by M. Malone
“Hettie, my friend Matthias is helping me out today. I hope you don’t mind.”
Hettie tossed her mile long blond hair extensions over her shoulder. “I don’t mind at all. He’s a cutie. Why are all the cutest guys batting for the other team? So unfair.”
Lucia froze.
Matthias blinked. The smile on his face faded slightly. “Batting for the other team? No, I’m on our—.”
“Yeah, we don’t mind,” Annie chirped before he could finish. “He’s soooo cute.”
“Really cute.” Another one of the models stroked a hand gently over his hair.
Matthias turned red and mumbled something about making a phone call. Lucia couldn’t help laughing. They were going to give the poor guy a heart attack.
While she was inspecting Annie to make sure she’d cleaned all the spilled soda off her skin, Adriana walked by and quirked an eyebrow.
“Let’s go!”
Lucia jumped up and grabbed her phone. The models all fell in line and stood still while Adriana inspected them. For the next hour, Lucia tried her best to keep up and stay out of the way when appropriate. But this was probably the only thing that could take her mind off the events of the past twenty-four hours. She’d been dreaming about being backstage at a major fashion show since she was a teenager and now she was here. She peeked around the curtain and watched as the next to last model strutted down the runway. As many times as she’d watched fashion shows online, nothing captured the pure electricity like being there. A million camera flashes lit up the space like a fireworks display.
Then there was a sudden hum, and the entire room was plunged into darkness. The cameras kept flashing, which made the sudden darkness even more jarring. At first the crowd was quiet, and then the murmur of voices got louder as people started to panic. Someone screamed.
Lucia went still as her brain tried to make sense of what was happening. There was a brush of movement behind her, and a shiver stole down her back. Stop, that’s Matthias.
But then someone moved again and wrapped an arm around her waist, their other hand snaking around her face. Every cell in her body said run, scream, fight. She opened her mouth to scream but opted to bite down instead. Whoever it was grunted, and she took three steps forward.
Then someone grabbed her arm. And this time she screamed.
“It’s okay, it’s just me.”
Lucia sagged with relief at the sound of Matthias’ voice. “Oh, God, I thought—” She couldn’t finish the thought. Had she imagined that hand snaking around her? “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but we need to get the hell out of here. Follow me.”
When he grabbed her hand, she allowed him to lead her. Her sense of direction was usually pretty good, but before long she had no idea where they were in the building. It felt like an endless stream of twists and turns. Finally, there was a soft, slow whine. The sound of a door closing.
Something was wrong. Matthias, who would normally have put her at ease, wasn’t saying anything. Lucia was scared to say anything since she wasn’t sure who was near them and might overhear, so she bit her lip and counted down from one hundred in her head. After a few minutes, Matthias pulled out his phone and started typing a text.
“Dylan didn’t see anything before the power outage, so maybe this has nothing to do with us.” He didn’t sound convinced, though, and Lucia wasn’t either.
Seriously, what were the odds of there being a power outage randomly the day after someone broke into her apartment? She shivered. This was the perfect opportunity for someone to grab her. If Matthias hadn’t gotten to her first, someone could have knocked her out the same way they’d gotten to Ryan.
“How are we going to get out of here?” she whispered.
“We aren’t. If someone is looking for you, I’m not going to put you in their path. We’ll be safe here while Dylan investigates. I scouted this closet as a possible safe spot when I did my rounds earlier.”
There was another sudden hum, and the lights came on. Lucia blinked in the bright lights as her eyes adjusted. She gasped when she saw Matthias crouched next to her with an intense look on his face and a surprisingly large gun in his hand.
“Where did that come from?”
Matthias gave her a strange look. “My holster. Did you think I was protecting you with a water gun or something?”
She laughed nervously. He was right; it was a stupid question. But she didn’t know how to say that she’d been unprepared to see him looking like a real bodyguard because that wasn’t how she saw him. He’d already had to deal with models assuming he was gay and treating him like a cute mascot today. Although if those girls had seen him like this, all fierce and determined, they might not have been so quick to treat him like a little boy.
“Of course not. I just couldn’t tell where you’d hidden it before. That’s a … really big gun.”
Luckily Matthias didn’t pause to analyze her silly statement. He pulled her to her feet gently. “Once Dylan gives us the okay, we’ll go back to grab your things and then get out of here. No need to stick around, right?”
“Yeah, the show was basically over.” She’d get shit for leaving early but she was hoping that all the confusion would cover her early departure.
Seeing Matthias in full bodyguard mode had snapped her out of the confused state she’d been in since yesterday. This was serious and it was happening, and she wasn’t just going to sit back and do nothing.
If some asshole was going to come for her, she wasn’t going to just let him.
Noah was running on the treadmill when he saw Matthias’s name show up on his phone. He’d been out on a job that morning and had only gotten back a short while ago. That Lucia was exposed at that damn fashion show had been in the back of his mind the whole time. He’d agreed not to interfere in her life more than necessary,
but it didn’t mean he had to like it.
Since he knew Matthias was with Lucia, he hit the emergency stop button and grabbed the phone.
