Shaved

by Gina LaManna

  With a racing heartbeat, I hustled to the lobby bar to make sure Meg wasn’t relying on liquid courage to get her through the day. Again, she was nowhere to be seen. It was a good thing I’d focused on my deodorant routine instead of my foundation application because I was seriously beginning to sweat at Meg’s lack of contact with her maid of honor.

  Last, I checked in at the spa, talking myself into believing that somehow one of her appointments had run late. Or maybe all of them had. Maybe Meg had kicked her bridezilla status into full gear. I hoped that was the case because it was the last viable location where I would logically find her.

  My breathing quickened and my heart raced as I stepped into the spa and quickly scanned the lobby, manicure location, and hair chairs. Meg wasn’t there.

  “Excuse me,” I said hurriedly to whoever would listen in the lobby. “Have you seen Meg, the bride? She was in here, I’m sure of it. I dropped her off, and I was supposed to collect her.”

  The woman behind the reception desk looked up at me, frowned. “Your friend left when her appointments were finished. Have you tried calling her?”

  I dumbly stared back at her, then jolted into gear and pulled out my phone. I dialed and stepped away from the desk, praying Meg would answer. I waited impatiently until the voicemail kicked on. Then I dialed again, and then a third time. By then, however, I knew there wouldn’t be an answer. My insides had adjusted themselves to full-on panic mode.

  While I was making my phone calls, the salon’s landline rang. The front desk receptionist answered it, then quickly put her hand over the mouthpiece as she squinted in my direction.

  “Are you Lacey, by chance?” She looked curiously at me. “Lacey... Luzzi?”

  “Yes, that’s me. Here for Meg.”

  “There’s a call for you,” she said evenly, extending the phone toward me.

  “Who?” The rest of my blood felt frozen. I accepted the phone from the receptionist, but she was already busy looking down at her screen and feigning indifference. Her face was pale.

  “Congratulations to the happy couple,” rumbled a deep voice the moment I put the phone to my ear. “Why don’t we celebrate? Tonight, Dock 18. Invite only party.”

  I stared speechless at the phone as it buzzed a dial tone.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, but it was rhetorical. I knew what it meant. Meg had been taken. Held hostage on her wedding day. If that didn’t call for a serious case of bridezilla, I didn’t know what did.

  I set the phone on the counter and fled the spa, trying to process all that had happened as I climbed the stairs to my room. I’d forgotten all about calling Anthony, and only remembered when my phone buzzed in hand.

  “Where is she?” Anthony said gruffly. “How’d she take the news?”

  “We’re too late! He’s got her,” I gasped. “Meg is gone.”

  Chapter 23

  I kissed Bella on the forehead then lingered, slowly leaning forward and setting her in bed. Her eyes widened the moment I let go, and I wanted nothing more than to pick her up and cuddle her close until her eyes drooped with sleep.

  Instead, I ran my finger down her cheek and watched as her eyes gently closed and a little yawn stretched her pink lips wide in exhaustion. Behind me, Anthony opened the door and let Nora into our room.

  “Thanks for coming,” I said in hurried whispers to my grandmother. “I hope you don’t mind hanging out here until we get back. With any luck, this won’t take long.”

  “That’s what grandmas are for,” Nora said with a shaky sort of smile. Then she twisted her hands before her and grimaced. “It’s not my place to interfere, but I wanted to tell you that Carlos feels very bad.”

  “Well, he should.” I caught a glimpse of Anthony’s frown. “I mean, a little bit! Our guard was down which led to Meg being kidnapped on her wedding day.”

  “He knows that,” Nora said, “and I know he would have come to apologize himself, but...”

  “But what?” I shrugged. “We’ve been here all afternoon. He could have swung by any time.”

  “I can’t find him,” Nora admitted feebly. “I don’t know what he’s doing; I think he’s trying to right the situation, but I can’t be sure.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’re already on top of it.”

  “I just hope you’ll give him a break. He didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  “We just have to focus on getting Meg back first. I received an ‘invitation’ to meet by the docks this evening, hence the reason you’re here. I’ll be going alone, but Anthony will be right behind me.”

