by Stella Blaze
She held it up, turning it so he could see the back of the card. “Has your home number on here. Wonder what the wife would think if I told her about hot little Darla out there?”
If anything, Luvici seemed to enjoy what she’d just threatened him with. His smile turned down right grotesque.
“Knock yourself out.” He said, “My wife doesn’t care if I screw every woman in California, as long as it’s not her.”
Lucy gasped a convincing “Oh...” Though, truthfully, she hadn’t expected him to care. The bit about Darla was just the set up. The real hook was just around the corner.
“So, if you’re quite finished with this little extortion scheme, I’ve got work to do.” He was just starting to stand up, his big, gnarled paws on his desk as his arms labored to pry him out of the leather chair.
“Think she’ll care about Kenny Fry?”
Luvici froze. His expression didn’t change, but Lucy could see something pass behind his eyes. “Kenny who?”
Okay, Lucy. Nice and steady.
“You know, Kenny Fry. He’s in my class, well... what used to be my class. He was some kind of football hero. Had a full ride to UCLA before he was even a junior, took the team to state two years in a row before he got injured. Tore his knee right up.”
“I’m sorry, Lucy. I really don’t—”
“You represented his family when they sued the hospital and doctors that couldn’t fix his knee.” It was Lucy’s turn to wink at Luvici. “Daddy said you tried every dirty trick you knew to get that family some money.”
“Well... yes, I remember now. I tried my best. But we lost.”
She leaned back into her chair and sighed. “Yet somehow Kenny’s been riding around in a spanking new, candy-apple red Camaro all year long.”
“I have no idea how he’s paid for all that. I just hope he isn’t doing anything illegal.” Luvici tried to sound disapproving.
“I don’t think he’s the one doing something illegal.”
Luvici stood, his face red again, this time with rage. “If you think you can just come in here and accuse me of... of...”
“You know,” Lucy chirped conversationally, “Kenny turns seventeen next month.”
Luvici’s skin turned pale and sweat broke out instantly on his forehead and upper lip. He mopped a hand over his forehead as he sat back down, and he stammered repeatedly before he finally got out, “But he’s your age. He’s a senior. Seniors in high school are eighteen.”
Lucy shrugged. She had him...
“I’m eighteen, sure. But that’s the funny thing about the United States Educational System. I was born a month too late, so I couldn’t start Kindergarten until the next year. Where Kenny, he was born a month earlier, the next year. So he started a whole year before he should’ve.
Luvici was practically the color of chalk, and his hand shook as he rubbed the back of his neck over and over again.
“He’s really...”
“Sixteen? Yeah.” Lucy pursed her lips and nodded her head helpfully. “Jailbait.”
Luvici shook his head.
“I mean, your wife might be tolerant of... you know, things like Darla. But if you were ever implicated in a child molestation case…”
“Wait just a goddamn minute!”
“Well, I’m sure she could handle the shame, the scandal. I’m sure she’d be just fine with her friends at the country club whispering behind her back.”
Luvici was turning green, and he was holding his head in his hands.
Time for the kill.
“And I’m sure Caroline’s father would be thrilled to hear about this.”
Luvici’s head shot up, his blood-shot eyes boring into Lucy.
“Caroline’s father is Ramon Castelli, right? The Ramon Castelli?”
Ramon Castelli wasn’t just Luvici’s father-in-law, he was a real live, fit you with cement shoes gangster.
Lucy was about to suggest ways Ramon might “thank” Luvici when the greasy lawyer said: “Okay, you win.”
Lucy leaned back in her chair. “I win?”
“You win, Miss Hart. Anything...” His hands were shaking. “I’ll do anything at all. Just don’t...”
Cool. “Okay, then. What I want is enough money to go to a good school, purchase a great new wardrobe—fall, summer, and spring—and a car. I was thinking something flashy yet economical on gas… maybe a hybrid.”
Luvici started chuckling mirthlessly. He chuckled long enough to peeve Lucy off again.
