No sooner had he pressed the doorbell than a housemaid opened the front door. In her early fifties, she wore a standard domestic's uniform of gray polyester dress and white apron, along with sensible shoes. Her hair, a mix of gray and white was bound discreetly at her nape, and her face was schooled into the standard servant's expression.

Her arms, John couldn't help but notice were the size of sanitation trucks, and he realized that JR had hired his domestics for more than their household skills. Those souls seemed perfectly capable of unmanning a guy with one swift maneuver.

"Senor." The woman said with a slight nod to John. She the repeated the action to Mike. "Senor, Ross is expecting you, no?"

"Oh yes ma'am." He replied with the same carefully construction courtesy the housemaid had used herself. "He's expecting us."

"This way, por favor."

Never one to disregard an order from someone who could unman him with one swift maneuver, John readily obeyed. Mike did the same. The moment they entered the house, the maid closed the door and discreetly bolted it three times then turned to make her way silently across the cavernous foyer and into the bowels of the estate. As he followed her through the massive house and up a flight of stairs, John formed a quick impression of terra cotta tiles, earth toned walls, Mediterranean furnishings, expensive, abstract art, and soft Spanish guitar music that seemed to accompany them from room to room.

So intent on the house that John nearly barreled over the housemaid when she came to a halt in front of another set of doors where he concluded must be Jim Ross's office. The maid rapped lightly on the door three times, paused, the rapped twice more. An answering trio of raps came from the other side then the woman tapped two more times.

Somehow John refrained from rolling his eyes. A code? He wondered. With all the other security measures in the place, Jim Ross actually insisted on a secret knock at his office door?

The sound of yet another bolt turning brought John's attention back around, and then the door was creaking open slowly, ominously. His heart actually began to hammer harder in his chest and heat flamed in his belly as he watched the seemingly endless movement until finally Jim Ross appeared on the other side.

The last time John had seen the man, he had been eighteen years old and bleeding from the lip. That was because Jim Ross had just popped him one in the mouth. And that would have been because John hadn't brought Milly home from senior prom like he should have. No, John had just left her there, in the backseat of Adam Copeland's car half dressed and crying.

In hindsight, he supposed he couldn't really blame JR at all for his reaction. Hell, John would have split a lot more than a lip on any guy who'd deserted his daughter if he had one. Still he wished the old man had bothered to get the whole story before he'd coming gunning for John.

"John." JR greeted him with a surprisingly amiable smile. On the phone three days ago, he had been all gruff businessman and professional courtesy. "Good of you to come, thank you Carlotta. Come in. What are you drinking?"

John glanced first at his own empty hands then at Mike's. "Um, nothing at the moment sir."

JR chuckled. "Very funny, John. I remember you always were a joker."

Right." John replied. Somehow he refrained from asking the old man if he himself had just been joshing sixteen years ago when he'd fed John that knuckle sandwich. "Whatever you're having is fine, Mr. Ross."

"Call me JR." The older man decreed. "How about you, Mr. Mizanin, is it?"

"Mike is fine." He replied. "I'll just have bottled water."

Wuss, John thought. He really was going to have to take Mike out some night and get him loaded. Mike really did have no idea how to enjoy himself. As their host and potential employer went about seeing to their libations, John took in the rest of office and immediately felt as if he had wandered onto the set of a daytime drama.

JR finished preparing and distributing their drinks, then returned to the bar to retrieve his own. "I guess you're wondering why I've called you here tonight." He smiled again. "God, that was dramatic, wasn't it? I've always wanted to say that to someone."

"Is that why you called us here tonight?" John asked.

JR's smiled fell. "No. I called you here because I want to hire you. Both of you."

"Yes, you did mention that on the phone." John said. "And as much as I appreciate your footing the bill to bring us out here. We need to discuss this little job you want us to complete."

"I thought I made myself clear on the phone."

John thought carefully before continuing. "Uh, forgive me sir."

"JR."

"Sir, but I'm kind of confused about why exactly you'd like Mike and me to kidnap Milly."

JR immediately looked troubled. "Oh, no." He said. "No, John, you misunderstood me on the phone. I don't want you and Mike to kidnap Milly."

John narrowed his eyes at him. "You don't? But"

"No of course I don't. Want kind of father do you think I am."

"Well."

"I mean asking two men to kidnap one unsuspecting woman? That's crazy."

John was relieve to hear JR admit that the plan was nuts. That would save John the trouble of having to point out that the plan was nuts

"It will only be necessary for one of you to kidnap Milly." JR told him.

Uh-oh. He was nuts, John thought.

