Chapter Twenty-Nine

Once she’d made the last entry in her phony ledger, Laia had done her best to scuff up the front and back covers and bend some of the pages so that it wouldn’t look brand-new. Then she’d stretched out on the backseat of the minivan.

Sleep had been slow to come. The only reason she knew she’d slept at all was that she’d woken with a start when someone had rolled up the metal door to the loading bay. She’d scrambled into the driver’s seat, turned on the engine, then driven off and parked in the employee lot. There she’d waited for nearly three hours.

The lot began filling up with employee vehicles starting around eight a.m. Now the sun had fully risen, and she was literally counting the minutes before the bank opened for business. Once again, she put the battery back into her phone and powered it up. There were no new messages, not even from Kade.

Kade. Just thinking his name made her heart ache with a fierce desperation. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about him. Pressing her lips together, she powered off the phone, then removed the battery.

When the digital clock on the dashboard hit nine a.m., Laia turned the key, then drove from the lot and began making her way back to the bank. At each intersection, she held her breath, praying there’d be no vigilant police officer waiting and watching and who would pull her over. Mercifully, she made it to the bank without incident. Still keeping with her plan, she parked outside the convenience store next to the bank.

There were already several employees’ cars in the Regional Bank & Trust lot, including Li-Mei’s white Prius that the woman had owned for years. Parked by the curb directly in front of the bank was a blue van with the words Marlboro Locksmith printed on the side panel.

Laia shut off the engine. Seconds later, she was rolling the suitcase into the bank. Beside Li-Mei’s desk stood a short man holding a large toolbox.

“Your timing is perfect.” Li-Mei stood and smiled. “This is Cal Morton, our contract locksmith. We were waiting on you.”

“Good morning,” Laia said, giving both Li-Mei and Cal Morton a perfunctory smile. “And thank you for doing this on such short notice.”

“Not a problem,” Cal said.

“It’s $200 for the drilling service and lock replacement,” Li-Mei said.

“Of course.” Laia dug into her handbag for the checkbook she’d also retrieved from the duplex. She scribbled out a check and handed it to Li-Mei.

“Let’s go.” Li-Mei led the way to the vault and unlocked the outer gate first, then the heavy iron door. “It’s box two thirty-nine, one of the big ones on the bottom.” She pointed inside the vault, indicating the locksmith should get started. “You’ll have to sign in again,” she said to Laia, then pulled the Safe Deposit Box Admission card from the metal box and dated the next empty line with today’s date.

While Laia signed the card, she couldn’t help but notice that this was, to all outward appearances, the twenty-fourth time she’d signed into the box and that all the other signatures were a very close replica of her own. Josh had done an admirable job of forging her signature.

“There you go.” She handed the card back to Li-Mei.

Cal—the locksmith—slipped on a pair of gloves, then got to work. The screeching of his powerful drill on the metal door forced Laia and Li-Mei to cover their ears. Finally, he flipped open the door. “You’re all set, ladies.” He stood and began packing up his drill. “Be careful, though. The metal will be hot for a few more minutes. I’ll have to come back this afternoon to install the new door.”

“Thanks, Cal.” Li-Mei smiled as the locksmith grabbed his toolbox and left the vault.

“Thank you,” Laia muttered, eager to get the box inside the private room and see what was inside. If it wasn’t filled with cash, she couldn’t exactly rob the bank.

Li-Mei opened one of the private rooms outside the vault. Laia rolled her empty piece of luggage into the room, then accompanied Li-Mei to the box.

“Do you need any help with that?” she asked.

“Maybe.” Laia peered inside the open box compartment. At twelve inches wide, twelve inches tall, and another twenty-four inches deep, the green metal box staring back at her was one of the largest in the vault.

Careful not to touch the edges of the outer door, she tugged on the box’s metal handle and pulled. Eventually, the front of the box hit the floor with a resounding thud. Whatever was inside was heavy. Laia had no idea how much cash a box this size could hold.

If there even was cash in the box. For all she knew, it could be full of books. Or bricks. Or…anything.

She looked up at Li-Mei. “I’ve got it.” After pulling the box out the rest of the way, she hefted it into her arms, then carried it into the small private room and set it on the desk. “Thanks, Li-Mei.” She followed the other woman from the room and retrieved her suitcase.

“You’re welcome. I’ll be at my desk. Just swing by before you leave so I know you’re done.”

Laia nodded, then closed the door behind her. The moment of truth had arrived, and she was scared to death. What if what she hoped was in the box actually wasn’t? Only one way to find out.

