Shameful (The Shameless Trilogy Book 2)

by M. Malone

  “Are you ready?” JJ whispered. There was no one else in the restroom so her voice was audible almost as if they were in the same stall.

  Lucia yanked up the skinny jeans that didn’t want to cover her ass. JJ was a lot taller so she’d had to roll up the bottoms slightly. Hopefully once she put on JJ’s hat over the wig and the huge handbag, it wouldn’t be as noticeable that she’d lost a few inches in height. Or that she didn’t have her best friend’s characteristic swagger and flair.

  It wasn’t too late. She could still stop this. She could still go back and let Noah handle this. But can you really? She knew Noah would protect her from everything that he could. But she had to do this. This was for Rafe. She needed these answers. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  She opened the stall and walked out and instantly laughed at the sight of JJ in Lucia’s blouse and too-big jeans. Her friend wasn’t as busty so the blouse gaped quite a bit while the jeans were baggy and way too short.

  “Don’t you dare laugh!”

  Lucia clamped her lips shut. “Thank you for this. Just walk fast and then go in the bathroom of the coffee shop. I’ll tell Oskar later that I had diarrhea or something.”

  JJ’s eyes went wide, and she stifled a laugh. “Okay that’s way TMI. But it will definitely work. If not, tell him you have your period. No guy is going to ask for details at that point.”

  JJ handed over her large purse and waited while Lucia took out her phone from her own bag. Once she had a chance to see Brent, they’d meet back up at the coffee shop and switch their clothes back.

  “Okay let’s go. Hopefully He-Man out there won’t get too close otherwise the jig is up.”

  Lucia blew out a breath and waited while JJ went out first. They were hoping that Oskar would follow JJ for a while, giving Lucia time to slip out. And lovely as he was, he did just as expected. After all Lucia was the target, she was the one who someone wanted to hurt. Of course Oskar followed Noah’s orders. She almost felt bad for how much shit he’d catch if anything happened to her today, but she couldn’t think about that now.

  After two minutes, Lucia opened the door and walked quickly with her head down. She didn’t see any sign of Oskar, so she rushed out onto the sidewalk. It wasn’t easy to navigate all the people rushing by with her head down but she didn’t want to chance being seen in case Oskar was still hanging around. All she needed was a ten-minute window to get the information she needed. Her breath came fast as she approached where Brent had agreed to meet her.

  She opened the door to the small restaurant and looked around the dim interior. There was a table free near the window so she slid into the seat and put JJ’s oversized bag on her lap. After a few minutes, she started to wonder if she’d made a mistake. Noah was going to be pissed if he found out and really, how had she thought that she’d be able to pull this off? She was hardly a super-spy.

  Just when she was contemplating getting up and leaving, someone pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. Brent looked up from under the hoodie he was wearing.

  “Hey.” She didn’t know what else to say considering how bad he looked.

  Brent was a pretty good-looking guy but now he had large bags under his eyes and his skin was sallow. He hadn’t shaved in days, if not more. And he’d lost weight. How was that even possible? If she hadn’t just seen him a few weeks ago, she wouldn’t believe it was the same person. This guy was a wrecked facsimile of that version.

  “I’m glad you came,” he finally said.

  “Thank you for meeting me. I understand that you didn’t have to call to warn me. I really appreciate it.”

  He nodded but then looked around apprehensively. Lucia glanced around, too. There were only a few other people in the restaurant. No one was paying them any attention.

  “I can’t be here for long. The only way I’ve stayed ahead of them this long is by moving around a lot. There’s less chance they’ll find me if I just keep crashing on a different friend’s couch every night.”

  “They?” Lucia repeated. “Who are we talking about?”

  Brent fidgeted with the strings dangling from his hood. He glanced around again. “I still not sure I want to say. Maybe it’s better if you don’t know. But then when I heard about what happened at your place—”

  Lucia looked up sharply. “How did you find out about that?”

