Chapter 14
The office door banged open and in walked Salvatore Vito in the flesh. Her heart nearly stopped. And then it started up again, beating at triple speed.
Frozen to the spot, her mind went into emergency mode. Sal eyed her with a snaky grin. Realizing she had her phone in her hand and had been poised to call Joe, she slipped it behind her skirt and pressed her thumb on the spot where she prayed to God Joe’s speed dial icon was.
“Didn’t expect a party for lunch, did you? Your friend here was kind enough to invite us along.” He turned and motioned for his two men to enter the office. They flanked Sunny.
“Close the door behind you,” Sal demanded.
Mae saw the terror in Sunny’s eyes and the plea for help. Anger leapt up in her—anger, of all things—but damn it, they’d hit her friend. There was an unmistakable bruising and swelling on the left side of Sunny’s face along her cheekbone. Mae turned to Sal.
“You’re wrong. Ihavebeen expecting you.”Stall these guys as long as you can to give Joe a chance to get here.
Sal looked dubious.
She spoke in a loud voice, hoping Joe was on the other end of her phone listening.
“I knew you went to Sunny’s house. It was careless of you to leave her kitchen in such a mess, with the chair in the middle of the room and with duct tape still on it.” She looked to Sunny’s wrists and saw the redness. Then she glared at Sal, who now wore an incredulous, if outraged frown.
“How the hell—never mind, Miss Know-it-all. If you knew I was coming then you know what I want. Hand over the papers.”
“Papers.” Damn. She’d set herself up for that one. She desperately needed to keep stalling. Allowing the misery on Sunny’s face to fuel her anger, Mae summoned some courage.
“You can have your damn papers. But not until you let my friend go. Right now. Tell your two goons to let go of her and let her leave.”
“Where are they? I’ll get them myself if I have to rip up every shred of this office.”
“And how do you expect to get away with that? Security is on their way now.”
“No. They’re not.” He got close. Too close for her comfort, but she forced herself to stand her ground and shoved her phone further behind her.
“We made sure no one saw us come in. I’ll take the papers and no one will see us leave.”
“Except you’re wrong. Security knows you came in the back gate. They saw the broken card reader, saw that you shot it up. You’re toast. The police are on their way too.”
Embellishing on the facts, she hoped her bluff would work. She didn’t mention Joe and hoped he was listening. She needed to make sure he knew where to find her office.
“I bet lots of people saw you come up here to my office on the second floor. How did you know I was in 2C?”
He laughed then. “The receptionist told us where your office was. She was a nice one—a looker. Like you. Yeah, you’re a real looker.” He paused while his face transformed itself into monstrous raging anger. “You’ll be a dead looker if I don’t get my papers. Now.” He stepped forward then and grabbed her arm. She dropped the phone. Shit.
He held her arm in a punishing grip while he bent to get the phone. A flare of anger and panic-fueled drama fired her into action. She wanted to make him regret he’d touched her. Using the move she’d learned in the self-defense class she’d taken last year on a lark with Sunny, she shot one knee up into his face when he was bent over and then brought her leg down to grind her heel into his toe. Thank God she’d worn her spike heels today instead of the more comfortable pumps. She remembered the reason why—because Joe’s costume—or rather disguise—included spike heels and their attire had to match.
“Damn it” Sal stumbled back a step, but he didn’t let her go. He picked up her phone and tossed it across the office where it hit the wall and fell apart. So much for her call to Joe. Hopefully she’d gotten through, but she had no idea if he’d been on the other end listening or if she’d pressed someone else’s number or messed up altogether.
She hadn’t succeeded in getting away from Sal. She’d only succeeded in making him angrier. From the corner of her eye, she could see the two men holding Sunny tighter when she lunged forward to come to Mae’s aid. They tugged her back into place between them.
“I didn’t come here to rough you up, but I will. I came to get what’s mine.”
“You’re right, but you made me angry, taking my friend captive. Let her go and you’ll get your damn papers. Then you won’t have done anything wrong. You won’t have to go back to jail.” She was winging it here, but she suspected Sal was trying to use restraint for a reason.
He flicked a wave at his two goons and they stepped away from Sunny. She looked around, then at Mae.
“But—” Sunny didn’t move to leave.
“Go!” Both Mae and Sal shouted at the same time. They stared at each other as Sunny scooted out the door. One of the thugs checked the hall and closed the office door again, leaving Mae alone with the three of them.
She shouldn’t feel calmer, but she didn’t.