Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
There is a loud bang, and Ellis loses his footing and falls into me. He cries out in pain, and as I steady him, we both notice a red blotch start spreading across his T-shirt. He clutches his side and looks over to meet my eyes.
“I think I’ve been shot,” he murmurs.
On the beach, the crowd is quieted from the loud boom, frightened as they look around, not sure of its source.
At this end of the dock, we’re mostly hidden from their view.
The Shack continues to billow out smoke, making everything hazy.
Our father stands at The Tarpon, eyes wide, as my brother bleeds next to me.
Our dad realizes what’s happened, and takes off in our direction. Just as he starts to run, a man steps onto the dock from one of the other boats. It’s the tall guy who posed as a detective, and he’s holding a gun, swinging it to aim at each of us.
I gasp, clutching on to my brother as if I can protect us both. And then I realize this creep probably burned down the Surf Shack in an attempt to get us all in one place.
The tall guy motions us toward his boat. “Let’s go,” he orders. When none of us move, he trains the gun on my father. “Now,” the man says.
I hold on to Ellis, the blood spreading across his shirt. There is no way we are getting on that boat.
“There’s a crowd of witnesses,” I say loudly, trying to get their attention. I can’t scream for help, not with my father under threat. But the crowd can’t see us from where we’re standing, half hidden behind the equipment rack.
The guy cocks the gun, and I have to hold my injured brother back from lunging forward to protect our father.
“You think anyone there is going to help you?” the guy asks with a bitter laugh.
“At the end of the day, you could have this all on videotape and no one would care. In fact, I bet by tomorrow you’ll be the one accused of burning down your own business for the insurance money. Now get on the fucking boat.”
There is a flurry of movement as Jamie runs past us—appearing out of nowhere.
The man, startled, quickly shifts the gun to aim at him but it’s too late.
Jamie tackles him on the dock, climbing on top of him and slugging away with both fists.
It’s chaotic, and as I let go of Ellis to help him, the short guy suddenly appears behind my father.
“Not so fast,” he says, pushing the gun against my father’s shoulder. Jamie stops hitting the other guy, still panting hard from the effort. Ellis curses next to me.
I look back toward the crowd, but they can’t see any of this happening. They’re so close, but if I scream, these men will kill my father. Kill all of us. It’s the most helpless feeling in the world.
The guests are gathered together on the beach, phones to their ears while making frantic calls. The sirens sound closer, but I don’t see the flashing lights yet. There’s help all around us, and yet, no one can save us.
Jamie looks over at me, his eyes asking me what he should do. His hand is dripping blood as it runs down from his arm, the stitches surely split. The man underneath him is barely conscious, while the other has my father held at gunpoint.
What choice do we have? We go now and try to fight our way out later.
With my arm supporting him, Ellis and I take a step toward the boat.
“Stop,” Matteo calls, and I turn to see him approaching. He has his hands held up, as if surrendering. Next to me, Ellis tenses. This is the son of the man who wants to kill him.
“It’s okay,” I say, but my brother keeps his gaze sharp.
“Get away from them,” Matteo tells the man with the gun. “It’s over.”
“Kid,” the short guy says frustrated. “I don’t have time for this shit. Go back to your father. We have a job to do.”
Matteo continues forward, glancing at me as he passes. He darts a look at my brother and when he looks at me again, he’s sorry. Like he can make up for everything his father’s done.
And for a moment, he looks just like Felix.
“Matteo, wait,” I breathe out, suddenly afraid that it’s going to happen again. That a Mancini is going to die trying to protect us.
He doesn’t stop; he keeps moving toward the man with the gun. When the short guy points it at him, Matteo pauses, putting up his chin in defiance.
“I’m not joking around,” the man yells to him. Then he pushes my father forward, jabbing the butt of the gun into the back of his head. “Now the rest of you on the boat. We’re taking a trip to Sunset Docks.”
Just as the short guy gets my father to the edge of the dock, Matteo rushes forward. In a smooth movement, he grabs a bait cooler by the handle and swings it. It slams against the head of the guy, knocking him sideways and sending his gun sailing into the water.
My father scurries out of the way, rushing over to help me get Ellis to safety.
I begin to scream for help as we all rush back toward the beach, toward the crowd gathered there. Shawn notices us first from the sand and runs up the dock, no shoes, the sleeves torn on her dress. She’s covered in soot and ash from the fire.
