Ries reared back and laughed at her, “What? No! I don’t need to do anything.”
Stephanie stood up and came to stand directly in front of him, “But you do. The criminal I followed is going to kill you.”
Ries looked at her in surprise and quite a bit of doubt on his face. “Listen to me, I heard him and another man – one who was speaking English, so I didn’t get the words confused, I understood everyone. The Greek guy is going to kill you and then he’s going after your brothers.”
She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him toward the door, “You need to get out of here.”
“Wait! Stephanie, slow down and start from the top.” Ries pulled her back to the couch and then pulled her down to sit beside him.
“Ries, you…,” she stopped as the tears she’d been holding back started running down her cheeks.
“Hey, shush,” Ries pulled her to his chest and held her until he had control of her emotions once more. His arms were warm and strong, and she felt her breathing slow. It felt like, for just that moment – while she was in Ries’ arms, nothing bad could happen to either of them.
Once she was calm again, she pushed away and wiped the tears away before facing him again. “Sorry. Look, this guy…he’s big and he talks like he has killed people before. You need to take this seriously and get out of town. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Chapter 6
Ries looked at her and after a long minute, he nodded. “I’ll call Damon and we’ll go from there.”
Ries had been stunned when he saw Stephanie standing outside his hotel room, and even more concerned when he’d seen how distraught she was.
What she’d told him had seemed impossible, but Ries was also smart enough to know that he and his brothers had been targets before and would likely have to contend with threats for the rest of their lives. It came with the territory of being extremely wealthy and controlling a major shipping company.
For months now, their company had been suffering one catastrophe after another, many of them seemed human-caused, but they had been unable to pinpoint where the threat was coming from. This man Stephanie had followed could be the key to finding out who was targeting his family.
Knowing that it was both their business and lives under threat, it sent a surge of urgency through Ries.
One thing was very clear: helping Stephanie solve the crime she witnessed was now a necessity. If the man who she’d followed was the one being paid to kill him, their answers were one.
First, he needed to warn both his brothers. He normally despised calling Damon but this affected Damon’s safety, too. They needed to know that there was a threat against them and take the proper precautions.
After doing that, he’d find out who wanted to kill them.
“Thank you for coming to tell me this,” Ries told her sincerely. He walked over to the small bar and poured them both a drink. He tossed his back and then carried the other glass over to where Stephanie sat wringing her hands.
“Here, drink this.”
“What is it?” she asked suspiciously, eyeing the clear liquor and taking a tentative smell before wrinkling her nose in distaste.
“It will help calm your nerves,” Ries told her, tipping the glass toward her lips.
“I’m not really a drinker…”
“And yet you work in a bar,” he reminded her.
Stephanie shrugged, “It was the only job I could find and I wasn’t ready to go back home yet.”
“Home is where?”
“The States.” She eyed the glass once more and then took a deep breath and lifted it to her lips. She took a small sip and then shook her head and lowered the glass.
“Not to your liking?” Ries asked, taking the glass from her fingers, ignoring the way little sparks of electricity ran up his arm from that slight contact.
“No. What are you going to do?”
“I’ll call my brother Damon and then Nicolai. They need to step up their security until this man is caught.”
“Caught?”
Ries nodded, “Yes, caught. It’s me he’s after first. So, I’m going to turn the tables on him and find him before he finds me.”
Stephanie eyed him for a minute and then sat up straighter. “I want to help.”
“No way! In fact, I think it’s probably time you left. I have some plans and some phone calls to make.”
“Ries, you need my help.”
“No. I don’t. You’ve done more than enough by letting me know what you overheard.” Ries took her glass over to the bar and watched her.
Stephanie was just like all of the other women in his life, but she’d gotten lucky and had found a new way of getting close to him. That didn’t change the fact that she was only after his family money.
She probably thinks there will be a bigger payoff for helping to save them all.
“Come on, I’ll walk you downstairs and call a cab for you.”
“Ries, please. Let me help you. I know what this guy looks like and I can even take you back to where I followed him…I think. I can at least get close. You need my help and I…”
“You what?” Ries asked when she paused and looked down at her hands.
“I’m tired of only being a waitress. I want to do something meaningful with my life but no one wants to even give me a chance. I can help you find this guy and protect your family. I know I can. Please, don’t send me away.”
She looked at him then, her eyes big and brimming with unshed tears. Ries felt as if he could see right into her soul, and it was so much like his own he couldn’t help but feel something. He knew how it felt to want to do something meaningful and never be given the chance. That was what had driven him to decide to help her, but now…he found that he couldn’t really deny her request.
Not yet, anyway. At some point, she’d show her true motivations and then he’d have no trouble sending her packing, but looking in her eyes in this moment, he could only see his own yearnings looking back at him.
“Please?” she whispered. “Let me help you?”
Ries nodded and then cleared his throat. He looked across the room and that’s when he realized he was wearing nothing more than a hastily donned pair of sleep pants and a wrinkled t-shirt. His feet were bare, and he was in need of a shave and a shower.
