“I would do it again,” she said with a shrug. “Only, that bastard, Cruz, double-crossed me.”
“What do you mean?”
“The person that attacked me? He also snatched my purse and the plans were in there.”
“So you don’t have the plans?”
Chicha shook her head. “When I get my hands on that damn Cruz, he will regret doing this to me.”
“But he’s your boyfriend, right?”
“Ex. He’s an ex-boyfriend!”
“So why are you stealing plans for him then?” It didn’t add up. There was more to this story than the woman was telling.
Chicha’s face became sad and fierce at the same time. She lifted her hand and fiddled with her ear. Tamika noticed that there was a line of studs on the ear she could see. They were arranged in a line around her outer ear. Four of them in all. Three small studs and a large one at the top of her ear. Her hand lingered on that one and her face softened.
“He has something that belongs to me.”
“What’s that?”
Chicha shot her a glance. “It’s personal.”
Tamika held her gaze. She didn’t press her, but she fully intended to find out exactly what Cruz was using as leverage against Chicha.
“How do you know for sure that Cruz has the plans?”
“That goon who took me out was one of Cruz’s men. The betraying bastard!”
“So he’s probably on his way to New York now?”
“Damn straight.”
“Guess we’ll be headed for the Big Apple then,” Tamika said, getting to her feet.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
“I just said we’re leaving for New York.”
“But, why?”
Tamika gave her a look. Was she a few wires short or something. “We need to get the plans back,” she explained slowly.
Chicha scowled. “Hey, no need to sound so condescending.” Then she turned earnest, “Look, you don’t know Cruz. He’s a mean son of a bitch. He’s really dangerous.”
Tamika smiled. “It doesn’t matter, we have to get the plans back.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt. I only just found you and well…it would be nice to have someone, you know.”
Tamika felt a knot form in her throat as she choked down emotion. It felt a bit nice to know that she was not alone in the world.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay.” They were professionals and they never went into a situation blind. They would find a way to get those plans from Cruz. She had no doubt about that. She turned to leave the room.
“I can help.”
Chicha’s quiet voice stopped her in her tracks.
“What?”
“I lived with Cruz for six years. I can get you inside. I know everything about the way he operates and I’ve studied him and his men. I can tell you everything you need to get back the plans.”
Tamika eyed her. “Hmm. Why would you do this?”
Chicha studied her nails. “It’s simple really. You’ll have to do something for me in return, of course.”
Tamika folded her arms. “Of course.”
“What? You don’t think I’m going to let that bastard get away with fooling me, do you?”
“Fine, what do you want?”
She clenched her fist. “I want what belongs to me.”
“What exactly are we talking about?” She expected to hear money or jewelry, anything other than what she heard.
“My daughter.”
**
Nico glanced at Tamika on the ride back to the hotel. She hadn’t said a word since they left the hospital. He could tell she had a lot on her mind. He reached out and held her hand. She let him hold her, but after a few minutes, she pulled back and wrapped her arms around herself. She had withdrawn and he didn’t know what to do about it.
“You’re thinking about Chicha,” he said, breaking the silence. Anything was better than silence in this case.
She shrugged. “There’s a lot to think about.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
She sighed. “Not really, no.”
Just then, Nico’s phone rang. He checked the caller ID; it was Ted Monroe, his head of operations.
“Hey, Ted.”
“Hi, Nico. I wanted to find out when you will be in the office?”
Nico frowned. Charly had his itinerary, so there was no reason for Ted to call him to find out when he’ll be in the office.
“What’s up, Ted?”
“Ah, Mr. Vasilek was in my office this morning.”
Nico felt the hand holding the phone clench. “What did he want this time?”
He saw Tamika glance at him, a question in her eyes, but he waved his hand, telling her without words that everything was fine. Then he forced himself to relax. That didn’t last long though.
“He’s insisting that you call an emergency meeting of the shareholders.”
This time, he let out the string of swear words he had been holding in. Ivan Vasilek, also known as Ivan the Terrible among Nico’s siblings, was their father’s cousin and unfortunately, a partner in the business. After the death of their father, he had tried to take over the running of what had been a small, but profitable restaurant. Since he’d only had a thirty percent stake in the business, their mother had gotten the upper hand and run the business, not just keeping it afloat, but expanding the restaurant to two locations. After the boys had graduated from college and Masha from culinary school, they had taken over the running of the restaurant and expanded it to what it was today; five-star resorts spread around three different parts of the world. They were set to open their fourth resort in one of the Caribbean islands.
Through the years, Uncle Ivan had been a thorn in the flesh. A stumbling block, every step of the way. They would have bought him out a long time ago but for their mother. She had insisted that he was family and should be treated with respect.
“I told him that you will be in the office later this week.”
In other words, he had stalled the man. “Good. Have you gotten hold of Alex yet?” he asked.
“We can’t reach him.”
“Alright. Thanks, Ted.”
