Done With Love (31 page)

I turned my back on the couple and whispered, “Richard, you’re making us look crazy. You need to stop talking.”

“And if for some reason you get distracted by Zombie Attack ridiculousness and something goes wrong, I will strangle you,” Roxanna warned. “And then I will go to your parents’ basement and destroy all of your electronics.”

Richard whistled. “
You are one angry broad.
”

Roxanna’s jaw flexed. She rubbed her temples while I pinched my lips together to hold back laughter.

“Richard, you shouldn’t call women ‘broads’,” I said.

“Why not?” He sounded genuinely confused. “I call ’em broads all the time.”

“Which is probably one of the reasons you no longer have a girlfriend,” Roxanna pointed out before draining the rest of her champagne.

“
Chicks be crazy
,” Richard mumbled. “
You know, Britney was a pretty cool broad until I missed dinner with her parents.
”

“Gen told me all about it,” Roxanna said. “And you missed the
first
dinner to meet her parents for the
first time
because you were playing video games.”

“
Hey, it’s not like that. It was a tournament,”
Richard said.

“After rescheduling five times,” Roxanna reminded him. “Five. Times.”

“
Yeah, I didn’t see what the big deal was either
.”

I smiled and shook my head. “I have no idea how you two lasted as long as you did.”

“
My buddies think she’s a drama queen,
” Richard said.

I winced. “You didn’t tell her that, did you?”

“
Yeah. She slapped me.
”

Roxanna laughed. “Good girl.”

“
Hey.
” He sounded wounded.

“Please tell me you didn’t call her a ‘broad’ in the same conversation,” I said.

“
Uh, maybe…
”

“Oh my gosh, don’t look,” Roxanna said, her grip on my arm startled me. “I spotted Jeremy.”

“Damn it, he’s not close, is he?”

“No, just walking through to the hallway.” Then she added, “With some bimbo.”

My head whipped around to scan the room, but Roxanna moved around me to block my view. “I said
not
to look. She’s pretty.”

“I don’t care if she’s pretty, I just want to see who he’s with.”

Her gaze narrowed from behind her mask. “Are you jealous?”

“
Broads be crazy.”

I ignored him. “Roxanna Leigh Moss, that’s insulting.”

“It’s a simple question, Alexis Anne Gorecki,” she countered.

“No, I am not jealous,” I enunciated. When her stare grew more intense, I rolled my eyes. “I’m serious. He wanted me to be his secret tramp—I’m not exactly all warm and fuzzy inside for him.”

“Good. Because you’re dating my cousin now.”

“I
know
this,” I huffed, and Roxanna stepped out of my line of vision.

It only took a moment to spot Jeremy stepping from the room and into the hallway with some tiny thing in a burgundy ball gown. She didn’t wear a mask, and neither did he. It was the same girl he’d been dating when he met me for dinner—she must have taken him back after what Deborah called “his moment of weakness.” I assumed they were both without masks because they wanted to be seen, or because their parents wanted them to be seen. He looked happy.

And I didn’t care. There was no stab of jealousy. No longing. No wishful thinking of what-might-have-been. All I felt was relief I wasn’t on his arm. Invigorated by this absolution, I whirled to face Roxanna.

“I hope they make snotty-faced babies together who talk back to Deborah her entire life. Now let’s do this.” I grabbed her hand and tugged her in the direction of Deborah’s office.

“There’re too many people here,” she muttered out of the corner of her mouth as we passed an elderly couple in masks.

“There’s a powder room around the corner, no one will think twice about us going in that direction, and then we’ll slip through the study to the hallway on the other side of the house. It’s fine,” I assured her.

With every step we took, the sound of laughter and music faded. Neither of us spoke, moving quietly across the carpet in the study, and then tiptoed down the hall, all the way to Deborah’s office. Turning the handle on the door, I looked over my shoulder to Roxanna who nodded—we were alone in the hallway. I nudged the door open and pulled her inside. I shut the door behind us and exhaled a heavy sigh. We’d made it. I felt along the wall for the light switch. I flipped it up and the room flooded with the soft glow of the covered lamp hanging from the ceiling.

The room was twice the size of my living room and decorated in rich, warm colors and expensive furniture. Above the unlit fireplace hung an oil painting of the Buchanans. Their smiles reminded me of a jack-o-lantern.

“Creepy,” Roxanna muttered, her gaze fixed on the painting. “I can’t believe you were going to marry that guy.”

“I know. You and Gen did a poor job of talking me out of it.”

She raised her brows. “
Mm-hm
.”

I nudged her toward the ornate oak desk on the opposite side of the room. “Come on, we need to hurry so we can get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

“
Wish you would have let me come inside
,” Richard said in my ear, and I almost missed a step walking across the room. For a moment, I’d forgotten he was out in the van, listening.

Sucking in a breath, I said, “
Jeez
, Richard! I almost peed my pants—er, dress.”

“
Oops, sorry
.”

“It’s fine.” I opened the top drawer on the left side of the desk and shuffled through the papers.

“You think she’d keep it in her desk?” Roxanna searched the drawers on the right side of the desk.

“I have no clue. She said she looks at it all the time, so I’m sure it’s in this desk somewhere.” I opened the second drawer down and dug through stationary. “Find anything?”

“No.” She opened another drawer. “You go through the desk. I’ll go through the cabinets.” She turned around to the hutch behind us and opened a glass-faced cabinet.

“
Holy shit!
” Richard screeched in my ear, and I froze. “
Someone’s coming!
”

“Oh my God.” My heart hammered in my chest. We’d been caught. “Richard?”

“What the fuck?” Roxanna breathed, her gaze wild as it skittered to the door, as if the cops would burst in at any second.

“
Someone’s outside,”
Richard whispered.

