“What’s going on out there?” I said, feeling a cold chill that had nothing to do with the weather.
Alex came running over. “I’ll check it out.”
She would know what to do, I thought. Alex had served in the Balkans during her time in the military. “Good. We need to—”
All of a sudden the door was thrown open and two men stormed in carrying guns. They were dressed in the same security guard uniforms that Gerald wore. How they’d managed to find the uniforms was a good question, but I guessed that they had probably snuck in through the service entrance and found a utility closet filled with them.
“Stay calm,” the taller one shouted, “and no one gets hurt.”
My sister London screamed, then slapped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes were so wide and filled with fear I instantly regretted thinking we would all be perfectly safe here—or anywhere.
“What do you want?” Robin yelled, her outrage overcoming her fear in the moment.
But I knew what they wanted. I recognized them both. It was Thuggy and Leon—and they wanted the book.
I scanned the room quickly, trying to make eye contact with everyone, willing them all to stay quiet and remain as calm as they possibly could. I looked around once more and realized that my mother and Meg were gone. Had they slipped away while I was pacing the floor with Robin?
I’d definitely heard shouting in the hall, but had it been loud enough for Derek and the other men to hear? Was Gerald the guard hurt? What about Mom or Meg?
The two men glanced around the room and zeroed in on me.
“She’s the one,” Thuggy said.
“Don’t shoot the bride!” London cried.
“It’s okay, honey,” I said, trying without much success to soothe my sister’s nerves. “Everyone stay cool.”
“Listen to her,” Thuggy said menacingly.
“What do you want?” I asked, stalling because I knew very well that they wanted the darn book. And I knew why they had come to the Covington to look for it. Because Rod had taken the bait and told them I would be bringing the book with me. But you left the same message with Heather, I thought suddenly. What if she was the one who told them?
“What do you think?” Thuggy said. “We want the book.”
“I don’t have it here.” I waved both of my arms at myself. “I’m getting married.”
“Whatever,” he groused. “We know you brought the book with you. Just hand it over and nobody gets hurt.”
“I told you I don’t have it with me. Why would I?”
Thuggy looked at Leon, who shrugged and waved his gun, trying to look more dangerous. He succeeded.
“You do realize that my fiancé is right down the hall. He is licensed to kill in twenty-seven countries and is the premier security expert in the world.” I was making a few of those numbers up, but they didn’t have to know that.
Leon looked worried now and elbowed Thuggy. But Thuggy wouldn’t be dissuaded. His teeth were clenched. “Just give me the book.”
“I told you I don’t have it. Look, just let everyone go, and I’ll take you to my house and give it to you myself.”
His laugh was raspy. “We aren’t that dumb. We know you have the book and nobody leaves this room until we get it.”
“Yeah, it’s like you’re all collateral,” Leon said with a snicker.
“Collateral, really?” Savannah plopped both hands on her hips. “What’s the plan? Hold us hostage until someone brings you the stupid book?”
“Savannah . . .” I didn’t need my sister giving these two any ideas.
“Your timing sucks, by the way,” Robin said defiantly. “She’s getting married in an hour.”
“And like she told you, her fiancé is deadly,” London said.
“And two of his brothers are British spies,” China added. “Derek used to be one, too, right, Brooklyn?”
“And there’s Dalton,” Savannah chimed in. “He’s Derek’s brother and my partner and he’s got the head of the CIA on speed dial.”
Thuggy stared at her and shook his head. “You’re bald.”
“You must be the brains of the outfit,” Savannah said, her voice dripping with scorn. “Yeah, I’m bald, but I can grow my hair back and you’ll still be stuck in Stupidville.”
“For heaven’s sake,” Robin snorted, “did you really think you’d waltz in here and have a bunch of poor, cowering women at your feet?”
Leon snorted. “She got you good, man.”
“Shut up,” Thuggy snarled.
I glanced at Alex, saw her grinning, and almost laughed out loud. I had thought I would need to calm them down, but it turned out that my bridesmaids had nerves of fricking steel.
