Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
FYNN
"FUCKING HELL." THE second I hear a gun go off, I don't wait to see what else is going to happen, I just begin to run. I know this is Elaine’s specialty and I should trust her judgment, but I won't stand by, leaving my wife in harm's way.
The ramp leading from the dock to the boat bounces under my weight as I sprint up it. I race across the deck and to the doorway Sylvia passed through less than a minute ago, looking fecking excited about her job as a distraction.
Hopefully it didn't get her killed.
I won’t let myself consider the possibility it was someone else that bullet reached, yet I can barely breathe as I cut through the opening.
And immediately collide with a very soft, very familiar body. I don't look around. I don't pause. I don't hesitate. I wrap both arms around Valerie, press her tight to my chest and turn, going back the way I came as all hell breaks loose behind me.
That first shot is soon followed by shouts and a barrage of bullets that ping against the other side of the metal on my right.
"Stop." Valerie shoves at my shoulders, trying to wiggle away. "We need to get Sylvia."
"Christ." I spin again, angling Valerie as far from the opening as possible as I reach my arm in and swing around wildly. When it connects with a body, I simply grab and pull, dragging whomever I've caught out. Sylvia stumbles backward, trying to keep her balance, while stretching one arm in front of her, the pistol in her hand firing wildly.
"Stop bloody shooting." I manage to get her behind the metal wall and grab her the same way I grabbed Valerie, grateful both women are significantly shorter than me as I once again sprint away from the bloodbath happening at my back.
"This wasn't part of the plan." Sylvia wiggles around the same way Valerie did earlier, like she believes I'm going to let her go. "Put me down. I told that prick I was going to shoot him in the dick, and I'm going to."
I reach the ramp but don't slow, continuing my speedy path onto the dock before turning in the direction of my parked car. Valerie and Sylvia's feet bang against my shins, and I know I'll have a collection of bruises there tomorrow, but neither one of them is getting down until they are safely locked up, because I don't doubt Sylvia's intentions, and I don't doubt my wife's soft heart. Sylvia will run back in there, and my wife will follow her.
I reach the small gravel lot, unsurprised to see the lookout Elaine’s people relieved of his duty when we arrived is nowhere to be seen. He likely will never be seen again, and I don't fucking care. I never thought of myself as a bloodthirsty sort, but it seems I have only been missing the proper motivation.
The proper motivation being my wife in danger.
My car is the farthest away since I was the last to arrive, delegated to the rear because Elaine wanted to be sure everything was taken care of before I pulled in since I could offer little to no help in this whole mess.
But maybe that's not true. I do have her mother after all. That makes me feel less shitty about dragging her into this.
As I reach my car, I lower Valerie to the ground, pinning her against the door as I fumble with my fob. Once the locks disengage, I yank open the back door and stuff Sylvia's still flailing body inside. She tumbles into the seat and shoots me a dirty look. I point at her, giving her my most stern face. "Stay." Before she can argue I slam the door on her, closing her in.
Then I turn to my wife, cupping her face with my hands as I look her over. A strip of wrinkled duct tape dangles from some strands of her hair and a red line about the same width as the silver adhesive mars the fair skin surrounding her mouth. "Are you okay, Love?"
Her hands fist in my shirt as she gives me a jerky nod. "But I think they were going to kill me."
The fear in her voice breaks my heart and I'm pulling her close, tucking her head to my chest as I breathe against the softness of her hair. "Never, Darling. I would never let that happen." I close my eyes, basking in her presence. In her safety. In her— "They?"
Val nods, her expression turning stony as she tips her head to look up at me. "Jessica is how Warren found me."
I open my mouth, then clamp my lips back together, because there's nothing I can say. This is my fault. Everything would have been over if it hadn't been for me in my own bullshit.
My wife almost died because of me.
I pull Valerie back against me, holding her even tighter. "I should have just fucking paid them all off. Warren. Jessica—"
"Abso-fucking-lutely not." Valerie pushes at my chest, and now she's the one glaring at me. "Neither one of them deserves to get anything from you."
