Chapter 3 - The Ransom
Harper answered the ringing phone with trembling fingers.
A raspy, unfamiliar voice on the other end warned her not to hang up.
The man stated casually that he was currently standing inside her mother's hospital room.
He told Harper to walk out of the restaurant's back door alone, or he would personally pull her mother's oxygen tube.
Harper dropped the phone onto the floor, her heart hammering violently against her ribs.
Vincent stepped forward and demanded to know who was on the line.
Harper lied to him for the very first time.
She forced a weak smile and told him it was just Simon calling the police from the back office.
She backed away from Vincent slowly, turned around, and bolted through the kitchen toward the rear exit.
She burst out into the cold alleyway, the freezing rain instantly soaking her uniform.
The dark alley was completely empty except for the overflowing dumpsters.
Suddenly, a black sedan pulled up to the curb without turning on its headlights.
The rear passenger door swung open with a heavy creak.
The raspy voice from the phone echoed from the darkness inside, telling her to get in if she loved her mother.
Harper stepped into the ominous vehicle without looking back at the restaurant.
The door slammed shut instantly, plunging her into pitch blackness.
A heavy hand grabbed a fistful of her hair and violently slammed her face against the leather seat.
The man whispered directly into her ear that Vincent Rossi was going to pay a fortune to get her back.
Harper finally realized the terrifying scale of the mafia war she was trapped inside.
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The car sped away into the night, but Harper suddenly felt something freezing cold press tightly against the back of her neck.
It was the barrel of a suppressed pistol.
