Лорен Донер - Smiley

“I’m not talking about the wedding.” Gregory’s voice rose, his expression angry. “Sit your ass down in that chair.”

She refused. “I know everyone is upset about what has happened but I think we should take a few days to calm down. You especially. I don’t know why you’re so upset. You always hated me. You should be throwing a party to celebrate that the engagement is off.”

“Bruce.” Gregory jerked his head in her direction.

The large man advanced. Vanni tried to get away but found herself trapped in the corner. She tensed when his beefy hands gripped her upper arms and he yanked hard enough to take her almost to her knees. He dragged her over to the chair and dropped her into it.

“Stay there.” He backed up a few feet and opened his jacket, making sure she could see the shoulder holster and gun.

She was mute and terrified. Were they going to kill her? Shoot her? It didn’t make sense. She huddled in the chair, too afraid to do anything else. Gregory strutted to another chair near her and sat, a smug look on his features. He crossed his legs and his expression cleared of all emotion.

“Here is what is going to happen. We’re holding a press conference tomorrow. You’ll read the statement we wrote telling the world you were drugged and raped by that creature in the video with you.”

She opened her mouth to deny it but wasn’t given the chance to speak.

“You’ll stay here tonight as our guest. Mable is out buying you a nice outfit that will make you appear tragic and I expect you to shed lots of tears. Tell her, Bruce.”

The thug cleared his throat. “Sobbing would play out better. We’ll have Mable do her makeup so she looks really pale and add some dark shadows under her eyes to give the impression she isn’t sleeping.”

Gregory smiled. It was ice cold. “Nice. I like that idea. Of course Carl will stand at your side, Travanni. You’ll also wear my mother’s ring as if the engagement is still on. We wouldn’t want anyone to think we would abandon you after such a heinous crime was committed against you. My entire flock of parishioners is going to be very supportive. We’re going to take you into the fold and help you heal.”

“I wasn’t raped.” They’d lost their minds. Maybe it was how they were dealing with the stress. She tried to ease out of the seat slowly. “I’m leaving now.”

Bruce put his hand on the butt of the gun. “Suicide would work too. She couldn’t withstand the trauma of such a highly publicized sexual assault. I can stage it easy and the press will eat it up.”

She sagged in the seat. He was threatening to kill her. She wasn’t stupid. They were nuts. She turned her head and stared at Carl, hoping he at least remained sane. His gaze held hers.

“She still hasn’t put it together.” He shook his head. “So cute but so dumb. It was one of her best traits. Now I see how annoying it can be, Dad. You had her pegged.”

“Put together what?” She glanced between father and son.

“Dad, you deal with her. I’m sickened by this mess.” Carl stood and left the room.

Vanni watched him go and resisted bolting out of the chair. Bruce still touched his gun when she dared glance at him. She’d never make it to the door if he really intended to shoot her. She addressed Gregory. He seemed to be in charge.

“What is going on?”

He blinked. “We know that creature didn’t drug you. Bruce paid the bartender to do it.”

All her muscles seemed to go lax. She just gaped at him.

“Do you know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars I had to pay to get my hands on B-47?”

“What’s that?” She had a horrible suspicion though.

“It’s what was in your drink. They have a long, boring name for it but that’s what the man I bought it from called it. Batch forty-seven. It makes sluts show their true nature.” He glanced up at Bruce. “What was the total we paid out?”

“Almost seven hundred thousand,” the man murmured.

“Nasty business dealing with that man but it’s a war.” Gregory shrugged. “You fucked up our plan by going into that bar. It was supposed to be a woman we hired without any ties to us but she ran late. You sat next to that creature instead. You caused us a hellish day yesterday while we figured out how to make this work to our advantage.”

“It will,” Bruce confirmed.

“We’ll see.” Gregory studied Vanni. “We need a victim. Otherwise we would have just drugged the creature and let witnesses watch him kill her. As tempting as that was, I was afraid the NSO could spin it that he’d had a mental breakdown from the atrocities done to him in the past. They really enjoy playing that feel-sorry-for-us card. This way we’re pitting you against one of them. Fathers, brothers, mothers and sisters are going to side with you after you tell them how you were drugged and raped by that creature. We’ll put you out there every few days with the media and really work the angle of how your life was destroyed by the event. I think it would be a nice touch if you say you caught him slipping a vial into his pocket but didn’t think anything of it until after you realized what he’d done.”

“She could say he explained it as some liquid vitamin he takes and that he bragged about putting it in her drink after she started feeling unwell. That should kill any bullshit they come up with when they deny he drugged her. It implies forethought.” Bruce smiled. “We can spin this any way we want now that we are in control of her. Bleeding hearts will eat it up.”

“I agree.” Gregory gazed at her. “We’ll write your speech and practice it before you’re put in front of the cameras. One of my parishioners is an acting coach. She’ll work with you to get your gestures and facial expressions just right while you read from the cards.”

It wasn’t a nightmare. She was wide awake. “I won’t do it.”

Gregory’s composure evaporated and he grabbed the arms of the chair, his face twisting into a mask of rage. “You will do every damn thing I say or you will tragically be found dead with a suicide note blaming the NSO. That’s not what I want. I need a live victim to parade around in front of the cameras and that’s what you’re going to be if you want to stay alive. I’ve got too much invested in this.”

Bruce reached inside his pocket for gloves then put them on. The sight terrified Vanni. It implied he was about to do something criminal and he didn’t want to leave fingerprints. They were really planning to kill her. She glanced at the door.

Think. “Bullet holes in my back isn’t suicide.”

She launched out of the chair, knocking it over, and ran to the door. The expectation of being shot, of feeling searing pain, drove her into a healthy sprint. Her parting words were the only protection she had, hoping they thought better of shooting her in the back.

The front door loomed and she managed to unlock and yank open the door. She reached inside her pocket, fisting her keys as something hit her shoulder blade. It hurt. She would have screamed but couldn’t. Electricity jolted through her body and she convulsed, hitting the floor hard. It stopped and she lay there panting.

Gregory bent down and chuckled. “Tasers really look painful. Did that hurt as much as it appeared to? She might have some bruises now.”

“We’ll blame them on that creature she fucked. It will look better for the cameras anyway. I might knock her around a bit more if she keeps attempting to run.”

“Let’s try to avoid that since she’s been photographed a few times at her apartment by the press.”

Bruce crouched next to her. She flexed her fingers but they were slow to respond. Her body felt sluggish and everything ached. More pain made her flinch while the guard removed the darts imbedded in her skin. She was pretty sure she was bleeding. It hurt bad enough.