Just One Kiss (The Town of Pearl 8)

“Tell them I love them. Tell them, Mary,” Lucia screamed, and then she felt the blow to

her cheek. The room spun and the other guy covered her mouth and then her eyes.

“Let’s move. The helicopter leaves in fifteen minutes.”

* * * *

“We have to get loose, Beth. We need to get her help,” Mary said even though there was a thin piece of sheet over her mouth. Beth seemed to understand her. They both wiggled and strained to get free. Beth was trying to wiggle her hands free, too.

The sound of a cell phone ringing drew their attention. “Lucia’s. That’s Lucia’s cell phone the guys gave her,” Mary said. They rocked the chair side to side and wiggled more and more until the one chair tipped over, leaving Mary on the floor but free from the ropes. She grabbed the cell phone.

“Maxwell! Maxwell, they took her. They got Lucia.” She carried on and gave him all the details. He told her to stay put, that help was on the way. She looked at Beth and undid the bindings and her blindfold.

“We have to do something,” Beth said then reached for Mary and gasped. “Your cheek. Those bastards struck you.”

“They picked the wrong women to mess with, Beth. I need my cell phone.” Mary crawled along the floor to the coffee table and grabbed her hot-pink phone case. She scrolled down, looking for the number. She pressed send and his voice picked up on the second ring. “Mary, what’s wrong?”

“It’s time. They got her. He had men break in here, tie us up, and take her away. Can you help me?”

“Of course. I’ll take care of everything.”

She ended the call and looked at Beth as the sirens filled the air and the front door swung open. Lucifer, Salvatore, Maxwell, and Gabriele were there with Wyatt and the others.

“You’re too late. Three men in masks broke in and took Lucia. They’re gone.”

* * * *

There was total chaos and not a sign of a helicopter or any witnesses to what transpired right behind the Main Street Inn at Mary Higgins’s place.

Salvatore, Lucifer, Gabriele, and Maxwell were pacing as their friends were using their contacts to try and find the helicopter and Lucia. They had others locating Derek McMillian, who seemed to have disappeared along with Lucia’s parents.

They were at their wit’s end just waiting and hoping for some miracle to happen.

“She was so excited about decorating the tree tonight. God, we shouldn’t have left her alone. We should have taken more precautions,” Lucifer stated aloud.

“We’ve been over this. This guy hadn’t done a thing since sending the investigators here during the fall harvest festival. Everyone figured he gave up, especially after the pressure Fisher and the guys put on that Gerry guy and his buddy Roscoe,” Maxwell said.

“Maxwell, guys, come here.” Fenton Lewis, one of Fisher’s team, hurried to them and looked around them before he spoke.

“Fisher sent me. You four need to follow me. Don’t let on to anything. Just act like we’re going to grab some food or something,” he said and then headed out of the crowd of police.

They each took their time walking toward Fenton, who stood by his black SUV, windows fully tinted.

“Get in,” he told them.

As they got into the SUV, they saw two men they didn’t recognize.

“Meet Anton. You don’t need to know the other guy. Seems that Lucia has made some very influential friends.”

“What?” Maxwell asked Fenton.

“We know where your woman is,” Anton said in a thick Russian accent. Maxwell looked at his brothers and then at Fenton.

“What happens here tonight can never be talked about. Understand?” Fenton asked.

“Understood,” Maxwell said, and his brothers agreed. He knew that accent, and he knew there were people in Pearl who had connections to the Russian mob. Fenton’s woman, India, being one of them.

The others agreed, and Fenton took off. Maxwell didn’t care who he owed, just as long as Lucia survived and they could bring her home where she belonged.