“What’s so funny?”
“You.”
Lucy squared her shoulders. “Why am I so funny to you?”
“Well shit!” He slammed his fist down on his desk, making Lucy jump. “I told you before, I’m tapped out. Broke. It took everything I had to pay back that psycho Scarlet.”
“Oh...” Lucy genuinely felt confused. “But you said anything at all.”
“I meant as in legal representation. I thought—maybe—you’d want to try to get your precious Daddy out of jail. Maybe sue someone over something.”
Does that mean you didn’t do everything you could for him? The thought was like holding a red hot, double edged sword. On one hand, she was instantly angry he hadn’t done right by her father. On the other hand, her father didn’t give a damn about her... not anymore. So why was she letting herself get upset over him?
Lucy closed her eyes, shook her head and took in a long, slow breath. Get this crap out of your head! You can’t give up this easy...
Sure you can, the mean little voice chimed in. I’m sure you can just go back to McDonald’s tomorrow. Things will be just like they were, like nothing ever happened.
Lucy wished the mean little voice was real, as in something or someone she could reach out and strangle.
That wonderful heat bloomed in her head again, the heat that ignited whenever she got really annoyed. It made everything sharper, more focused—and it made her feel strong.
“Fine. No cash, no problem.”
Luvici’s eyes got round with surprise. “No problem?”
“Nope. None at all.”
Luvici let out a breath and slumped in his chair with relief. That lasted three seconds.
“But since you’re offering me your legal services in more of a barter/blackmail scenario, then you’ll need to find me some sort of deal.”
“A deal?” His eyes darkened as he started to understand he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
“Yeah, a nice fat deal. Maybe... I don’t know...” Lucy really didn’t know. She’d planned out the whole blackmail the shyster lawyer routine, but she wasn’t a legal eagle. What kind of deal would get her the money she needed, but didn’t involve actual work, or something unimaginably dangerous?
Then she thought of something she’d read about online. Something she’d thought was not only a tacky piece of petty crime, but that seemed to involve no actual work at all.
Perfect.
“I’d like you to set me up one of those arranged marriages. You know, where I marry a rich, illegal alien for a big-fat-hefty sum of money... and then six months later we get divorced.”
She could literally see the gears twirling around in Luvici’s head. There might just be more than a hamster on an exercise wheel in there...
“That’s something I don’t usually delve into.”
“But you have some experience in the matter?” Lucy was suddenly sitting on the edge of her seat. She could just make out the sparkling diamond at the end of the tunnel. “That’s something you could set up for me?”
Luvici nodded. “Sure,” he said, reaching for the cigarette he’d set down when they started talking. It had burned out already. He picked up his pack and tapped out another one. His hands were still shaking as he sparked it up, but after one enormous inhalation a sort of calm settled around him.
“I just don’t think you realize all that goes into one of these arrangements.”
Pregnant pause. She had to prompt Luvici to continue. “As in?”
/> “Well, for starters, the Immigration Department is a real bitch about this sort of thing anymore. They’ll put you through the ringer. They’ll investigate every aspect of you and your groom’s lives, including family, friends, and work acquaintances.”
The family thing struck a fairly dissonant chord for Lucy. How on earth would she explain this to her grandmother? Gram will kill me...
“And the penalty for trying to pull this over on the U.S. Government and failing is steep. Five years imprisonment and a fine…” He let that hang in the air for a moment. Lucy felt her mouth go dry. Prison? She’d be just like her father.
Luvici continued. “Then there’s the mandatory two years you’d have to be married, and living as man and wife with this would-be suitor.”
“WHAT?” Lucy’s voice exploded from her mouth. “Did you say two years?”
Luvici gave her a shrug and raised his eyebrows. “Two years is the mandatory minimum. Plus you’ll have to go through the fed’s scrutiny for that entire time.”
Two years... The thought made Lucy’s stomach churn. That’s a hell of a long time to pretend to be married to a stranger. And even if I could make my family believe it...