"It's not about the money, Val. It's about keeping you safe." I lift my hand to smooth back her hair, but it's hopelessly tangled in the duct tape, and I don't want to make matters worse. "I promised I would keep you safe, and I have failed. Horribly."
She shakes her head, the movement aggressive. "You are the only reason I'm alive, Fynn. If it wasn't for you I would've been dead weeks ago." She looks around, eyes falling on where Sylvia sits in the back seat, arms crossed tightly against her chest, lower lip pushed out in a pout. "Even now, if it wasn’t for you, I would be dead on that boat. "
I can give her the comment about the initial danger she was in, but if it wasn't for me we wouldn't be here at this dock. We would be safe at home. "I have enough money to make anything go away, and from this point forward I will be using it any time the need arises. I won’t have someone take you from me again."
Valerie starts to argue, but stops short, her brows pinching together. “How did you know where to find me?” She stands a little taller, forehead furrowing. “How did you know I’d been taken at all?”
“I was coming to find you.” My chest tightens at the memory and my arms flex where they hold her. “I saw them grab you and force you into the car.” Again, I feel as if I’ve failed her. “If I’d only left a few minutes sooner—”
“They would have just gotten me some other day.” Valerie blows out a breath. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Jessica really doesn’t like me.” She presses her lips together and turns toward the boat. “Like, wants me dead, doesn’t like me.”
“Doesn’t matter now, Darling.” I want to calm her fears. “You won’t have to worry about her ever again.”
Valerie chews her lower lip, expression pinched. “Because of all those gunshots?” I could swear she looks upset by the possibility. I’m not surprised. My wife is sweet and has a vicious streak, but she’s not the kind of person who would ever wish someone dead.
Even someone like Jessica.
“We will likely never know what happened in there.” I was kept in the dark about much of what Elaine planned tonight, and I intend to keep it that way. Elaine can deal with Warren’s infraction however she wants. He brought his business into her territory and I doubt she’ll be forgiving.
Jessica, however, might be a different story.
“There you are.” Elaine strides through the lot, heading straight for us, looking as polished as ever in spite of what just happened. “Thank you for grabbing my mother before she could get herself hurt.”
“Of course.” I tip my head toward the backseat where Sylvia is stewing. “Do you need me to take her home?”
Elaine shakes her head. “I’m finished here.” She holds my gaze. “Unless you’d like for me to tie all the loose ends to a brick.”
I wish I was as good of a person as my wife is, but I’m not. “Will the loose end cause me or my wife any problems in the future?”
Elaine throws her head back on a laugh, the sound loud and throaty. She wipes at the corner of one eye, lips holding a smile. “No.”
I tip my head in a nod of understanding. “Good.”
Elaine motions to where Sylvia is watching us, mouth still creased in a pout. “I’ll get my mother out of your hair then and let you two get on with your evening.” She says it like we just met up for drinks, and maybe to her, tonight is the equivalent.
I help Sylvia from the car, standing by as Val squeezes her in a tight hug. “Thank you so much. You were amazing.”
“This isn’t my first rodeo.” Sylvia shrugs it off. “I’m just glad I got to shoot someone this time.”
“You weren’t supposed to shoot anyone, Mother.” Elaine’s reprimand lacks any sort of bite. As if she might be a little proud. “And where in the hell did you come up with the idea for that swingers club?”
Sylvia smooths out her floral printed shirt. “I didn’t come up with it.” She gives her daughter a grin. “It really exists.”
Elaine lifts her eyes toward the heavens. “And how do you know it exists?”
“Heard about it from Wilfred. He goes every month.” Sylvia lays the fact out like it’s nothing out of the ordinary.
Elaine’s lip curls. “Wilfred from the closet at The Sweet Side Supper Club?”
“You know another Wilfred?” Sylvia asks with no small amount of snark.
“I guess that explains why the floor was so slimy.”
Everyone turns to where Valerie is still tucked against me. Elaine stares at her for a beat before throwing her head back, yet again, on a long laugh. She reaches out to pat Val on the shoulder. “You are a funny girl.” She points at me, brows lifted. “I’m assuming she’ll be part of our new business venture?”
