by Joanne Rock
“They’re turning left.” Tension thrummed through her as they followed the car and she hoped Hugh knew what he was doing. She’d expected him to drive from his meeting with her at the resort to his appointment with Robert. When she discovered he seemed to be meeting either Robert or one of Robert’s cronies outside Club Paradise, the whole thing took on a more cloak-and-dagger feel. The embezzler turned media-seeker obviously felt the need to be very careful while he was on U.S. soil, reminding Giselle what Hugh had said about desperate men.
They were dangerous.
“I’ve got them.” Lainie’s sleek little vehicle followed the car Hugh was riding in, always careful to hang back enough so that they wouldn’t be seen.
“You’re very good at this,” Giselle noted, trying to keep things light so she wouldn’t scare Lainie. Or, to be more honest, so she wouldn’t scare herself. “I’d never know you weren’t an old pro at following people.”
“I did a stint as an intern with an up-and-coming divorce attorney. Fifty percent of his work involved catching people in the midst of infidelity so his clients walked away with a better deal.” She slowed the car as the Cadillac came to a stop two blocks ahead of them. “I had lots of practice following people on that job. You would have thought it would have taught me to be a tad more alert to the signs of an extramarital affair.”
Lainie parked behind a delivery truck several spots down from the other vehicle. The big truck shielded their arrival, but inhibited their view.
Giselle flattened herself against the passenger side door for a better angle on what was happening ahead of them. “I’d only been dating him for a few weeks before he left town. That’s not much time to get suspicious.”
She straightened in her seat as the door to the Cadillac opened. “Someone’s getting out.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. It’s Hugh and someone else.” Her body tensed to watch him while he went about his business unaware. He had a way of carrying himself that seemed utterly at ease. A man comfortable in his own skin, even when he flirted with danger.
Lainie’s hand slid about her forearm, restraining her, yanking her back to their conversation. “I mean about dating Robert for only a few weeks.”
Giselle blinked. Refocused. “Of course I wouldn’t kid you about that. I can’t say I didn’t fall for him hard and fast, but you can be damn sure it was brief. I’ll admit to being a clueless twit, but even I would have figured out he was married if it had been any longer.” Glancing back to the scene farther up the sidewalk, she spied another person exiting the car dressed just like the first guy who’d gotten out with Hugh. Both of the strangers who’d been in the car with him had their faces hidden by Panama hats with broad brims. Their short-sleeve seersucker shirts looked like the garb worn by South Beach’s dwindling retiree community, but their bodies were young, athletic and fast moving as they strode toward the door of an apartment building. From a glimpse of the square jaw on the second man, she guessed one of them was Robert.
Hugh trailed them at a more leisurely pace, his shirttails flapping in the breeze in his typical laid-back style as he went to mete out his own unique brand of justice, journalist-style. Peering both ways down the street, he seemed to search for someone.
Giselle ducked in her seat, heart pounding hard. Damn but she didn’t want to blow this. She hoped she’d done the right thing in following him today.
Lainie’s voice startled her from the other side of the sports car. “I always thought he hired you because you were sleeping with him.”
Something about the soft surprise in her voice caught Giselle off guard. Made her ache for her friend’s hurt. Reminded her that ass-kicking and whistle-blowing weren’t nearly as important as healing old wounds today.
“I promise you, we never met before the day he gave me the job.” She peered into Lainie’s eyes, hoping the truth of her statement was plain to see.
Slowly, Lainie nodded. Eased back in her seat with a few minor squeaks of leather. “That…helps.”
“Hugh just followed two guys into that building.” She pointed to a graceful old Art Deco gem that looked as if it had never been restored quite as thoroughly as the more ritzy addresses on South Beach. “Do you still want to go through with the plan?”
Lainie nodded, smoothing a hand over sleek blond hair that was seemingly never out of place. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Butterflies fluttering in her belly, Giselle was grateful for her friend’s resounding endorsement of their mission. Lainie’s strength infused her, reminded her that, although she hadn’t picked many battles in her day, this one was a damn worthy cause.