Thuggy waved his gun at me. “And all you women can just clam up now, except for you.” He sneered at me. “Give me the book. Did you hide it in here somewhere? Is it in your purse or something? Where is it?”
“Maybe you should search the room,” Savannah suggested sweetly.
China added, “Yes, we can wait.”
“I told you all to clam up.”
“And we all take orders so well,” Robin said drolly.
Leon glanced around nervously. “Hey, man, she didn’t tell us we’d be barging in on a wedding.”
She? I stared at him, dumbfounded, wondering if I’d heard him correctly. But I knew I wasn’t mistaken. So it was Heather all along. She had to have been in cahoots with Rod this whole time. It made me sick, but I had to maintain my cool.
“Who cares?” Thuggy growled. “I want that book.”
“Look around you,” Robin said. “There are hundreds of rare, expensive books in this room. Grab a couple and get out of here.”
I almost gasped at the idea, but she was right. “Yes, take whatever you want. Just please leave us alone.”
“Come on, man,” Leon whined. “The big mouth has a point. Let’s do what she says and go. It’s gotta be some kind of bad luck to shoot a bride.”
“Big mouth?” Robin echoed. “He called me a big mouth?”
“I’m sure it’s not personal,” China said, grinning.
“I paid good money for that book,” Thuggy insisted, “and I don’t like being swindled.”
“You were more than swindled, pal,” I said, gulping down the bile that my anger was stirring up. “Rod Martin had that book altered to look older and more rare than it really is. He charged you more money than it was worth and now you’re out both the money and the book.”
Robin almost looked impressed. “Wow, looks like you’ve been conned times two.”
“But fine,” I said with a shrug. “You still want the book. My fiancé has it. I’ll just text him and he’ll bring it.”
Leon smacked Thuggy’s arm. “The book’s a fake. Now what?”
“It’s still worth money,” Thuggy insisted. “So we get it from the fiancé and then we track down that double-dealing louse, Martin. He’s going to pay for this.”
“Did y’all forget the part where Derek is licensed to kill?” Robin asked.
I sighed and walked over to the sideboard, looking for my phone and silently cursing Heather and Rod. They had taken our bait, but instead of showing up themselves, they had sent these creeps to find me. I could see how these two clowns had gotten into the library in the first place in those security guard uniforms. But I couldn’t worry about that now. I just wished I had something I could throw at them, because there was no way I was going to let them walk out of here and get away scot-free. I would make sure they paid for scaring us half to death, waving guns and making threats. I stared at my phone, then back at Thuggy. “Shall I text my fiancé?”
He scowled. “Just wait a minute.”
I shot a look at Alex and then gave the bookshelf a sideways glance. Did I dare throw books at them? I just needed to divert their attention long enough for someone like Alex to run out and get help. I could always repair the books if the spines were severed or the covers broke off.
Without warning, two streaks of blue came charging out of the bathroom, whooping and shrieking as they attacked both men from behind. Thuggy was pushed to the floor and my mother began to pistol-whip his head with a hair dryer.
“Mother!” London screamed.
China shouted, “Hey, that’s Mom. Give ’em hell, Mom!”
Robin jumped in to help Meg take down Leon, while Savannah kicked Thuggy.
“Be careful, Meg!” I shouted, then cringed at the way she was beating Leon with a shower brush. When he managed to roll over, she used some of Lauren’s fabulous hairspray, got him right in the eyes, and he screamed like a little girl.
I tried to step in and help her, but then a gunshot went off and I shouted, “No!”
For two seconds we all held our breath in silence, then Mom pushed herself up off the floor and straightened her dress. “I think he shot himself in the foot. What a dope.”
“Oof!” That came from Leon, who was still tangling with Meg. The rest of us jumped to her defense and began hitting him with anything we could find. Tears poured from his eyes thanks to the hairspray, but he was still fighting. Alex grabbed the brass bust of Mozart from Ian’s end table and brought it down on Leon’s head, finally knocking the guy out.
He was still writhing, though, so Savannah pulled up her sexy sheath dress and sat down on Leon’s back to keep him on the floor. China grabbed the gun off the floor and pointed it at Thuggy, who was groaning from the bullet wound in his foot.
