Outsmart Albert

ALBERT DROVE THROUGH the empty streets, glancing in the rearview mirror every few minutes. Vince and Vera were unconscious in the backseat with their small bodies slumped against each other.

His hands tightened on the steering wheel as he thought about what he was doing. He knew this was risky, but he had a plan.

“They’ll never see this coming,” Albert muttered to himself.

He was using the children as leverage to force Ezekiel into giving him a lot of money. Something big enough to get him what he wanted. But there was more to it than that. Albert needed Alex to trust him again. He had made mistakes before, and she had been angry.

But this... this would make up for everything.

As he drove, his mind wandered to Alex.

Albert knew—deep down—that sometimes she was just using him. He could see it in the way she talked to him, the way she treated him like he was just a tool for her plans. But even after knowing that, Albert couldn’t help but follow her. That was how much he loved her. S