And then the phone rang.
The lighthearted feeling that had been floating through him slowly dwindled when Nikolas stood and then started talking on the phone, his smile sliding away as he moved to the other side of the room. When his eyes darted to him, Jon’s stomach began to knot with fear. He sat down heavily on the end of the bed, his hands clenching in his lap.
When Nikolas hung up the phone and moved toward him, Jon started shaking his head. He didn’t know what Nikolas was going to say but he didn’t want to hear it. Tears sprang to his eyes, threatening to slide down his face at the simplest sound from Nikolas.
“No.” Jon shook his head. “Please, don’t—”
“It’s going to be okay, Jon,” Nikolas said as he pulled Jon to him. “I’ll fix this.”
Jon breathed deeply through his nose, trying to get more air into his lungs because his breathing was iffy. “Tell me.” He didn’t want to know but he had to.
“Your mother and stepfather have been kidnapped. They are being held for ransom.” Nikolas grabbed Jon’s arms with a tight grip. “The kidnappers want ten million dollars. I’ve already told Louis to make arrangements with the bank. The money should be here in an hour.”
Jon went to thank Nikolas when what he said fully sank in. “No.”
Nikolas’s eyebrows shot up. “No?”
“I never told anyone I was here, Nikolas. Beyond telling my sister we had met and kissed, I never told anyone about you at all. How did they learn about me or my parents?”
“Could your sister have told anyone?”
Jon shrugged. “It’s always a possibility, but why would they go after you for money? I never told my sister we were involved beyond that kiss.” Something nauseating rolled over in his stomach. “This doesn’t make sense, Nikolas.”
“We’ll figure it out, Jon. I promise.”
“How?” His stepfather could take a long walk off a short pier for all Jon cared, but he loved his mother. He had seen less of her over the last couple of years, but that was only to keep from punching Carl whenever he saw the drunken bastard. “Are you even sure they have been kidnapped?”
“We received a ransom demand but—” Something ticked in Nikolas’s jaw. “I’ll have Louis send a unit over there to check on them.”
“And my sister, Nikolas.” Jon’s chest started to hurt again. “Gina is pregnant. We need to make sure she’s okay.”
“I’ll take care of it, Jon.”
“Now?”
Nikolas inhaled slowly before giving Jon a smile that wasn’t really a smile but more like an acknowledgement of his words. “Of course.” Nikolas pulled his cell phone out and dialed. “Louis, I want you to send a security unit to Carl and Margaret Payne’s residence and insure that the ransom demand is real. If it is, demand proof of life.”
Jon gasped.
“I also want a unit to sit on Angelina and Benjamin Thomas. If there is any hint that they might be in danger, I want them taken to the country house. They are to be treated as honored guests.” Nikolas nodded as if listening, then nodded again. “Very good. We’ll be waiting.”
“Well?” Jon asked the moment Nikolas hung up the phone.
“I admit that I was more concerned with arranging for the ransom to be delivered that I did not take into account that someone could be trying to swindle me out of my money. Louis was following my orders. Neither of us thought to look into the actual kidnapping. Without you…”
Jon laughed nervously as he brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Yeah, I’m good like that.”
“If this is indeed a kidnapping, Jon, I will pay the ransom. I will do whatever is needed to get your family back.”
“Thank you. I just pray it doesn’t come to that.” Jon still didn’t understand how this could be happening. “Did you tell anyone about me?”
“Only those closest to me and I trust them.”
“A lot of people have seen me coming and going from your office, Nikolas. It could have been anyone.”
“Correction. A lot of people have seen my new assistant coming and going from my office. No one beyond my mother, Louis, and those on your security detail know you are my rajaaka.”
Jon snorted. “Nikolas, you’re about as subtle as a tank. Everyone knows I am yours.”
Chapter Eleven
Nikolas was livid. His rajaaka was in pain, and he was helpless to do anything about it. The security unit sent to check on Jon’s parents’ house had reported back that it was empty, but there were no signs that anything nefarious had occurred. Nothing had been disturbed or was out of place. It seemed like they had simply gone somewhere without their car. The door had even been locked.