He could not help wondering just what Uncle Ivan wanted this time around. The last thing he needed so close to the opening was trouble from that quarter. He had enough he was dealing with, what with the missing plans and everything.
A thought occurred to him. He hoped like hell that his uncle had not found out about the missing plans. He could make life very miserable for them if he did. He leaned back against the seat and shut his eyes with a sigh. “Trouble at work?”
Chapter Nineteen
The taxi had come to a halt in front of the hotel. She glanced around, looking for anything suspicious as they got out of the vehicle. They walked into the lobby and she waited while Nico went to get their keys, making sure to sweep the area with her gaze. She did not think Cruz would make any move there. Most likely his plan was to lure Nico to New York, where he could operate on his own turf. Still, she needed to take every precaution.
Nico returned with the keys and they took the elevator to their floor. Because they were not the only occupants of the elevator, they remained silent till they got to their destination.
“Let’s go to your suite,” she said. She had nothing to do in hers and she needed to keep an eye on him.
“Aww, I didn’t know you wanted me like that,” Nico said, placing a hand on his chest.
Tamika rolled her eyes, but she smiled. The man could be so silly sometimes. “I’m here to keep your butt safe, you know that.”
“Particularly since you’re so taken with said butt.” He swiped the keycard and they stepped in.
“You are delusional,” Tamika said, shrugging out of her coat.
“So I must have been dreaming when you said you could not wait to get your hands on my sexy butt?” He walked to the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water.
“What? When did I sa
y that?” She took a bottle from him and twisted the cap.
“Just now, by the door.” he looked confused. “I could have sworn that was what you said.”
“I never said anything like that and you know it.”
“Huh, pity.”
“Asshole.”
They shared a smile.
She pulled out her gun then.
His arms went up in the universal surrender gesture. “Don’t shoot.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to shoot you, idiot.”
“Then what are you doing?” he asked suspiciously.
“I need to check the rooms to be sure everything just fine.”
He slowly brought down his arms and nodded his head, like he was granting her permission.
She shook her head and walked away.
There were two bedrooms, one on either side of the living room. She walked into each, carefully looking around to be sure nothing looked out of the ordinary. It wasn’t as though she expected to find anything, but one could never be too careful.
As she did her sweep, she thought about the banter with Nico and smiled. She knew what he was doing. He was trying to get her mind away from more depressing thoughts, like the fact that what she thought she knew about her life was probably an illusion. Well, his attempts were working. She was not feeling as down and dejected as she’d been feeling when she left the hospital.
Sure that everything was okay, she put away the weapon and returned to the living room.
“So are you going to tell me what that phone call was about?” She threw herself on an armchair and flung her legs over the arm.
Nico was not used to sharing his problems. He did not believe in talking about them, his mode of operation was to solve the problem and not talk about it. When Tamika asked about the problem at the office, he considered shrugging it off and almost opened his mouth to tell her that it was nothing, but then he paused. If he wanted her to trust him with her secrets, he would have to do the same. Maybe if he talked to her, really talked to her, she would reciprocate. So he sighed and took the chair across from her.
“Do you know how we began Blue Silk?”
“Yeah, it started out as your father’s restaurant, right?”
“Correct. It was owned by my father and his cousin, Uncle Ivan.”
“And Uncle Ivan has been giving you a tough time?” she asked intuitively.
He looked at her in surprise. “How did you guess?”
“It’s the way you said his name, with such distaste,” she said with a shrug.
He shook his head. “The man is a colossal pain in the butt. He lives to make my life miserable and what’s so annoying is that we can’t buy him out like we all want to do.”
“Why is that?”
“Mom won’t hear of it. She’s very big on family.”
“So what did he do this time around?”
“He’s insisting that we call an emergency meeting of all shareholders.”
“Can he do that?” she wanted to know.
“Unfortunately, any shareholder can do that.”
He could guess what the sole item on the agenda would be. It was not the first time Uncle Ivan had tried to get him voted out as Chief Executive Officer of the company. He wondered what reason he would give this time around.
“Wow, but you don’t have any reason to be worried, do you?”
“Ordinarily, no. But if he has somehow gotten wind that the plans have been stolen, then it could be trouble.
He got up and began to pace. He should never have let something like this happen. And now that he knew Cruz had his plans, he knew that things could get ugly fast. Heaven only knew what the bastard had up his sleeve.
“You know Cruz is trying to lure you to him, right?” Tamika’s quietly spoken words reached him. He looked up to find her watching him.
“What do you mean?”
“He knows you are going to go after those plans and he’s banking on the fact that you won’t hesitate to search him out.”
“Of course I’ll go after him.”
She shook her head. “He’s going to try to trap you.”
The thought had crossed his mind, but he knew of no other way out. “It’s a risk I’ll have to take,” he said with a shrug.
“The resort is almost ninety percent completed, right?” Tamika asked, sitting up.
