Faith and Lies (Vera Reid, Reid Family Book #2)

Part 24

Tom watched his phone ring again and he groaned. They'd left him alone for the last day and although he knew that he had to speak to them, he still didn't like it. 

The only good thing he could think of was that this would be the last time. The money was in the bank, Vera had come through and all he had to do was hand it over. How did you hand over a large sum of that sort without the government questioning or taxing anything? Tom certainly had no clue, maybe the same way that Vera had done it, by pretending to purchase something. He wondered how Harold had taken the money from them to begin with and he was sure that Samuel and his men would have some way prepared. 

"Hello." Tom said, holding the phone up to his face. 

"Tom, good to hear your voice. I was beginning to think something might have happened to you." Samuel said across the line. 

"I was busy getting the money together. I have it, every last cent and it's yours whenever you want it." Tom replied, wanted to get it all done with as soon as possible. 

"That's wonderful. We're so happy to hear that..." Samuel said, "there's just one problem."

"What?" Tom asked, gritting his teeth. He suspected they might ask for more money but he would insist that they accept what he had. 

"We'll require a little something more for all over grievances." Samuel said. 

"I only have the original amount." Tom said, "I don't have anything more. Not a dollar, not a god damned cent."

"I know." Samuel said, "But you see, our efforts cost money. Do you think it's easy for us to just take time off and have to chase you around? Don't you think that we have other things we need to be working on?"

"What do you want, Samuel? You know I don't have anything else." Tom replied. 

"No, you don't have anything else..." Samuel said, "But you do have someone."

Tom felt his arm go numb. His mouth went dry, the room began to spin. 

"What?" He asked dumbly, feeling like he must have misunderstood. 

"She's waiting for you." Samuel said. They had her, they had Vera.  How was that possible? How in the world could they have grabbed her with Luke's men following the family around the way they did?

"Listen to me you spineless son of a bitch, if you do anything...if you hurt her..." Tom began to say but Samuel laughed. What a horrible sound it was. 

"What will you do, Tom? Tell me, what the fuck will you do? Will you go running to Luke Farina?" Samuel asked. "What? Did you think we wouldn't figure it out? Wrong. Meet us in an hour. You know where. Don't bother trying to call anyone, no one is around. It's just us."

"Fine." Tom said as the line cut off.  He walked over to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water and then drinking it in one long swig. His mouth was dry. The water hadn't really helped and now... his hands were shaking. 

Everything he'd been afraid of, everything that he was scared would happen was now happening. He wasn't sure how but he had to get Vera out of this mess. The problem was that he was almost certain he wasn't going to walk out of it. He glanced at his phone. After Christmas, he had reached out to Luke who confirmed that he was aware of the situation and was keeping an eye on it. That was the last her heard from him and he hadn't heard anything at all from Marco lately. 

He could pick up the phone, he could tell Luke what was going on and ask for his help. Still, he tucked the phone away. Samuel knew he'd spoken to Luke, how he knew it was beyond him, but that didn't change the truth. Involving Luke had already complicated the situation and he couldn't risk it any further. Besides, he knew Samuel was capable of anything. He didn't know how he'd done it but it must have been something big to distract everyone long enough for Vera to be taken.