“He doesn’t have to wait one more minute. I don’t want him. I want Matt.”
“The cop?” Her mother scoffed. “Yeah, like he can help your career. Frank is willing to let you headline his club. You would be the star attraction.” Her eyes glittered with envy. “Imagine the publicity, the attention. You’d be famous not only in Atlantic City but throughout the country. He’s got the power to make you a star. Don’t turn your back on that.”
“He wants me to strip.”
Abby sucked in a breath and bugged her eyes at Jena. “The man wants you to become a stripper? At his club? The same club where he slept with his other strippers?”
“Yeah,” Jena drawled. “Frank is classy like that.”
Her mother ignored the comment. “You’ll be famous. You’ll have money. What else is there?” She clearly could not understand Jena’s refusal to go with Frank.
“Uh, how about self-respect, dignity, a life without men drooling over you and making lewd gestures they think will turn you on? I’m pretty sure all of that is better than fame and money.”
Her mother stood. Disgust clear on her face. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Don’t be a fool. You’re a dancer and Frank is offering you the perfect opportunity to do what you love. He’ll take care of you. You’ll want for nothing. If you pass this opportunity up, you’re an idiot.”
With one last look of disgust, her mother turned on her four-inch heels and stalked out of the house.
“She’s charming,” Abby said sweetly. “Positively delightful.”
Jena chuckled dryly. There was nothing funny about her mother. “I’m sorry about that,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s forgotten. You did brilliantly. You didn’t let her walk over you even once. I’m seriously impressed.”
“I was shaking in my shoes,” Jena confessed.
“You couldn’t tell, and that’s the main thing. Now, don’t go ruining this new and improved you by chasing after her and apologising for everything you said to her.”
“I won’t. I feel no urge to hunt her down. Trust me.”
“Good.” Abby nodded firmly. “Keep it that way. If you feel the urge to screw things up, call me and I’ll talk you down.”
As Jena reached for the cheesecake, her eyes flicked to the door her mother had disappeared through. In her mind she knew she’d done the right thing. The way her mother treated her wasn’t love. Still, it was all she’d ever known, from the only family she’d ever had. And it hurt to be unwanted, to be used, to feel alone.
As if reading her mind, Abby covered Jena’s hand with hers. She gave Jena a sympathetic smile.
“Let’s talk about the non-relationship you have with Matt,” Abby said.
Jena rolled her eyes, but she smiled. Abby’s tactic worked. Her attention was no longer on the pain her mother left in her wake, but on the sexy cop who thought he lived with her. As she grinned at her best friend, she changed her opinion. She wasn’t alone. Not anymore. She had Abby. And she had Matt.
For now.
25
“I’ve changed my mind,” Grunt told Joe on Monday morning. “I don’t like this plan.”
“It was your plan.”
“Yeah. I was wrong. This is a bad plan. We need to abort the plan.”
Joe sighed as he turned in his seat to face Grunt. They were sitting in the front of an inconspicuous white van Joe had rented that morning in Fort William. The van was parked in the alley behind the high street shops. All that stood between them and the back door to the hardware store was an old yellow Dumpster. If it wasn’t for the fact Grunt had spotted a white van making deliveries in the same alley three days in a row, they would have stood out like a sore thumb.
“We’re committed. We told Frank. He’s expecting us. If we don’t turn up now, if we don’t carry out the plan, Frank will dump us and go it alone. That would be bad for Jena.” It was clear Joe was losing patience. With Grunt. With Frank. With everything. “If you didn’t like this plan, you should have kept it to yourself. You’re the one who saw Jena take out the trash. You’re the one who spotted the white van that would get us into this alley. And you’re the one who said we should ‘borrow’ her long enough for Frank to chat with her.”
Grunt was about ten seconds away from turning green and roaring in rage.
“Don’t Hulk out on me,” Joe said. “You know we don’t have any other options. Jena’s a sensible woman. I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“Claire won’t.”