I looked around for Robin. “Go get Derek.”
“No!” Mom shouted. “He can’t see you in your wedding dress.”
Meg grabbed hold of my arm. “We’ve got this, dear. I’ll call the police. You needn’t bother Derek.”
I patted her shoulder. “You and Mom were awesome, Meg, but Derek will want to know about this.” I met Robin’s gaze. “Please?”
“Right.” She headed for the door, but turned and glared at me. “Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
Derek had heard the gunshot and arrived in seconds. He sounded as panicked as I’d felt a minute ago. Unfortunately I couldn’t see him because my mother had banished me to the restroom and closed the door.
I could hear him, though, swearing furiously at the two men who had dared to attack us on our wedding day. His brothers and Gabriel were right behind him and helped carry the two bad guys out to the hall. Robin reported that Gerald had been knocked unconscious by the barrel of Thuggy’s gun, but he would be fine. He apologized for not coming to our rescue but the crooks had bound and gagged him and shoved him into a closet. The police were on their way to drag the two men off to jail.
I shouted to Derek through the door. “The librarian from Sara’s college returned my call. Rod never called her and they hired an investigator to look into a rash of missing books from their collection. She said that Sara was one of the suspects. And Heather is involved. I don’t know how, but she is.”
“So Rod lied about calling the school,” Derek mused. “And Heather is somehow tangled up in it, too? Fascinating. I’ll get Inspector Lee on the phone to track them down.”
“Good,” I said. “Because they’re grifters and they’re liars.”
“And quite possibly murderers.”
Once Derek left the room, Laura was called back to touch up our hair and makeup. After she was finished, I stared into the mirror to make sure my veil was straight.
“That was rather invigorating,” Meg declared.
“It was,” Mom said. “Although truth be told, I’ve never been so scared in my entire life.”
I didn’t care about my dress as I grabbed her in a ferocious hug. “If you ever do anything like that again, I’ll . . . well, it won’t be pretty.”
“Oh, sweetie. Promise me that’ll never happen again.”
“I promise.”
I saw tears forming in her eyes and shouted for Laura. “Makeup! Don’t leave yet!”
“I’m right here,” Laura said, waving a hairbrush in the air. “And I’m not leaving. This is the best wedding I’ve ever worked on.”
“Yeah, we try to keep things exciting around here.” I sighed as the adrenaline rush subsided.
“You do lead an interesting life,” Robin admitted.
“What a day,” I muttered, glancing in the mirror again. “And it’s not even half over.”
“Look on the bright side.” China plucked an infinitesimal piece of lint from my shoulder. “The part where dangerous criminals attack the wedding party? You got that out of the way, so it should be smooth sailing from here on out.”
I laughed. “You always were a glass-half-full kind of gal.”
London sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. “You look so pretty, Brooklyn.”
I was grateful for her changing the mood. “I think we all look fabulous.”
“Can you believe I just sewed my hem this morning?” Meg said. “I’m lucky I didn’t tear it out, tangling with that scoundrel.”
“You and Mom were so courageous,” I said, and gave her a big hug. “But don’t you ever do that again. I’d much rather give up some silly book than have anyone get hurt.”
She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Oh, but I feel revitalized. That was fun!”
“Oh, no,” I moaned. “You and my mom really are twins separated at birth, aren’t you?”
Everyone laughed and London said, “Tell us what happened, Meg. How did you decide to attack those two men?”
“We hid in the bathroom stall,” Meg said. “We could hear every awful thing they were saying to you.” She turned to me. “Honestly, Brooklyn, we couldn’t let those horrible men have their way, so we plotted our attack.”
“Wow,” China said admiringly. “You really do sound just like Mom.”
“That is a wonderful compliment, China.” Meg patted her cheek. “Your mother is the best person I’ve ever met.”
China’s eyes began to water. London sniffled a few times and grabbed a tissue.
“Stop!” I said, feeling my own eyes about to fill with tears. “I can’t take any more crying. Let’s not talk about any of this until after I’m married.”