40. Sydney
CHAPTER 40
SYDNEY
As Gracen left the room, she paused and whispered in my ear, “If you want to win the war, you have to play a little chess. This gives you the chance to get things in order to take the king.”
She also slipped me a piece of paper with a phone number and ‘Grandma’ written below it. I’m not sure what she thinks I should do with that information. The woman didn’t seem inclined to help earlier.
It took me a solid twenty minutes of stewing and moping after everyone left to understand what Gracen meant with her cryptic saying. She knows I’m out for revenge. And the only way to bring down the Ricci family…is with Fletcher’s help. I’ve been keeping him apprised of what’s going on, but he doesn’t know we’ve almost found the money.
Time to play some chess.
I spend the next two hours making my own plan and the next two hours after that on the phone with Fletcher and sort out who will be where when. If I can get the money and the murderer, then I’ll feel like we’ve evened the playing field a little.
Once that’s all settled, I turn on some mindless TV. I want nothing more than to go outside and catch a taxi and help the guys search cargo containers. But I did give my word.
Soon a knock echoes through the room. They’re back.
I open the door to find Lucky standing on the other side.
He’s alone.
He shakes his finger at me. “You should have looked. You should have looked .”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “How do you know I didn't look?”
“I could hear the footsteps. You only paused to unlock the door, not to look.” He steps inside the room and closes and locks the door.
“You’re not going to lecture me like West would, are you?”
Lucky scoffs at that. “Of course not. My lecturing has so much more class. People actually enjoy being lectured by me.”
I laugh. “Now I know you’re full of it. Where is everyone?”
“They’re still talking to the port manager and seeing if they can access the containers on one of the piers.”
“Let me guess, West sent you back to make sure I stayed put,” I say drily.
“Actually, I volunteered. Crew and West are better suited to checking Pier 86.”
“Should we be worried about West and Crew somewhere together?”
Lucky answers me, “Only if Crew makes a comment about you.” He clicks his tongue. “West seems to have a jealous streak.”
I scoff at that. “West can’t wait to get rid of me and collect his money. Why would he care about what Crew says?”
Lucky chuckles. “I wasn’t born yesterday, and neither were you. We both know West cares for you.”
Shaking my head I focus on finding my phone and shoving it in my pocket. “Poor guy needs some time to himself to realize he’s not actually interested in me.”
I turn around to find Lucky giving me a ‘you’re ridiculous’ look. “When this is all done, West will walk away and not give me a second thought.”
“Meh, I’m good at people. He’ll be like a thorn in your side for the rest of your life.”
I laugh at that, because imagining not being able to get rid of West is a funny mental image. He’s been trying to get rid of me ever since we met.
But I decided not to dwell on this conversation anymore. “Are they going to check Pier 68 as well?”
“They’d better,” Lucky shrugs as he pulls out his phone. “Because when I left, all I saw on 86 was a bunch of concrete trucks and a few rail cars. I don’t think they’ll find what they’re looking for there.
“I had some time to do some research…and what if it’s in the Port of Oakland? They have a pier 68 as well.”
Lucky straightens at that. “Now then…that could be. That might be worth checking out. Good work. We’ll just text the kids and let them know.”
He pulls out his phone and fires off a couple of texts.
“You’re not that much older than ‘the kids.’” I state.
“True. But it gives me the upper hand to play up my age sometimes,” he replies with a wink.
“So. what are we supposed to do while we’re waiting for Bodie and Gracen to get back?” I ask Lucky who shakes his head.
“I don’t know. It’s not like we can do a whole lot of sightseeing,” he says. “Not when you’re practically under house arrest.”
“That’s partly your fault. You could have sided with me,” I remind him.
“So very true. But I want you to live—even if it means you’re mad at me.”
“It’s okay. I understand. But I am hungry. There’s no room service here.”
Lucky snorts. “There’s not even a good restaurant in this hotel. I tried it the first night—terrible.”
I laugh at that. “You realize we’re staying in a three-star hotel, right?”
He scowls at that. “It’s painful of you to remind me. Very cruel. As if we couldn’t find something nice and pleasant with decent room service.”
