Page 58 of The Players

“I know that. But you’re my sister and I want to be in the loop when something’s up.” She went over to a cabinet and pulled out a large manila envelope that she handed over to Carmen. “Tess came over this morning, saying that she’d be out of town for a few days, and asked me to give it to you. Which makes me think that whatever is in that envelope, she didn’t want to bring it over to Vince’s.”

Carmen’s heart started to pound. Tess must have found something about Marni. She wanted to rip open the envelope and dive in. Instead, she set it on her lap.

“Thanks. I just needed some info on—”

“No!” Jazzy’s scowl returned with a vengeance. “You don’t get to hide this from me and push me away. I love you, sis, but my patience is gone. Over the years, I have watched you turn from my strong, resilient sister, into an empty shell.” The anguish in her voice nearly wrecked Carmen. “I’m not stupid. I knew it had something to do with that bastard Franco. You never complained, never said one word about your marriage, but I could see in your eyes that it was slowly killing you.”

Carmen jumped up. “I don’t want to talk about—”

Jazzy grabbed her hand and placed it on her baby bump. “But I do,” she snapped. “I was there, remember, the day you told me that you were pregnant. The day you were finally going to leave him. The day—” Her voice broke. “That damn day I came back to pick you up, only to find you bleeding on the kitchen floor. I thought you were dead, Carmen. But we survived that. That pig got what he deserved. Whatever it is that’s happening now, we will survive as well, together. Now, I let your moods slide for the last year, figuring you needed time to heal, but I’m drawing the line here.” She pressed Carmen’s hand closer on her bump.

Carmen did her best to prevent a waterfall of tears from sliding down her cheeks. “Jazzy, I—”

“Either you tell me what’s going on with you, or I’m going to do my own investigating. You know I have the means to do that.”

Carmen dropped back onto the couch. She couldn’t risk Jazzy running around town, making inquiries, drawing the attention of the wrong kind of people. For a second, she thought of telling Gio. No doubt, he would lock her up, as he’d done before, but she feared that would irreparably damage their relationship.

Haven’t you pulled away enough?

Doesn’t she deserve the truth?

“Okay,” she said softly. “Promise me you will stay out of it, and I will talk.”

“Starting with how the hell you ended up living with Vince and his hot friend.” Jazzy beamed, and relaxed into a plush cushion.

So, she started telling. How she and Vince had fallen in love in college. How, at seventeen, she had believed that one day, they would live the American dream: get married, have babies, and a white picket fence. Even in the sheltered world she’d lived in, she had held on to that hope. One day, Vince would rescue her from her tower, slay her dragons, and whisk her away to his castle where they would live happily ever after. Then, life had intervened.

She ended her story with Morelli and Keegan. Both men were still on the loose.

“I had no idea.” Jazzy looked flabbergasted. “I mean, when you passed out on my wedding day and Vince picked you up, I didn’t think much of it.”

“You couldn’t have known. We kept it a secret. If Grandfather had found out, he would’ve taken me from school. Back then, Franco’s family was much more powerful than Vince’s.”

Jazzy sighed. “And Grandfather always went where the power was.” She eyed her curiously. “I can’t believe neither of you ever showed any feelings during family dinners or holidays. I’ve been sitting on the sidelines of an epic love story and had no idea.”

“There was no epic love story.”

“Of course there was! So, what went wrong? I mean, according to every story in the book, you two should’ve eloped or something.”

Except, their story hadn’t been the all-consuming love story that survived the centuries. It wasn’t worthy of epic poems or fit for a Hollywood screen.

“He never showed up,” Carmen confessed. “When I overheard my grandfather tellingNonnathat I was to marry Franco, I told Vince. We planned to elope the morning I turned eighteen. That was a week later. I waited for hours, but he never came. I didn’t see him again until your wedding.”

Jazzy took another bite from her cracker. “And now you’re living with him. And his friend, who, by the way, I once saw at Flux during girls’ night. Wow. You do know how to pick ’em.”

Except, they had picked her. She grabbed the envelope and took out the papers. The first thing that fell out of the envelope was Marni’s picture.

“I was actually going to ask for your help,” she confessed.

“About time,” Jazzy said, eying the picture. “Who’s that?”

“That’s Marni. I don’t know if she’s still alive, but I need you to help me find her.”

“You want to use my facial recognition software for kids.”

“Exactly.”

According to the report, Marni was the daughter of the president of a motorcycle club on the East Coast. She was also dead, as stated in a copy of her death certificate. There had been rumors she was abducted by a rivaling MC, which had resulted in a war between several MC factions. There was a picture of a woman with haunted eyes—Marni’s mother.

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