The kids wake up rather late, and find that Scrooge left early to collect the money, to ensure it all goes as demanded, without anything that could endanger Della's life.

Scrooge was at the money bin, counting and collecting the ransom himself, and placing it in the suitcase, because no one else could no, going so far as to lock everyone out. He tried to keep himself together. He would not fail, not again. He remembers the conversation earlier that morning.

"Sir, please, at least let me trail you for security's sake." Mrs Beakley argued.

"No, Bentina, you heard him, I MUST go alone!" Scrooge states in slight frustration.

"Unca Scrooge, please! We still don't know if we can trust them! Please, don't make us lose you too!" Donald tries to argue.

"We almost lost Della last time because I DIDN'T LISTEN! Not to you! Not to reason! I should have listened when you opposed building the spear! We were lucky she came back... But now? We won't have that luck..." Scrooge says, tears in his eyes. "I lost her once because I didn't listen... I won't lose her again because of it! I'm sorry, but I have to go alone..."

"Mr McDee, you ready to go?" Launchpad asks, less cheery than normal.

"Aye Launchpad, drop me off at the Money Bin, then come back here. I'll handle everything from there..." Scrooge states as he goes to his limo, and is driven to the Money Bin.

Scrooge would spend most of the day counting the money, bill-by-bill, and loading the wads into the suitcase he made sure was just a normal one and untraceable. For $25 million, this would take a while.

Later (a few hours before the pickup), at the kidnapper's hideout

"Mmph! Mmgghh! Mmh!" Della grunts as she struggles, scowling at her captors. They were going to pay for putting Scrooge, Donald, and her boys through this. But, for once, for as well as she was hiding it, she was rather terrified; for her life, and for her family, especially at the thought of them losing her again. Certainly they'd find a way to save her, right? I mean, Uncle Scrooge would never pay that ransom! He was Scrooge McDuck! He didn't get to where he is by paying ransoms! If anything, at any moment, Scrooge would bust in at any moment, beat these guys up, and save her, like he did so many times before!

However, the leader was not concerned with any possibility. So long as at least one of the McDucks was dead by the end of the day, he would be satisfied, but would prefer if more were killed, especially Scrooge himself. And with their deaths, he would frame the Clan and complete his revenge. They would pay for betraying him, for taking what was rightfully his, for leaving him for dead, and for 'reducing' the Clan to its current state. Especially that worthless ingrate who took his position as leader, the one who he made his right hand in the clan, the one who betrayed him, turned the Clan against him, and tried to kill him.

The rest of the kidnappers, though, were a bit more apprehensive, for a few reasons. For one, to cross Clan McDuck was a very poor idea, even if they were intimidated enough. But, more so, their leader was rather, how to put it, unhinged. They initially thought it was just a simple kidnapping, but as their leader soon revealed, this was in a bit deeper than they thought, and some had thoughts of backing out, not comfortable with this. However, the leader and his right hand were quick to get them in line. A few even secretly felt bad for Della, given she was a mother, but to share those thoughts to any extent would mean death.

One had already protested about it in front of all. He yelled at the leader for risking the money over a simple vendetta. But he also complained as he was to be the one to kill Scrooge and his family when the time came. He needed the money, but wasn't about to kill an innocent person over it. He bailed. Or at least, he tried, as he only got five feet before the right hand shot him five times in the back, before walking up and emptying the rest of the gun's magazine into him. An example had to be made. The leader asked if anyone else wanted to bail, a sickly, sinister grin on his face, as the others decided best to say, as a random one was picked out as the new 'executioner'.

Della sat, glaring at the guard, who she was unaware would be her killer. She swore at him into her gag, and tried to kick him. But the strangest part wasn't his reaction... It was the lack thereof. He was silent. Back to Della. Not even looking at her. Then, she noticed something. Was he, trembling? Was this guy, scared? She was the victim, not him! What the hell was wrong with him had he gotten cold feet?! If she only knew how right that question was.

How? How did he get dragged into this sick murder plot? He just needed some money, that was all. Kidnapping seemed fine, but when he realized it was a McDuck, he got nervous. Though, he was assured McDuck would pay up. He was fine with the 'threats' and such, knowing that surely it was just to convince him to pay. Right? How wrong was he... When he heard that this woman, a mother of three, was to be killed with her own uncle when he got there, he realized this was more than he signed up for. He was going to back out, but, seeing what happened to the first guy who tried that, well, made him change his mind. Then, he gets picked to be the new one to kill them? This was a nightmare! He was only 18, barely an adult, and he was going to have to kill two people?! He hid his emotions as best as he could behind the ski mask, but it can only conceal so much...