  “I was worried after I realized someone was following me. My friend works at the police station and she told me there’d been a robbery report at your address.”

  “Yeah, some guy broke in. But he got away.”

  Brent sighed. “If it’s the same people who’ve been following me, he’ll be back.”

  Lucia leaned across the table. “Brent, please. If you know something, tell me. I can’t protect myself if I don’t know who I’m supposed to be afraid of.”

  His eyes met hers. “I’m pretty sure it’s the Del Tinos. The crime family.”

  “Yes, I know who they are,” Lucia whispered hollowly. She didn't even pay that close of attention to the news and she knew who they were. Racketeering, human trafficking, etc. Thus far all the government agencies had been trying to pin something on them. The Del Tinos were smart. Only Nico DelTino had seen prison time. And that was for failure to pay back child support. As far as she knew, all the Del Tinos had legitimate jobs.

  But the rumors were abundant. Their family business was import/export, which just sounded shady. But every time their books were subpoenaed, even when they were subpoenaed by surprise, they came up clean. One of the big evening news programs did a story on them last year, but that was all she knew about them. She had no personal connection to them.

  “Do you know them or something?” Brent asked

  "No. I’ve never met a Del Tino, never seen a Del Tino and I have nothing in common with them other than being Italian.”

  Why would the Del Tinos be coming after her? Her mind raced as she mentally sifted through all the information Noah had given her. He’d mentioned that his target was part of a drug cartel. Could that have a connection? Maybe if she could peel back the layers on what had happened that fateful day, she could finally have some real answers. Hopefully figure out a way to stay safe at the same time.

  Brent leaned closer, keeping the hood of his jacket over his face. “I just wanted to warn you not to let your guard down. You have that scary guy hanging around so maybe you’ll be okay. But once I gather enough cash, I’m leaving the city for good. It’s harder to disappear than I thought.”

  “If you need anything …”

  He shrugged. “Just stay safe, okay? If I could go back in time, I would have never made that call. But I didn’t know you then. And they’d already paid me a lot of money. It seemed like a lot of money at the time anyway. Wasn’t nearly enough for selling my soul.”

  “Thank you.”

  He nodded and then left the restaurant. Lucia waited a few minutes then followed him out. By the time she hit the sidewalk, he was nowhere in sight. She walked quickly back to the coffee shop where JJ should be in the restroom. She spied Oskar in the corner at a small table but ducked her head quickly and hustled toward the bathroom. She ran into the end stall since the middle one was occupied.

  “JJ? I’m here.”

  “Thank God. He already opened the door once and asked if I was okay. Well, asked if you were okay. You know what I mean.”

  Lucia quickly stripped off the borrowed outfit and held it under the stall. A moment later, JJ held out Lucia’s clothes. Once she was redressed, they both came out of the stalls. Lucia pulled the hat and blond wig off and JJ put them both in her bag.

  “That was a lot of stress. Hopefully it was worth it?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure.”

  Lucia must have looked as dejected as she felt because JJ pulled her into a spontaneous hug. “Come on. Let’s go get a coffee before He-man out there starts to get suspicious. Then you can tell me all about it.”

  Noah put his phone back in his pocket, determ
ined not to bother Oskar with another message. When he gave an assignment, he trusted his men to do it without hovering over their shoulders. Plus, Lucia was just hanging out with a friend, nothing that Oskar couldn’t handle alone.

  So why was he so distracted?

  Okay truth be told, when Lucia wasn’t with him, when he wasn’t the one protecting her himself, it scared him. Right down to his core. Trusting someone else with her life made him edgy. But he had to remember that he’d trained these men himself. And they each cared about her. Besides, if he continued to smother her, she’d fight against that and he’d lose her. And he would rather die than let that happen. He needed to get his head back in the game and trust his team.

  The comm unit in his ear crackled to life. “Boss, we’ve got a disturbance at the back elevator.” Matthias was back at the office but monitoring the hotel security feeds remotely. It had been a real challenge to keep men available to cover all their open client cases, but luckily Matthias and his magical hacker fingers were skilled at doing the work of three people simultaneously.

