Just that Giblin had the advantage here; he had Nat and the unborn baby as hostages.
Knowing Giblin’s penchant for violence, the best way to keep his baby safe was to play along. “Okay.”
Giblin shoved him backward; Nat hit the wall with a painful jolt. “Tidy up this place. I want a decent room to sleep in by tonight.”
Nat hurriedly nodded. At least that was all Giblin wanted. He didn’t know how long he could preserve his safety, but... he was going to try.
It was the only thing he could do.
27
RESCUE
Duke glancedat his phone again. Nat was taking a long time to reply.
Sure, Nat had said he was going down to Shipping for an errand. But he usually returned to their floor a lot sooner than this.
Even if he had gotten sidetracked, Nat would have messaged Duke to keep him updated.
Duke’s phone stayed horribly silent. He sent a text.
Duke
Nat?
Just wanted to say that this meeting is really boring without you to brighten things up.
He waited another ten minutes, barely hearing what his employees had to say. His unease ballooned into a Bad Feeling.
And it would solve nothing if he continued to sit in a meeting he didn’t care about.
“Enough,” Duke said, standing up.
Everyone else froze, staring at him in bewilderment.
“Table this for another time. I have to attend to something urgent.”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Duke grabbed his phone and strode out of the meeting room, taking the stairwell instead of the elevator to save time.
When he burst out of the stairwell, he found a set of elevator doors closing.
Nat was nowhere to be found. Duke stalked closer, checking Wanda’s playpen.
Wanda was missing, too.
Come to think of it,whohad been in that elevator? Because it sure as Hell wasn’t Nat.
In a heartbeat, Duke had his phone to his ear, dialing the receptionist. Xannon answered quickly. “Mr. B, sir?”
“Put the entire building on lockdown.”
“Yessir, I’m on it.”
Moments later, the lights around the windows and elevators flashed red, before returning to normal.
No one was getting out of the building. But whoever had taken Wanda, they still had her.
Wanda was so very vulnerable right now.
