The Complete Groupie Trilogy (108 page)

His kisses grew hungrier as her hands wound themselves in his hair. His body strained for her, unaccustomed to being denied for so long. Every time she got his motor revved, it got harder and harder to walk away from her unsatisfied.

She seemed to know this on some primal level, because on this night she was being especially evil. Her hands danced along his body, slipping under his clothes, roaming over his hardened silhouette until he thought he might actually split in two.

“What are you doing to me, woman?” he gasped as the tip of her tongue blazed fire along his solid chest.

“Payback’s a bitch,” she said with an evil arch of her eyebrow, then dared to venture even lower. Her fingers unfastened his jeans, and he could hardly refuse her as she pulled away any restrictive material.

Her hot breath and warm, wet mouth felt like heaven against his aching body. His hand wound itself in her hair as she teased him with her fingers and with her tongue. His head fell back against the sofa as he groaned for her. She would bring him right to the brink and then back away, letting the cool night air sweep around him where her mouth had been. He was crazed for her as he pulled her up to straddle his body. “It’s not our wedding night,” he tried to scowl.

She bent for a kiss. The grandfather clock in their foyer chimed almost as if on cue. “But it’s our wedding day,” she said before covering his mouth with her own.

He was beyond denying her as she moved her body over him. His hands ran along her sides to lift up the maternity dress she wore, revealing her womanly curves. Her breasts were fuller as they prepared to nourish their child. Her hips seemed wider and more rounded, and of course her tummy was full and round.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, his fingers dancing across her flesh.

“Say my name,” she instructed softly as her lips toyed with his.

“Andy,” he complied. “Carnevale.”

Easily he swung her around beneath him on the sofa. He fit against her perfectly, even with her pregnant tummy in between, thanks to the strategic placement of some pillows. When he slipped inside of her it was like coming home.

This was the only marriage vow they really needed. He couldn’t tell where he ended and she began. She was an extension of him in every way that counted. As he slowly began to make love to her, he promised her each vow. “I, Vanni, take you, Andy, to be my wife,” he said in between kisses. “I promise to love you and keep you and be faithful to only you, whether in sickness or in health. In good times or in bad.”

There were tears in her eyes as she cupped his face with her hand. “I, Andy, take you Vanni, to be my husband,” she repeated. “I promise to love you and keep you and be faithful to only you, whether in sickness or in health, in good times or in bad.”

A tear fell from his own eyes as he continued. “I promise to honor you all the days of my life. Only death could part us.”

She repeated the vow and he crushed his mouth on hers. He kissed her deeply as he consecrated his vows with his body. He savored each stroke that united them, until they were both delirious with their need for each other. When they came it was both explosive and in unison.

They lay together for long minutes afterwards. It was as if they understood their lovemaking went beyond physical need. It had married them in spirit. Neither one of them spoke as he pulled apart to stand up. He bent and lifted her into his arms to take her to their bedroom.

They never had to be apart again.

She gasped when they entered the bedroom. Her wedding gown was on a hanger hooked onto the outside of their closet door. “Don’t look,” she instructed as he made his way toward their bed. “It’s bad luck!”

He just grinned as he crawled into bed beside her. “The bad stuff is already behind us,” he said as he ran his hand over her body. “Besides. I think you should walk down the aisle exactly like this.”

She giggled as she cuddled into crook of his arm. “You’re crazy.”

“About you,” he said before he captured her lips for another kiss.

In a Los Angeles hospital nearly thirty miles away from their sanctuary in Palos Verdes, a monitor filled the darkened room with all the vital signs of someone hooked up to machinery. The reassuring rhythmic beat of the heart monitor kept a steady pulse, and Baylee Wilke stared out at the world through deadened eyes that saw nothing.

She was blissfully unaware of the figure that had entered her room, dressed all in black, with a gloved hand and covered face. She never noticed the steady hand that reached for the cords of the machines that kept her alive. Minutes would tick by and the mystery visitor would disappear as quickly as he or she had come, but the constant blip of a heart monitor no longer filled the room.

Instead, Baylee’s eyes slowly closed… never to open again.

A half-hour later, a phone rang at a Los Angeles hotel room. It might have been five-star accommodations, but a veritable arsenal filled the tiny space. Guns, knives, even a crossbow, lined the pastel-colored walls. After a brief moment, long enough to deliver the worst possible news a person could hear, the phone was pulled from the wall and smashed against the floor.

When the sun came up on June 17, 2011, the weapons were no longer in the hotel room. And neither was Donny Wilke.

Instead he waited where Leo had told him, in bushes near a gated community in Rancho Palos Verdes. He used the opportunity to sneak in the gates after he watched Vanni’s car drive out that morning, headed to no doubt pick up his tuxedo for his wedding day.

Instead, it was going to be his judgment day.

Donny made his way to their front door. When Andy answered, thinking Vanni had decided not to leave her at all, she didn’t recognize this as the assailant from the beach house. With lightning fast reflexes he punched her right in the head, and knocked her cold before she knew what had happened to her.

Before the hour was through, and before Kelly would show up to help Andy with her wedding preparation, Donny had secured Andy in the back seat of her car, her hands bound and a pillowcase over her head.

He drove straight to Redondo Beach, where the house he had prepared throughout the quiet, early morning hours waited for the main event.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Rancho Palos Verdes

June 17, 2011

Vanni was walking out toward his car parked in front of the clothier’s shop, carrying a wardrobe bag slung over his shoulder, when he got the call. Kelly had arrived at the house to find it in state of disarray. There were blood platters on the floor, and Andy’s wedding dress had been cut to ribbons by a knife.

