Red. (Den of Mercenaries #1)(49)

She should have been glad, but she couldn’t deny the disappointment that slowly wormed through her. Even so, she said, “Good.” She pushed off her desk, grabbing her phone from her back pocket to send a quick text to her brother to call her as soon as he got the chance. As she was pocketing it, she ran over everything that had happened with Niklaus and remembered something. “What did you mean when you said he came by the diner asking about me?”

“He did. I had forgotten all about it until I saw him today—meant to tell you but I forgot.”

“What happened? When was this?”

“Maybe a year and a half ago? A little longer? And not much did happen. He came in, sat at a table with another guy. I took their order, he asked if you were working, and that was that. He didn’t stay too much longer after that. Which, let’s be honest, if he was looking for you then, that obviously means he’s popped up now for you.”

Reagan didn’t even want to contemplate that.

“But the real question is, what are you going to do about Liam? I’ve seen the way both of them look at you, and it’s only to one that you give the same look back.”

“I care nothing about Niklaus, Shan.”

Rolling her eyes, Shan swung the door open. “Of course not, but Liam won’t care that you don’t care about him, he’ll only care that he cares about you. And even if it’s not Liam that goes after him, his brother might just to prove a point.”

Yeah, that was what she was afraid of.

Shan headed back to the bar after that, leaving Reagan to her thoughts. Now, not only did she have to worry about her brother, she had to worry about Niklaus too. She almost hoped he wasn’t staying for long, just handling whatever business he came for then went back to wherever it was he came from.

Because she didn’t think he would be safe if Liam saw in her what Shan did.





Chapter Twenty





Tapping his thumb against the steering wheel, Niklaus watched from the privacy of his car as Liam McCarthy and his men exited the pub, heading towards two black SUVs not too far away. Only when they were inside with the engine going did he start his own, knowing that the roar of his would attract attention.

One thing Niklaus realized about himself as he slowly pulled out, carefully trailing behind them, was that he had far more control over himself than he’d thought. The minute Liam had tried to show him up in the pub, Niklaus had wanted to show him what a year and a half of training had instilled in him, but at the last possible moment, he thought better of it.

If Liam even suspected that Niklaus was more than a bar patron, he would be more likely to keep look into him—it already didn’t help that he shared a face with Mishca. It was obvious that the pair had not crossed paths however—but there was guarantee that anyone else in his little crew hadn’t. Besides, if it was true that the McCarthy brothers were really trying to make Hell’s Kitchen their new base of operations, when they did their research, Mishca’s name would ultimately come up.

So for the time being, he’d restrained himself, but one day very soon, he and Liam McCarthy would have words.

The Irish drove for a while before finally pulling into the lot of an old warehouse. Niklaus kept on, circling the back, and parking a few blocks down. There was no point in going in just yet, not when he wasn’t sure who all was inside.

Killing the engine and pocketing his keys, he propped his feet up on the dash and waited.



* * *



Four hours, twenty-six minutes, and ten seconds had passed since Niklaus had parked outside the warehouse, waiting for Liam and his men to exit. In that time, he’d sent a text to Winter, asking her for the blueprints to the warehouse, and anything she had so far. Though it had yet to be a full day, he didn’t doubt that she already had plenty.

“Apparently,” she’d said when they’d connected, “Donovan—that’s the father by the way—wasn’t behind their sudden move to the States. He still, for the most part, does business out of Dublin.It was the sons’ idea to expand. From what I have Rourke is the brawn, and the other, Liam, is the brain. Though he’s the youngest, nothing gets done without his approval.”

And Reagan was mixed up with him.

He wondered whether she knew what he did, or at the very least, who his family was. Back at the pub, she had jumped in front of him like she was trying to protect him from Liam, so even if she didn’t know everything … he bet she knew something. He would have to find that out later, though.

Sadly—because it would have made his life a hell of a lot easier—Winter hadn’t been able to find much on the shipment. Actually, it was hard to find anything on McCarthy business. The only thing she had been able to find was a tracking number, and that was a dead end since the shipment was marked as ‘lost.’

And last, she’d learned Donovan was coming stateside very soon—that at least coincided with what the Kingmaker had said about the deal going down in little more than two weeks.

But that still didn’t answer the question as to where the shipment was presently.

“Dig deeper,” Niklaus said as the doors to the warehouse swung open, Liam and a few others walking out. “I’ll call you back.”

They both hung up without a goodbye.

Shifting down in his seat, he ducked out of sight as the SUVs passed. He waited a heartbeat, two, then sat up, glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure they were out of sight before opening the car door and climbing out, going to the trunk.