Joe sighed. “This isn’t the time to worry about what your latest toy thinks.”
Grunt could feel his muscles start to swell with the urge to hit. To pummel. “She’s not a toy. She’s mine.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You might have mentioned that a time or two, subtle like.”
Grunt leaned in towards his oldest friend until he was in the guy’s face. Joe didn’t back off. Joe never backed off. The idiot had more guts than sense. “She’s mine. As in, she’s the one. This is my last job. I’m moving here. Gonna talk to the security guy, Benson, about a job. I don’t want to screw things up with her family. Her cop brother isn’t going to understand this. She’s close with him.”
Joe threw up his hands in clear exasperation. “Great. No problem. You win. We don’t want to damage your precious relationship. What were we thinking?” Grunt growled at the sarcasm, but stilled when Joe pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Frank and tell him it’s off.” His disgust was clear, but at least he was making the call.
He slid his finger over the screen of his phone then held it to his ear, all the while glaring at Grunt.
“Boss,” Joe said when Frank answered. “We’re abandoning the plan. We’ll find another way for you to talk to Jena.”
There was shouting, but Grunt couldn’t make out the words. He watched as Joe’s jaw clenched tight. Not a good sign.
“We think this is a sure way to get the cop on your ass,” Joe said.
A pause.
“I know you don’t care about the cop, but you might change your mind when you’re locked up tight in a Scottish jail.” Another pause. Joe’s grip on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles were white. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he told Frank. From the look on his face, it was far from a good idea. “Give me a minute.”
He hit mute and turned to Grunt. Grunt knew he wasn’t going to like what Joe had to say.
“He’s going to lift her himself. He says he’s fed up with this shit. He’s going to tie her up, toss her in the trunk of his car and drive her to the continent. He says if she resists, he’s gonna show her who’s boss.”
Grunt felt everything within him still. “Tell him we’ll be there soon.”
Joe nodded grimly. He tapped the phone. “It’s on. We’ll text when we’re on our way.” He hung up on Frank shouting.
“That guy is on borrowed time,” Grunt said.
“Yeah, but while he is, we’re stuck dealing with his crap.” Joe gave Grunt a grim look. “Guess we’re taking Jena for a ride after all.”
Grunt didn’t say anything, because there was nothing to say.
They sat in a heavy silence staring down the alley. Twenty minutes later, the back door of the hardware store opened and Jena stepped out. She was carrying a bag of trash. She shouted something over her shoulder and shook her head with a grin. Grunt’s heart sank like the Titanic.
“Showtime.” Joe opened the van door.
With a grunt, Grunt followed him. There was no going back. They were committed. What was that saying—better to ask forgiveness than permission? He hoped Claire knew that one. And he hoped she was just as forgiving as he thought she was. Because he was seconds away from kidnapping her brother’s girlfriend.
The alley behind Invertary high street didn’t smell like any of the alleys Jena had been in around Atlantic City. Gone were the scents of rotting garbage, stale urine and sweaty bodies. Instead it smelled of dry earth, crisp air and card
board. Jena inhaled deeply and smiled. Her eyes were drawn to the green hills that cradled the town. Being able to see them was like taking a breath. She wondered if she would ever take the beauty for granted. The closest she’d come to it in the States was when she’d walked along Atlantic City’s famous boardwalk with her attention on the waves. For a girl who grew up surrounded by concrete and neon, the peace that came with nature was a welcome surprise.
With a bounce and a grin, she threw open the heavy black lid to the Dumpster and lobbed the trash bag inside.
A hand covered her mouth. Jena’s heart nearly burst through her chest. Her brain froze.
Another arm wrapped around her waist. She gasped for air in staccato pants. Spots appeared in the corners of her vision. She was losing consciousness. She fought to slow her breathing. To calm herself.
Her feet left the ground.
She screamed, but the sound was muffled.
She was moving. Fast. Through the air. A solid wall of muscle at her back. Her brain started to work again. Kidnapped. She was being taken.
