Seduced by Sunday (34 page)

Rick held up his hand and stopped her. “The minute we load that boat, we become drug runners.”

“What choice do we have?” Val asked. “He has my sister.”

Meg watched as Val and Rick argued. She didn’t add that Alonzo had mandated that she be on board.

“When you boys finish arguing, you can find me at the warehouse.” Without more, Meg left the office and went out of the building.

Val caught up with her two minutes later. He left Rick back long enough for him to call Neil and put into action some sort of plan.

Margaret was right, however, sitting around and acting as if they weren’t compliant wasn’t going to ensure Gabi’s safe return.

Val darted around Margaret and pulled her along a shortcut to the warehouse. One that wouldn’t be littered with guests. “This way.”

She followed, held his hand tight, and shifted her eyes behind them. “I hate to think someone is watching us.”

“I will fire everyone. Start over.”

“This is crazy. He is crazy. His words were even and practiced, but I could hear the panic between his words.”

“I wish we knew if he was the dealer, or the delivery man. If he’s only transporting, then the dealer is looking for his drugs.”

Margaret slowed and met his eyes. “And how is it you know the ins and outs of drug dealing?”

Val offered a dry grin. “I grew up in New York. Everyone knew someone. Small dealers become big dealers if they don’t take their own crap. If Alonzo is the delivery man, then someone is probably threatening him.”

“That makes him desperate,” she said.

“Desperate men are dangerous.”

They rounded the corner to the warehouse and slowed their pace.

“Something else Alonzo said has me puzzled. He kept calling Gabi his wife, his bride. Not in the sense that she was his future bride, but as if they were already married.”

Val stopped walking altogether.

Margaret moved beside him.

“Gabi wouldn’t—”

“Gabi is higher than the moon. There’s no telling what she’s done.”

Val ran a hand through his thick hair. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe if she’s tied to him, and he gets his shit back, then he can keep her, you . . . all of us quiet? Who knows the thoughts of a psycho?”

“We need more time,
cara
. Time to learn his plan.”

Margaret glanced at the watch on her wrist. “We have forty minutes. Think fast.”

Val pulled her along, shouting orders the minute he reached the ears of his employees in the warehouse.

The off-island charter was pulled along his dock. Captain Stephan stood to the side of the ramps that allowed passengers on and off the ship. Only passengers weren’t coming or going. In fact, the charter didn’t normally sit on the dock at this hour.

“Stay here,” he told Margaret as he released her hand.

She looked at the boat and lost color in her cheeks.

It took divine intervention not to throw Stephan into the turquoise waters of the Keys.

Stephan tracked Val’s approach with his eyes . . . a smug smile on his face.

Without thought, Val reached a hand up to Stephan’s throat the moment he stopped in front of the man, and squeezed. “I don’t know what he promised you, but I will promise you this. I will find you and you will pay.”

Something hard bit into Val’s side. Instead of looking, he eased his grip. Of course, the captain would have a gun. Drugs and guns were synonymous, weren’t they?

“Good choice, Valentino.” Stephan rolled his head on his shoulders once Val let him go. “Now, don’t you have some packing to do?”

Val’s fists itched to fly.

They didn’t. Maintaining control was paramount. He knew that.

Shifting his focus, he moved back to Margaret’s side. Her skin hadn’t recovered her normal color and she stared at the boat as if it had grown horns.

The two of them moved back into the warehouse and down into the wine vault. Rick was there, coordinating the packing effort.

Rick was shouting orders, and Val’s men fell in place.

Margaret sat on the far end of the cellar, her phone in her hand.

Signaling Rick over, Val said in hushed tones, “If we give this over, there’s no need for him to keep Gabi alive.”

Rick leaned forward and whispered. “Look closer.”

The staff stacked the pallets, but as they did, they pulled crates of wine that didn’t belong to Alonzo in the center surrounded by the crates holding the drugs. The ratio of missing drugs would be a third.

“Leverage?”

Rick nodded. “Neil is assembling backup. He’s offshore.”

Val clenched his fist. “Feels like a trap. I don’t like any of this.”

“Have a better idea?”

“Call the police?”

Rick offered a smile and a wink. “Neil has done one better.”

Val hoped to hell that Rick and his friends were more than just talk.

Margaret caught his attention again. She shivered. Reluctant to let her out of his sight, he removed his jacket from one of the wine racks he’d carelessly tossed it on hours before, and placed it over her shoulders.

“Thanks,” she managed.

Val kissed her forehead. She was a strong woman, but it was obvious that everything was taking its toll on her. “Do you need your inhaler?”

She shook her head. “My new daily meds have made big changes. Don’t worry about me.”

That wouldn’t be possible. Val knelt in front of her and captured her cold hands in his.

“I’m sorry this happened, Val.”

“None of this is your fault.”

She didn’t look convinced.

The last of the crates were packed onto a pallet and wrapped before a mini forklift removed them.

Val leaned forward and met Margaret’s cold lips for a brief kiss. “You should stay here.”

Her eyes grew wide. “No. I can’t.”

He understood the need to witness whatever was going to happen with his own eyes, but he didn’t want Margaret anywhere near Stephan. Then again, he didn’t want her roaming the wine vault still filled with illegal drugs either. If someone who had helped them pack up the wine in record time was in with Alonzo, they’d be called out before Stephan left the dock.