“Oh, it’s not that we couldn’t find somewhere; it’s that Crew and West are a little bit stingy.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Lucky says. “Let’s go grab dinner while we wait for those two clowns. I don’t think Bodie and Gracen will be coming back here. I taught my nephew to enjoy the finer things in life and they’re staying at The Ritz-Carlton.”
“Aha. It’s too bad Crew wouldn’t let us stay there.”
Lucky shrugs, “He’s a bit of a tightwad; what can I say? Maybe we could sneak you out in the car and find a decent restaurant nearby.”
“I’m fine with that; just let me grab my purse.” I turn around and head back into the hotel room. I don’t know why we’re standing here talking in the hall. I grab my crossbody bag and throw my hair up into a small pony. Hopefully, he doesn’t plan on going anywhere fancy. My jeans and now stained running shoes aren’t exactly five-star dining attire.
As we walk down to the lobby, I check my phone to see if I have any texts from West. It’s all silent on his front. There’s just a text from my brother Maverick.
I do my best to text him back without tripping and stay somewhat close to Lucky.
“Why don’t you stay here, and I’ll bring the car? There’s less chance of street cameras catching your picture,” Lucky suggests once we reach the lobby.
“OK, thanks!” He leaves the building and I open my messages.
Maverick: Mom says she can’t get a hold of you. Archer’s worried.
That’s not good. Archer is the bossy one.
Me: I’m on a relaxing trip. There’s nothing to worry about.
Maverick: You’re always a horrible liar. What are you really doing?
Me:Would you believe that I witnessed a murder and am being chased by the mafia, but I have help from an ex-cop and two con men?
There are a lot of dots that keep popping up and then disappearing as though Maverick can’t decide how to respond. Good. I’ll keep him guessing. He’ll probably think I’m joking.
I finish texting Maverick, then glance up and realize the car isn’t here yet. The parking garage is just across the street so I assumed Lucky wouldn’t be too long.
I shove my phone in my pocket and start walking out the door. Maybe he got stuck in traffic, and I could walk down and meet him. There’s no doorman at this hotel, probably another mark against it in Lucky’s eyes. But it means I can press my face to the glass and look around for anything suspicious. Everything looks quiet, so I lean into the door, pushing it open. They don’t even have the budget to have automatic doors here.
When I stumble outside onto the sidewalk, I glance up and down the street, which is not too busy at this hour. I still do not see Lucky.
Maybe he’s having car trouble with that tiny little car. That wouldn’t surprise me. We probably exceeded the weight limit with the four of us driving around in it.
I head towards the parking garage, and when there’s a break in traffic, I jay walk across the street.
When I finally reach the level that the hotel cars are parked on, there’s still no sign of Lucky. I made sure to walk up the ‘out’ driveway so that I would see him if he drove by.
But when I reach the designated hotel parking lot, I spot the car right away. The only problem is, the doors are wide open, and I don’t see Lucky in there anywhere. I hurry over to the car and see that there is a wallet on the ground and keys sitting on the seat. I look around the parking garage and wonder why he would be so careless. But I don’t see a single sign of him. He’s nowhere to be found.
This is not good. I pull out my phone and call West. Turns out his phone is working just fine because he answers right away.
“Hello?”
“So now you decide to answer your phone,” I snap.
“What is happening?” he asks.
“Lucky isn’t here.”
“Of course he’s not there; I thought he was out running some errands,” West says.
“Yes, but he came back to the hotel and came up to the hotel room, and we are going to get some dinner. He left me in the hotel lobby to go get the car, but it had been a while, so I finally came out here to the parking garage, and the car door was open. His wallet was on the ground, and the keys were on the seat. He’s nowhere here.”
“Are you sure he didn’t just sit behind a pillar there?”
“No, West, he’s not ‘behind a pillar,’” I mimic his tone of voice.
I have pulled everyone into this big mess, and I just know something awful has happened to him.
“First of all, is there any blood around?” West asks quietly.
I take a deep breath and look around the car. There’s no sign of anything wet. “No, I don’t see anything.”
“Good. Now, I want you to go back into the hotel lobby and wait for me in our room. Do you understand? Do not open that door for anyone but me. I’ll be there in just a little bit.”
I’m in no hurry to get myself in bigger trouble, so I run back to the hotel and sprint through the lobby to the surprise of the concierge.
