Page 15 of Billion-Dollar Ransom

“I have no plans,” Two said. “I’m just a guy waiting for a phone call.”

“You’re more than that,” Boo said. “You’re also a guy who knocks women unconscious and handcuffs them to chairs. What kind of pervert are you?”

“I’m not going to touch you. Not unless you cause me trouble.”

“And what happens when you get that call you’re waiting for?”

“Then I do what they tell me.”

“What do you think they’ll tell you to do?”

Two shrugged.

Boo sighed, more in boredom than frustration, Two thought.Aw, too bad, rich girl.The fewer details he shared, the better. The best policy was to simply parrot back what she already knew. Right now, Mrs. Schraeder here was desperate to gain some kind of edge or insight into her predicament. Her type of brat assumed there wasalwaysan answer to life’s problems. Two knew better. Sometimes life handed you a raw deal, and you had no choice but to accept it. She’d learn that soon enough.

“Did you pick this location or did your boss?” she asked.

“Does that matter?”

“I’m trying to get a sense of how much you or your boss have thought this through. Do you even know who I am? I meanreally,beyond my résumé, which you can probably find on LinkedIn.”

“You are Boo Schraeder, the fifth wife of billionaire Randolph Schraeder.”

“Ah, can’t help but notice the emphasis on the wordbillionaire. So this isn’t political. This is only about money.”

Two shrugged.

“Well, you or your boss made a slight miscalculation there. Do you know anything about fifth wives, my tall friend?”

“I’ve never been married,” Two said, then immediately regretted saying it. Granted, it was nothing major. A little over two billion people on this planet were single. But she had gotten him to give away something personal. The first crack in the wall.

“I’ll bet no woman was ever able to get inside your skull,” she replied. “That drives us nuts. It’s driving me nuts, and I’ve known you for only a few hours. And I spent most of that time unconscious.”

Two couldn’t help it—he laughed.

“Thereyou are,” Boo said. “I was beginning to think I’d been abducted by a cyborg. So here’s the thing with fifth wives: Every fifth wife knows she’s ultimately going to be replaced by a sixth wife. It’s practically a law of nature.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“You also probably didn’t know that Mr. Schraeder is divorcing me. Hell, it’s impossible for you to have known that. I just found out myself.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that.”

“I’ll bet you are. But thank you. And honestly, it breaks my heart a little, even if I did know that wife number six was somewhere on the horizon. I know what everyone thought. Close friends, total strangers, the press—”

“What did they think?”

“That I married Randy for the money.”

Two stared at her, trying to figure out where she was going with this. He noted the use of the cute nickname “Randy.” Did anyone really address that old tycoon by anything other than “Randolph”? Or, more likely, “Mr. Schraeder, sir”? Even in the bedroom?

“Didn’t you?” he asked.

Boo smiled and shook her head. “No. I married Randy for thepossibilities. He is one of the last freethinkers in this country and being in his orbit is intoxicating. The more time you spend with him, the more you start to think the world has no limits.”

“Except when it comes to marriage.”

“Except for that, yes,” Boo said quietly. “He has a restless heart to go along with that big restless mind.”