Page 151 of Sinning for Santa

My patience waning, I leave Marilda to handle her stall and start looking for Melissa myself. All the town stores are closed and locked, but she could have gone for a walk around the square, or to the cliff, or back to her house.

I don’t know why she’d do that though. She knows she’s the bait. She was scared shitless even though she insisted on making herself the target.

“Dev,” Finn calls, and I spin in time to see him come to my side. “Headcount via CCTV a few minutes ago is short two females, but has an additional Santa.”

“The fuck.”

“Yeah. The fuck’s right. Could Melissa have dressed as a Santa too? Gone and got changed?”

“No,” I bark. “Order all Santas to remove their hats and beards and let’s see who’s left.”

Again, Finn nods, talking into his phone, and a moment later, my men start peeling off their red hats and white beards, revealing themselves.

But there’s no extra Santa left standing.

“Someone either doesn’t know how to count, or something else is going on.” I hiss, and my phone rings this time.

“Boss.” Dom’s voice rushes out. “We’ve gone back through the video footage. For about an hour there was an extra Santa, we’re working through the footage to see when and where he went.”

“Make it quick,” I snap, ending the call, worried for Melissa’s safety. “Hang on a minute.” I turn back to Finn, my brows knitting. “You said we were two women short.”

“Yeah, Dom’s team is working on the two missing now.” He points at the camera close by, and I nod, but then my eyes shift to the entrance of the Palace.

Where’s Jaxcen? She should have been back with the ice by now.

Storming towards Ronnie’s street bar, I scan the area again, looking for my little blonde sinner in her red dress, but come up empty.

“Ronnie, has Jaxcen been back with the ice yet?”

He shakes his head. “Nah. The damn machine’s probably bung again. I’ll get someone to cover me and go check it out.”

“No, I will,” I snap, waving Finn over as I walk up the steps of the Palace.

“The second missing female is Jaxcen. She went to get ice. I’ll go get her. Be right back.” I grumble, and then snap over my shoulder. “I expect an update when I get back.”

My best mate nods like an obedient soldier, not thrown off by my snarky attitude.

He gets the seriousness of the situation.

Moving quickly through the bar, I go down the steep staircase into the cellar, and rounding the corner to where the ice machine is, I skid to a stop.

Jaxcen isn’t here, but the bucket she carried in is, and it’s tipped over on the floor, some of the rapidly melting cubes strewn right across the room like they were kicked.

“Jaxcen?” I call, looking further into the cellar where we keep the wine, and that’s when I hear it.

A whimper.

“Jaxcen!” I boom, charging forward past the aisles of shelves to the back of the cellar.

It’s dark back here, but not so dark I can’t see those big blue eyes, wide with fear, and I’m about to hurry forward when I see it.

She’s strapped to a chair. Tape covering her mouth. And attached to her chest is a fucking bomb.

Chapter thirty-three

Jaxcen

Tremors ripple through my body so violently that I fear the bomb will go off on its own. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d wake up from being knocked unconscious to have an explosive attached to me.

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