A quick glance at the cheap clock on the wall told her she didn’t have time to waste worrying. It was already nine thirty, and the kidnappers said they would call half an hour from now.

Her palms were sweating as she undid the catch on the side of the box and flipped open the lid. Her jaw dropped. Inside the box was cash. Lots of it. Bundles held together by hundred-dollar denomination money wrappers.

Though she’d worked in a bank for most of her adult life, she’d never actually seen so much money in one place before. She picked up several bundles. Each stack was comprised of hundred-dollar bills. Judging by the weight of the box, and if she assumed that all the other bills were hundred-dollar ones, there had to be at least $2 million dollars here.

$2 million in filthy drug money that Josh skimmed from Fernando Colon.

Josh had intended this money for her and Rosa, but she could no sooner have kept it than she could have robbed the bank at gunpoint. She was certain that when Josh had begun stashing these bills in the box, he’d had no idea that it would turn out to be ransom money to get his own daughter back from the very same sonofabitch for whom he’d laundered money.

She picked up the luggage and set it on the desk beside the box. After unzipping it, she began transferring the money from the box to the suitcase, being careful to stack the bundles neatly so it would all fit. Ten minutes later, the job was done.

She slid the suitcase to the floor and pulled out the articulating handle. Just being near this money made her feel like a criminal.

Get over it and get the heck out of here.

With the suitcase behind her, she opened the door, searching what she could see of the inside of the bank before heading out. Only a few customers had come in and were waiting in line for a teller. Mustering a smile, she walked briskly, waving as she passed Li-Mei’s desk. “I’m all set. I emptied out the box, and I won’t be needing it anymore. Thanks again.”

“Oh, that was fast.” The other woman stood. “Would you like to grab lunch sometime?”

“Uh, sure.” Laia threw back over her shoulder, appreciating the gesture but knowing she’d never have lunch with Li-Mei or anyone else who worked at this bank. Too many memories. “I’ll call you.”

Then she was out the door. Searching the parking lot, she maintained a wary eye for police cars and SUVs like the ones Kade and Jamie drove but saw none. Some inner sense warned her to walk faster.

The suitcase wheels clicked on the asphalt, then thumped when she dragged it over the cement barrier between the bank and the convenience store lots. A man and a woman came out of the store and looked at Laia. Her heart rate picked up, but the couple proceeded to their car, ignoring her.

Great. Now she was losing her marbles, paranoid to the point where it felt as if everyone knew what she’d done.

Stolen $2 million dollars of drug money from a bank box that the federal government was, right at this very moment, getting a search warrant for.

She could already feel the cold metal handcuffs snapping onto her wrists just before being shoved into the backseat of a police car. She clicked the key fob and slid open the rear door of the minivan. With a grunt, she lifted the suitcase onto the seat and closed the door. She flung open the driver side door and got in, slamming the door shut.

I did it.

With the phony ledger she’d created and the cash she’d stolen, she was as ready as she could possibly be.

The digital dashboard clock read 9:55 a.m. She dug into her bag and reinserted the battery before powering up the phone. Pissing off the kidnappers by missing their call wouldn’t help any. The only missed calls were from Kade, but he’d left no more messages.

As she started the minivan and turned back onto the road, her phone rang. Her already pounding heart did so even faster. She grabbed the phone, barely avoiding hitting the car in the next lane as she inadvertently swerved.

She pulled onto the shoulder and braked to a stop. “Hello?”

“Do you have them?” the same computer-generated voice asked.

“Yes, I-I have the ledger and the cash.”

“Good. Drive to the address I’m about to give you. Remember, no police, or she dies. No FBI, or she dies.”

Laia gritted her teeth. “I want to talk to my daughter first. Put her on the phone.”

A moment later, she heard, “Mommy? I want to come home.”

Laia hissed in a breath. At least Rosa was still alive. “Are you okay, baby? Mommy is coming to get you real soon. I love—”

“Copy down these directions.”

Her hand shook as she scribbled the directions on a piece of paper.

“You’ve got two hours. Don’t be late.”

When the call disconnected, Laia squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then opened them, blowing out short breaths to clear her mind before heading back onto the road.

If all went well, by tonight, Rosa would be watching a movie or reading Cinderella and eating pineapple pizza at Alvita’s. Laia, on the other hand, would probably be in jail. As long as her baby was safe, she could live with that.

If things didn’t go well, they would both be dead.

Because there was no way that she was returning home without her daughter.