I jump into the elevator with a middle-aged couple who look rather confused when I punch my floor number five times in a row.
The elevator seems to take forever to get up to the third floor. I feel every lurch, every screech, and I’m counting the seconds. The couple next to me tries to start a conversation, but I just smile and don’t really process the words that they’re saying.
Because maybe something bad didn’t happen to Lucky. Maybe he paces while he smokes and then maybe he got lost and forgot where he parked the car. But then, that doesn’t explain the wallet and the keys.
That paranoid soul would never leave his wallet somewhere on purpose, which is maybe the biggest clue he could’ve left us. He would not have left it there on purpose, which means he was taken away by force. I take a deep breath as I step off the elevator and head to the hotel room. I hurry and unlock it, slip inside, then bolt the top, and flip the catch at the top of the door.
Surely, this wouldn’t be something that random. I pull my phone from my pocket at the sound of the chime.
It’s an email. I click it open to find a picture of a handcuffed Lucky in the backseat of some kind of SUV. He has a piece of duct tape over his mouth, and he looks annoyed. Not even mad or fearful. I suck in a breath of relief that he seems to be alive still.
If you want your friend back, you’ll bring us the money .
That’s all it says so helpful, so cryptic, and also terrifying. This is not how I saw this adventure going. This was supposed to be a find-missing-money, take-it, and no-one-ever-knows kind of situation. My revenge was going to be silent. No one was going to know I got the revenge except me, and select people shared.
How did they even get my email? They must know exactly who I am. That puts my family immediately at risk too.
It’s time to end this once and for all.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I make a phone call because sitting here waiting might just kill me.
Gracen’s grandmother answers in a surprised tone, “Who is this?”
“I spoke to you this morning on the phone with your grandkids. My name is Sydney. I don’t know if you remember.”
She cuts me off. “I’m not senile; of course I remember you.”
“Gracen gave me your phone number. I hope this isn’t too forward, but I think I need your help. Someone took Lucky. And I think it’s the Riccis. You mentioned on the phone that you had dealt with them before in the past. I know this is nosy, but I really need to find them, and they want me to pay them a bunch of money that I have. Basically, I need all the help and information I can find to put an end to this madness.”
“And what would that help you with?” She asks.
“Well to be honest, I’m out to get the Ricci family. So if they’re friends of yours, I’m sorry but I will do everything I can to take them down.”
“Good girl,” Cleo says with a laugh. “I knew you had some fire under you somewhere. It’s always the happy ones that have a little vengeful streak.”
“Oh well, I’m glad you’re not upset about it.” I pace back and forth on the old hotel carpet.
“Has my grandson told you what my maiden name was?” She asks.
“No, Crew and I haven’t really gotten into the discussion of family history,” I tell her. Nor will we ever, I add to myself.
“I was born Cleo Ricci.” She lets that declaration hang in the air, and the wheels in my mind start turning as I consider what it could actually mean.
Did I just call the person who orchestrated this? I bump my knee on the desk.
“I can hear you panicking. Please tone it down. If you’re going to make it in this type of world, you will have to pull it together.”
I suck in a breath at her biting words and formulate an answer.
But she continues, “I like you. I want to see you survive. I left my family and everything they stood for when I married. I made a choice the day I married Nick, and I made that choice based on a set of morals. Well maybe not morals, but a set of standards by any means. My brother has no standards and wouldn’t know a moral if it hit him in the face. Which is why I’m not surprised he’s trying to use your friend as leverage.”
Cleo was a Ricci…and she escaped. There’s hope yet.
“Which is why I know very well what the Ricci family is capable of. Now I think it might be a good time for you to tell me what you did to piss him off.”
“I was getting revenge for them taking my dad’s career and then witnessed the murder or at least walked into the middle of a murder scene so they can’t really leave me around. And now I think they think that I have the money already. They want to get their money and kill me all in one swoop, and honestly, I really brought this on myself, and I’ll be happy everyone else who’s connected to this is able to walk away.”
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to put some plans in place to make sure you all walk away from this. And I do mean all.” Somehow this stranger’s words, the most comforting thing I’ve heard all day.
Cleo clears her throat. “Let me give you your best bargaining chip. It’s on pier 68 in the port of Oakland. The cargo number is…”