I nodded. “I did. And it goes completely against SEC protocol, so it’s our little secret.” I slid open the video recorder on my phone, and Bernie Wolfe came into view. He stood outside the office door that Scarlett had just walked through.
I watched Scarlett as the video played of Wolfe walking into the empty office.
“What?” Wolfe said. “Where is everyone?”
From the corner of the frame, I stepped into view. “Hello, Bernie.”
“Tarzan boy? What are you doing here?”
Scarlett paused the recording. “Tarzan boy, huh?”
I shook my head. “He’s an idiot. Everyone knows Tarzan only wears a loincloth, and I wear Dockers.”
Scarlett shrugged. “Bummer. I’d bet you’d look amazing in loin anything.”
“Later.” I grinned. “Now watch the video.”
She resumed the playback mode.
“Bernie Wolfe, I’m Jack Hunter with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” I said on film, and Scarlett clapped.
“The SEC? No. You’re a just a poor bean farmer.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, and you’re just an honest financial investment advisor.”
“What is this? Where is Geppetto? Where is my union?” Bernie looked frantically around the empty office.
“Well, that’s the thing. There is no Wood Hood Union, and Geppetto’s in his shop making a new wooden puppet he’s calling ‘The Lone Wolfe’.”
“What? How can that be? I paid Geppetto cash. We had a cash deal.”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure about any cash transaction. But you could always file a complaint with the SEC that you’ve been a victim of fraud.”
Scarlett cheered and clapped her hands together. “Yes! Way to go, Jack!”
I grinned. “Just wait. The best is coming up.”
Wolfe tilted his head toward the ceiling and howled in disbelief. He had liquidated his house, his holdings, and all his offshore accounts. His howls of destitution reverberated through the empty building and echoed across Amāre.
“Is that what I heard today when I was in the shower?” Scarlett looked at me. “I thought an animal died.”
“Well, one did. When Wolfe realized he was flat broke and couldn’t complain to the SEC that he was the victim of the same fraud that he’d perpetuated on others, I’m sure a part of him did die.” I nodded toward the phone. “There’s just a little more to watch.”
“I want my money back!” Wolfe lunged at me on tape, and I stood my ground.
“Mr. Wolfe, I will gladly file your claim with the SEC. First I will need the depository trust receipt you were given from Geppetto. This will allow the SEC to file charges against one of Amāre’s largest crime family syndicates. We’d be more than happy to comply and get those proceedings started.”
“But my Godfather isn’t in the mob,” Scarlett said. “He’s an honest businessman. He really is a puppeteer.”
“Ah, yes, well we know that, but Bernie doesn’t.”
Scarlett’s face lit up like a firecracker. “Brilliant!”
“So,” my voice played back on the recording. “If you could provide the SEC with all your financial interactions with Geppetto, we’d love to bring down the Godfather of the Amāre mob.”
“No, no. I have no complaints to file against Mr. Geppetto.” Wolfe shook his head, and his normally perfectly coiffed black hair suddenly seemed unkempt and scruffy.
“He’s a mess,” Scarlett said.
“Fraud, right? It’ll screw you up every time.”
Scarlett turned her attention back to the video.
“Well, Mr. Wolfe, you could always go after Geppetto yourself, though…”
“Oh, you let your voice trail off purposefully didn’t you?” Scarlett practically gushed.
“Perhaps…”
She elbowed me. “Cute. That’s cute.”
I tapped my phone. “I think this is my favorite part.”
Wolfe combed his fingers through his hair, and he looked wildly at me like a crazed, trapped animal.
“Mr. Wolfe, since you’d rather not file a complaint with the SEC and you don’t want to go after Geppetto yourself, I’d leave Amāre and never come back, if I were you. If you stick around you may have an accident, and if it's fatal, Geppetto collects double."
Color drained from Wolfe’s face, and he ran from the room.
Scarlett erupted into cheers and applause. “Yes! You did it! You nailed him! You got the Wolfe of Wall Street!”
I turned off the recording and tucked my phone back into my pocket. “Scarlett, we nailed him.”
“Only after you nailed me first in the Dark Forest,” she said. “Or was that actually on my Granny’s couch…”
I shook my head. “You’re looking at it all wrong. I swooped into your life.”
“And if you hadn’t I would have been at the end of my rope,” she said with her hand on her chest, and her head tilted back like a classic damsel in distress. “Oh, Jack,” she said playfully, “I would have been left to deal with the big, bad Wolfe all by myself.”
“I would never have let that happen.” I jumped off the desk, dropped to one knee and withdrew the velvet box tucked in my other coat pocket.
Scarlett gasped.
“I grabbed that vine and came crashing into your life for a reason,” I said.