“Very well. Time to confront my problems head-on.” She pried open her car door and was just sliding her feet to the pavement when a big, burly guy appeared on the sidewalk, heading for the door to the unmarked building Hugh had entered. “Wait a minute.”
There was something familiar about that six-foot-five-inch frame, that purposeful step.
“What is it?” Lainie was already out of the car and coming around to the other side.
Giselle held her breath. It couldn’t be. But as the guy turned to look both ways just like Hugh had, she caught a glimpse of his face. Spied the cock-eyed nose sported by serious hockey players all over the country.
Damned if Nico wasn’t on the scene.
INSIDE THE VACANT APARTMENT building, Hugh typed notes into his laptop at a crummy metal desk that was the only furnishing on the third floor while Robert Flynn described the nuances of his embezzlement scheme in excruciating detail. Normally, Hugh would have just taped the interview and made notes later, but this Flynn guy was such an egomaniac Hugh couldn’t stand to look him in the eye any longer. Typing on the computer kept his gaze on the keys, his disgust for his subject hidden.
For now.
If Nico Cesare adhered to their plan and had followed Hugh to this hole-in-the-wall empty building, he would be placing his call to FBI agent Aidan Maddock any moment. And since Hugh thought he spotted a car tailing them from Club Paradise earlier, he had no reason to think anything had gone amiss.
The Feds would arrive soon and cart Flynn off to jail. Hugh could rest easy knowing Giselle would be safe from the player who’d hurt her.
Too bad once the bastard went to jail, Hugh would be walking away from the only woman who’d ever made him rethink his career choice—his self-imposed mission to give back the lifeline he’d been thrown when he needed it most.
Damn.
Hauling his attention to his subject and the nameless street flunky who’d driven the car from the hotel, Hugh wondered how much longer he’d be stuck listening to the boasting refrains about Flynn’s accomplishments. “Even my wife had no idea and she’s got more advanced degrees than she knows what to do with. You know Lainie Reynolds?” Flynn smoothed his fingers around the brim of the straw hat he’d removed from his head. With spiky dark hair and a ready grin that made him look like the guy next door, Flynn was probably good-looking enough from a female perspective. And smart as hell to pull off the big-time fraud he’d committed.
Hugh supposed he could see how Giselle might have been attracted to the guy if he wasn’t a crook. But the revelation still didn’t put Hugh in the mood to hear about the women in this man’s life. One word about Giselle, and Hugh would no longer be responsible for his actions. For that matter, if Nico happened to be within hearing distance, Giselle’s brother would probably tear the guy’s lungs from his chest. For starters.
“Lainie is hot as hell and a workaholic—the total package. I bought up five different apartment buildings on the beach thanks to her income and a fake holding company. Sold all of them but this one for a tidy profit before I left.” Flynn put his hand over Hugh’s laptop keyboard, effectively ceasing any B.S. notetaking he’d been attempting. “Of course, that’s off-the-record information.”
Yeah, right. Wink, wink.
Hugh made a mental note to tell Flynn’s ex-wife where to start track
ing down some of the money he’d stolen from her. Where the hell were the Feds?
“Once I unloaded the buildings—” Flynn rattled on, fully engaged in the retelling of his exploits “—I still had time to spare before we cleaned out Club Paradise. I ended up finding the sweetest piece of ass to help me fill the days until we pulled the job…”
Hugh didn’t know what else the guy might have said because a whistling started in his ears. Latent fury boiling over and hissing. His hands stilled on the keyboard. His feet shoved to the floor in the vacant apartment living room.
Words growled out of his mouth without conscious thought. “Don’t even consider talking about Giselle—”
The sound of high heels clicking combined with a feminine voice cut him off, however.
“You lying son of a bitch.”
Hugh’s gaze shot to the door where a red-faced blonde in skintight black leather suddenly stood, staring down Flynn as if he was something foul that had gotten caught on her high-heeled boots.
Only Hugh barely noticed the blonde thanks to the brunette who hurried into the room two steps behind her. Head held high, Giselle joined her girlfriend, the woman Hugh could only assume was Flynn’s mega-pissed-off ex-wife.