Sandwiched between Rick and Val, Margaret walked with them to the charter. The heat outside was close to ninety, but Margaret still shivered. When Val moved away from the two of them to talk to Stephan, Margaret stumbled and Rick caught her.

“I’m OK. Sorry.”

She looked positively sick and there was nothing Val could do about it.

Val halted the driver of the forklift before he placed the last pallet on the overloaded boat.

“C’mon, Masini . . . get it in there.” Stephan kept a hand in his pocket, the same one Val knew held a gun.

“Only when I know Gabi is safe.”

“You don’t hold any bargaining chips.”

“Pick up your phone and call your boss. Or you can leave with a partial shipment, and once Gabi is safe, you can have the rest.”

From the expression crossing Stephan’s face, he wasn’t prepared for conflict.

“For all I know Gabi is already gone.”

A phone started to ring.

Everyone turned and stared at Margaret. She answered . . . “Gabi?”

“Move the crates onto the ship, Masini,” Stephan yelled.

Val tried to hear Margaret’s conversation and looked at Rick for a hint of what he should do.

“Where are you?” Margaret yelled into the phone.

“Time is ticking . . .” Stephan said with a laugh.

“You see the island? Can you see people?” Margaret was turning away from Rick, looking out over the ocean.

Stephan moved from where he stood, kept his back to the ship, and removed the gun from his pocket. He waved it at the forklift driver. “Move!”

The men on the dock ducked away from the swinging barrel of the gun.

Margaret moved closer to the edge of the dock. “She says she’s on a small boat and can see lots of people on a beach,” she told them. “No! Don’t. We’ll find you. You can’t swim that far.”

Val’s heart sank. He’d save his sister only for her to jump into the water, high on God knew what, and drown.

The forklift started to move.

Val’s phone rang from his back pocket.

Rick was inching his way closer to Margaret, who didn’t seem to notice any of the unfolding drama on the dock.

“You might want to take that call, Masini,” Stephan suggested.

The last thing Val needed was an interruption.

Without taking his eyes off Stephan and the gun that was rotating between them, Val answered his phone without looking. “Yes?”

“Your hour was up ten minutes ago. I expected you to take my demand seriously.”

The man who he’d once let into his home, allowed the privilege of courting his sister, now sounded deadly.

“Where is Gabi?”

“Bobbing along. Close enough to see her blow up if you don’t move faster.”

The last pallet was loaded, the driver pulled the forklift away, and the men loading the wine ran.

“Meg?” Rick called her name.

Before Val could tell Alonzo the crates were loaded, Stephan lunged between Margaret and Rick.

Rick had his gun out and pointed at Stephan’s head. “Back off.”

Stephan shook his head, slow and easy. “Not part of the deal. She goes with me.”

All the blood in Val’s brain drained to his feet. “No!”

The phone in Margaret’s hand hung loose in her fingers. The breeze off the ocean whipped her short hair into her eyes, smoky amber eyes that expressed more than any words spoken.

“Drop the gun,” Rick ordered.

“Shoot me, and Gabi is dead.”

Val hadn’t realized that Alonzo was still yelling into the phone. He lifted it to his ear. “You’re wasting my time, Masini,” he said. “Pay close attention . . . the next one will blow in five minutes if my shipment hasn’t left . . . with your woman.”

“Andare all’inferno!”

“I’m going to hell anyway, Val.” The words left Alonzo’s lips when an explosion drew all their attention to the ocean.

“Gabi?” Margaret screamed into the phone. “Gabi?”

Rick cocked his gun, took a step closer.

Val was sick, felt his life slipping away.

Margaret gasped, her knees buckled. “No, baby . . . hold on. We’re coming.” There were tears in her eyes. Her lips trembled.

“Do you get my message, Val?” Alonzo asked.

“Four minutes, thirty seconds . . .” Stephan reminded him. “Let’s go, Blondie.” He nodded toward the boat.

“Christ.”

Margaret’s feet were in motion, only she was walking onto the boat, not away.

“Margaret, no!”

“He’s going to kill her if I don’t.” She glanced at Rick, briefly. “Ask Judy what sport I excelled in when we were in college.”

When her foot stepped up to the boat, Val knew he wouldn’t see her alive again. His sister . . . or the woman who had stolen his heart?

Rick uncocked his gun, lowered it.

“Anyone follows us,” Stephan said as he backed into the boat behind Margaret, “and this one’s dead.”

Left without choices, Val stood beside Rick as Stephan released the rope holding his ship to the dock and jumped onto the vessel.

Stephan took hold of Margaret’s arm, pulled her phone from her fingers, and tossed it onto the dock. “Wouldn’t want you to trace a phone.”

He shoved her inside, where he maneuvered the ship away. It didn’t take long for him to clear the dock and find speed.

Rick slipped away and all Val could do was stare.

Alonzo was still on the phone.

Frustrated rage built and boiled. Once again, Val was yelling into a phone. “Harm her, and you’re a dead man.”

“Murder is messy, Masini. Not that I mind it. Now go find my wife and keep her safe. I’ll be in touch.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

So hot . . . escaping the sun wasn’t possible. And how did she end up on a two-person dinghy?

Her head hurt, but it wasn’t bad . . . not as bad as it would be.

Gabi grabbed her head with both hands and started to rock. If only she could sleep. That would be better than waiting for the pain to worsen.

She stood, and felt the boat tip under her bare feet. The white dress she wore at her wedding was hanging off her shoulders. When was the last time she changed clothes?

And a shower . . . she wanted a shower.