“Outside?” I clutched at my chest.

“
The van. Someone’s outside the freakin’ van.”

We’d go to jail for trespassing. And attempted robbery. My armpits were as clammy as my hands. Yanking my gloves off, I said, “Richard, you have to go to Plan B. We can’t let the equipment get discovered. Grab your notebook and digital recorder and get out of the van.”

The digital recorder and notebook was so he’d look like an actual reporter.

“
Right. Yeah. Inside.
” He chuckled hysterically, and I winced.

“Richard, if you don’t follow the plan, Roxanna will strangle you—”

“I will strangle you,” Roxanna agreed, her voice strained.

“—so get out and tell whoever is out there that you’re with the college paper, here to interview Gerard Buchanan.
Do it.
”

“
Okay. Yeah. Right.”

And then there was silence. I expelled a deep breath and leaned against the wall. Pressing my eyes shut, I prayed Richard wouldn’t look as guilty as he sounded to whoever nosed around outside by the van. Hopefully it would be nothing. Hopefully he hadn’t been caught and we wouldn’t leave the mansion in the back of a police car. I didn’t have time to stress about it because the door opened, and there stood Deborah, her teeth bared in a satisfied grin.

“Holy fucking shit,” Roxanna whispered, and my hands went numb.

“Well, isn’t this a nice surprise.” Deborah stepped inside and shut the door behind her. “I knew you were up to something.”

“How could you possibly know?” I asked. Not only was she evil, she was also psychic. I swear, karma hated me.

“I saw Roxanna’s name on the guest list just now.” She placed her hands on the hips of her ball gown. “I certainly didn’t put it there. I had a hunch you’d be sneaking around.”

I glared at her. “Why don’t we just cut to the chase?”

“And what is the ‘chase’, Alexis?” Her tone brimmed with amusement. “Did you come here to beg me for a truce? Jeremy told me all about your plea at dinner.”

I stiffened. “It’s really pathetic how you push him around. One of these days he’s going to snap.”

“If this is your way of begging me not to hurt your dad’s little business, you’re too late. I already called the city on him, and they’re bound to find enough codes to write him up on. He’ll be closed for months before it’s all straightened out.” She beamed at me, and I wanted to strangle her. “I’m bored with this conversation already. The two of you are trespassing.”

“Oh no, we’re not,” Roxanna said. “We have an invitation. Which, I might add, were tacky.”

“I thought you had learned your lesson by now,” she said to me.

My body temperature shot through the roof. “The only lesson I’ve learned is that you’re crazy.”

The door swung open and knocked Deborah in the back. She stumbled forward as Richard stepped inside.

“Hey, I…” His voice trailed off when he realized we weren’t alone. He shot me a startled gaze. “I just wanted to make sure everything’s okay.”

“It’s fine,” I said through clenched teeth.

He looked at Deborah, then to me, then to Roxanna. “Did you find it?”

Deborah’s eyes narrowed. “Find what?”

“I want that contract.”

She bared her teeth at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I’d had about enough of her, and at this point, there was no point in being glib. Crossing the room so I could stand toe to toe with her, I said, “Listen, bitch, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Cut the crap.”

Her eyes hardened. “Well, look who’s getting tough now.”

Behind Deborah’s back, Richard pointed to the recorder in his hand, and he pressed the red button. I stared back at Deborah, my gaze unwavering. It was now or never, and I wasn’t leaving here without what I’d come for.

“I want the contract. The one you forced me to sign
on my wedding day.
You threatened to ruin my business if I didn’t sign it, and then you bribed me with money if I did. The one where you were going to force me and your son to get an annulment after Gerard won the election, after all the votes you hoped to get from putting on a fake wedding.” There, that would sound good on an audio recording. I felt pretty good about it and smirked. “Remember, you also threatened to ruin my parents’ business too, if I didn’t sign the contract.”

She glanced to Roxanna, then back at me. Her gaze dawned with realization.

“If you think you’re going to get some contrived confession out of me, you’re both idiots.” She turned on her heel and stalked to the door, and Richard shuffled out of her way. “I’m calling security to have you removed from my property.”

Panicking, I rushed after her and jumped between her and the door. She stopped short of knocking into me.

“You aren’t leaving until you confess what you did and give me that contract.”

“I’ll do no such thing.” She turned to step around me, but I side-stepped in front of her. “Get out of my way.”

“No.” I shook my head. The only way she was getting past me is if she threw me out of her way.

Deborah laughed. “You’re an idiot. I think I’ll file a protection order against you. I’m sure that will do wonders for your business.”

“You’re not going anywhere!” Roxanna squealed.

I looked over Deborah’s shoulder to Roxanna. She had a taser gun pointed at Deborah’s back. My mouth dropped open.

Deborah turned around to look at Roxanna, and her breath caught. “What is this?”

“This, you evil witch, is your worst nightmare,” Roxanna said, shaking the taser gun at her. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Rox, what are you doing?” I breathed.

“I’m making sure we get our confession and that contract before we leave, that’s what,” she said, her voice edging an octave higher. “Now, confess, you crazy bitch.”

“You aren’t going to use that on me.” Deborah shook her head. “Idiots, all of you.”

She reached for the door handle, and my heart sank.

It happened so fast, I could hardly believe it was real. The probes shot from the taser gun and stuck into Deborah’s back, zapping her. She fell into a heap on the floor and Richard let out a man scream. I ran to Deborah and dropped to her side. She didn’t move. I looked up to Roxanna, who looked as stunned as Richard and I.

“Oh my God, you
shot
her!” I felt for Deborah’s pulse in her neck. “Thank God,” I said on a sigh. “She’s not dead.”

“Of course she’s not dead.” Roxanna’s voice shook. She stuffed the taser gun into her little handbag. “I only shocked her.”