“I need to call my brothers. I’ll call Damon…no. I’ll call Nicolai first. He’s a bit more open-minded than Damon.”
Stephanie said nothing and Ries pulled out his laptop and video called his brother.
Nicolai’s sleepy eyes appeared on the screen moments later and he groused, “This had better be good, Ries.”
“Good morning, Nicolai. I realize it’s the middle of the night or early morning, but this couldn’t wait.”
“Who’s the looker behind you?” Nicolai asked.
Ries moved aside and motioned Stephanie forward. “This is Stephanie.”
“What’s she doing there?”
“She came to tell me something very disturbing. Someone has targeted us.”
Nicolai shook his head, “We know this.”
“No, it’s much worse than you or Damon realize. They don’t just want to destroy the company; they want to destroy us. Starting with me.”
“What do you mean?” Nicolai was fully awake now and continued to eye Stephanie suspiciously.
“A man has been hired to kill me, you and Damon.”
“Kill us? You need to get out of there,” Nicolai informed him. “You don’t have nearly enough security to handle this sort of threat.”
“No,” Ries insisted. “I want to stay here and find this man and put an end to the threat.”
“Ries, I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Why don’t we continue this conversation, privately?”
Ries shook his head, “I need Stephanie’s help. She’s the only one who can identify the guy that has been hired to kill us.”
“I don’t like this,” Nicolai told him.
“You think I do?” Ries sho
ved a hand through his hair and then calmed his voice, “I can find this guy. I’m in the perfect position to do so because this guy doesn’t realize we know about his plan. He no longer has the element of surprise.”
“That is true.” Nicolai sighed and then asked, “Tell me what you have in mind?”
“I want access to the best resources we have at our disposal. I’ll find out who this guy is and who he’s working for.”
“Why don’t I just send…”
“I don’t need a babysitter and I don’t need one of your special teams of security experts. Not yet. I’ll ask for help when the time comes, I promise. Just let me figure out where the threat is coming from first,” Ries asked.
“I can give you a few weeks but if you haven’t made progress by then, Damon’s not going to give either of a choice. He’ll call in the big guns.”
“I know. That’s why I called you first,” Ries told his brother with a grin. “Do I have your support?”
“Yes. I’ll make sure you have access to all of our information systems. Three weeks, and if you don’t have anything concrete to go on by then, we’ll have to change plans.”
“I can deal with that,” Ries nodded.
A knock at the door caused Ries to pause his conversation. “Would you mind getting that?” he asked Stephanie.
“Not at all.”
Ries turned his attention back to the screen and his brother. “I need to I.D this guy.”
“If you can snap some photos of this would-be assassin, I can submit them to the international database. If we get an I.D., we can find out who he is and if he has any known business associates that might also be connected to us. Someone has been trying to hurt the company for a while now. This doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”
“I agree. I’ll do what I can.”
“Three weeks,” Nicolai reminded him. “And if anything happens sooner than that – call me immediately.”
“Got it. I’ll talk to you later.”
Nicolai nodded and then disconnected the call, but not before giving Stephanie another suspicious look. It was obvious his brother didn’t trust the woman, and why should he? He’d never met her before, even Ries had his doubts about her true motives.
“So, now what happens?” Stephanie’s quiet voice penetrated the silence of the room. She handed him a glass with clear liquid in it, but Ries set it aside.
“Thanks.” Ries turned and looked at her. “I’m going to take a shower and get dressed. Do you need to go home and change?” he asked, eyeing the shorts and t-shirt she’d tossed on over her waitressing uniform several hours earlier.
“I could use a change of clothes and a shower,” she told him hesitantly.
“Okay. Why don’t we meet up later tonight?” Ries suggested.
“That sounds good. I could use a few hours of sleep before my next shift starts, as well,” Stephanie told him.
Ries walked her to the door and then opened it for her. “Stephanie, thank you for coming here tonight. Really.”
“Of course. Anyone would have done the same,” she gave him a small smile and then headed for the elevator. Ries watched her until the elevator doors closed and then he headed for his own shower.
He showered and then began pulling together a plan to identify the man wanting to kill him. He exchanged a few messages with the security division of Kafatos Shipping and also with his brother.
Nicolai - Doing okay?
Ries -Yeah, just figuring out how to find this guy.
Nicolai – I thought the girl could I.D. him?
Ries – She followed him tonight. She saw him selling stolen goods a few nights ago.
Nicolai – What do you know about this girl?
Ries – Not much.
Nicolai – Maybe she shouldn’t be involved any further.
Ries – She’s good. I trust her.
Nicolai – You can’t afford to trust anyone.
Ries – Warning noted. I’ll let you know when I have something.
Nicolai – Be careful. I’ll find a way to tell Damon.
Ries – Make sure he knows I’m working on this.
Nicolai – I’ll do my best but you know Damon.
Ries - Yeah, that’s why I need you to run interference here and give me some time to figure this out.
