Wallace…
I always shower first. After a job I clean up before entering polite society again. I’m not the lunatic showing up reeking of smoke with ash in my hair, but my need to see Scarlett takes precedence over my ritual.
She’s safe, I know she’s safe.
Gio is one of Lucas’s best men, and I have two other MacTavish guards who will work in rotation with him. We land on top of the MacTavish International building and I change out of my tach suit in the car on the way to the SkyBox.
“Look at ye, ye precious newlywed!” Logan grins.
“Dinnae make me punch ye in the throat,” I shrug on a sweater. “I promised your wife that I’dtryto stop doing that.”
Taking a deep breath in the lift shooting up to the restaurant, I try to focus. The flame inside me is quiet. For now.
The girls are all laughing in a corner and I’m thinking they’re three or four cocktails in.
There’s no Scarlett.
“Where’s my wife?”
Everyone looks up, startled. “Hey, Wallace.” Kenna stands up to give me a hug. “Hmm… you’re still smelling like ye set half the Cairngorm Mountains ablaze. Scarlett just went to the loo, dinnae worry, Gio’s with her.”
Gio is waiting outside the ladies’ room, hands folded in front of him, scanning the area.
“Any problems tonight?” I shake his hand.
“No boss, though she found it entertaining that I searched the bathroom first.”
“How long has she been in there?” I ask.
“Four minutes.”
I’m thinking a quickie on the counter might be in the future. “Anyone else in there?”
“Three ladies went in a couple of minutes ago, giggling,” he shakes his head. “One tried to grab my arse.They’reout for a Hen Night.”
Another minute or two passes by and I feel it, the insistent tapping at the back of my head thatsomething’s wrong… it’s wrong… hurry.
I dinnae bother to knock, kicking the door open and pulling my gun.
Scarlett’s standing there, eyes wide with terror with three women clustered around her.
One’s holding a gun to my wife’s head.
Scarlett…
Five minutes earlier…
“Hey, Gio. You really don’t have to follow me into the bathroom.”
“Sorry ma’am, part of the job.” He makes a quick search of the sleek-looking bathroom, with gleaming white counters and stalls and gilded faucets fancy enough that I almost expect real gold to pour out of them.
“You’re clear.” He heads for the door. “I’ll be right here out in the hall.”
“Thank you, Gio.”
That’s going to take some getting used to…
The door opens again as I’m washing my hands, three women hanging onto each other as they squeal with laughter. I smile at them in the mirror before I look closer.
