by Cruz, Sofia
"What? You think I'm bluffing?"
"As a matter of fact..."
Lonna was now standing toe to toe with Melanie, literally nose to nose. "One phone call, and this little bitch you're so hot for, goes straight to jail for embezzlement, and when they investigate, they'll find Matthews Enterprises is wiped out; completely bankrupt."
Jessica had been keenly watching the argument, listening in. When she heard Lonna's last comment, though, her head snapped towards her uncle, but he looked as surprised as she was.
Melanie noticed Jessica and David's reaction, which spoke volumes, and decided she needed to bait Lonna a little longer. "Completely bankrupt?"
Lonna became smug, nodded in the affirmative. "You see, while Felicia was sitting here, leading you on, she had a hacker sneak into the company's system and transfer their funds to her Swiss bank account."
"Hmmm. Well, seeing that you know so much about it, wouldn't that makes you an accomplice?"
"Oh no. I'm the poor, duped girlfriend who just happened to stumble onto Felicia's scheme." Lonna laid a hand against her chest. "And as an upstanding citizen, I quickly reported it to the authorities. Felicia will be arrested within the hour. In fact, they might mistake YOU for an accomplice."
"Bingo!" was all Melanie could think. She raised her hand into the air and seemed to wave someone over. All heads turned to face the same direction she was looking in. Three men emerged from the kitchen area, two of them in dark suits flanking a third man dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, his face sullen, hands cuffed in front of him.
As they approached, Melanie watched all color drain from Lonna's face. She turned to bolt, but Melanie grabbed her arm and kicked a knee out from under her. Lonna would have fell, but Melanie yanked her back onto her feet and, with a tight hold on one of Lonna's hands, pulled her to stand in front of her while she twisted Lonna's arm behind her back, effectively holding her in place.
The three men stepped up to them. "Lonna, I'd like you to meet Special Agent Tom Lucas of the FBI. I'm not sure who his friend is, the other suite, but I know I don't have to introduce you to Ralph here." Melanie nodded towards the man in handcuffs.
"In fact, I believe you two are old friends, of sorts. Well, you were, anyway. I suppose that's all over now." Melanie pressed up against Lonna's back and spoke into her ear. "You see, Ralph and I spent the morning together, discussing his outstanding warrants. Deep down, he's a really swell guy, so I helped him out and hooked him up with Agent Lucas. See, Tom and I go back a ways, and since he owed me a favor," Melanie shot Tom a smile, which he returned, "he was happy to drive down to Baton Rouge and listen to Ralph's story."
"It's pretty sad, actually. It seems he got seduced by this older woman, who promised him the sun and moon, if he just did a few favors for her, like siphon some funds from Matthews Enterprises and make it look like Felicia did the whole thing. Ralph's really, really good with computers, so it wasn't all that hard, but he was really upset this morning when I told him you really hate guys and planned on taking off with another woman, that you've been fucking another woman this whole time, while you told him he had to wait for it."
"Tusk, tusk, Lonna. Don't you know guys hate to be dumped for another woman? Anyway, once I explained the situation, showed him photos of you banging one of your waitresses behind the club the other night, he got kind of vengeful. Of course, I was more than happy to help him with that and, as a bonus, get him immunity for spilling his guts about your plan."
Jessica rounded the table, fire in her eyes directed at Melanie. "Why the hell did you wait this long? We could have had this bitch arrested the minute she got here."
Melanie met Jessica's glare. "Because. This way, we get a confession, of sorts, and a guarantee that Lonna Tassin will never darken the Matthews's doorstep ever again."
Agent Lucas pulled a small tape recorder out of his pocket and played back the last few minutes of Melanie and Lonna's conversation. "I think," he said, "that the jury will be pretty interested in hearing Ms. Tassin explain how she knew all about the depletion of Matthews Enterprise's funds. Which, by the way, never actually occurred, since our friend here," Tom gave Ralph's arm a little tug, "decided to come forward this morning."
Melanie looked at Tom, who was standing directly in front of Lonna. "Want to take this one off my hands too?"
"With pleasure." Tom stepped forwarded, walked behind Lonna, and promptly cuffed her. He pushed her forward and all four of them, Tom with Lonna and the other agent holding Ralph, began to walk away. Tom stopped and looked back.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Melanie, as always."
Melanie smiled and waved as the FBI agent marched a very disgruntled Lonna out the front door. She turned towards Jessica, who was staring at her sister. Felicia was staring back, a death grip on the back of the chair she was sitting in. Neither of them spoke, and David and Mama seemed reluctant to step between them, or break the silence.
"Kiss and make up already," Melanie said, her voice a mix of impatience and amusement.
Suddenly, Felicia launched herself out of the chair and straight into Jessica's open arms. The two sisters held on tight to each other, crying. David rushed over and wrapped his arms around both of them. Mama stood beside the table, wiping tears from her eyes with a linen napkin.
Melanie stood back and watched, happy to see the Matthews family reunited. Jessica jerked away from her family and turned towards Melanie.
"Don't you dare!"
"What?"
"The last time the three of us got caught up in a family moment, you disappeared."
Melanie walked towards Jessica, pulling her hat and mask off as she went. Once she was standing directly in front of Jessica, she framed her face with her hands and pulled her in for a deep kiss. Long minutes passed as she dipped her tongue between Jessica's soft lips, their tongues tangling together. Finally, Melanie pulled her head back and stared in Jessica's eyes.
"No such luck, this time. You're stuck with me, angel."
Jessica threw her arms around Melanie and hugged her for all she was worth. Melanie glanced up to see David and Felicia grinning at them, arms wrapped behind each other's backs.
"What?"
David spoke first. "Come on you two. Let's go home and celebrate." He started to guide Felicia away, but Melanie untangled herself from Jessica, yet kept hold of one hand. She wrapped the other hand around Felicia's arm and gently pried her away from David.
"Sorry, David, but I made these two a promise." She captured Felicia's hand in hers and stood there, holding on to both sisters. She raised their hands to her lips and kissed each one.
"I think I said something about the three of us walking out together."
Felicia and Jessica looked at each other, smiled, then they stepped forward and, one standing on each side of Melanie, wrapped an arm across her back. Melanie reached out both arms to encircle their waists and pull them close against her.
"And you always keep your promises, don't you?" Jessica asked, beaming at her.
"You bet your Cajun ass I do." She smirked at Jessica as she heard Felicia burst out laughing beside her, and felt her heart warm. She'd done it. She fixed everything, and now she had her family back; a new family in a new town, but it was all hers.