JENNIE
—I Killed My Mother for Making Me the Wrong Sandwich—
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My heart is beating out of my chest. I may be sweating a bit and it's becoming very unladylike. I jump out of the shadows, but Dad grabs my arm. "You be careful. You get in and place the devices where we discussed and get out. I'll do the rest. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you. In and out." My mission is simple. Being the smallest, I need to sneak in without setting off the motion detectors and stick a few wireless bugs inside. Attached to each bug is a device that contains a camera giving Dad access to the inside, and a contraption that is set to explode at the touch of a handy lever I'm holding. Once we have eyes inside, the real job begins. They will set the bombs off, distracting Rossi's men while Daddy goes and saves Lisa and Paul. Sounds simple. Let's hope it is.
I run along the side of the building, avoiding two cameras and a motion detector until I'm crouching outside the door Mabel and the others just left. I reach for the handle and twist it, feeling relief when it lets me in.
The warehouse is dark, cold. Silent. I take a second to listen to any sounds, possibly to hear if Lisa is close. The only thing I'm met with is rows and rows of pallet racks. Before we left the house, I memorized the layout. Turns out, Mabel and Paul were going over and beyond when it came to keeping in touch with one another. Bridge night has a whole new meaning now. Refusing to rehash all the graphic details I always swore only Beatrice had in her, I focus on the only detail that matters. The phone tracker app they had so they'd always know where the other was at. It also means we now have access to Paul's location. Which also means we have access to Lisa.
I stay low and I tiptoe along the corridor of the warehouse, stepping over the first beam, and having to hop over the next. I dig into my pocket and pull out the first device and stick it to the wall. This will give Dad eyes starting now from the left end.
The next two devices are a piece of cake. I'm almost halfway across the open floorplan when I hear her voice.
"Let me loose and I'll show you what a sweet girl I am."
Lisa!
It's then I hear another voice I ping as Rossi's. "Oh, Lisa, how easy it would be to put a bullet through your empty skull. But, you have proved to be quite entertaining to me. And costly. You've somehow managed to evade my men at every turn. It was you who dragged my ass across country to do this job myself. I'm going to have fun making you scream, and then when I get your father-in-law and your wife in here, I'm going to make you watch while I skin them alive."
My entire body shivers at the mere thought. I take a step out of hiding and spot Lisa, along with Paul tied to a chair. Both are slumped over. There's no hiding the pool of blood underneath each of them. I throw myself out into the open, then reel myself back in. Giving myself away doesn't help either one of them.
"You touch one hair on her head…"
"I'm going to touch every single hair on her head," he sneers. "And then I'm going to work my way down." Rossi makes a salacious gesture with his fingers and tongue. My own expression turns foul at his crude gesture, when something crawls across my foot. I spot a large rat the size of Kuma and scream, dropping the lever, accidently detonating the first bomb.
"Oh crap—"
KA-BOOM!
The impact shoots me forward, causing me to skid across the cement floor. I grunt at the way my skin burns. It takes everything in me, but I pick myself up and survey my surroundings. Thankfully, the distraction allows Rossi and his goons to take their attention off Lisa and Paul and run toward the place where the bomb went off. That's when I run to Lisa. Bending down first, I work on untying the bindings around her thighs. They loosen and fall away.
"Jesus, Nini?" Her eyes pop—or one eye since the other is nearly swelled shut—as my heart breaks. She looks just horrible. Her face is riddled with cuts and bruises and she's painted in blood.
"Oh, Lisa, what have they done to you?" I crouch down to work on the ropes around her ankles next. My head is pounding, and I feel something dripping from the side of my head.
"Dammit, Nini, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Saving you, of course." Darn these ties are really tight. I'm tugging, but these don't seem to want to come free as easy as the rope around her thighs did.
"Stop, you need to get out of here. NOW!"
I look up at her. Not sure why she looks so frantic. This is where I save her and we run out of here—
"Well, well…"
Uh-oh.
"Don't fucking touch her, Rossi. I'll gut you from the inside out!" Lisa starts wrestling in her chair, but her restraints are too tight.
I slowly turn to find a man standing over me, a gun pointed to my head. "Um, well, hello there? I'm Jennie, and you are?"