Nicolai – I’ll do what I can. Just remember, if something happens to you, Damon will have both of our heads.
Ries –I’ll be careful. Later.
Nicolai – Sooner.
Ries tossed his phone onto the mattress and leaned back, shutting his eyes for a moment. It was obvious that Nicolai didn’t trust Stephanie. Ries understood his brother’s concern but instead of taking his advice, it only made him more willing to involve Stephanie.
Damon and Nicolai didn’t trust Ries to make good decisions. Admittedly, he couldn’t blame them. For so long he’d been so afraid of failing their expectations that he hadn’t even tried to meet them.
But he was going to prove them wrong this time. Maybe after this situation was resolved, maybe then his brothers would be willing to admit that he was capable of making sound decisions and he could make useful contributions to their lives. Or maybe they would still see him as the same baby brother screw-up.
But first, he was going to prove it to himself.
Chapter 7
Stephanie didn’t breathe easy until she stepped into her own apartment, shucking her shoes as she headed for the bathroom. She removed her clothing as she went, tossing the skimpy uniform into the bathroom sink to be hand washed before her next shift.
She stepped under the hot spray of water and closed her eyes, tiredness pulling at her. Ries seemed like a nice guy when he wasn’t drunk, and she hoped he didn’t realize the small deception she’d perpetrated while in his room.
The knock at the door had been Carlos, a man who identified himself as Ries’ driver. He’d been carrying a tray with a bottle of alcohol sitting on it.
“Ries requested I bring this up,” Carlos told her, after introducing himself.
Stephanie had taken the bottle and after opening it up and smelling the strong alcohol aroma, she’d poured it most of it down the sink and replaced the rest with water. The last thing Ries needed right now was to get drunk, and she refused to sit by and do nothing if she could help it.
After disposing of the alcohol, she poured Ries a glass of plain water. “He’s not going to get drunk on my watch,” she murmured to her own reflection as she’d returned to where Ries and his brother were still talking.
She showered and then crawled beneath the covers, hoping to get a few hours of sleep before she needed to report to work again. She was working a split shift today and would have time for a lunch break with Ries between her first and second shift.
“Guess your dull life isn’t so dull now,” she told herself as she drifted to sleep.
A few hours later, she arose and got ready for work once again. Thankfully, she had two uniforms and she donned it after washing out the one she’d left lying in the sink and hanging it up to dry over the shower bar.
She headed for work, her eyes keeping a close watch out for any signs of the man she’d followed the night before.
Ries had said he would see her tonight so she wasn’t surprised when he showed up. She didn’t like knowing that the assassin was out there wandering around the small town, putting Ries at a severe disadvantage because he didn’t know who was after him.
“So, who you waiting for?” one of the waitresses asked as she waited at the bar for her next order to be filled.
“What? I’m not waiting for anyone.”
Several other waitresses joined them, wanting in on the conversation. “Oh, come on Stephanie. We know you’ve been hanging out with that rich guy, Ries.”
“No,” Stephanie shook her head. “We’re not…”
The first waitress, Mandy, waved a hand in her face. “You can’t fool us, sugar. We’ve seen it all. When you went with him up to his room a few nights a
go, that was one thing. But we both,” Mandy waved a finger between herself and Pepper, one of the other waitresses, “saw you leaving the hotel earlier this morning. It was four o’clock in the morning, hon.”
“Yes, it was. So, tell us all. Is he as good in bed as the tabloids say?”
Stephanie could feel her face heating as she denied their suppositions. “Nothing is going on between us! He was sick the other night from drinking too much and I simply helped him up to his room. I didn’t even go inside it.”
“And this morning?” Pepper asked with a waggle of her eyebrows. “Did he just need help finding his room again?”
“No,” Stephanie shook her head. “I had to return something to him that he left last night,” the lie tripped off her tongue. None of these waitresses had been working last night so they wouldn’t know if Ries had been in the bar or not. “It’s called customer service.”
“Order’s up,” the bartender placed drinks on Stephanie’s tray.
“Thanks. I’ve got to get back to work.” She picked up her tray and left, but not before hearing the snickers and comments about her definition of “service”.
Stephanie wanted to turn and defend herself, but she knew they wouldn’t believe her. And even if they did – maybe that wouldn’t be a good thing. If word spread that she knew about a plot on Ries’ life, the situation could become much dangerous – for both of them. She bit her tongue, even as her face burned.
Some of those women were fine with making some extra money by being nice to the customers. Stephanie had never gone down that road and she didn’t intend to start now but it seemed that her actions were doomed to be misinterpreted. And she couldn’t tell them the truth. Not the whole truth.
She went about the rest of the morning shift, ignoring the rest of the waitresses and their sly looks and comments. During her midday break, she found herself sitting on the beach, eating a sandwich and trying not to worry about Ries. Instead, she found herself fantasizing about his strong arms and caring eyes which only made her angry once again.
The waitresses had assumed she and Ries were getting hot and heavy in his room.
Protected By Him (The Greek Brothers Book 4) Page 4