She sucked in air through her nose. The spicy scent of male flesh filled her mind.
She kicked.
She jerked.
She fought.
It made no difference. The arm around her waist was a clamp. Tight. Immovable. Strong. Someone huge came into view in front of her.
“Calm down.” It was an order. “No one will hurt you. Frank only wants to talk.”
It took a minute for Jena's eyes to focus on the huge beast of a man. Her eyes went wide. Grunt?
“What the hell do you think you're doing, you imbecile?” she shouted at him. Unfortunately, there was a hand over her mouth, so all he heard was “Urg umph da umph u arumph.” Still, she hoped her fury was clear.
Grunt winced slightly and actually looked ashamed. She frowned at him. Hard. She tried to communicate with her eyes that he was totally dead once this was over.
“We need you to talk to Frank. Once that happens, we'll bring you back. I promise you won’t get hurt.”
Like she’d believe the word of her kidnapper.
“Enough explaining,” the guy holding her said. She assumed it was the other half of the goon duo. “Let's get this over with.”
Jena felt rage vibrate through every tense muscle in her body. He may as well have been transporting a marble statue, she was that stiff with indignation.
Her captor climbed into the back of a van, taking her with him. Grunt sat in the driver's seat. He looked over his shoulder at her.
“I promise, you’re safe with us. We won’t let the idiot harm you in any way, and we’ll bring you back here as soon as he’s done talking. You won’t be gone long.” He gave her a sheepish smile. “You think, maybe, you could avoid telling Claire about this?”
She bugged her eyes at him. Seriously? He was worried what his girlfriend thought of him kidnapping someone.
“Can we not make this about your weird relationship?” Joe said lazily while his grip on her remained vice-like. “Get this van moving. Sooner we're out of here, sooner this is over.”
“You two are so dead,” Jena shouted into the hand. Again, her threat was lost in translation.
The van moved. She’d expected a screech. Instead they drove slowly.
Jena sat wrapped in a coil of muscle, unable to move or call for help. The reality of the situation began to sink in past her fear and anger.
She’d been kidnapped.
She’d been taken.
Where the hell was Liam Neeson when you needed him?
Her eyes narrowed. Frank wanted to talk, did he? Well, she could talk. Oh yeah, she would make sure Frank heard her loud and clear. Then she planned to talk her head off to Matt and Claire. She was going to talk so much she'd run out of words before she was through. Nothing on this planet would keep her quiet. The goon duo, Dumb and Dumber, were in for a truckload of trouble. And Frank, well, she had a whole lot of things to say to him. Things she should have said before she left the States. Things she planned to get off her chest now she had the opportunity.
And when she finished having her say, she intended to kick Frank Di Marco's slutty, cheating balls hard enough to make them fly out his lying, kidnapping mouth.
26
Matt was exhausted. He’d spent a good chunk of the night in the hospital, making sure his mother held it together. His father had a plate and pin inserted in his hip. The doctor said it was a heavy operation, but they had to do it or the pain would have been too much for him to handle. He also told Matt things would be touch and go for a while. The seriousness of the fall, added to his father’s already greatly deteriorated state, meant they were in a “wait and see” situation. His mother was staying by his father’s side in the hospital, and Matt and the twins were taking turns keeping her company. There was nothing else any of them could do—so it was back to Jena duty for Matt.
Matt pushed open the door to the hardware store, spotted Gordon behind the counter and nodded at him.
“How’s your dad?” Gordon said.
“Still unconscious. The operation went well, though. We’ll need to see how he does from here.”
“Aye, it’s a rough time for everyone, that’s for sure. Tell your mother we were asking after her. If there’s anything we can do to help, just shout out.”
“Thanks, Gordon.” Matt looked around the empty store. “Where’s Calamity?” He held up the bag. “I brought lunch.”
“Got enough for me?” Gordon licked his lips as he eyed the brown paper bag.