“What’s going on? Is Lucia okay?”
“Everything is fine. But there was an incident at the show. A power outage.”
As Noah listened, his heart rate slowly went back to normal. He clapped a hand over his chest. If he reacted this way to just the idea of Lucia being hurt, he didn’t want to think about the future if he failed to keep her safe. Hell no. Not a possibility.
“We’re almost at the loft now. Just wanted to let you know what was going on. Dylan stayed behind to talk to some of the people in the audience.”
“Great. Just get in here.”
Noah hung up and then took a quick shower. Then he walked back to the main area of the loft to fill in Jonas. This was the second incident they’d had while protecting Lucia. Everyone on the team needed to be briefed because her situation was now considered high risk. If it had been a random break in at her place, the likelihood that she’d be attacked again would be very low. But clearly, nothing about this was random. Someone was determined to get to her and they’d just proven that they weren’t going to give up until they got what they wanted.
Noah clenched his fists at the thought. What they wanted was Lucia. So whoever these assholes were that were targeting her, they’d just become number one on his shit list. He didn’t care how many resources he had to dedicate, they weren’t getting anywhere near Lucia.
Noah and Jonas were still standing there talking when Matthias and a very shaken Lucia walked in. Noah’s first instinct was to grab her and hold her. He’d already taken a few steps in her direction before it all came back to him. They weren’t together anymore.
She hates you now, remember? You’re the source of all her nightmares. The last thing she’s going to want is comfort from you.
Before he could say anything, Matthias started talking. “It appears to have been a false alarm. But the show was basically over anyway, so I figured it was better to get the hell out of there.”
Noah took his eyes away from Lucia long enough to clap a
hand on Matthias’s back. The kid had done well even though this wasn’t his usual thing.
“You made the right call. After you fill the others in, why don’t you check with the power company and find out which areas were affected by the outage. That might help us pinpoint whether it was truly random or part of a targeted attack.”
Matthias nodded, and Noah could tell he was happy to have something tangible to do.
He turned to Lucia. “Don’t worry. We’re going to figure out who is behind this. They won’t touch you. I promise.”
She nodded but looked like she was on the verge of crying. Noah cursed himself internally. He wanted nothing more than to be able to pull her into his arms and wipe away those tears but that wasn’t what she wanted from him anymore. He’d lied to her too many times. Even though it was for her own good, there was just too much deceit between them now for her to ever trust him again. Even knowing how things would end between them, Noah wouldn’t go back and change things. He’d done what he had to do in order to protect her and even if that meant they couldn’t be together, he’d take her safety over his own happiness any day.
After standing there awkwardly for a few seconds, Lucia surprised them both when she pushed past Noah to envelope Matthias in a hug. “Thanks for coming with me today, Matthias. I really appreciate it.”
Matthias wore an expression that was a cross between elation at the hug and fear at what Noah’s response would be. He kept glancing over as if expecting Noah to pull out a weapon and ice him right then and there.
Noah gritted his teeth. He wasn’t that bad, was he? Okay, maybe he was, but not in this case. He was happy that Lucia trusted the others enough to follow their directions in the heat of a situation.
Matthias walked in the direction of his room, and Noah followed Lucia. She dropped her handbag on the floor next to the bed before slipping out of her shoes. After glancing at him worriedly, she took her jeans off, too. Noah had never been jealous of an inanimate object before, but in that moment, watching as she slipped beneath the sheets with a sigh, he would have gladly traded places with his bed. Lucia let out a long sigh that told him better than any words could have just how scary and exhausting the day had been.
“Matthias was amazing back there,” she murmured. “He grabbed me and led me to a closet to hide. When the lights came on and I saw him holding that huge gun, I don’t know, it brought it all home for me. This isn’t just about me. If we don’t figure this thing out then so many people could potentially be hurt and that’s not what I want.”
“That’s not what I want either. I swear we’re doing everything we can to figure this out.”
She rolled over until she was facing him directly. “But we haven’t done the most obvious thing. This entire time we’ve been tiptoeing around each other, but we can’t ignore the elephant in the room forever. This whole thing started because I was asking the wrong questions. Or I guess they were the right questions.”
Noah ran his hands over his head. It shouldn’t be this hard to talk about everything, considering what she’d already discovered. But if they were going to get to the bottom of this, Lucia was right. They needed to get it all out in the open. Which meant telling her things he’d always hoped he could take to his grave.
“You’re right.”
“I am?” Lucia sat up, looking shocked.
Noah would have laughed at her astonishment but truly it was a sad commentary on how often he’d kept her on the outside of his life. There was very little that she knew of his life before he’d met Rafe. He still wasn’t ready to spill that whole story and honestly, it wasn’t relevant. What they needed to talk about was that day. That horrible day when he’d made a mistake and her brother had paid the price.
“It’s time we had a talk.”
chapter five
“BEFORE WE DO that, I have to ask. You’re sure you’re okay?” Noah’s voice was soft.