Jon’s sister and her husband had been easily located in their small apartment. At Nikolas’s insistence, Jon had called them and invited them to spend a few days at the country estate. There had been tears in his eyes as he laughed and talked to his sister on the phone and convinced her that she needed to get some romantic time in with Ben while she could. She wouldn’t get it once the baby arrived.
After watching Jon practically fall apart after hanging up the phone, Nikolas determined that providing a safe residence for Jon’s family members was the only thing he could do. He wouldn’t tell them about vampires, but they already knew he was rich. They would accept the story that he was buying them a home to please his lover. They wouldn’t understand him wanting to hide them away somewhere secure to keep them safe so his rajaaka would be happy.
“Come,” he said when he heard a knock at his office door. The door opened, and Louis walked in. The man had a scowl on his face, but he always did, so that was nothing new. “Well? Did you discover anything?”
“I had one of our tech people put a trace on the line when the kidnappers called to arrange for the drop-off of the money. The kidnappers used a burner phone, so we weren’t able to track it.”
“Damn.” Nikolas clenched his hand into a fist. He didn’t want to have to report to his rajaaka that they couldn’t find his parents.
“But I still think we have a lead.”
When Louis just stared at him, Nikolas growled. “Well? Tell me?”
“Where is your rajaaka?”
“Jon?” Nikolas frowned as something inside of him stilled. “Why?” he almost growled.
“I am unsure if you want him to hear this, sir.”
“I will not keep anything from him.”
“It concerns his stepfather.”
Nikolas had been afraid of that after having the man investigated when Jon first came into his life. Carl Payne was an abusive leech. He had spent a considerable amount of time in and out of prison for petty crimes, leaving Nikolas to wonder if he had graduated to the big time now.
“Tell me,” Nikolas ordered. He would decide how much he needed to tell Jon after he knew what he was working with. He didn’t want to keep anything from his rajaaka but maybe he needed to know what he was dealing with before he made that decision.
“Carl Payne and his wife are missing, presumed kidnapped. However, a week before they disappeared, Carl Payne was seen purchasing four burner phones from a local store. He also purchased several lengths of rope, two rolls of duct tape, a large plastic sheet, and a shovel.”
Shock siphoned the blood from Nikolas’s face. “Bloody hell, he’s going to kill her.”
Louis nodded. “That was my thought as well.”
“I want him found, Louis,” Nikolas snarled. “I don’t care what it takes. You find that fucker and you bring him to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nikolas waited until Louis had left and closed the door behind him before going to the elevator to head up to the penthouse. Jon had wanted to stay upstairs today, and Nikolas didn’t have the heart to argue with him. It took mere minutes to get upstairs.
“Rajaaka?” he called out to find his mate and also let Jon know he was in the penthouse.
“In here,” Jon called from the kitchen.
Nikolas was actually a little surprised at how well Jon could cook. He said his mother taught him the basics and he had learned the rest through desperation and pure dumb luck. Nikolas didn’t care one way or the other. He just liked the fact that something made his rajaaka happy. Nothing seemed to lately.
“Hey, what are you making?” Nikolas asked when he saw Jon mixing something together in a glass bowl. A muffin tin sat nearby, ready to go. Whatever it was, it smelled good.
“Carrot and zucchini gluten-free muffins with a honey and cream cheese frosting.”
“I’m sold.”
Jon smiled as he continued to whip the mixture in the bowl. “What did you need?”
“Um…Louis had some news.”
Jon stopped stirring. “Did you find my mother?”
Nikolas winced. “No, not exactly.”
Jon set the bowl down on the counter and turned to Nikolas. “Tell me.”
“Funny, that’s the same thing I said to Louis.”
“Nikolas!”
“I think Carl is behind this.”
Jon just stared.
“Jon, did you hear me?”
“Yes,” Jon replied. “I’m waiting for you to tell me something I don’t already know.”