  “What’s your plan after that?”

  I gave an uncertain shrug. “Improvise, I guess. We’re only two people, and there’s who-knows-how-many of them. They’ve had time to prepare, and we’re scrambling to make ends meet. Anthony will go for Meg while I try to distract them, and then we’ll run like the wind.”

  “I hope it’s a very strong wind,” Nora said, “because if they have a car, they’ll beat you every time.”

  “It’s an expression.”

  “It’s also true,” Nora said. “Where’s Clay? Why isn’t he helping?”

  “He’s sobbing over his computer.” I glanced at Anthony. “We agreed he’d be more helpful there—if he came with us, he’d end up in the way, so his task is to crack the security systems around the dock. If he can get into the cameras, he’ll be able to keep an eye out for us and give us the advantage.”

  “How will you know if he does?” Nora asked. “They’ll strip you of your phones.”

  “It’s alarming you’re so versed in this,” I said, and then touched my ear. “Clay’s suitcase didn’t only have explosives. We each have ear pieces.”

  “That’s fun,” Nora said. “I want one. I’d like to be a spy.”

  “I really need you to focus on being a grandmother,” I said. “Can you do that?”

  “I can do that,” she said with a salute. “I love to do that.”

  I kissed Nora on both cheeks, then gave Bella eighteen more kisses, which she sleepily brushed away, before I faced Anthony. “Are you ready?”

  “You won’t reconsider staying behind and letting me handle this? I can have a plane full of men here in ten hours.”

  “This can’t wait.”

  “Then I suppose we should get moving.” Anthony carefully stripped the concerned look off his face and replaced it with business-like coldness. His eyes hardened, his smile disappeared, and even the laugh-lines in his face turned to stone. “I’d like you to take a gun.”

  “They’ll just take it from me,” I said. “And plus, I don’t do guns.”

  “No, but Coco does,” Anthony said.

  “I’ll take the Taser,” I said. “That’s my final offer.”

  Anthony gave a thin smile and handed me the stun gun. “I thought you might say that.”

  “I hate bargaining with you,” I said. “You always get what you want.”

  “Yes, well, that’s a good thing.” Anthony slid his arm affectionately over my shoulder. “I got you, didn’t I?”

  I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “You sure did. Now, let’s go save the bride.”

  “WHAT’S OUR real plan?” I asked as we slid into Carlos’s car. Wherever my grandfather had disappeared to, he hadn’t taken his bullet-riddled vehicle with him. “Please tell me you have something good up your sleeve.”

  “Lace...” Anthony sighed. “Our tech whiz is blowing his nose into his bathrobe and cramming chocolate pretzels in his mouth. My wife refuses to carry a gun. Your grandfather has vanished. All we know is that you’re supposed to meet Coco or his guys at Dock 18 this evening alone. What sort of plan am I supposed to concoct from that?”

  “You’re right,” I said with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m just nervous.”

  “So am I.” Anthony’s point was proven by his uncharacteristically white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. “I’m sending you into the lion’s den unarmed.”

  “If only Lu
cy had gotten to us a hair sooner, maybe we could have stopped this from happening.”

  “Or maybe she planned it exactly the way it happened. She might have been involved from the start.”

  “It doesn’t matter now; what’s done is done. Let’s get Meg returned safely and leave this island for good.”

  Anthony gave a nod of agreement, and we rode the rest of the way to the meet spot in silence. We parked a healthy distance away from the dock since I was supposed to be arriving alone. We couldn’t take the chance of being seen—especially not after Anthony had spent the past half hour careening around the island to avoid being followed. A difficult task when the island had one main road and not many places to hide.

  “Are you ready?” Anthony asked. “We’re going to have to part ways soon. If they see me, there’s no telling what they’ll do to you. I can’t take that risk.”

  “They won’t see you, I’m sure of it. You’re the best.”

  Anthony pulled me against his chest for one long, hard kiss. His hands roamed a little freely and lingered as he wrapped me like a pretzel to him. “Don’t even think about dying out there.”