Shit. Two women scorned. He could already smell the blood in the air.
His gaze flickered between the flunky Cadillac driver and Flynn, coiled and ready to move into action if he saw either of them make a move for a weapon.
His gut churned at the thought.
What was she thinking to show up here? Nico would have never clued her in about the meeting, would he? He knew Flynn was a wanted criminal, damn it.
“Not a good time, Giselle.” He barked the words, wondered where in the hell Nico ended up. “You need to stay out of this.”
“Lainie.” Flynn smoothed his shirt, smiled. Absurdly seemed to fall back on old courting rituals to charm a woman. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
He cast a scowl at Hugh, as if somehow he’d purposely plotted to sic the guy’s ex-wife and former girlfriend on him.
Nerves tense, Hugh slowly crossed the dull hardwood floors to be closer to the women, ready to make damn sure nothing happened to either of them. Needing to be near Giselle. The apartment where they had been conducting their meeting was spacious, but the floor plan created a one-way exit out of this particular living area and it was directly behind the female newcomers.
The flunky driver looked as surprised as anyone else, however, making no move for the door. The kid was obviously not hired on as protection for Flynn since he seemed content to take in the action for the moment, settling back to sit on an old cast-iron radiator as if engrossed in daytime soaps.
“You’re damn right you didn’t expect to see me, you cheating bastard.” The leather-clad blond fury took a step closer to point one red-painted fingernail in Flynn’s face. “How dare you set foot in Miami after screwing over me and anyone else who ever bought into your bullshit.”
Hugh wanted to grab Giselle and get her the hell out of there, but she kept shoulder to shoulder with her friend blocking the door, eyes glaring daggers at the object of their derision.
“Of course, nobody’s buying anymore,” Giselle informed him with a superior toss of her head. Her Italian flair for the dramatic kicked into full gear as she tilted her chin and looped an arm around Lainie’s waist. “Your pathetic attempt to turn yourself into some kind of modern-day Jesse James is only going to land you in federal prison while Lainie and I mock your lame efforts in all the papers.”
While Flynn’s ex-wife was lashing out in anger, Giselle was sucker-punching the guy directly in his Achilles’ heel. The ego. Hugh prayed Flynn didn’t have a gun. He hadn’t seen a hint of one in his belt or in that seersucker jacket, but weapons could be mighty damn well concealed.
“Is that right?” Flynn’s gaze flicked back and forth between the two women. “Can’t be you told my wife that you were two steps away from packing your bags and leaving the country with me. I know Lainie, and she wouldn’t forgive a thing like that.”
Even from the corner of his eye, Hugh saw Giselle stiffen.
Lainie snorted. “Lucky for her she didn’t get sucked into your bullshit as deeply as me.” She reached into a small purse and withdrew a phone. “Now, I will just enjoy my revenge by applauding as the cops cart you and all your lies off to jail.”
Hugh could smell the man’s desperation. Sensed the guy was ready to make his move. Even the lackey driver behind him seemed ready to get the hell out of Dodge, edging his way closer to the door. Closer to Giselle and her friend.
Not that the guy stood a chance of getting by him.
It was his last thought before the flunky in the Panama hat charged him like a berserker.
HUGH ROLLED TO THE FLOOR with the oversize oaf who’d been heading toward the door, but Giselle didn’t dare take her eyes off Robert.
Fear for Hugh, for Lainie, radiated through her in a stark blast of pain.
She stared Robert down for one interminable second, carefully withdrawing the can of Mace from the waistband of Lainie’s leather pants where they had secreted the slim container earlier.
When Robert lunged forward, she was ready.
Gripping the cold vial in her palm, she sprayed as he dived. Robert’s scream echoed in her ears as he stumbled toward the door, arm raking over his eyes. Lainie extended her leg straight out from her hip socket in a sweeping kick that landed him on the floor.
Hard.
He cursed and scrambled, blinded but determined.
Lainie shoved him back down and ended up caught in his struggle, half pinned beneath him.