His laughter turns my blood cold. "I'm your death sentence." He cocks his head to the side, studying me. "This truly is romantic. Real Romeo and Juliet kind of shit."
I twist so I'm sitting in front of Lisa, my hands behind my back so Rossi can't see as I continue to fiddle with the ties. "Actually, that's a poor analogy. Romeo and Juliet weren't in the middle of a mob fight. They were lovers with conflicting families. Technically the Rossis and the Lambertos are the feuding families here. You can be the Capulets and I'll be the Montagues, but then that's just gross because they do actually marry, and that would make us family, in which you'd be my uncle—"
"Enough!" His eyes light with fire. "I'm no family to you. I spit on the Lamberto name."
"Oh, well then. Your loss. I make a very tasty turkey. No Thanksgiving invitation for you."
Rossi takes a menacing step toward me and I lose my grip on Lisa's ties as she bucks again in her chair.
"I swear it! One fucking finger and you're dead."
That's when Rossi points the barrel of his gun at Lisa. "How about I shoot you in front of her? Romeo and Juliet did watch one another die, am I right?"
"Well, actually, Romeo thinks that Juliet is already dead, so he—"
"Shut up!" He lifts his gun and takes one shot to the ceiling. "What is wrong with you?" He waves his gun, while I dodge his aim. "You are just as dumb-headed as your father!"
"Watch it," Lisa growls, and I turn and smile at my girl.
Another shot rings, this time hitting the concrete by my feet. Small slivers of shrapnel cut into my skin. I howl out in pain, and Lisa goes berserk. She fights in her chair to get free, but it's no use. In the corner of my eye, I catch Rossi's gun pointed directly at Lisa and I panic.
My body twists and with all my might I lunge myself at him, taking him by the legs and knocking him over. We both fall to the ground. I'm more in shock that I had the power to actually do that, so I miss the opportunity to do anything more. His fist comes at me and makes contact with my mouth, knocking me to the side. He's up and on top of me before I can shake away the stars floating above my head.
"You little bitch. Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you?"
I'm going to assume it's not help me up and get me an ice pack.
"Get off her! Don't fucking touch her!" Lisa is hollering behind us. The sound of her chair scraping against the cement floor is loud. Rossi grabs my hands and pins them to the ground, taking away any fight I have in me.
"I'm gonna have fun with you. Right in front of your little wifie. Oh, by the way, congratulations. My gift to you both. Me fucking you so hard until you bleed to death as she watches."
I squirm under his hold. That doesn't sound pretty, nor comfortable. Shoot. I'm starting to get a little bit panicky. One leg nudges in between my knees, spreading my legs. "Please, you don't want to do this. It's not right. Plus, you wouldn't enjoy it, since I would be thinking of someone else the whole time—ow!"
His slap doesn't help my already busted lip.
"You know what? No more Miss Nice Girl. I've tried to keep my manners, but you're simply one rude and disgusting man. Your mother should be ashamed of herself with that mouth of yours."
His evil laughter once again sends chills down my spine. "I killed my mother for making me the wrong sandwich and used the money to build a casino. I don't give a fuck what she would have thought."
"Yikes, was it the wrong peanut butter or something? I had that happen to me once. I prefer crunchy but sometimes if you make it with creamy, I don't really care—oh gosh!"
He pops a knife out of his boot and takes it to my shirt, slicing it open. "I'm gonna fuck this stupid mouth to shut you up. How the fuck your daddy went through all this trouble for a nitwit like—"
"Get the FUCK off my girl!"
Rossi freezes at the deep booming voice of my father.
Oh, thank God.
His hand still holding the knife, slowly bends so the blade is pointing between my breastbone. "Now, now, old friend, is that any way to talk to your ex-partner?"
"You were never a friend nor a partner. And the way I see it, you're soon to be dead and splattered all over this warehouse, so I suggest slowly getting off my daughter, and maybe I'll take pity on you when I slice your fingers off one by one."
"Not gonna happen. This is an eye for an eye." He raises his hand quick and plunges down.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Before the knife plummets into my chest, Rossi's body quakes as he's riddled with bullets. His arm freezes, his eyes wide, staring into mine. With any life still pumping through him, his hand plows down. But not before a bullet ricochets through his skull, sending half his brain splattering across my face.
"Well, this is quite disgusting," I say and pass out.
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