“Are you sure? I can go with you.”
“No, really. You have a plane to catch back to corporate. I’ll call you if I need anything.”
By his hesitation, I could tell he knew something wasn’t quite right with the way I was acting, but he wasn’t going to question it around the detective.
“Okay. Call me if you need anything or hear anything.” he said, slipping into his car and driving away.
Shit, I didn’t have my car here since he dropped me off. I texted my driver to come and pick me up. It was seven thirty already, and I needed to be there early to get the money. It would probably take some time to get that kind of money out of the vault and of course approved by management.
“My car’s here. Please call me if you hear or find out anything,” I yelled to the detective watching me as I slid into the car and slammed the door behind me.
“Take me to my bank,” I said, then closed the window between the front seat and back.
I wouldn’t miss two million dollars. Hell, I’d pay all of my money to get her back safely. The money wasn’t the problem.
“We are here, sir. Shall I park or wait for you right here?”
“Go ahead and park. This could take a while,” I said as I closed the door and walked inside.
“I need to speak to your manager, please.”
“Sure. I’ll go get him. One sec,” the lady replied, walking in the back to grab her manager.
I saw a man, probably mid-fifties, approaching me. “How can I help you, sir?”
I ran my hand through my hair. “I need to withdraw a large sum of money out of my account. I need it within the hour.”
He smiled. “No problem. How much do you need, sir?”
“Two million,” I leaned in and whispered to him.
His eyes got big, and he shook his head. “Sir, I don’t think we can get that kind of money ready within the hour. Could you come back for it tomorrow?”
My frustration was about to erupt. “Absolutely not. I need it within the hour. Call your boss’ boss if you have to. It’s very important I have it. This cannot wait.”
“I’ll have to make some calls to get that kind of money approved for withdrawal in such short notice. Please write down your account number on this paper and give me youridentification card,” he said, reaching his hand out to give me the pen and paper and to also grab my ID. “Thank you. Have a seat.”
If this man couldn’t get the money together in time, what the hell was I going to do? I didn’t have a number to call back since it showed up as restricted. Smart fucker didn’t want me to have his number. My heart kept sinking in my chest with every passing minute. I couldn’t sit down; pacing was all I could do at this point. The security guard kept watching me pace back and forth like I was a crazy person rocking in the corner.
“Sir, is everything okay?”
“Yes, I’m just waiting on my money. Sorry, it’s been a stressful day.” I tried to play it off and act like everything was okay, but inside I was panicking.What the fuck was taking so long?I walked up to the counter again. “Can you please check and see if he has made any progress on my request?”
I was getting impatient.Just give me my fucking money already. There was plenty in my account, probably one hundred times that amount. They could see I was good for it. I should be able to withdraw any amount at any time. It was my damn money after all.
The manager came back over, avoiding eye contact. “Sir, we were able to get your withdrawal. We will need to escort you out of the building due to the amount.” He shook his head at the officer, and he followed me outside with a bag of money.
I slid into the car and told my driver to head to the address. It was almost time for the drop, and I didn’t want anything to go wrong. Ella would take the hit if it did. He managed to get me there with ten minutes to spare. I spotted the bench with a yellowXmarked. I sat on the bench, opened a newspaper, and slid the bag under the bench. I was more worried that someone else would snatch it before the kidnapper got it. I didn’t understand why he would just want me to leave a bag with two million dollars under a bench for anyone to steal.
I took a deep breath, realizing I had to do it, even if it was risky. I walked back to the car and had my driver park around the block. Maybe I would be able to see who the kidnapper was. Once we got parked, the bag was already gone. Did he take it? I started scrambling, worried that someone else had taken it. What would I do then?
A phone call came in. “Hello?”
“I’ve got it. You can pick Ella up at the Rundown cafe around the corner.”
I dropped the phone, got out of the car, and sprinted over to a cafe that had been closed for a couple of years, screaming her name. Where was she?
“Alexander?” Ella whispered, coming around the corner. Her hair was matted and stuck to her face.