To Have and to Heist(101)

I stared at her aghast. There was cold, and then there was liquid nitrogen cold, and then there was Bella. “But how did you plan to escape?”

“I was going to hide in your van,” she said. “I figured it would be chaos when we had to shut it all down. I was going to get you to take me to the boat launch to meet Ben, and the rest would go as planned. But you solved that damn problem like everything else. Why didn’t you just give up when the priest was out of the picture? Or, more to the point, why did you have to go looking for him in the first place? If you’d just been a little less competent, he would have been dead.”

“But it all worked out in the end,” I pointed out. “In fact, it was even better. No murder. No real marriage. And you got away to be with Ben.”

It occurred to me at that moment that she hadn’t reacted to seeing the love of her life lying unconscious on the floor. No gasps. No tears. No shrieks of “Ben, are you okay?” or “What did you do to him?” or even “He’s not part of this. Let him go.” It was almost like she didn’t care.

“Is that why you’re here?” Her face twisted in a sneer. “You want me to thank you?”

“I want the necklace you took from your father, and I’m willing to trade Ben for it,” I blurted out.

Emma gave an exasperated sigh. “She means give us the necklace or Ben’s gonna shake hands with Elvis.”

Gage pulled out his gun and made a show of positioning it near Ben’s forehead, as if there was an optimum place to shoot out someone’s brains.

Bella’s lips curled at the corners. I’d never noticed before, but her lips were narrow and thin. Even the makeup artist had struggled to plump them up. “And who are you? The jewelry police?”

“Just think of us as a repo team,” I said. “You give us the necklace. We give you Ben. No one has to get hurt.”

“A chauffeur, an ex-priest slash elephant trainer, and a weak-ass security gal who doesn’t even have a gun.” She snorted a laugh. “That’s who you brought as backup?”

“It’s a gig economy,” I said. “They have many skills.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Once. Twice. Thrice. Four times. Whatever the caller wanted couldn’t be good, but there was no way I could check my messages now.

I heard a door slam. The thunder of feet. Before anyone could react, Gino burst into the clearing and greeted us all with a menacing scowl. “What the fuck is going on?”

For the first time since I’d met her, Bella almost lost her composure. “Gino . . .” Her voice wavered. “You found us.”

“Of course I found you. I just had to follow her.” He pointed at me. “She knew more than she was letting on. I could see it all over her face. Were you trying to run from me?”

“Of course not, baby.” She rallied quickly, and her honeyed voice turned sickly sweet. “I found a buyer for the necklace and he wanted to meet right away. I was going to surprise you.”

“Bella? Sweetheart?” Ben pushed to his knees, rubbing the back of his head where Gage had hit him. I motioned for my crew to take a step back so he didn’t see our faces. “What happened? I was standing outside and . . .” He shook his head, scrubbed a hand over his face. “Why did you call him ‘baby’？”

“Who the hell is this?” Gino demanded. “Are you fucking him? Because I swear—”

“He’s no one.” Bella waved a dismissive hand. “I was using him to help us get out of the country. He’s rich and had access to a private plane. I was going to call you to meet us at the airfield after I got the money, and then we’d ditch him and head to Rio. He doesn’t mean anything to me.”

And right at that moment, our simple kidnapping didn’t seem as simple anymore.

“Bella?” Ben got to his feet and took an unsteady step forward. “I don’t understand. I love you. I thought we were going to make a life together.”

“This is better drama than I ever saw in prison,” Emma whispered.

“He loves you?” Gino was almost vibrating with rage. He seemed more concerned that she was cheating on him than the fact that she was clearly planning to run off with the money. “Do you love him?”

“No, baby. I love you.” Bella held her ground. I had to hand it to her: I couldn’t handle one man, much less three, and mine wasn’t in the mob. “We’re going to get the money, jump on the plane, and live the life we dreamed about. Just like we planned.”

“Then we don’t need him?” Gino stared pointedly at Bella, and something passed between them that made the hair on the back of my neck prickle in warning.

“Not anymore. The plane’s been chartered and it’s all ready to go.” She gave the briefest of nods. Without a second of hesitation, Gino drew his weapon and shot Ben in the chest.

“No.” My hands rushed to cover my mouth. Chloe let out a sharp scream.

Ben staggered back into Gage, knocking him off balance. Emma moved to catch Gage and fell with them, their bodies toppling like dominoes to the floor.

I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. My ears were ringing from the echo of the gunshot, my heart pounding so hard I thought it would break a rib.

“Oh dear.” Bella walked past me to pick up the gun that had fallen from Gage’s hand. “Now you have nothing to bargain with. Solve that fucking problem.”