Page 3 of Blind Sin

He throws his wig to one side and pulls at his tie as a man would a noose around his neck. His face falls slightly as he nods. “Hook, line and sinker. Lucinda was a-fucking-mazing. All that time we thoughts she was a shit actress. She had her two goons fooled.” As he speaks, his hands shake with adrenaline and excitement, and his eyes dart around the room as though he’s high.

“She knew it was you though, right?”

Mercier licks his lips. “I could smell her arousal at my unending charms, of course she knew it was me.”

An empty beer can sails past my ear through the air which Mercier expertly catches and sets on the kitchen counter with a grin.

“Don’t be a dick, Mercier,” Nix grits out. “We need to reel this in quickly before anyone realizes that you are just some degenerate fleabag and not the real Charles Wentworth. Call and ask her on a date and do it quick before...”

Mercier's smile fades and the manic expression falls from his face making him look tired. He’s got black circles under his eyes and, apart from the expensive suit, borrowed from my father’s closet, he looks like shit. The excitement of our triumph evaporates as we all remember what we are doing this for. Who we are doing this for.

Lauren.

The tension in the air is palpable, dense and suffocating. The recollection of that press conference, witnessing Lucinda on TV, declaring to the world that she had been located, that she was secure—it shattered all of us. The not quite concealed bruises on her face and the fear evident in her eyes told us everything we needed to know. While the rest of the world celebrated, ours crumbled, for there was only one conceivable reason Lucinda Waldgrave would appear on TV: her father had found her. And if he had found her, he had found Lauren.

Less than twenty seconds after we watched Lucinda on TV, Mercier admitted to sneaking his phone in Lauren’s pocket as she left so we could track her. Creepiness aside, the three of us logged into the tracking app on my phone and saw the route they had taken. They had travelled as far south as Baltimore before their direction had changed and they’d gone north. The signal extended as far as Maine before abruptly cutting off.

The three of us had jumped into my car and driven to the last place the signal had come from, but there was no sign of her and we could hardly ask around. To the outside world, Lucinda Waldgrave was safe and Lauren didn’t exist. Defeated, we came back to my parent’s apartment and came up with another plan. We were going to do what I thought we already had. We were going to kidnap Lucinda Waldgrave and this time, Lucinda was going to be complicit in it.

The first part was finding out everything we could about Lucinda. Nix knew everything up to when she was sixteen years old, but her life had changed dramatically in the intervening years. Thankfully, I still had rich and influential friends and it only took a few phone calls to find out that my friend from school, Charles Wentworth, had been asked on some weird interview date with Lucinda. As Charles was more into hookers and coke than pretending to be some heiress’s boyfriend, he jumped at the chance of me taking his place. Except everyone in Manhattan knows what I look like, not to mention the fact, Peter Waldgrave more than likely figured out that Lauren was at my parent’s apartment, it fell on Mercier to play the part.

Mercier picks up yet another throwaway phone and dials a number. When it’s answered, he holds a finger to his mouth and presses the speaker button so we can all hear. My heart almost stops when I hear Lauren’s voice answer, until I realize it’s Lucinda I’m hearing.

“Yes?”

Nix leans over the counter next to me and rests his head in his hands. Mercier gives me a quick look then answers in a British accent, not unlike my own.

“Lucinda. This is Charles. I just wanted to let you know that it was a pleasure to meet you today.”

I hear the sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. “It was a pleasure to meet you too, Charles.”

There’s a muffled sound, but I can clearly hear her whispering “It’s Charles Wentworth.” The sound changes and I know she’s put us on speakerphone too. I wonder who else is listening to this conversation.

Mercier rubs his chin and continues. “I understand that today was about getting to know each other and scoping out who you’d like to get to know, but I was wondering if you’d like to meet up again soon. Maybe for a real date on a more intimate level?”

Beside me, Nix shakes his head, his lips pursed in frustration. He holds his hand out, gesturing for Mercier to be quiet. We know that Lucinda doesn't have real dates and that every move she makes is likely being monitored by her father's people. There's more muffled talking on the other end of the line, and I close my eyes, bracing myself for the inevitable brush off. But then, to my surprise, Lucinda speaks up. “I'd love that,” she says. “How about dinner tomorrow?”

I open my eyes, amazed, and urgently mouth at Mercier, “Breakfast!” We need to determine the when and where, and I'm not willing to wait until dinnertime for the next phase of the plan. We need to find Lauren, but to do that, we need to get to Lucinda first.

“I don't think I want to wait that long,” Mercier says, his voice firm. “I know a place that does the most amazing eggs benedict for breakfast.”

There's more muffled talking on the other end, and my heart sinks. But then Lucinda speaks up again. “I can't do breakfast, I'm afraid,” she says. “But I could do lunch. How about noon?”

I exchange a quick glance with Nix and Mercier. It's not exactly what we wanted, but it's better than nothing. “Noon is perfect,” Mercier says, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. “Is it okay if I pick you up?”

“Sure. I’m guessing by your determination to go on this date that you already know where I live?”

Mercier glances at me and raises an eyebrow, I nod my head. After the last week, everyone knows where Lucinda Waldgrave lives. Waldgrave house has been mentioned on the news enough times. “I do. I’ll pick you up at noon and we can drive back to Manhattan. You can assure your father, I’ll have you home in time for dinner.”

Mercier does a fist pump as he hangs up. His face perceptively changes and he shoots Nix and I a grin. “And that’s how you do it!”

Nix rolls his eyes. “Don’t get too cocky. Just because you’ve managed to find a way to get close to Lucinda, doesn’t mean her father’s goons won’t be close by, and even if we find a way to get her away from them, it doesn’t mean she knows where Lauren is. Her father won’t tell her.”

His words sober me up and the excitement I felt at the first part of our plan working falls away.

Mercier levels himself down onto his elbows. “I know all that, but it’s already been three days since she left and I’m really fucking ready to get out there and knock the whole fucking world down to find her.”

The two men square off against each other and I can feel the tension between them.

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