Tears suddenly pulled at the corners of her green eyes, and her lips started to tremble.
“And ever since I did, Scarlett, ever since I met you and have been with you, it’s where I want to be.” I held the box tightly in my hand. “But I know that family means everything to you.”
She nodded as tears fell from her fair face.
“So this morning, before Wolfe, before the SEC, before anything else, I went and asked for your Granny’s blessing.”
Scarlett’s mouth formed a perfect O.
I smiled. “I did, and your Granny’s one wise woman. She said she knew we were meant for each other. That her granddaughter had found her—” I paused. “How did she say it?”
“Happily ever after,” Scarlett said softly.
On bended knee, I looked up at my green-eyed, red-headed beauty and smiled. “That’s it. She told me that by the way we looked at each other when I brought you into her house that we had found our happily ever after. She knew by a look.”
Scarlett smiled.
“I did, too,” I said and swallowed the lump that was in my throat. I wanted to reach up and grab Scarlett, but more than anything I wanted this to be a moment she’d remember forever.
“I grabbed that vine and had no idea that when I crashed into you that I would be looking into the eyes of the woman I wanted to marry. That I had to marry,” I said. “Because when I look into your eyes, I can’t imagine a day without you in my life.” I opened the box to reveal the emerald encrusted diamond tucked inside. “Maybe now we can tie the knot?”
Scarlett’s eyes welled. “Yes, yes, yes!”
I slid the ring onto her finger. Like everything else that had happened between us, it was a perfect fit.
Epilogue
I held my camera, carefully adjusting the lenses. Though I didn’t need to. His sky-blue eyes clearly came into view. Oh, Jack.
Emotions caught in my throat. I swallowed hard, but it didn’t stop my eyes from misting. Come on, Scarlett. You can do this. I repositioned my camera slightly away from my face. I didn’t need a flash because the sun was shining brightly in Amāre and cast its light on his beautiful strawberry-blond hair.
The wind played against the tree behind him. The aspen shook its silvery leaves as if it were announcing his arrival. Jack stood in the distance in black slacks, a black vest, dark shirt, and a golden tie. His hands were loosely in his pants pockets, his thumbs stuck out like the badass hero he was. My entire body lit up in a smile. I pressed down on the shutter release and heard my camera spin a rotation of pictures. This is the man I’m going to marry today.
“Isn’t it bad luck or something for
the groom to see the bride before the wedding?”
I shrugged. “That’s what they say.” I released the shutter and held my thumb over the button, ready to snap another series. “But that’s the thing,” I said, looking at my groom. “I’m not the bride.” I peeked past the camera, but kept Jack in the frame. “I’m the wedding photographer.”
His face lit up in a smile, and I pressed down on the shutter release. And in that moment, I had the perfect picture of my future husband.
****
A quartet of violins softly began to play just as a gentle rain fell. I looked up at the temperamental October sky.
Evening was upon us. Anything could happen. Just like the night I met her. Oh, no. I looked at Granny Hood, who was seated in the front row beside Blue and my grandmother.
Granny Hood barely shook her head. “It’s okay,” she mouthed.
“Rain?” I mouthed back. “What about the candles?” Pillars were staked in the ground with white candles that lined the aisle Scarlett would walk down. Granny Hood smiled and fanned away my worry. She had assured me nothing could ruin tonight’s ceremony. That happily ever after would happen. So if we had to relight the candles, we would relight the candles. Yet despite the trickle of rain, the pillars glowed gently in the evening. A beacon of light for my bride-to-be. Only in Amāre.
I resumed my post, standing on the edge of the Dark Forest with a sentinel of trees behind me as my groomsmen. My tabby cat, Pumpkin, stood next to me as my Best Man. She rocked the black bowtie that Scarlett had draped around her neck like a strand of black pearls. Only Pumpkin.
The violins faded, and the cello player began. When the first chord of the wedding march struck, everyone stood. My heart beat so loudly I could hear it in my ears. I looked past the rows of white chairs and standing guests to the end, to where she would be.
Geppetto rounded the corner of chairs in a black suit with Scarlett on his arm. And in that moment, I felt the world stand still.
My God, she’s beautiful.
In an ivory dress that gently draped her shoulders, tightly hugged her hourglass figure, and spilled out into a gown that sparkled with each step she took, she embodied elegance and grace. She was a beauty beyond compare. Her crimson hair flowed into spirals that were tied back with silk ribbons and crystals that shone in the moonlight that glowed upon her.
The rain suddenly stopped. I smiled with my heart as my bride approached me. How lucky am I?
My eyes welled. I held out my hand, and she gently placed hers in mine. The next chapter of our life was about to begin, but I already knew happily ever after wasn’t just for fairytales.
The End
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Scarlett Hood & the Hunter Page 7