  “I can’t possibly do that,” I said with a weak smile. “Remember? I didn’t get this wax for no reason. That’s a lot of effort for nothing.”

  With a final, parting kiss, we went our separate ways. Anthony disappeared into the shadowy dark of the trees and shrubbery, while I crossed the street and took the designated path along the waterfront toward the dock.

  I walked for ten minutes before I spotted the place I was to meet Coco. The harbor spanned before me, sparkling a shade of pretty blue found on postcards. Thin docks punctuated the shimmering water like sunny bursts, while boats—big, bigger, and biggest—bobbed in the water. All appeared quiet and sleepy, the calm at the end of a long work day. I paused, wondering if Meg had been stashed in one of them.

  I tried to keep up a steady pace as the number eighteen grew closer in big, looping figures that glared at me like a neon sign. My feet wanted to drag, every inch of my body screamed to turn back. I pressed on, the smell of salt thick in the air, the humidity high despite evening falling around us.

  Once I hit dock eighteen, I turned right and let my feet carry me over the long wooden planks. I made it halfway before I heard an engine start and glimpsed a shift of movement at my side.

  “Over here,” a voice called. “We’ve saved you a seat.”

  I swiveled to face the speaker and found a boat with three people inside: two men and one woman. The man who’d spoken was of average height, tanned skin, and curly dark hair spiraling onto his forehead. He looked expectantly at me through glinting dark eyes for my decision.

  “Where’s Meg?” I asked, then cleared my throat. “I’m not going anywhere until I find her.”

  “Your husband is untying her as we speak,” he said, then extended a phone screen toward me. “I thought you might ask, so...here.”

  I squinted at the grainy screen on the phone and saw a man resembling Anthony untying a woman resembling Meg. But I’d been fooled before. “How do I know this is real?”

  The man, presumably Coco, shrugged. “Take a closer look. What was Anthony wearing tonight? We wouldn’t have had time to change out video feeds. We left Meg purposely in an easy to find location for someone as efficient as your husband. Her sole purpose was to be a distraction so we could have the pleasure of meeting you.”

  “What could you possibly want with me? I don’t even know who you are.”

  “Yes, you do. I’m Coco,” he said simply. “And I believe you know her, too.”

  I glanced at the woman for the first time as she moved her face from the shadows at the front of the boat. “Lucy?”

  May’s sister gave me a dainty finger wave. “Sorry.”

  “You lied to me,” I said flatly. “You don’t care about your sister’s death at all. That whole spiel at the hotel was garbage.”

  “Quite the opposite, actually.” Lucy patted the seat next to her. “Climb aboard, and we can chat more as we go for a ride.”

  “I only wanted Meg back—that’s all. The Luzzi family will happily leave this island and never return again if you promise to leave us alone.”

  “Get in, or this man dies,” Coco said, pulling a gun from somewhere and pointing it at the second man’s head. “And then I’ll go for you. Or your family. It won’t end.”

  “But—”

  “Three.” He began counting as he lowered the gun to the man’s head. “Two...”

  I swallowed and took a step forward. I hadn’t a clue who the man was, but the look in Coco’s eyes told me that he lived up to his name. The psycho would shoot an innocent man to prove a point. The man tied and taped knew it too—I could see the fear in his eyes, the silent pleading of his stifled grunts.

  I stepped forward, swatting away Coco’s hand as he held it out to help me onto the boat. There was no way I was getting myself out of this situation. Two against one in a boat on the open ocean? I hoped Anthony had a plan. Without one, my future was looking mighty dismal.

  “Who is he?” I asked, nodding to the tied-up victim. While there was a chance this was all another setup, and he was merely a man acting for the sake of fooling me onto the boat somehow, I doubted it. His fear was too raw. I shared the look of horror reflected in his eyes.

  “My husband,” Lucy said. “The schmuck. I can’t believe you fell for my story.”

