Chapter 28
This was a classic case of getting too big for their britches. The kidnappers were kicking themselves, realizing how dumb they’d been.
Their kidnapping had gone off without a hitch- they’d grabbed Tiffany easily, thinking she was just some helpless girl. They never thought for a second she could get away from a bunch of big guys like them.
But reality proved they were wrong. Not only could she escape, she could fight like a pro. From the start, Tiffany had just been putting on an act.
The kidnappers tried to fight back, some even tried to run, but Tiffany would knock them around a bit, and pretty soon Zoe had them all tied up good and tight
Zoe looked around, feeling pretty good about how things turned out. She asked Tiffany where the missing kidnapper was, clearly seeing Tiffany as someone she could count on.
Tiffany sat down and broke the news that the other guy wasn’t coming back. This made Zoe feel better, but it totally crushed the three tied-up kidnappers.
They finally got what was going on – Tiffany had been picky about the food on purpose, just to get one of them to leave. They’d been hoping their buddy would come back and save them, but now they knew it was all over. Talk about a lost cause!
“Tiffany, are we leaving now or what?” Zoe asked, not sure of their plan.
“No need to hurry. Someone will be coming to get us,” Tiffany replied calmly.
“Okay, then I’ll go grab a bite,” Zoe said, heading straight for the snacks.
She was so hungry that manners were the last thing on her mind. The factory was a ghost town, but it still had some basic stuff around.
Tiffany sat in the chair, looking over at the captive guys. Out of nowhere, she smiled in a way that gave them the creeps. “Do you know where your friend went?”
“Don’t tell me… you…” They couldn’t finish the sentence, but they all got the same awful idea of what happened.
It was pretty clear what Tiffany meant earlier when she said their buddy wasn’t coming back. There was really only one way to take that he was gone for good.
Tiffany raised an eyebrow. “Okay, let’s be straight here. What did Stan promise you guys! And don’t even try to lie, or you’ll end up just like your friend.”
The kidnappers were so taken aback that she just came right out and named the mastermind. She sounded so sure like she knew everything that was going on.
They looked at each other, scared for their lives. They finally answered quietly, “He gave us 10,000-dollars up front, and said we’d get another 20,000 if we pulled it off.”
Only 30,000 to take my life? What an absurd idea! Tiffany thought, determined to make Stan pay for it.
She then spoke indifferently, “Since you took the money, it’ll be even easier to throw the book at you. Do you guys know how long you could be locked up for kidnapping and trying to extort someone?”
“Miss Kelley, please go easy on us!” they pleaded. “We just were thinking straight for a minute. We promise we’ll never do anything like this again, we swear!”
“Weren’t thinking straight for a minute? What a convenient excuse, Tiffany sneered inwardly.
They’d gotten greedy and kidnapped someone for money, doing some pretty awful stuff, and now they thought they could just write it off. As if it was that simple to make this all go away.
Tiffany smirked. “If broken promises were dollars, you’d be billionaires by now,” she mocked.
“But listen,” she changed gears. I’ll give you push those kidnapping charges.”
a shot at making things right. Just do exactly what I say from now on, and I won’t
“Of course, Miss Kelley. Whatever you want, we’ll do it!” The kidnappers nodded eagerly, totally missing how Tiffany had just gotten them to dance to her tune with just a few words.
Zoe tossed a bag of chips to Tiffany with a smile. “Here, Tiffany, try these. This flavor should be pretty good.”
“Thanks, Tiffany said, taking the bag. Then she suddenly asked. Hey Zoe, are you any good at doing makeup?”
Zoe blinked in surprise. “Huh? Yeah, I can do makeup.”
“Great. Finish eating and then let’s get started,” Tiffany said mysteriously.
The clock struck 8 PM. Tiffany had been in the kidnappers’ clutches for over four hours now.
As soon as Charlie got the call from the kidnappers, he canceled all his work and rushed to the bank, frantically trying to withdraw ten million dollars in cash.
But this was a huge amount of money. Just counting all that cash would take a while, and the bank didn’t even have that much on hand right now.
Charlie was really worried about his daughter, but he was afraid to make any noise about it because the kidnappers had threatened to kill her if he did. So he kept the whole thing quiet, not even telling Thalia and Eric what was going on.
Seeing Charlie pacing back and forth worriedly, Owen tried to calm him down. Try not to stress too much. If they’re after money, they won’t dare hurt Tiffany. What we need to focus on now is getting the cash together as fast as we can.”
“Do you think someone’s trying to get at me by going after Tiffany?” Charlie asked.
It made sense to him, considering how this happened right when the bidding project was having problems. Maybe someone was trying to scare him.
Owen almost said out loud that the real troublemaker was actually Stan, the one Charlie was protecting. Otherwise, why would Tiffany put herself in danger like that? But before he could say anything, his phone started ringing
Owen looked at who was calling and quietly stepped out of Charlie’s office. “Hey Tiffany, are you okay? Is everything going alright? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
“I’m fine, Uncle Owen, Tiffany answered, sounding pretty relaxed.
Owen was the only one who knew what was really going on with Tiffany’s kidnapping.
When they first came up with this plan, he was totally against it, worried about her safety. In the end, he reluctantly agreed but only after he put a tracker on her phone to keep her safe.
As for that kidnapper who went out to buy food and never came back? Owen had actually arranged for someone to get him under control.
Tiffany gave Owen the green light, whispering. “Uncle Owen, it’s go time.”
“Alright, but watch your step!” Owen cautioned.
The call didn’t end there. Owen took a breather to get his game face on, then barged into Charlie’s office, looking excited. “Charlie, you’ll never guess who just rang me up. It’s Tiffany!” he hollered.