  “I’ll go check it out.”

  He motioned for Dylan to stay with the client while he walked down the private hallway and swiped his keycard for the penthouse elevator. They were on a new detail today protecting a YouTube star named Sherrie Sweets who’d been receiving death threats. Noah shook his head. He wasn’t even entirely sure how someone made money with online videos, but their client was the head of a makeup channel with millions of subscribers. The shit women did in the name of beauty made no sense to him, but Noah figured it didn’t have to. All that had to make sense to him was the best way to protect her.

  She had millions of fans, which meant millions of potential suspects that could be trying to kill her.

  The elevator arrived and Noah rode down to the basement level. His team had worked in conjunction with hotel security to close off as many access points as possible. The main lobby and the back service entrance were now the only two ways to gain entrance to the hotel. The elevator doors opened to a team of caterers all wearing white uniforms. He scanned over each face, looking for anyone who looked out of place. At first glance, everything passed muster. The head of hotel security had provided a list of events taking place in the hotel that day and the catering company logo on their uniforms matched the name listed for the first event of the day.

  Noah stepped aside to allow them to pass. The woman in the front smiled flirtatiously while eyeing him up and down. That’s when he noticed the man in the back. Noah glanced down and noticed that his uniform didn’t have the same insignia over the breast pocket as the others.

  He drew his weapon. “Sir, I need for you to step aside,” he said calmly. The last thing they needed was a panic.

  The man looked up and then shoved the girl in front of him into Noah. She screamed and latched her arms around his neck, forcing Noah to take precious seconds to get free before he could give chase. Fuck.

  “Matthias, I need eyes. Where is he?”

  “He went down the service corridor to the laundry room. There’s a blind spot there as soon as you turn the corner. I’ve already alerted hotel security, and their guys are on the way.”

  Noah raced to the end of the hallway and paused. He should wait until the others arrived but what if there was some way out that they’d missed? This could end today, and his client could resume her life without worry that this asshole would track her down again. He raised his weapon higher and then charged around the corner.

  The hallway leading into the laundry area was empty. He took a breath and then ducked into the main laundry room. It was bright and well-lit, but there was still something ominous about the huge rolling carts of sheets and the metal baskets wired to the walls holding supplies. Somewhere in the distance he heard water running.

  Something shifted behind him and he swung around. “Son of a b—” Pain exploded behind his eye as something heavy banged into the side of his head. Noah backed up, waiting for his vision to clear. The shithead had gotten the jump on him.

  “Ahhhhhh!” The man swung at him again and again, his movements slowing as he struggling to heave the large bottle of detergent he was using as a weapon.

  Noah almost laughed at the absurdity of it all but didn’t have time as one of the blows knocked him into the metal supply racks. He easily sidestepped the next attempted blow then countered with a punch to the sternum that dropped the guy to his knees.

  “You must be hard of hearing. I feel like I told you to step aside,” Noah growled. “Come quietly and you won’t get hurt.”

  The asshole on his knees slanted him a glace with pure malevolence and hatred in his eyes. “I have to save Sherrie! She doesn’t know what she’s doing, tempting men with that harlot’s paint.”

  Ooookay then. Noah shook his head. This dude clearly was past the point of reasoning if he thought the bubblegum cutesy makeup videos their client was known for was the devil’s work. But then again, he wasn’t sure why he’d bothered trying to reason with him in the first place. Reasonable people didn’t stalk someone they only knew from online videos.

  “Okay, well it looks like you’re going to save Sherrie from prison. Come on.”

  He hauled the guy to his feet, grabbing him by the arm. But Noah had miscalculated. With a swift flick of a wrist, the guy had a knife out of his sleeve and was arching his opposite arm upward.

