Secret Passions by Jill Sanders Page A

tomatoes.
     
    “Mitch, I think we only need a few tomatoes, not a dozen. Unless you have plans to make enough spaghetti to feed your entire building.” She chuckled. He shook his head and set a few back down.
     
    “Sorry, maybe you can focus on the items, so I can focus on the crowd.”
     
    She nodded, “Have you seen anything yet?”
     
    “No, but there are too many people here to really tell. Let’s go over here, they have great bread.” He pulled her to another booth.
     
    He came to the farmers market every week since he enjoyed the fresh food. He also enjoyed the people he’d come to know and trust over the last ten years of living close by.
     
    “Mitchell!” Rachelle, one of his favorite bakers, who ran the best bread booth in the market, came up and hugged him. At one point shortly before he’d met Suzanne they had tried to date, but the relationship had not sizzled and they had ended up good friends.
     
    “Rachelle, this is Sandi. She’s staying with me for a while.”
     
    He waited as the two women shook hands and sized each other up. He could tell instantly that they liked each other. They began talking about cakes and other items as he tried to scan the crowd. He still hadn’t spotted her father, but that didn’t mean he didn’t believe she’d seen him.
     
    “Mitch?” Sandi was pulling on his arm.
     
    “Hmm?”
     
    “I was just telling Rachelle that we would love to have dinner with her tonight.”
     
    “Hmm, yeah, sure.” He turned to lean against the table and that’s when he spotted the man. He was less than half a block away. “Stay with Rachelle.” He shouted over his shoulder at Sandi as he started running after the man. Instantly the man took off at a fast walk, dodging between people in the crowd, until Mitch reached the spot he’d last seen him. Spinning around, he realized the man had easily disappeared in the crowd. He knew he’d had a slim chance of catching him. Honestly, he didn’t know what he would have done if he’d caught him. Maybe shake some sense into him?
     
    At this point, he scanned the crowd again and came up empty. Heading back to Rachelle’s booth, he was shocked to see the table tipped over and Rachelle sitting on the ground with people hovering over her.
     
    “Are you okay?” When she nodded and started dusting herself off, he asked. “Where’s Sandi?”
     
    “There,” she pointed in the opposite direction. “He took her there. Be careful,” she yelled after Mitch as he took off running. “He had a knife.”
     
    He didn’t care if the man had a knife or a gun. He was determined to get Sandi back alive.
     

Chapter Ten

    “I ’ m not going anywhere with you!” Sandi tried to pull away again, only to get nicked in her ribs from the sharp blade her cousin held against her.
     
    “Don’t worry, we just need to make it back to the car.” Sandi saw him nod towards the black sedan he’d been in a few days ago. They were quickly approaching it, since he was dragging her with him at an alarming rate.
     
    “Why are you doing this?” she asked, trying to dig her heels in and slow them down. She knew Mitch would be right behind them, all she had to do was stall.
     
    “You know why.” He yanked her arm and had them moving quickly again.
    “Anish, we used to be friends. Why?”
     
    “ We’ve heard you’ve made quite the name for yourself. You probably have a load of money hidden in some bank somewhere. You need to repay your family for all the trouble you’ve caused us since you left. Did you honestly think we wouldn’t have to pay the Mahabir’s back? Everything! Including taxes. It broke us. I’m going to make sure I get everything you’ve ever taken away. Before your punishment.”
     
    She tried to swing around as he approached the car, but Anish grabbed a handful of her hair. She cried out as he pulled it hard, until lights exploded behind her eyes.
     
    Then he was being yanked from her so fast, she lost her footing