a jerk would have romantic literature on his shelf, I overheard talking in the other room. Had my father come?

I ended my quest for a book and made my way toward the door, pressing my ear to it. Not my father, Alex. My heart soared. He was here to save me. I didn’t know how, but I knew he would.

I was about to open the door when George said, “I just want to know where your loyalties are.”

“They’re with whoever pays me. You and Henry might not get along, but to me, your money is the same color of green.”

I stopped short. Was that Alex?

“How much for you to deal with Banion?”

My heart raced. Was George hiring Alex to kill my father?

“What do you mean by deal?”