Nico nodded. They just needed to put up the finishing touches.
“Then even if the plans leak, it should not affect investor confidence. The important thing is to make profit, isn’t it?”
“Our selling point was that we were selling something unique. Not just in services, but also in design. If that design is replicated elsewhere less than a year after we launch, it’s going to shake the confidence our investors have placed in us.”
“I disagree.”
Nico frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“This is not your first resort, Nico. I think you’re overreacting. You have earned a reputation and their trust, you’re not going to lose it simply because the plans have leaked or a competitor duplicates your design. They can’t duplicate the Blue Silk touch.”
Nico narrowed his eyes in anger. Who the hell did she think she was to lecture him? He made his voice as cold as he could. “I would suggest you stick to what you know. If you do not have confidence that your team can retrieve my plans, then I’d rather you let me know now so I can find an alternative.”
The instant the words left his mouth, he wished he could draw them back. He saw the hurt flash through her eyes, then as swiftly as it came it was gone and in its place was blazing anger. She slowly got to her feet and pulled herself to her full height, which was still significantly shorter than his six feet, three inches.
“You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Ortega. We will get your plans,” she said, her tone frosty and formal.
“Tamika…”
She held up her palms, bringing out her phone at the same time. She brought the phone to her ears
“Hey, Rusty? We’re back from the hospital…Okay, see you in five.”
Nico sighed, “Tamika, please…” He was feeling terrible.
Tamika smiled, a brief stretching of her lips that did not even get close to her eyes. “It’s fine, really.”
“I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.” He closed the distance between them. “I don’t know what got into me.”
She looked up at him, her eyes distant. “There’s no need to apologize. You were right. I am here to do a job. We are not friends or buddies. This is just business and … thank you for reminding me of that.”
She was not giving an inch. “Dammit, Tamika, I said I was sorry!”
“Apology accepted,” she said with a nod.
“And we are friends?”
She shook her head. “No, we are not friends.”
She was so wrong. He knew they had not known each other long, but they were friends. She was one person he felt totally relaxed with. He had been surprised how easy it was to share his thoughts and concerns with her. When he was talking to her, he did not need to filter his thoughts. She usually gave as good as she got. Which was why her reaction surprised him.
“Deny all you like, we are friends.”
“I’m not going to stand here arguing crap with you. I’m sure I know who my friends are.”
“You’re shutting me down just because I messed up? That’s so low of you.”
“Low of me…” She spluttered. “You were the asshole who jumped down my throat simply because I pointed out some stuff to you!”
“Yep, totally low. You are underperforming on the friendship scale. I expected more from you, Tamika Esmeralda White.” He could almost see the steam coming off her ears. He decided to take it up a notch. “I was thinking… can I call you Esme? I kinda like the sound of that.”
She gritted her teeth and let out a growl. Then fisted her hand and was going to hit him in the gut. He caught the hand just in time, feeling prett
y smug with himself, but he was not quick enough to stop the knee that went straight to his balls.
With a sound that was part groan, part scream, he clutched his family jewels as he collapsed to the floor. The pain was excruciating. He saw stars as he struggled to breathe through the agony. When he was able to speak, he let out a string of swear words, and they were not enough to convey how he felt.
“Heartless bitch,” he said with a groan.
She folded her arms and glared at him from above, not a hint of remorse on her face. If anything she looked satisfied. She truly was a cold, heartless bitch. He had no idea what he saw in her. After today he was cutting all ties with her.
She walked away and he shut his eyes tight as he tried to come to terms with the pain. He heard her on the phone, but didn’t pay attention to what she was saying. Damn, he hurt!
He felt her presence and opened his eyes to find her watching him. He saw the concern in her eyes before she quickly masked it.
“You’re going to pay for this.”
She smirked. “Who’s going to make me?”
Just then the knocker for the door sounded. She left and went to open it.
“Hey Rusty,” he heard her say in greeting.
“What’s up, Tamika? What’s he doing on the floor?”
“That monster there tried to separate me from my balls!” The pain had begun to fade, but he was still pretty much pissed at her.
Rusty laughed. “You need to learn to place some distance between them and that knee if you’re planning to piss her off,” he advised.
“Now he tells me,” Nico moaned.
Tamika knelt beside him and reached towards his balls. He covered them with both hands. “Stay away from me!”
“I got you an ice pack, you big baby,” she said and placed the ice pack over the area that hurt. He took it from her with a sigh. Blessed relief.
She stood up and walked away. He followed her movements with his eyes, noting that the delectable ass looked really nice in a pair of jeans. She stopped by the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked out, wrapping her arms around herself. Her unconscious vulnerability reached out to him and wrapped itself around his heart. Even with the throbbing between his legs, he knew that this woman was special. There was just something different about her and he really wanted to unravel the mystery that was Tamika Esmeralda White.
Silver Shield Security Box Set Page 64