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Maybe they could find a way to exploit that.

Lefty turned to leave.

“You could let one of us go,” Mac went on before the door closed. “As a sign of good faith. Let Fiona go. She can carry your demands to the outside world.”

Lefty hesitated.

“Send Gray with her. No one likes it when a kid has been abducted. That leaves me with you. My sister is the literal queen. She’d do anything to get me back, give you whatever you want.”

That couldn’t be true, but maybe it would help.

“No. All of you will stay here.” The door slammed shut.

Mac’s shoulders slumped before he picked up the tray and turned around with a smile on his face.

A forced smile, likely only for Gray’s benefit.

“Are you hungry, bud?” Mac set the tray in front of Gray. “I don’t think I could eat right now, so why don’t you two eat.”

“I don’t want anything right now,” Fiona chimed in. Let Gray eat as much as he wanted, then she might. She suspected Mac planned the same thing - only he’d wait until after she also ate.

Gray picked up one of the muffins and sniffed at it. “What is this, Mama?”

“A muffin.” She didn’t elaborate further. He’d never liked blueberries, but maybe if he didn’t realize that’s what they were, he’d eat it. “You like muffins.”

The dubious look didn’t leave his face as he pulled a little bit off. He ate it then took a bigger piece.

She breathed a sigh of relief and gave Mac a look she hoped he could interpret - one that tried to tell him not to spill the beans on the kind of muffin.

And why did they have muffins? That seemed like an odd meal for abductors to give them, but she suspected they didn’t have access to a well-stocked kitchen or delivery from a market.

Gray ate the whole muffin and drank some of the water. She didn’t encourage him to drink more, not when they didn’t know what facilities they’d have access to.

As he started a second muffin, Fiona stood to stretch her legs.

“Any thoughts?” she asked Mac softly enough Gray couldn’t hear.

He shook his head. “He seemed to be thinking about letting you go, but as soon as I went on, his face changed. It seems like they want Gray for some reason.

Even though Fiona had already come to the same conclusion, a stabbing pain cut through her to hear Mac say it.

Mac wrapped his arm around her shoulder as tears threatened to fall. “Don’t worry, Fi. I won’t let anything happen to either one of you.” She could hear the conviction in his voice.

She nodded against him. “I know you’ll do everything in your power to keep us safe.”

He kissed the side of her head.

Fiona voiced her second biggest concern. “But who’s going to keep you safe?”

* * *

Several more hourswent by with no word from their captors. Mac could feel himself growing more tense and restless with every minute that ticked by.

Gray ate two of the blueberry muffins.

He didn’t understand the whys behind the look Fiona had given him, but he knew enough not to say anything she hadn’t already said. Maybe Gray didn’t like blueberries?

What an odd, trivial thing to be fixated on when he’d been stuck in a small windowless room for what had to be close to a full day.