MAVERICK
I washed my face and took a breath. I was still waiting for the address to be sent, and I had no idea where to get that amount. When the caller said to bring that kind of amount, he must have known my relationship with Lake, and he knew I could make it possible.
I stared at the two cards in my hand. There was cash in the debit card, but it wasn’t enough. Then I remembered what he told me this morning. My hopes rose beyond the stratosphere.
I was about to cry again at the thought of what I was about to do, and I couldn’t tell him the reason why I did what I did. My heart was bleeding, thinking of betraying Lake and stealing his money. I was like telling his father, yeah, I was after his son’s money. But I would deal with Lake later once I saved my grandmother.
I went inside the room with dread and terror rocking my body. I was so scared. My hands were shaky and cold as iced. I’d never stole from anyone, let alone from the people I cared about.
I opened the closet door and pressed the shield behind his clothes. His safe appeared. I wiped my tears before I entered the codes, and the safe unlocked. I was torn between relief and terrified as I grabbed the stacks of money out of the safe.
I put them all in bed and kept staring at them as my mind went blank. I counted the bundles. There were more than three hundred thousand in there. Why did he tell me it was two hundred fifty? Was he planning on using the cash? Was he testing me?
I grabbed his duffel from his closet and stuck the bundle in the bottom. Then I put the remaining cash into the safe, locked it, and arranged his shirts just as they were before. Then I grabbed a shirt and pants so no one could see I had huge cash in the bag.
I zipped it, tied my hair above my head, and grabbed the key and phone. God, I hoped Homer was downstairs and would not see me.
I just received a message, and my stomach dropped as I read the address twice. I couldn’t see the background in the video earlier. Now it confirmed that they, whoever they were, held my grandmother hostage.
I quickly went downstairs. I hadn’t reached the door. Someone had already opened it from the outside, rooting my feet in place.
“You’re going out?” Homer asked coolly, but his gaze dropped to the duffel in my hand.
“Yeah. I got bored. I thought I was going to stay with Nana for tonight.” I swallowed the lump down my throat.
“Are you okay?” He looked at my face, and he must have seen my eyes, that I was crying.
“Yeah.” I nodded like a bubblehead.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
“All right. Let’s go.” He offered to carry my bag.
I held the bag tightly, hoping he would not insist. “No. Stay.”
“I’m sorry, but I got a specific order that I’m going whenever you are going.”
“Don’t push it. Homer, please? I need to be alone. I’ll be at Nana. You can follow me after an hour and twenty minutes.” I hoped he received my message as I silently asked him to let me go.
His brows pinched for a moment before he nodded. “Very well. Take care, Mrs. Winston. I’ll see you in an hour.”
When he stepped back, I sighed in relief. I reached my car, shaking, but I got off the road without getting into an accident.
I dialed the number, and it answered from the other line. “I have the money.”
“Good. Leave the money in the house and keep it open.”
“Where’s my grandmother? I need to talk to her. I need proof that she’s okay.”
“Fine. Talk, old woman.”
“Ricky, let me die. Don’t give him what he wants,” Nana said quickly. Him. Was he alone?
“Nana, are you okay?”
“That’s enough. Once I get the money, I will tell you where you can find her.”
“That’s not part of the deal. I give you the money, and you give me my grandmother. We will exchange, or the deal is off.”
“I don’t think you realize who has your grandmother, bitch. Her life depends on how you can follow my order, or I will kill her.”
I wiped my tears. “Fine. Just don’t harm her. If you do, I will do everything I can to find you-” The line was cut. He hung up on me. “Son of a bitch!”
When the traffic lights went red, I cried harder alone. These people seemed to know me better. My mind went to the man pretending to be smoking in the alley, but if he wasn’t Linden’s man, then who was he? Were these people involved with the mafia?
I was so confused and terrified at the same time. I sped up towards my grandmother’s house when the lights turned green.
Forty minutes later, I parked in front of the house. I knocked, and the door slightly opened.
The man in the ski mask gestured for me to drop the bag. He wasn’t that tall, and his eyes were brown.
“Where’s my grandmother?”
“You will get your direction.” His voice was deep, but I definitely had not met him before. So they were not working alone. How many were there?
“How will you know you won’t double-cross me?” I pushed the door wide and got in.
“Stay right there.”
I sucked in a breath when another man behind me pointed something into my head. It was probably a gun.
I dropped the bag, raised my hands, and nodded. “Okay. Take it easy, but now you have the money. Where’s my grandmother?”
“Let me call the boss.” The first man dialed his phone and ordered the man behind me. “Check the cash.”
I was right, after all. There was another guy in play.
The second guy grabbed the duffel from the floor, zipped it open, and glared his dark eyes at me when he saw my shirt and pants. He threw them to the couch and began counting the cash in bundles.
“He’s really loaded if you manage to pull this cash in less than two hours. Boss should have asked for one million. Three hundred is nothing for that fucker.” He checked the bills to make sure they weren’t fake. Then he nodded to the first guy. “It’s three hundred grand.” He was even chuckling, happy they would be three hundred grand richer.
“Now you get what you want. Where’s my grandmother?”
My phone buzzed.
“Check the message. That’s the address where you can find your grandmother, but if the cops catch us, you won’t see her alive.” He came to me and grabbed my hand, pulled out my engagement, and put it in his pocket. “You don’t need this.”
“I won’t call the cops. I want my grandmother alive.” I checked the message I just received.
I quickly left the house and drove to the address. It was a thirty-minute drive. With my heart pumping hard in my chest and my stomach in knots, several scenarios popped up in my head now that Nana’s life depended on those assholes. If they got caught, my grandmother would be dead.
The drive to the address took longer than I expected. I was caught in traffic for a couple of minutes. It was an abandoned apartment building. My grandmother was kept on the third floor, apartment three.
The smell was horrible, like someone had just pooped and peed on the stairs. I almost gagged as I reached the third floor, panting, but I quickly went to apartment number three and knocked.
“Who’s there?” said a man in a baritone voice.
“It’s Maverick.”
The door creaked wide, but someone was clearly standing behind it, but I couldn’t be careless. I instantly saw grandmother sitting on the worn-out, dirty couch with duct tape on her mouth. I ran towards her and hugged her tight.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Nana.” I cried a river as I pulled the tape from her mouth.
“Now that we got the money, we don’t need you anymore.” I quickly turned to the voice behind me. I recognized him. The man I thought was from the alley was standing there with a gun pointing at me.
My eyes flared wide, thinking that I would die today. My chin trembled as I shielded Nana from him. “Please don’t do this. I can give you more money. I swear. My husband is a billionaire.”
One moment, he was pointing a gun at me; the next second, he just dropped to the floor, and I yelped in shock, hugging Nana so tight, my body shaking.
Then someone just came and tapped my shoulder, making me jump and jerking off from whoever was behind me.
“Please, don’t hurt us! Please?” I cried and sobbed, hugged Nana tight, and wouldn’t let her go.
“Maverick, it’s me.” I felt a big hand gripping my shoulder that froze me momentarily, and I knew that voice.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Swiftly turning around, all I could do was stare at Terzo in horror with a gun with a silencer.