"You John." JR said further. "Milly knows you. It will work better if you're the kidnapper. Mike here can take Mae."

"What?" Mike exclaimed. Then inanely he added, "But I've never met her."

"Oh don't worry." JR told him. "I don't think it will be necessary to kidnap Mae. She's infinitely more reasonable than Milly. Mae was always the good twin, you know. But Milly has always been a handful, ever since their mother died, when the girls were nine. Milly never did what was told. But then, I don't I need to tell you that, do I John?"

"Sir, about what happened on prom night."

But his host waved him off before he had a chance to continue. "You don't have to explain." JR said. "I know what actually happened that night. I found out the real story the following day."

Oh great, John thought, his stomach knotting into a fist, even if JR's hand wasn't. "So then Milly told you."

"Everything."

"That night, when she got home, she was too upset to make sense of anything. Much of what she did tell me was just bits and pieces, and I drew my own erroneous conclusions. The next day she was in better shape and she explained what happened. And I apologize John for you know."

"The fat lip?"

"Yes, that." JR had the decency to look sheepish as he glanced away, focusing on something over his shoulder. "Anyway, I shouldn't have gone off half-cocked the way I did."

"Don't worry about it." John told him. "It was a long time ago."

"It wasn't that long ago." JR said cryptically. "Still, I suppose I should have apologized to you sixteen years ago but it was a touchy situation.

"And um there was also that small matter of you and Milly and Mae leaving Woodhaven under cover of darkness a week after it happened." John threw in for good measure. "Without leaving a forwarding address."

JR dropped his gaze back down to his drink. "Well, yes that too did sort of hinder any apology."

"Time out." Mike interjected. "You guys took off down another road completely and left me standing here eating your dust."

"Mr. Ross here. Made some shady business deals that went bad and some shady characters were looking for him. But that was small town gossip."

"Cincinnati's not a small town." Mike observed.

"No, but Woodhaven is." John said.

"It was just a misunderstanding." Was all JR said.

John studied JR wondering just what the hell had happened sixteen years ago to make the man abandon a house and uproot his daughters to move across country and live in fortress populated with armed guards and vicious dogs.

Before John could ask anything else, JR went on. "But getting back to kidnapping Milly."

John eyed JR for a moment. "You know, Mr. Ross."

"JR please."

"Mr. Ross." John continued. "I think I speak for both Mike and myself when I say in regard to this kidnapping, what the hell are you thinking?"

"Its long story."

"And we flew a lot of miles to hear it."

"My daughters are intent on attending their fifteen year high school reunion in Cincinnati next week." JR eyed John with some confusion. "You didn't know about the reunion? Didn't you receive an invitation? Milly and Mae got theirs months ago."

"Of course I got one." John lied.

He told himself the reason he didn't get one was that he didn't stay in contact with people from high school. His residential address was unlisted even if his business number was listed in three different places in the phone book. He was just hard to find these days. That was the reason no one had mentioned the reunion. Not because they still loathed him because of that prom night fiasco.

"But neither attended the ten year reunion. I was there." John replied. He had been at the reunion but found out by accident. He didn't get an invitation to it either. He had crashed it in order to attend but no one spoke to him the whole time.

"Mae didn't come because she couldn't fit it in to her work schedule. Milly didn't attend because her prick of a husband wouldn't let her."

Two parts of JR's statement caught John's attention. The part about her prick husband and wouldn't let. He had never heard the words wouldn't let used in mention with Milly Ross. There was no letting Milly do anything. She went her own way and spoke her mind.

"Milly is married?" He asked trying to act not too shocked.

"Divorced." JR quickly corrected both John and himself.

And just like that, the world began to turn again. Slowly John's heart started to beat again. The room stopped spinning and reality stopped shifting.

"The divorce was final just a few months ago after a very long and ugly separation. Milly's been living here at the estate for the last three months. Mae talked her into it, even if I couldn't. None of us trust her prick ex husband not to come looking for her."

The sick feeling felt through John's belly again. "You think he'd hurt her?

JR hesitated before answering. "I don't know. To be honest I'm more worried that he'd try to talk her into going back to him."

"And would she?"

"I hope not."

John wondered if that was why JR wanted him to kidnap Milly.

"Anyway, because of the misunderstanding years ago, I'm worried when Milly and Mae go back for the reunion."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say shortly before I left Cincinnati with Milly and Mae, I was the recipient of a few distasteful suggestions where my daughters' safety was concerned. I'm worried that should the girls ever return to Ohio those distasteful suggestions might very well become reality."

Please Review!