They stopped Stephanie Whitley and the cops have her. The cops have the guys that robbed Genesis. I’m wishing my guys had caught them all instead because then I can get my hands on these fuckers.
My current concern is obviously 100% Violet, about what the fuck the end game could be for Ricci.
Raymond’s words in the airplane hangar about having the last laugh rings in my ears.
He was part of this from the start. And that’s the reason why Violet and I are married and expecting a baby. Because Raymond Iadanza approached me directly after that set-up mystery shopping meeting.
56
Violet
The games people play. To get what they want. To deceive others. Greed. Selfishness. Game places have been moving all over the chess board tonight. Some people just don’t care who they hurt. They just want what they want, no matter who gets hurt. And some of them have been playing games for a long while.
I’m sitting here hoping Killian gets his hands on these people. I’ve never thought torture was okay before. But right now?
It’s their fault Killian went through that the other day. They’re doing bad things right now, though I’m not clear on all the facts.
There’s also the not-insignificant fact that they’re holding me hostage and have had a gun pointed at me most of the night.
I should be at my mom’s, playing Texas Hold ‘Em with my family for candy instead of money. I should be stuffing my face with Aunt Sara’s famous spinach dip and pumpernickel bread. I should be giggling with my cousins pretending to smoke candy cigarettes and licorice cigars at our poker game while we watch how much Grampa always bluffs and gets away with it. Like we did when we were kids. My cousins were joining in tonight once they found out I was gonna be there. And I’m not there. I’m here. With a gun pointed at me.
I should be talking to Colleen and Wendy about being my bridesmaids when we have our beachside wedding next year, as soon as I can fit back into my dress after this baby is born.
Instead, I’m sitting on the couch beside Heidi, who is nervous. Too nervous. And chatty. And this has Guy agitated. And every time she talks, he gets more agitated. And she talks a lot! She’s even come to the bathroom with me. I’m not even allowed to pee by myself.
I don’t like seeing how agitated and angry he is, especially with that gun he’s waving around. He’s muttered stuff about not hearing from Steph or from someone named Hole either.
“Plans A and B might be out the window, at least there’s Plan C,” he mutters.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this, babe,” Heidi says, shaking her head.
“You need to calm your shit,” he warns. “And quit yammering. If this one makes it out of this, she doesn’t need all our fuckin’ details.”
She blows out a breath and her knees are jiggling. “I thought she was gonna be a casualty.”
“I haven’t decided,” he says, eyeballing me, “Let’s see how this goes.”
My blood turns icy again as my cell phone rings.
Killian calling.
My heart lurches and I lean forward.
Finally.
“Don’t move,” Guy points the gun at me, and I lean back, raising my hands and then sitting on them.
I can’t believe what a turn this night has taken. Can’t believe Guy of all people is really a bad guy. The bad guy by the sounds of it. And Heidi. Sweet, bumbling, verbal-diarrhea-suffering Heidi is actually in on this and the reason I’m a hostage tonight. And she’s not actually sweet. I’d label her as a sociopath by the things I’ve heard her say tonight.
I was all set to go to Mom and Dad’s when there was a knock on the door. I opened it when I saw Heidi through the peep hole. She nervously stammered, telling me she was here to visit her friend who lives in the building, that they had plans for a girls’ night in for New Year’s Eve since she got the night off work, but her friend was running late, so could she hang with me for an hour and plug her phone in so that she could get a bit of charge into it? She even invited me to join them if Killian was at work and I was stuck alone.
In hindsight, it should’ve occurred to me as strange that she was able to get into the building if her friend wasn’t home. And strange that she came to the door. How did she know our suite number? I later found out through her ‘yammering’ that she and Guy are renting an apartment on the fourth floor. And that’s why they’ve got access to the building.
It explains her looking freaked for a minute when she saw me in the elevator yesterday, asking why a penthouse person didn’t use their express key. Clearly, that was not intentional, and I also missed the strangeness of the question because how would she know we lived in one of the penthouses if she’d just asked me if I lived here? I totally missed that.