“Ha! No way. It’s not like you’ll starve. Your wife will be here in about ten minutes with a nice cooked meal. You’re spoiled, old man. Spoiled rotten. So where is she?”
Gordon cocked his head towards the back of the shop with a chuckle. “Taking the rubbish out back.”
“Alone?” Matt frowned. “Where’s the minder Lake sent?”
“We told him to go get some lunch.”
Matt pursed his lips. He didn’t like that one bit. “He’s supposed to stay with her, Gordon. Someone else could have fetched the food.”
“She’s fine. You worry too much.” Gordon rolled his eyes.
“It’s my job to worry,” Matt grumbled.
Matt made sure to hold the bag away from the threat of Gordon’s sticky fingers as he headed through the shop. It wasn’t until he pushed the door open that the hairs on his arms stood to attention. Without questioning his instinct, he put the bag down beside the door and cautiously stepped out into the alley. Nothing. He studied the space in front of him. No Jena. No sign of a struggle. Nothing at all.
Matt felt anxiety take hold of his stomach as his appetite fled. He pushed the door open again and called for Gordon. “She isn’t here. Did you send her somewhere else?” The words were bitten out. This was wrong. She wouldn’t wander off. She wasn't stupid.
“Do I look like an idiot, son?” Gordon came up beside him with a frown. “I remember what you told me. Jena does too. If she isn’t here, there’s a problem.”
Matt swallowed his fear. He took out his phone and dialled Lake. “Jena’s missing. She went out back with the rubbish and she’s gone.”
“On my way,” Lake said, then the phone went dead.
Gordon’s whole head had turned red. “I’m sorry, son. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have let her come out here alone.”
“We don’t know if it’s anyone’s fault. She may have just wandered off.” Although Matt didn’t think Jena was stupid enough to do something like that.
And from the look on Gordon’s face, neither did he.
A minute later Lake appeared in the alley, leaving the back entrance to his shop open behind him.
“Tyre tracks.” Lake pointed to the dirt-covered ground.
“There are vans and trucks making deliveries here all the time,” Gordon pointed out.
One by one the back doors of the shops along the alleyway opened and the shopkeepers stepped out.
“I had Harry call everyone,
” Lake said.
“You take that end.” Matt pointed down the alley. “I'll start at the other end. Somebody had to have seen something. This town is full of people who can't mind their own business.”
They separated and jogged off towards the worried townsfolk. All the while, Matt forced himself to concentrate on the task in hand and not on the panic making its way through his gut.
They had been on the road for about ten minutes when Joe removed his hand from Jena's mouth. She knew there was no point screaming; she was pretty sure they'd cleared the edge of town anyway. There was no one to hear a cry for help other than the two idiots who held her captive.
“You two have got to be the most stupid criminals alive. You've kidnapped a cop’s girlfriend.” She turned to Grunt. “A cop who just so happens to be your girlfriend's brother. I really don't see how you're going to get out of this with all your limbs intact. Not to mention you can kiss goodbye to Claire's bed. Once she hears about this, you'll never get to touch her again.”
Grunt grunted. It sounded like a painful grunt. One where he acknowledged his gross stupidity. Jena scoffed. It was way too late for remorse.
“You said you didn't work for Vince Rizzoni,” Jena said to Grunt. “So why are you doing this? I hope Frank is paying you enough money to face a kidnapping charge. I don't think they're as lenient with felons in Scotland as they are in the States. You want to do the time for Frank? A guy who doesn't know the meaning of loyalty. If you think he's going to stick by you when the shit hits the fan, you are seriously mistaken.”
Joe let out a heavy sigh. “When we said we were taking you to make you talk, we didn't mean to us. How about you zip it until you have Frank's attention?”
Jena barked out an angry laugh. “Yeah, I'll get right on that. After all, you did kidnap me, therefore I should do everything you tell me to do. You two must be new to this criminal thing. I’ve got to tell you, I'm far from impressed. Used to be there was a better class of criminal in Atlantic City. There were professional standards. You’re falling short, boys.”
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