Flinging aside her empty Mace can, Giselle yanked her keys and key chain from her purse in a discordant jangle. Activated the small extension baton that turned an innocuous-looking metal stick into a bona fide weapon, complete with a sharp point. A gift from her overprotective brothers on her sixteenth birthday.
While Lainie edged her way out from under their quarry, Giselle jabbed the sharp stick into his kidney.
“Hold still, you deceitful bastard, before I gut you first and neuter you second.” She increased the pressure a tad to be certain he got the message.
Heart slamming into her chest she turned enough to see Hugh punching the oaf into yesteryear on the other side of the room. Her plan was working, but she’d put him in danger by being here. A consequence she hadn’t counted on even though she’d thought it out so carefully. If Robert’s oversize lug of a buddy harmed even one hair on Hugh’s head… It would hurt too much to contemplate.
Right now Hugh was safe. Fighting for her. With her.
Relief flooded through her, galvanized her, just as another jumbo goon sprinted into the vacant apartment.
Lainie tensed from her new position with one foot planted on Robert’s back. “Don’t even think about sticking up for your boss man, slick.” She bit out the words as she stared down Nico with more nerve than many NHL forwards had garnered when facing the six-foot-five goalie. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll turn around and get the hell out of here before the cops show up.”
Giselle didn’t bother stifling the much-needed laugh. Especially given that Nico had actually stopped in his tracks for all of five seconds.
“It’s okay,” she assured Lainie. “This is my brother. Hugh must have let him in on the meeting to help?”
Turning to Hugh for confirmation, she found him already exchanging some kind of silent male communication with her brother. Somehow relinquishing charge of his prisoner to Nico so Hugh could make his way closer to her.
A very good plan, in her opinion.
She couldn’t wait to get her hands on him. To make sure he was still in one piece. For that matter, she couldn’t wait to have his hands on her, quieting the nerves as the fear for what could have happened to Hugh still jittered through her.
“I stepped out into the back alley to call your FBI contact, just like we talked about,” Nico called across the room,
stealing surreptitious glances at Lainie while he kept his focus on Flynn’s lackey still lying in a heap on the floor beside the desk. “He said he’s on his way. I didn’t realize anyone else had entered the building until I heard the shouting.”
“We called the cops on our way up here,” Lainie added with a toss of her hair. “They’ll probably arrive first.”
Hugh edged the weapon out of Giselle’s hand carefully. “Be prepared to spend half the night if you got the cops involved. We’ll have to tell our stories to twice as many people now.”
Giselle wanted to fling herself in his arms, but something cool and shuttered about his expression stopped her. “I thought if I followed you, we could be the ones to blow the whistle.”
“You could have been the next statistic on an ever-growing rap sheet.” The harshness of his words, the tight set of his jaw told her he hadn’t just been worried about her. He was also angry. This endlessly patient man who’d never shared much in common with her temperamental brothers now stared down at her with the same judgmental expression she’d seen on male faces too many times in her life.
Defensiveness flashed through her. Stiffened her spine. “I needed to fight this battle on my own.”
Sirens wailed in the distance.
“So you take on a wanted criminal with Mace and a goddamn pocketknife?” Frustration rolled off him in waves. “You could have been killed.”
He roared the last words with so much conviction, Giselle swore her hair blew back in the sheer wind of the heated words. But this was one confrontation she refused to walk away from, even as contrition pricked her over the loss of his respect.
“It’s not a pocketknife.” And she also had a hell of a lot more going for her than a can of Mace. Like the cops called ahead of time. Like knowing Nico had been somewhere in the building if they’d needed help. Like Lainie’s familiarity with some kind of martial arts. Yet all of that didn’t mean a damned thing right now with her heart shredding like a block of parmesan against her best grater. She’d hoped… Hell. Forget hopes now. She had to make her stand and pray something could be salvaged with Hugh, because the possibility of losing him was quickly becoming unbearable. “And I’m not going to ignore my problems and cross my fingers that they go away anymore. I understand that you needed to entice Robert back here to try to right an old wrong. Can’t you understand that I needed to do something about it in order to face myself in the mirror every day?”