To Have and to Heist(65)
We faced off. Me high on liquid confidence, heart pounding like I’d run a mile, knees only seconds away from turning to jelly. Him with a sneer and breath so bad, I couldn’t even imagine what horrors he’d eaten for breakfast.
“Bella’s father paid me to make sure the wedding goes as planned,” I said to Mario. “If you have a problem, you’ll need to take it up with him.”
“I sure as h—”
“Uh-uh.” I shook my finger in his face. “Not here. Say ‘sugar.’？”
The look he gave me was pure poison. He lifted his hand. My brain screamed a warning, and I threw up my arm, bracing for impact.
“Raaaaaaah.” Chloe came out of nowhere, kicking and punching like she was high on radioactive spider juice. Mario struck back, his fist glancing over her eye. My vision sheeted red, and I headbutted him, driving my forehead into his solar plexus—a trick that had always brought my brothers down. His goons sprang into action. One used his body as a shield, trying to protect the groom-to-be from the flying kitten heels of my fighting-machine best friend. The other grabbed Chloe by the shoulders and pushed her away. She stumbled into me. I fell into Bella, and we all went down in a flurry of crystals and lace.
“What the fuck?” Mario shouted, cowering behind the wall of muscle. “What. The. Fuck? Your father is going to hear about this.” He stormed out of the shop, taking his goons with him. Bella’s mother collapsed on the nearest chair, grabbed a mimosa from the refreshment table, and drank it in one gulp.
Struggling to extricate myself from Bella’s skirt, I didn’t realize the police had arrived until I heard a familiar laugh.
“Simi? Is that you in there?”
“Detective Garcia.” I pushed back a clump of lace and stared up at his smiling face. “Did you happen to be in the neighborhood and thought you’d stop in to ask me some questions?” I kept my voice low. “Or was there a jewelry theft nearby and I’m always first on your list of suspects?”
“I was having coffee across the street, so I responded to the ten-forty at a wedding shop. And here you are.”
“You could give me a hand instead of just standing there laughing,” I said. “The bride needs this dress for her wedding.”
“Of course.”
I took the hand he offered while his partner helped Chloe and Bella off the ground. Then it was half an hour of statements while the bridal shop owner tried to salvage the dress.
“You were awesome,” I whispered to Chloe while we waited for our turn. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“I told Gage I wanted to be the one who tosses Kyle down the stairs, so he showed Olivia and me some Krav Maga moves. He’s teaching us how to defend ourselves.”
“You were always a fast learner,” I said.
“I wasn’t even thinking about what he taught us.” She squeezed my hand. “My bestie was in danger. I did what I had to do.”
“I’ll have to tell Anil there’s a new ‘The Butcher’ in town.”
“It felt so good,” Chloe said. “I felt powerful for the first time in my life.”
Chloe went to find another mimosa. Detective Garcia sat on the pink velvet couch beside me. “So your client is Bella Angelini?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“She says it was all a minor understanding and she doesn’t want us to press charges.”
I couldn’t imagine Mr. Angelini would be happy if his future son-in-law was thrown in jail one week before the wedding, so I nodded. “The groom got upset about the dress and things got a little out of hand. You know how anxious people get as they approach a big life milestone. Except for a few scrapes and bruises, no one got hurt and we’re sorting it all out.”
“I don’t know if you’re aware,” he said, “but your client’s family allegedly has ties to organized crime. Her father is rumored to be a high-profile boss in the Chicago Outfit. These aren’t the kind of people you want to get mixed up with. They are dangerous, Simi, in every sense of the word.”
As soon as the words dropped from his lips, everything made sense. The isolated mansion. The crazy security. The guards shooting at our boat. And then there were the bodyguards who looked like they’d walked straight out of Goodfellas and Mr. Angelini, giving off evil Godfather vibes left, right, and center. I’d known we were dealing with criminals—law-abiding citizens didn’t act as fences for stolen jewelry—but the Mafia? Jack was so dead. I made a mental note to ask Emma if I could borrow her Taser.
“No. I can’t believe it.” I covered my mouth in mock horror. How much worse would things get for Chloe and me if Garcia thought we had knowingly jumped into bed with the mob? “Bella’s so nice. Her mom is nice. They have a nice house. She’s having a lovely wedding to a not nice man.”
“She’s getting married to man whose family is also connected to organized crime,” he said. “His father is a boss in a New York crime family.” He shook his head and sighed. “You didn’t know.”
“Do I look like I knew?” I drew an air circle around my face. “Does anything in this expression suggest prior knowledge? Do you think I would have taken the job if I thought I would end up with a horse head in my bed? Or swimming with the fishes? I don’t even like fish. And I just got new shoes. I don’t need concrete ones.” My brain was still trying to take it all in, so I let my mouth run wild.