32. Devon

Chapter thirty-two

Devon

T he problem with Jaxcen is she sees more than she should. I don’t like lying to her, but from the little I know about her, I know she would try and take matters into her own hands if she knew what could potentially happen tonight.

Or more like, what I’m hoping will happen so I can put a fucking end to this shit.

She’d try and save me, or literally anyone else, but herself.

I employ Marilda to keep Jaxcen occupied after we eat, and by 8pm, Taylor, Alice and Natasha take the small stage at the edge of the street and begin their evening of Christmas carols. A little after, as the sun starts to dip further, we can see the trail of car lights driving up the small mountain, heading our way.

Excitement is in the air, the women practically bursting at the seams to have the town filled with onlookers and those happy to spend their hard earned money on the local handcrafts.

My men are now fully dressed, beards and Santa hats hiding their identity, while some are still dressed in all black, but they are hidden strategically, out of sight where they can watch on, their weapons trained on our visitors, ready for any sign of trouble.

“First cars are approaching the gates now,” Finn says, coming to my side. “You sure you want to do this?”

I nod, even though I really do want to pull the pin .

“Open the gates. It ends tonight.”

Nodding back, Finn calls the guards at the gates and orders them open.

“Is Dom’s team in place?” I ask, knowing they are but needing the reassurance.

“Yep. There are eyes on all cameras. No one will slip away from Main Street without being noticed.”

“And Lenny is in the shadows?”

“Roger that. His team is armed and ready.” Finn reassures me.

“Okay. Let’s keep Melissa safe, yeah?”

“Of course,” Finn agrees.

“You got your situation handled?” I turn now to look at my best mate, biting back a smirk he won’t be able to see under this itchy as fuck fake white beard.

He has a fucking bite mark on his neck that I spotted earlier today. I want to give him shit for it, but it’ll have to wait until I have time to hear the story behind it.

“It’s handled for now. I’m still not happy about it.”

“You said it yourself. Your visitor was getting too aggressive, and trying to escape. If you didn’t drug her food, then we’d have to worry about her causing havoc in the town as well.”

Finn nods. “She won’t trust me now. I did exactly what I promised her I wouldn’t do.”

Reaching out, I clap him on the shoulder and his eyes meet mine. “When this is over, you can focus on her. I promise.”

I feel like a cunt for demanding he drug his captive. Or visitor. I’m not really sure what to call her since he did save her, but also has her hauled up in his house up on the hill.

Kind of reminds me of the situation with my little mouse. Although, there’s zero flirting where Finn is concerned and more trying not to get killed by Frankie.

Voices sound in my earpiece, my men at the gates sending updates as cars pull into my town, parking in the front paddocks before they make the hike up the steep hill .

It’s not long before my little town is filled with strangers, which puts me on edge more so than any other Christmas Eve.

There’s a lot of cheer going on. Children’s laughter. Oooh’s and ahhh’s from women exploring the stalls for last minute gifts, as well as men’s laughter while many of them congregate outside the Palace, having a cold beer on me as they chat and watch the live music.

Moving from stall to stall, I help here and there, trying to blend in enough not to be noticed as the king of this town.

Jaxcen easily tells me apart from my other Santas, her eyes catching mine when I assist at Allegra’s store and then Marilda’s.

I also don’t miss the narrowing of eyes Jaxcen sends my way when I talk quietly with Marilda.

It looks like my little mouse gets jealous easily.

Yet another form of sin.

That thought makes me smile.

I think I’m thoroughly corrupting Miss Summers and I’m not even fucking sorry.

“I can’t believe we are out of ice again.” Ronnie grumbles as he approaches Marilda’s stall. “Have you seen Eden? I need her to get some more ice from the cellar.”

“She’s over there.” Jaxcen points across the street, where Eden and Allegra are talking to a group of teenage boys. “I can get the ice for you.”

Her offer shouldn’t surprise me, but it does.

This isn’t her town. In fact, she was brought here against her will, yet she fits in so much like a local after only a few days.

Why do I like that so much?