  “But...” I hesitated, glancing between the two. “You’ve been working for Coco? Your husband was never involved, was he? It’s always been you.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Lucy said easily as Coco navigated the small-ish speedboat quietly through the water and out toward the end of the No Wake signs. “My husband got us into this. He was a struggling real estate agent making squat. Coco approached him and got things moving. However, once my husband—Todd is his name, a wimpy one, don’t you think?—caught wind of the things Coco was up to, he chickened out. Pulled back. Tried to escape the biz.”

  “But you liked your cozy little lifestyle.”

  “I did,” she admitted. “So, I picked up the slack. Small jobs for Coco at first, then larger ones. I’m not sure if Todd suspected. At least, not for a long while.”

  “Your sister had a problem with you,” I said. “May didn’t like that you were working with Coco.”

  “Not one bit,” Lucy agreed. “Ironically, I thought Sam might be a good influence on her, bring her around to see the light. But Sam’s a twerp. He fell in love with May, and she told him she’d leave him if he didn’t clean up his act.”

  “Yes, how horrible,” I said, leaning heavily on the sarcasm. “Still, you kept trying to get them to see the light. Your light.”

  She shrugged. “May was family. I was trying to help her out. I gave Sam the assignment with the bomb. It was aimed at you. May’s death was an accident.”

  “And yet, you don’t seem all that sad she’s gone.”

  “She made her choices. What more could I do?” Lucy gave a thin, unamused smile. “Sam took the job because of the pay. I think he wanted to set off the bomb when you weren’t there and then escape before we figured out what had happened. Sam’s not cut out to be a killer. It was a test, and he failed. However, his mistake backfired—pun intended.”

  “What about your husband?”

  “It’s time to get rid of him,” Lucy said coldly. “I think he suspected I had a hand in things, even though I thought I played the sad sister card extremely well.” She moved a hand up to her chin, stroked her skin in thought.

  “You did just fine. I almost believed you back in our hotel room.” I took a deep breath. “That still doesn’t explain your beef with me. Or Carlos.”

  “Coco’s told me of his past with the Luzzi family,” Lucy said. “The awful way Carlos ran poor Jimmy out of town when he was just a young kid, trying to find his way in life.”

  “Poor Jimmy tried to kill Carlos.”

  Lucy pouted. “He was just
finding his footing in the world. He can’t help he’s ambitious.”

  Coco wasn’t saying much. He guided the boat out through the breakers, a small light blinking at the front of it. Abruptly, Coco cranked the speed up and sent the boat leaping forward while I struggled to remain upright. I lost my balance when we made a sharp left, and I landed with a huff at the feet of Lucy’s husband.

  Pulling myself to a sitting position, I glanced at both of them. “So, this is just...revenge?”

  “Mostly,” Lucy said. “We received a report from our friend in TSA that the Luzzi family flew in with a pile of explosives. What were we to think? We were under the impression you’d come here to finish off Jimmy. It was just too easy to go after you all when you walked right into our home field advantage.”

  “So, you tried to send a message to Carlos?”

  “Yes,” Lucy said. “But you refused to die.”

  “Well, I’m telling you, we didn’t know Jimmy was here,” I said. “My friend—Meg—picked this place as a destination wedding.”

  “Carlos keeps tabs on everyone,” Jimmy said darkly. “He’d have known I was here. There’s no excuse for him to traipse in here loaded to the gills with his fancy devices.”

  I raised my hands to argue again, but my logic was lost on him. I let my hands drop to my sides and shook my head. “It’s all a misunderstanding. My cousin tinkers with stuff—yes, it was stupid of him to bring his toys, but he meant no harm with it.”

  “Maybe not,” Jimmy said, “but I don’t care anymore. My beef with Carlos might be in the past, but I still think about it every day. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here.”

  I opened my arms. “Um, it’s paradise. You got banished to Hawaii. I’d hardly say that’s a bum deal.”

  “Tiny town,” Jimmy said. “There are limits. I could have been someone big. I could have been the next Al Capone, but no. Instead I’m a two-bit Hawaiian mobster, and I’m not even Hawaiian. I’m half-Italian and half-Swedish. How sad is that?”