She shook her head. Her body was still tense, arms wrapped around herself as if they were the only things holding her together. "The lights went dark. Someone tried to put a hand over my mouth. And the next thing I knew, Matthias had me in a closet. It was pandemonium and we couldn't get out, so he locked us in a closet with his gun trained on the door.”
Noah cursed low under his breath. "The kid did good."
She glared up at him. "He's no kid, Noah. I mean, you should have seen the look in his eyes. He was ready to kill whoever tried to hurt me. I’ve never seen him like that. Who is he? That guy out there," she pointed in the direction of the door. "He's no kid. He is not at all the guy I thought he was. What happened to sweet, affable Matthias? Computer nerd. You know the guy who can't say no to me? At the show, he was lethal. Deadly. I didn't even recognize him."
Noah sighed and spoke quietly. "That's kind of the point of having a bodyguard. It's better when they seem unassuming. But don't mistake Matthias for your favorite plush toy. The kid is dangerous." He slid his glance away from her. "We all are."
Matthias more than some, Noah thought. He would have to talk to him.
He worked hard to keep Matthias away from violence usually. The kid went to the dark and scary places too easily. He always worried he’d pulled Matthias out too late. That ORUS had already broken him. Tainted him. Turned him into the kind of killer that didn't even think. But they’d have that conversation another time. Right now, Matthias had done his job. He’d protected Lucia. Put himself between her and a bullet … or worse. That was all that mattered. Or at least that was all that mattered to Noah. Lucia, on the other hand, was furious.
"Noah, you didn't see what I saw. I swear to God, he would've shot me somewhere nonlethal if he thought that would shut me up and get me to comply. I've never seen him like that before."
Noah knew she had to come around on her own. She and Matthias would have to talk about it. "He did his job. And right now, all I am is grateful."
A shudder tore through her body, and all Noah wanted to do was pull her close, take her against him, tell her everything would be all right. But that was a lie. Because nothing was all right, and it wasn't going to be until he found a way to stop this hit.
"Noah, I just want some answers. And then I want to sleep. Sleep for a very long time."
He didn't know when he decided to do it. Tell her the truth. All he knew was in that moment she held herself together by sheer will and arms that were too thin. So he told her everything.
"Lucia, I know how much you loved Rafe. And I wish to God every day that he was here. But there was a side to Rafe you didn't know. He’s the one who trained me. The one who was my mentor. He taught me everything I know. How to be the best assassin. How to be the quietest assassin. He taught me how to talk my way into and out of places. He taught me how to sneak in silently and never leave a trace of myself behind.”
When he finally glanced over at her face, she stared at him, mouth agape.
"So what are you saying? That Rafe was some kind of killer?"
Noah paused. He wanted to be honest with her. Tell her as much as he could, but he had to find a way to keep her safe. To not compromise her.
"Yes. I will tell you as much as I can. I won’t tell you the organization we worked for. I'm probably telling you way too much as it is. Do you understand the stakes now? This isn't a matter of me playing games with you, or keeping you in the dark. It's a matter of me trying my damnedest to keep you alive. I'm doing anything it takes to manage that."
She stared at him. "Rafe killed people?"
Noah swallowed hard. Then gave her a brusque nod. “And so do I. At least I used to. I left the organization shortly after Rafe's death. We were supposed to be doing things for a good cause. Taking out the worst of the worst. But after my friend, my mentor, was gone, I just couldn't anymore. As part of my negotiation for release in my contract, I took Matthias with me. In so many ways, the kid is just like me. Too good at killing. Too good at being dark."
Lucia shook her head. “I don't understand any of this."
"When I was sixteen, I was mostly on my own. Technically I was still considered a ward of the state. They had me listed as being in a foster home but about that point, I discovered that the foster homes were more likely to kill me than being on the street. So as often as I could, I made my escape."
She frowned. “Where were the people that were supposed to protect you?"
He shrugged. "Unfortunately in the foster care system, those people are few and far between. And they’re so overwhelmed with their caseloads, paying attention when one sixteen-year-old spends more time on the streets than he does with the family that’s supposed to be feeding him is hard." He shook his head. "Anyway, I was what you would call a petty thief. I was real good with sleight-of-hand. Real good with distractions. And women. I was a terror. I recognized young that women got a little hung up on my face. It made them easy marks. All I had to do was dress nice. Show the lady a little attention and then I’d have the contents of her purse in no time. Sleight-of-hand here, a little misdirection there, and I was usually in and out without anyone being the wiser. I stayed away from things like burglary and other things that could go wrong, but I was still nothing but a common thief."
Noah kept walking; he didn't dare stop to watch her face. He didn't dare stop to see what she thought of him now. He just kept moving.
"One night I was supposed to be doing a job with some friends in the theater district, but they hadn't showed. They probably got a bigger score and didn’t want to cut me in. So I crossed a couple of avenues, was going to do the job on my own, but in the back of this alleyway next to this Chinese restaurant, I heard a groan. It sounded like someone was in a world of hurt. Normally you learn quick and early to avoid those kinds of sounds, and honestly, I don't know what made me stop that night. But I did. And I found Ian."
Lucia frowned. "Who's Ian?"