Page 33 of The Sniper
“This shade is going to fly off the shelves,” Zade opens the gloss and, as he’s done throughout the meeting, walks and talks.This time, he’s heading in my direction.“Even your lovely security guard could wear this one.”
Bad move.
If he comes any closer, I’ll pull my weapon.
The women all giggle when my hand lands on the top of my holster, but not Tiffany.Her mouth parts as if she knows I’m not joking.
Stop.”
The entire room freezes, and I almost laugh.
Zade isn’t fazed though; he waves the glossy stick in my direction.“Very alpha male, I love it.Girls we need to bottle that for future campaigns.”
What now?
When he returns to the table, Tiffany shoots me with an apologetic look.
Ten long minutes later, they wrap up and the hugging begins.It takes another fifteen minutes before I have Sadie and Tiffany loaded into the Cadillac.
“Sorry about that,” Tiffany says, shooting me a look in the mirror.“Zade is a bit over the top.”
He was nearly a statistic, but whatever.
Our eyes connect in the rear vision mirror, and I give her a quick nod.Keeping my thoughts to myself is the best course of action here.The traffic distracts me as I weave through it and drive the two women home.
“He’s so funny, though, isn’t he?”Sadie giggles.“The event is going to be amazing.They are so clever.”
“Creative people are clever...and quirky,” Tiffany says, and I know she’s talking to me.
Zade wasn’t being quirky; he was testing me, and it got my attention.
As far as I’m concerned, everyone is a suspect until we can find the person who stole not just her valuable diamonds but very personal items.
It’s odd.
A professional thief wouldn’t have bothered,orthey did it to throw authorities off the scent.At least that’s the conversation I had with Ryder on the way to Tiffany’s this morning.
It could be someone envious of her success.Someone who works closely with her.I’ve ruled out Sadie, mostly, as she seems to adore her boss.I don’t see any red flags, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.
My eyes are wide open.
“What about this Nadia?”Ryder asked.“How was she with Tiffany?”
“Friendly.I mean, she has the code to get onto the property.Either Ms.Stallone trusts easily or they’re good friends.”
I should have stuck around, but I’d wanted to see the rest of the property before I left last night.If they’re close, I suspect the Russian will visit again soon.
During our chat, Ryder gave me a brief rundown of the resources we have available at BHS.
“You really should’ve had a better induction before hitting the ground running.I’ll get one of the guys to cover you next week for a day so you can spend some time here.”
“That would be great,” I replied, but in the back of my mind the idea of someone else spending the day with this sexy dark-haired beauty didn’t sit well with me.
Whatever that was about.
Liam had introduced me to Thomas and the guys in the tech team, so I wasn’t running blind.I was the kind of guy who picked things up quickly.Josh and Aidan seem to run a tight ship, so knowing how the team worked as one—just as we did in the forces—would benefit me.
“For now, we need to lighten her calendar and reduce the risk,” Ryder shared.