He tried immediately to call Andy’s cell phone, but it went straight to voice mail. So he threw the tuxedo in the backseat like an afterthought as he jumped in his car and headed to the one person he knew could help him.

Graham was already at the studio that morning, sharing a cup of coffee with Maggie in his office, when Vanni rushed into the room. From the crazy, windblown hair to the wild look in his eye, Graham knew immediately something was very, very wrong. He hopped to his feet. “What happened?”

Vanni couldn’t have stopped the tears if he wanted to, but he was beyond macho pride. “Andy’s gone. Someone’s taken her.”

Maggie took one arm as Graham took the other, and they led Vanni to the chair in front of Graham’s desk. “What? When?” Graham asked as Maggie poured some hot water for tea.

Vanni shook his head. “I don’t know the details,” he said. “She was fine when I left the house this morning.” He started to crumble, thinking of how she had smiled at him as he dressed, then walked him to the front door as they talked about the next time they saw each other she’d be walking down the aisle. He had kissed her so softly on the lips before he turned to leave.

He couldn’t bear the thought it might be the last time he could ever see her. “We have to find her,” he told Graham, his eyes wide like a frightened child.

“We will,” Graham assured. He was already behind his desk and on the phone to call his security people. Maggie handed Vanni some tea and he muttered his thanks, but he couldn’t bring the cup to his lips. His stomach had coiled into a knot, and he knew that anything he tried to force down would come back up.

She patted him on the shoulder as she glanced over to Graham, who was tersely instructing his security team on what to do. They would call law enforcement to coordinate their efforts to find her before the worst could happen.

After the aborted home invasion attack just weeks ago, all three in the room were terrified of what could happen to Andy – and her baby – if they didn’t.

They had no way of knowing that she was sitting in a chair in her old Redondo Beach house, tied down and facing a crossbow that had been rigged to the front door. If anyone dared to open it, it was poised to send an arrow straight through her swollen abdomen and the baby that grew there.

She came to, groggy and in pain from where she’d been punched in the face. Her body was bruised from where her attacker had manhandled her, and a towel had been taped into her mouth so she couldn’t scream.

Her fuzzy brain tried to assess the situation as she scanned the empty room. It had been slightly cluttered from the last time Vanni had stayed there, but what stood out to her were the wires and devices scattered around the room. It was rigged to blow, whether anyone opened that door or not.

Frantically she tried to wiggle free from her restraints, praying her attacker would not come back before she could escape.

Donny Wilke wasn’t in Redondo Beach, however. Instead he was in downtown Los Angeles, where his reign of terror had continued the
minute Leo had opened the door.

“What the fuck, man?” Leo said as he glanced around behind Donny. If he had brought that pregnant woman to their door, he could no longer deny accountability. He’d been so careful setting everything up so they could slip by without detection no matter what this lunatic did. But one wrong move and it would blow the whole thing wide open. “Is she with you?”

Donny burst through the door, knocking the larger man aside. “She’s right where I want her,” he assured before he turned to face Leo. “I’m here to see you.”

“What? Why? I gave you all the information you needed to get your revenge.”

Donny walked further into the room, and Julian and Holly emerged from the bedroom from the commotion. “The gang’s all here,” he said. He took a gun from his jacket and pointed at the couple who cowered in the door frame. “Have a seat,” he said.

They sent a frightened glance over to Leo, who gave a slight nod of the head. His mind raced how to handle this wet dynamite. All three took a seat.

“So, what’s the problem?” Leo wanted to know.

Donny laughed. “Funny you should ask,” he said as he kept his gun trained on his captive audience. “Because that’s what I’ve been asking myself all night, ever since you called me and told me about Baylee.”

Leo cleared his throat. “And?”

Donny grabbed a chair and sat facing them. “Well, I was thinking. You told me that that asshole Vanni had spent the whole night with his fat pig of a girlfriend. So I got to thinking… if this guy Carnevale didn’t pull the plug on my sister… who did?”

Julian began to fidget in between Holly and Leo, which drew her attention. With a sinking stomach she realized that he had been gone most of the night – out with Leo, like usual. She assumed they were out getting drunk and laid. What Donny was suggesting…

Leo shrugged off his concern. “He’s so loaded he could pay to get it done while he had an airtight alibi. It’s the easy way to get rid of his biggest problem.”

“Yeah, but see the settlement stated that if she died, we’d get all the money. Why would he still do that, when it risked his going to jail? Things just don’t add up.”

Leo gulped. He had counted on this hick being too stupid to add two plus two. “Does it matter, man?” he asked. “Your sister wouldn’t be there in the first place if it hadn’t been for him. He should pay for what he’s done.”

“Oh, he’s going to pay, all right,” Donny assured. “Every one that crossed us is going to pay.”

“It was Leo,” Julian spit out as he jumped from the sofa.

“Julian!” Holly hissed, knowing he was signing their death warrant by admitting anything.

“He wanted Andy gone so he could manipulate Vanni, get in good with him like he did before. He needed Vanni weak and compromised so he could fuck with his mind, make him do whatever he wanted to. Probably get him hooked on drugs again, just like he did me.”

“You wea
k son of a bitch,” Leo growled.

“Not weak enough to do your dirty work,” Julian exploded. “You couldn’t even pull her plug. You had to get me high so that I’d do it.”

“What did you say?” Donny thundered, and Holly jumped up in front of Julian.

“He doesn’t know what he’s saying. Leo did get him hooked on drugs, he’s been out of his mind for weeks… ever since I lost my baby.”

Leo jumped up too. “He’s the reason you lost your baby, you stupid twat. And now you’re defending him.”