“So, how much are we talking about here? Payment wise. It would have to be a lot, right?”
Luvici bit his lip as he mentally calculated. “I’d say... somewhere between fifty to sixty thousand dollars.”
There was a zero missing in that figure. Lucy wanted to go to a good school, the kind that ran around a quarter of a million dollars to graduate from. Not to mention she wanted to have nice things: great clothes, an apartment with a view, and a new car.
Fifty or sixty grand would only get her to a state college, in a dorm, with a used car. She wouldn’t even have enough to guarantee she finished.
“The lump sum of that would be paid only after the two year...” Luvici paused, obviously trying to come up with a better word than the one on the tip of his tongue.
“Sentence?” Lucy finished for him. It was the word that was on the tip of her tongue too.
“There would be some small disbursements, but the balance would be withheld until the end.”
“Peachy,” Lucy fumed. “So I sit around playing Little Wifey for two years before I’d get to even start my life?”
“Breaking the law isn’t as easy as it sounds.” Luvici snubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray, and then cracked his knuckles. “And don’t forget, one little slip up and Immigration will bend you over until your knees bend both ways.”
Ewwwww! So freaking gross... “Thanks for the visual.”
Darla’s nasal voice buzzed over the intercom.
“Mr. Enoch is on line one.”
For a moment Luvici looked down at the phone console on his desk like it was a snake ready to bite him. Seconds ticked by.
“Franky? Did you hear me?” Darla shrieked. “You know I hate talking with that guy!”
Luvici smashed the intercom button with his meaty forefinger. “I freaking heard you!” he barked. Lucy could’ve sworn he growled like an animal as he picked up the receiver and pushed the button for line one. “Dante, I was just going to...”
The blood drained from Luvici’s face again. If anything, he was even paler than when Lucy had brought up Kenny Fry and Luvici’s father-in-law.
“I know,” Luvici croaked, hand shaking as he reached for his smokes again. “It’s just... you can’t find that kind of girl just standing on the street corner. If you could, then I’d have a freaking chorus line of them for him to choose from.”
Lucy didn’t hear the voice on the other end yell or scream, but whatever it was saying to Luvici was making him shimmer green. Even his eyes seemed to be trembling in their sockets.
And then he looked at Lucy. He looked downright surprised to see her. Whoever it was on the phone must’ve been scary enough to make Luvici forget what he’d been doing.
I really, really never want to meet someone like that.
And then Luvici’s eyes got that sharp, shark-like glint to them again, and his cracked lips peeled back into a rather disturbing smile. “I think I might just have what you’re looking for. Can I call you back?” Luvici listened to the voice on the line, looking fairly anxious. “Sure, I can put you on speaker phone.”
With the press of a button Luvici set the receiver on the console and said, “You’re on speaker, sir.”
“My name is Dante Enoch,” a most cultured voice spoke. “Whom am I addressing?”
Luvici gestured for Lucy to speak.
“Lucy Hart,” she almost choked. Then with a quick little cough she said it again. “I’m Lucy Hart.”
“Well, Miss. Hart. I’m an attorney, and I represent the Enoch family’s interests.”
The man’s brittle yet refined voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Great, another lawyer...
She looked to Luvici and mouthed, “Who?”
Luvici shook his head with annoyance. “Enoch Incorporated has its hands in almost every type of business you can think of. It’s a multi—”
Dante’s voice cut across Luvici with an edge of warning. “Let’s just say the family is well off.”
She wagged a chastising finger at Luvici, mouthing “Bad boy.”
I wonder if they have one of their “hands” in the cosmetics industry. The diamond sparkled in her mind’s eye.
“What I am looking for, Miss Hart, is a suitable young lady to play a part of sorts. Have you had any acting experience?”
“Sure,” Lucy said to the chilling disembodied voice. “I was the lead in the last three end-of-year productions: Clueless, Bring It On, and Rent.
“You can sing?” Dante asked.
“Nope.”