“Are you sure?” Ronnie asks, even as he holds out the bucket. “I can grab the girls to do it.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jaxcen waves dismissively. “Leave them to their fun. I’ll be right back. ”

Ronnie mutters a thanks and a shrug as Jaxcen bounces on her toes and spins to head into the Palace. “She’s a lot nicer when she’s not wielding a knife.”

Throwing my head back, laughing, Ronnie’s grin appears momentarily before he spins and returns to the makeshift street bar.

I assist in yet another sale of Marilda’s knitted Christmas jumpers for dogs when Finn hurries to my side and speaks quietly in my ear.

“Melissa is missing.”

I jerk back like the fucker slapped me. “What?”

“Dom and his team are reviewing the CCTV, but so far we don’t know when or where it happened.”

“Lock the place down. No one leaves,” I snap, and Finn nods, pulling out his phone.

My gaze darts everywhere, from stall to stall, from group to group, searching for Melissa, our fucking bait.

It was her idea. She volunteered, and I wasn’t happy about it, but the idea that we could lure Mr fucking V here, onto our turf would give us the upper hand.

“We’re locked down. No one has left since arriving.” Finn informs me which means Melissa has to still be here.

“I want a fucking head count!” I snap, and a nearby child’s eyes widen at the fact a Santa is swearing.

I’ll fucking care about that later.

“On it.” Finn moves away, speaking to some of my other men nearby.

My patience waning, I leave Marilda to handle her stall and start looking for Melissa myself. All the town stores are closed and locked, but she could have gone for a walk around the square, or to the cliff, or back to her house.

I don’t know why she’d do that though. She knows she’s the bait. She was scared shitless even though she insisted on making herself the target.

“Dev,” Finn calls, and I spin in time to see him come to my side. “Headcount via CCTV a few minutes ago is short two females, but has an additional Santa. ”

“The fuck.”

“Yeah. The fuck’s right. Could Melissa have dressed as a Santa too? Gone and got changed?”

“No,” I bark. “Order all Santas to remove their hats and beards and let’s see who’s left.”

Again, Finn nods, talking into his phone, and a moment later, my men start peeling off their red hats and white beards, revealing themselves.

But there’s no extra Santa left standing.

“Someone either doesn’t know how to count, or something else is going on.” I hiss, and my phone rings this time.

“Boss.” Dom’s voice rushes out. “We’ve gone back through the video footage. For about an hour there was an extra Santa, we’re working through the footage to see when and where he went.”

“Make it quick,” I snap, ending the call, worried for Melissa’s safety. “Hang on a minute.” I turn back to Finn, my brows knitting. “You said we were two women short.”

“Yeah, Dom’s team is working on the two missing now.” He points at the camera close by, and I nod, but then my eyes shift to the entrance of the Palace.

Where’s Jaxcen? She should have been back with the ice by now.

Storming towards Ronnie’s street bar, I scan the area again, looking for my little blonde sinner in her red dress, but come up empty.

“Ronnie, has Jaxcen been back with the ice yet?”

He shakes his head. “Nah. The damn machine’s probably bung again. I’ll get someone to cover me and go check it out.”

“No, I will,” I snap, waving Finn over as I walk up the steps of the Palace.

“The second missing female is Jaxcen. She went to get ice. I’ll go get her. Be right back.” I grumble, and then snap over my shoulder. “I expect an update when I get back.”

My best mate nods like an obedient soldier, not thrown off by my snarky attitude.

He gets the seriousness of the situation .

Moving quickly through the bar, I go down the steep staircase into the cellar, and rounding the corner to where the ice machine is, I skid to a stop.

Jaxcen isn’t here, but the bucket she carried in is, and it’s tipped over on the floor, some of the rapidly melting cubes strewn right across the room like they were kicked.

“Jaxcen?” I call, looking further into the cellar where we keep the wine, and that’s when I hear it.

A whimper.

“Jaxcen!” I boom, charging forward past the aisles of shelves to the back of the cellar.

It’s dark back here, but not so dark I can’t see those big blue eyes, wide with fear, and I’m about to hurry forward when I see it.

She’s strapped to a chair. Tape covering her mouth. And attached to her chest is a fucking bomb.