  Pain, sharp and biting, slashed through Noah. He let out a low grunt as burning fire lanced his gut. He was going to kill that little shit. Just as soon as he could convince his body of mind over matter.

  His breath seized in his lungs as adrenaline raced through his veins. Years of training was the only thing that saved him from serious injury as he instinctively twisted in the opposite direction. The pocketknife clattered to the floor at his feet.

  Pain quickly gave way to fury. He could thank his ORUS training for that. Every operative was well versed in acknowledging the pain then deciphering it. If it was life threatening, the directive was to get to safety. If the injury wasn't life threatening, the directive was to kill the source of the pain then resume the mission. So unfortunately for this guy, he was going to complete the mission which was to protect his client.

  Pissed now, Noah kicked the knife across the room and then punched the guy straight in the nose. The guy collapsed in a heap at Noah’s feet.

  Noah tore his shirt off and pressed the fabric against his side. The sound of footsteps had him raising his weapon until he recognized the head of hotel security.

  “What happened?” His eyes fell to the guy on the ground and then on the blood-soaked shirt pressed to Noah’s side. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. That’s what I get for trying to be reasonable.” He waved away offers of help and stood back as the others dragged the guy on the floor to his feet. Suddenly all he wanted was Lucia. Visions of her danced in front of his eyes and he blinked several times to clear his vision.

  “Sir, I really think you should get that looked at.”

  He ignored them and pushed forward into the hallway. Noah held the shirt to his side with firm pressure and focused on making it down the hallway. He had to get to Lucia.

  chapter eleven

  NOAH WAS SCREWED. He knew that. He was bleeding like a goddamned stuck pig and as he eyed the road ahead of him, he was suddenly aware that walking out without medical attention may not have been the smartest idea he’d ever had.

  He shook his head hard, trying to clear the gray fog threatening the edge of his vision. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t taken any precautions. He wasn’t just running around letting himself bleed to death. He’d dressed the wound himself and he knew what the hell he was doing.

  The problem was the damn dressing wouldn't hold. That's what Noah got for doing his own field dressing in the car. But now he had the added problem that all the guys were out on jobs and Lucia was at home. He could have gotten Oskar to come and help him, but that would have left Lucia unguarded. And that was never going to happen.
He could have called Dylan to come for him, but he had to stay with the client.

  So he was on his own.

  Damn it, they were spread too thin. He knew it. They all freaking knew it. Something had to let up. But there was no way he was leaving Lucia unprotected and there was no way he was giving up on the people who counted on him. Who counted on them. There had to be a way. He’d have to bring on more men, or outsource, or something.

  Because he couldn’t keep doing this. He had been too distracted today with his attention too divided. And now he was leaking all over the place because some punk had gotten a lucky swipe. A lucky swipe that was definitely going to need stitches. He might even need a tetanus booster shot or something. That piece of shit. He’d gotten off lucky. If Noah hadn’t evolved from the old days, he might have taken a little bit of time and some extreme pleasure in causing that little turd pain.

  But you’re not that guy anymore, are you? No, he wasn’t. Though it scared the shit out of him when he had flashes of wanting to return to that place. All he had to do was get to Lucia. He’d he happy if he just could see her.

  Truthfully, he probably shouldn't have been driving. But, short on resources and all that. He pulled into the basement garage and swiped his keycard to bypass the security gate. He pulled into his usual spot. It was concealed in the shadows, just how he liked it, but it still had easy enough access to the elevator. Just because he was stuck and bleeding didn't mean he’d ignore security procedures. He put a hand on his belly and frowned when he drew back and saw that some blood had seeped through the bandage and his dark T-shirt. Damn it. Before climbing out of the car, he placed a 911 text to the team’s on-call doctor.

  Maybe if he just made it into the medical bay, Lucia might not see him. Yeah, good luck with that. To get to the medical bay he’d have to walk straight through the kitchen. And from the kitchen, you could see everything. So one way or another, she was going to see that he was hurt. Noah sucked in a deep breath.