It was as if someone of great intelligence and strategizing acumen was taking notes and formatting the plans as they went, and it was a beauty. Lyon didn’t let on that he knew, and neither did I. I think I kept my mouth shut out of sheer curiosity. As someone who’s always worked alone, I found it fascinating that these women could come together like this, with the little they had to work with and the limited time they had.
What was missing from this was the reason they were going to these lengths, which was explained when we went back in the conversation and realized that it had been decided that Ma and Natalia should be the ones to take care of Ricci. A group of women, all mothers according to Lyon, had systematically plotted the demise of Ricci with no qualms.
They started parceling out duties, who was going to do what, where, and how, down to the minute. They went over the timelines repeatedly until they came up with something that could work and keep their men from knowing what they were up to.
Gianna, I know, was the one who got the couple in Alaska, Connie, and Ron, to leave under the pretext that the triplets missed them, and it was time for a visit to get them out of the way. Lyon had explained to me that they’d taken Ricci in under cover of night, and the couple never even knew he was there. They were under the impression that the men standing guard over him were there to pack up the cabin. Once that was taken care of, the ladies got to work.
First, Vanessa worked on her husband, Zak, one of the SEALs, or at least that’s what was decided in the conversation. Then it was Kat’s turn to work on Lyon, who for some reason decided to play along, even going so far as to agree that his sons were indeed capable of watching over his wife and daughter on a shopping trip to London.
In the meantime, Ma and the twins worked on Pop, who gave the okay since the pilot was more than capable of watching over them once they landed. I’m sure Pop was thinking that it was safe with Ricci locked away somewhere, and since he was so bogged down with business, why would he deny his wife and beloved kids their heart’s desire. I try not to think of what these women were doing behind the scenes to hoodwink their men into giving them their way so effortlessly.
So, the plan was that one day before the women left the island, Ma, the twins, and Natalia would leave for London. Vanessa would fly into Chicago, where Arianna’s father and company would be waiting with their plane, and under the guise of refueling, would switch planes along with someone named Roxy, who was going to help her find Ricci in Alaska and take down his guards.
In London, they would leave two planes, Pop’s and Mancini’s, with the understanding that the plane leaving the island must not leave British airspace because they were sure their men would have eyes on that. Arianna, Ma, and Natalia would then take a commercial flight to Sicily the next day, at which time my sisters would work as decoys to keep Lyon’s sons off the scent while Kat and her daughter go see about her wedding dress.
Of course, what eighteen-year-olds want to spend hours watching their sister try on wedding gowns when they could gallivant around London with two beautiful young women paying them all the attention their little hearts could desire? It was a good plan.
The two in Alaska, after nabbing Ricci, would reconnoitrer in Sicily to meet Arianna, Ma, and Natalia, while the Rossi crew would stay back in London with the others, once more giving the Lyon twins the impression that things were all good. This way, there would be only one plane entering and leaving Sicily, and what do you know, the Rossis do business in Sicily as well; they’re Italian.
While this is going on, the women back on the island would keep their men preoccupied while the kids kept an eye on any online movement to stay abreast of the situation. It was a convoluted mess that they somehow made look simple. As to how they planned to keep their men from knowing about all the moving around they were doing. Apparently, Lyon and Mancini had a little tech guru on their hands who knew how to triangulate the women’s phones so that they would ping off a satellite in London, he claims she’s only ten, like his daughter, but I’d have to see it to believe it. I think I was twelve or thirteen before I learned how to do stuff like that.
I was almost convinced they couldn’t pull it off and was almost certain that Lyon would pull the plug before it went that far. But when he didn’t, I was sure I would until he convinced me to stand down. I’m still not sure why I didn’t question him or why I even listened, to begin with. I’m positively certain that had Gianna had any plans on joining in, that would’ve been a hard no. And yet I allowed my mother and three sisters to go.