My brain stumbles. “Our new business venture?”
Elaine’s smile is wide as she meets my gaze. “I think you and I can make a lot of money together.” She turns to her mother, lifting the back of Sylvia’s shirt to retrieve the pistol shoved into the waistband of her trousers, disarming the older woman before she’s even realized what’s happening. “Plus, you owe me a favor. ”
I smooth one hand down my wife’s spine, stopping at the small of her back. “I will forever be in your debt for tonight.”
Elaine’s smile holds. “Not forever.” She shoots Valerie a wink. “And I would have had to be involved anyway. I can’t tolerate someone like Warren thinking Sweet Side is a safe place to conduct his business.”
A dark sedan pulls up beside us and an older, well-dressed man gets out of the driver’s side, rounds the front, and opens the passenger’s door. Elaine sets a time for us to meet in the morning before settling into the car. Sylvia blows Val a kiss from her spot in the back as they pull away.
I waste no time getting my own wife loaded up and buckled in. We’re pulling out of the lot less than a minute after Elaine, and I let my foot weigh heavy on the gas.
Val twists in her seat, looking behind us as we speed away. “Do you think Warren is dead?”
“I think that’s a question we are never going to ask anyone.” I glance in the rearview just to be sure no one’s following us. “Same with Jessica. And we know nothing about what happened tonight on that boat and even less about their whereabouts.”
Val watches out the back a few seconds more before slowly facing me. “Are we really going to start a business venture with Elaine?”
"I think you mean, are we going to start another business venture with Elaine?" I reach across the console to clasp Valerie's hand in mine. "Because, if you'll remember correctly, I was already Mafia adjacent."
I LEAN BACK in my office chair, mind wandering since my presence is less than unneeded. Valerie and Elaine have been going over the parameters of the business proposition the latter brought to our office this morning. Her idea to develop yet another of Sweet Side’s ageing strip malls into a destination shopping center of sorts isn't a bad one, and I'm interested to see where it will go. But, since it will cater specifically to women in Elaine and my mother’s demographic, my input is all but useless, so I've kept my mouth shut. Happily.
I love seeing my wife in her element, and Valerie is most definitely in her element. The woman is both brilliant and wickedly smart, proving her business savvy as she asks questions that would have never occurred to me. By the end of our meeting, Elaine is armed with a list of information she needs to collect, and questions she needs to answer. Everything from how she plans to market to her target audience, to what sort of designs the women she's hoping to draw in would prefer.
Once she's finally gone, I close the door behind her, and lure my wife behind the desk under the guise of needing her to look over some paperwork. I hardly let her get in place before I lift her onto the surface, dropping back into the chair I've occupied all morning as I flip up the gathered fabric of her sundress and slide my palms up the soft skin of her thighs. “You’ve worked hard this morning, wife.” I let my thumbs tease along the lace of her knickers. “I think Elaine was very impressed with you.”
Valerie sucks in a breath, her voice a hushed whisper when she asks, “You do?”
“I do.” I hook my fingers into the elastic at her waist. “I was very impressed with you too.”
Valerie lifts her bottom off the desk so I can drag her knickers down. “You were?”
“Absolutely I was.” I leave the scrap of pale pink lace at her knees. “But I’m always impressed with you, Darling. You are a fucking gift.”
My wife’s full lips part and her fair skin flushes as I lift her legs so I can duck under the tangle of her knickers. “Do I count as a gift if you had to pay for me?”
I know she’s still struggling with the way things had to go between her father and me. Val has attempted to reimburse me for the money I sent the old prick more times than I can count, and I’ve refused each and every one of them.
As I will continue to do.
“I would pay for you ten times over, wife.” I lean in to slide my lips up the inside of one creamy thigh, reveling in her scent. “Especially since I get to feast on this lovely cunt every day.” I give her slit a long, lascivious lick, greedily lapping at her slick flesh. “I’m more than getting my money’s worth.”