“What happened?” she demands. Then her eyes widen. “Ellis, holy shit,” she adds, wrapping her arm around him and taking over for my father.
“Hey, Shawn,” Ellis murmurs, sounding weak.
She looks at his shirt, and her face pales as she turns quickly to me.
“We need to get him to the hospital,” I tell her.
I look over my shoulder, and see that Matteo has gotten the short guy down, and now he and Jamie are working together to restrain him.
I don’t know what this will mean for him—the danger Matteo has now put himself in—but I’m heartened by his bravery.
I smile a little sadly, wishing Felix could see how much his cousin still loved him.
There is a sudden commotion from the beach, and I turn that way. When I do, I see Alessandro Mancini rushing down from the resort in his tuxedo with another man not far behind. It only takes me a second to know that he’s Jamie’s father—he’s huge.
“What the hell is going on?” Mancini shouts.
Several guests step aside, as if they can avoid his wrath.
He looks at the Surf Shack, the remains of it, and I swear he has a small smile on his lips.
It’s a shot of pure anger to my heart. “Everyone, back to the resort,” he yells to the crowd. “This isn’t safe.”
“Nothing is safe with you here!” Ellis yells from next to me. “You’re a murderer.”
Mancini’s eyes darken when he sees my brother, but he quickly tries to recover. “Who even are you?” he demands, as if he’s no one important. As if he can play this off. “I don’t even know this kid.” He waves his hand toward the resort. “Everyone, go.”
Ellis stumbles forward a few steps. “Not this time,” he says, drawing the attention of the crowd again.
They all watch Ellis, a bit stunned—he is covered in blood. But also… I’m sure they can hear it in his voice. The rawness there. Something you can’t fake.
Just then, Jamie and Matteo come into view, holding the arms of the men before pushing them down on the dock, guarding them. I mean, they beat the hell out of them first—so I don’t think they’d get very far anyway.
“These men work for you,” Ellis calls to Mancini, pointing at the men on the dock. “They started this fire”—he points to the Surf Shack—“and they shot me.” He stumbles, motioning to himself, and I’m not sure how much longer my brother can stand here.
At the same time, by publicly accusing Mancini—he’s taking out an insurance policy. All these witnesses? It’s a lot harder to murder someone when everyone is expecting it.
“I saw you,” Ellis says, and this time, he stumbles on his step, and I have to dash over to straighten him. “I saw you kill Felix Mancini.”
The crowd gasps, beginning to murmur to one another. Some are even growing frantic. One woman starts jogging back toward the resort, as if too frightened to stay.
“You’re delusional,” Mancini spits at my brother, but I see him trying to work out what to do. “And someone call this kid an ambulance,” he adds. “He’s probably hallucinating from the blood loss.” I think he’s trying to sound more in control that he is. He knows he can’t outright threaten him.
“You’re responsible for the death of Florence Marsten,” I call, earning a sharp look. His dark eyes are cutting, but I’m not scared right now. I’m too angry to be scared anymore. “You had her killed at the Starline Hotel, and you framed Gabriel Mendez for the crime.”
“Ah, the old Chaser lie,” Mancini says, slow-clapping. “Brava.”
“You killed her because you were jealous,” I continue.
“You killed her to collect the life insurance money that you used to build this resort. Clean money.” I look around at the crowd.
“He killed her and then he covered it up, told everyone the hotel burned down so it wouldn’t be investigated.
But it’s there. It’s still there, even now! ”
“That’s enough, young lady,” Jamie’s dad says, stepping forward. He addresses the gathered crowd. “I’m Brent Matthews,” he announces, “director of security. For your safety, we need to get you all back inside the Augustus Resort.”
“You’ve been helping him cover it up for years,” Jamie calls out, coming to stand next to me. He’s out of breath from fighting, but maybe more from confronting his father.
I’m not imagining the flash of rage in Brent Matthew’s expression at seeing his son with me. Seeing him stand up to him.
“You lie, and you steal, and you cheat,” Jamie says, his voice cracking. “It just never ends, Dad. You always make the wrong choice. You’re a bully. You’re a gangster. And now… you’ve gone too far.”
“James,” his father says. “We’ll talk about this later. Now get—”