Page 118 of Working for the Mob

Valuncia just wore an amused expression on his face

“What do you want with us?” I asked, my voice nasally.

He reached in his pocket and I held my breath. I thought he was pulling out a gun, but when he withdrew his hand, he held an ornate wooden handle. He watched my eyes as he flicked open a straight razor, its single blade glinting in the poor light.

“You know, most men pay to have a straight razor shave,” he said, his voice conversational. “It’ll last a couple days, too. They lather you up, pull this blade along your face, and slap aftershave on you. Then you walk around looking as baby faced as an altar boy.

“But not me. No, I prefer to do it myself.” He rubbed his chin, as though checking to make sure he didn’t miss a spot. “It requires dexterity. Precision. One slip of the blade and … oops.”

His words hung in the air like a guillotine over my head.

He placed the razor on my left cheek. “I’m planning to exchange you, unharmed, back to your beloved East Lannington. All I need is for your little boyfriend to hand himself over to us.”

So that’s why they captured us. They want Art.

“But if you were to do anything to mess up my plans, my hand just might slip,” he said, and I gasped after he nicked my face with his blade. The cut stung like a papercut and blood poured down my face.

“Genny, are you okay?” my sister asked from behind me as she struggled against her bonds.

Valuncia pulled back calmly and wiped his razor on his shirt. “Don’t worry. That’s a clean cut. It’ll heal.”

“What are you going to do with Art if he turns himself over?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, but that’s between me and the Lord,” Valuncia said.

“You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?”

But that was all I got out of him. He made a show of putting his straight razor into his pocket.

“You know this is all your fault?” he asked, and gave another wicked smile.

I knew he was right. I went to the train station alone. I chased after that damn thief myself. I got myself caught. It’s because of me that Lucy was here.

“I almost had East Lannington off the map and they were about to landslide into bankruptcy. Hell, the Neccis even set up a meeting with us to sue for peace.

“But your damn café brought in business, tourists from the city, and revived the damn town. That’ll be gone after today. No more Art. No more café. Be good little girls now,” he said with a condescending smile, and left us alone.

How did our café revive the city? It was just one business out of the ten that the Neccis ran. It …

“HELP!” Lucy bellowed, cutting off my thoughts. She continued to writhe and struggle against the ropes tying her up. “HELP!”

“Lucy, it’s no use,” I said. “We’re stuck here and there’s no––”

“SOMEBODY, HELP! THEY’VE GOT US LOCKED UP!”

“LUCY, WILL YOU SHUT UP?”

She stopped shouting and the only sounds in the room were our heavy breathing. I didn’t know what we could do, but driving our voices hoarse wasn’t going to help anything.

“We need a plan,” Lucy said, and I hung my head.

“What’s the point? We’re just ‘little girls,’” I said, using Valuncia’s own words. “We can’t escape the mob.”

“You just want to wait here to be rescued? Or wait for Art to turn himself in to be killed?” she asked. Although tempting, I didn’t want Art to bekilled. I just wanted him to live a miserable life, alone, stuck in the freezing cold of Manitoba. It may be more of a punishment for him to live with Lance. And be next-door neighbors with Johnathan Wheeler.

“Don’t you want to at leasttryto get out?” Lucy asked

It was official. This day was worse than the morning I came here. It was worse than the day with Johnathan Wheeler. This would go down as the worst day of my life. And maybe my last.

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