Page 41 of Finding Lexie
Magnus Brander sat in a leather chair in his office staring straight ahead at nothing, in disbelief. He had no idea how this had happened. It was bad enough that his brother, his twin, had been kidnapped, but not once had Magnus ever thought he wouldn’t get through the ordeal.
Some people scoffed at the notion that twins had some sort of higher-level connection, but in his and Dagmar’s case, it was absolutely true. When they were babies, they’d had their own language. They’d babbled for hours and had been able to understand each other perfectly.
When they were in grade school, they’d pitched a fit if they weren’t allowed to be in the same classes, on the same teams, or to do the same activities. Then they were rowdy adolescents, playing the normal tricks twins played on teachers and friends when they were teenagers.
And throughout it all, they were connected on a visceral level.
When Dagmar fell off his bike and broke his arm, Magnus felt it. When Magnus was in a car accident in his twenties, Dagmar had been the first person to call him, having known something was wrong.
So when Dagmar had been kidnapped while visiting one of the Food For All outposts, Magnus had sensed it immediately.
He’d done everything in his power to free his twin, even personally putting up the ransom amount that had been demanded.
But it wasn’t enough.
The bastards had reneged on their agreement and doubled the amount.
There was no way Magnus would have paid for some American woman he didn’t even know. And the more he’d learned about this Lexie Greene person, the more adamant he became. She didn’t even have a college education, for God’s sake! She was a nobody. Had nobody. Why should he—or Food For All, for that matter—pay for her release? Employees like her were a dime a dozen.
Dagmar was smart. And talented. And worth something.
And Magnus had just gotten word that his brother was dead. But he didn’t need to be officially informed.
He’d already known his other half was gone. It was as if the moment it happened, part of his soul had been destroyed.
An emptiness sat in his chest where Dagmar’s presence had resided. No one who wasn’t a twin would understand.
Magnus was numb.
Yet deep down, a flicker of emotion was building…
Determination to make the person responsible for his brother’s death pay.
As far as he was concerned, there was only one person on his radar.
Lexie fucking Greene.
If it hadn’t been for her, Dagmar would’ve been released when the kidnappers were notified that the five million had been raised. But because of Lexie, they’d gotten greedy. Had decided to hold out for more.
Magnus didn’t care that some people would think he was being crazy. He knew he wasn’t. Lexie was the reason his best friend, the other half of his soul, was dead.
She was a fucking nobody! If she’d been worthy or important enough for someone to pony up the ransom for her, his brother would still be alive! She was the reason the kidnappers hadn’t let his brother go.
And she’d regret being the one to live while his brother had died. Magnus didn’t know how, or when, but he’d make it happen.
Lexie Greene needed to die. She might as well have held a gun to Dagmar’s head and pulled the trigger. This was her fault. All her fault.
Chapter Eight
Lexie scanned the crowd as she walked toward the baggage carousels in the Honolulu International Airport. It had been one month, two days, and eighteen hours since she’d last seen Midas.
The first thing she’d done when she’d landed in Germany after being flown there by Food For All, and after talking to one of their relocation specialists, was get a cell phone. She’d sent Midas an email letting him know she now had a phone, and he’d responded literally within ten minutes.
They’d talked either via text, email, or phone calls every day since, while she’d spent time in Germany resting, regrouping, and replacing her wardrobe. It had been her choice to stay for so long. She’d had a lot of thinking to do about her future.
She had to give it to Food For All, they’d gone out of their way to help her transition back to the States. They’d paid for her hotel in Germany, as well, and given her all the time she needed to process what she’d been through and what she wanted to do next. Even though she’d only been held captive for three months, it felt like the entire world had passed her by in that time. It was silly really, not that much had changed, but acclimating to being able to do what she wanted, whenever she wanted, was tougher than she’d thought it would be after her rescue.
She’d also been allowed to choose her next assignment. She could go literally anywhere in the world where Food For All had a presence. Usually, she had to choose assignments based on what was available and according to seniority. Even though she’d been working for the organization for a decade and a half, there were plenty of people above her in the food chain, so she’d never gotten the most choice locations.