“Uh-huh.” His sigh had a definite edge of disappointment. “Any other experience?”
“Well, I have had boyfriends, and they all believed I would sleep with them. But not one actually got to.”
Luvici groaned and his head fell into his hands again.
“Fascinating, Miss Hart. I can’t wait to meet you.”
The feeling’s not mutual, creepy lawyer guy.
“Francis...”
Francis? Lucy couldn’t stop the smile from blooming across her lips. Luvici shot her his middle finger.
“Yes, Mr. Enoch.”
“The usual place, in let’s say... an hour?”
Luvici gulped and shot Lucy a look of horror, looking her over from head to toe. “Of course. No problem, sir.”
“Don’t be late.” The line went dead.
“Shit!” Luvici growled. He kept looking Lucy up and down. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”
“So you’re meeting this guy in an hour?”
Luvici shot out of his chair and grabbed his rumpled jacket from a coat rack in the corner.
“Not just me. We’re meeting them.”
It was Lucy’s turn to gulp. I really don’t want to meet this guy. Then Luvici’s words caught up with her. “Them?”
Luvici held open the door and gestured with his free hand emphatically for her to get up and get out the door. “You’re the one who said you wanted an arranged marriage kind of deal.”
“Sure, but—” Lucy was on her feet and Luvici was shoving her out the door and past Darla.
“I’ll be gone for the rest of the afternoon,” he barked at a wide-eyed Darla. “Reschedule all my appointments.”
“Do you want me to wait for you?” Darla’s shrill, laser beam voice suddenly dripped with heat and honey. Doe eyed, she smiled with what looked like genuine affection. Either the chick was one hell of an actress, or she had it bad for her schmuck of a boss.
Luvici stopped and looked at her, his eyes turning soft, his breathing slowing—even his meaty head cocked ever so slightly to the side. “This could take a while. But yeah, would you mind waiting for me?”
Lucy felt like she was watching a real live Life Time romance of the week movie. And then she remembered that Luvici, the schmuck, had a wife at home�
�whether she was waiting for him with open arms and pot roast, or not.
Yuck…
“I’ll wait,” Darla said enthusiastically. “I’ve got loads of filing to catch up on.”
Luvici smiled, kind of laughed once under his breath, then turned and dragged Lucy out of the office by the arm.
Chapter 6
“LET ME GO!” Lucy hollered, grabbing hold of the knob of a passing office door for leverage. Four inch heels were never good for putting on the brakes. Luvici looked back at her. His eyes had turned back to their previous glaring mode. “We have to hurry, princess.”
Okay, that’s it! Now he’s calling me that too...
“Get off me, you freaking troglodyte!”
Luvici let go of her arm like she’d burnt him. He rounded on her and stood there, practically nose to nose with her. His breath was making Lucy’s eyes water, but she wouldn’t back down. This guy was just a big bully, and after all, who’s the one doing the blackmailing around here?
“I—am—not—a—caveman!” He looked so pissed Lucy thought he was going to strike her. “I went to Stanford, just like your old man.” Suddenly his face seemed to crumble, and she saw that his eyes were getting glassy.
“Are you going to cry?”
“NO!” Luvici roared. But his face was starting to look like he was indeed getting ready to cry.
I really don’t need a blubbering fool right now.
“I’m not a caveman, the missing link, or a freaking giant...” His hands were out, palms up, beseeching. “I’m just big boned, for crying out loud!”
Lucy shook her head, and then switched to nodding in agreement. “Sure... I totally see that.”
“Then why’d you say that?” The hurt in his eyes made Lucy cringe. Where was the nasty, lecherous weasel who was checking her out just ten minutes ago?
“Everyone said that,” he grumbled. College... even my goddamn wife calls me a Cyclops!”
“Oh.” Lucy couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Okay, his eyes were a little close together, but with a little creative eyebrow plucking...
A tear was threatening to leak out of his left eye. Lucy couldn’t take it if he started to cry now.
