The Beautiful Thief (Stolen Hearts #2)(36)

“Want a refill?” said someone into her ear.

Melody immediately shied away from the new voice. His breath was hot and moist and way too close to her ear. She held up her mostly full glass. “I’m good.”

The man looked to be in his mid-forties. He was halfway attractive, but considering her skin was still crawling from the feel of his breath, it was hard to see him as anything but a troll.

“Come on. Why don’t we get you something off the top shelf?”

She was just about to tell him where he could shove his top shelf liquor when something warm pressed her back. She jumped at the suddenness of it, but the warmth spread to her hip and pulled her back against a hard body. A hard body she recognized as Adam’s immediately. Should she be worried that she recognized Adam by the feel of his body alone? That was something to worry about later.

“Her drink is full,” said Adam simply as he kept his grip on her.

It would be easier to mark the possessive hand and posturing as part of the act if it weren’t for that kiss a few minutes ago.

The guy nodded in defeat before he moved off. Melody was irritated that she’d told him no and he’d kept pushing, but Adam appeared and like magic, the dude was suddenly respecting that she was off-limits. No wonder Forbes liked this place. It was full of assholes like him.

Instead of letting her go, Adam circled his arm around her waist and kept her in his arms. Before she could ask what he was doing, he bent forward and said into her ear, “I hit the jackpot. Are you ready to get this done?”

She stiffened in his grip. Get it done? That had to mean that Forbes was here and that Adam thought they could get a shot at him.

Adam’s beard brushed against her neck. “Let’s get going.”

She nodded wordlessly as he started to let her go before he took her hand in his and led her through the crowds of people until they reached the entrance to a hallway. The lighting in the hall was dim, but she could make out a series of doors on either side that stretched farther than she would expect for a basic restroom. Exactly what all was in this club?

The other ominous thing about this particular hallway was that it had a bouncer standing in front of it, with a particularly surly expression on his face. But the second he saw her and Adam, he stepped aside and let them through. She was going to assume that meant he’d made good use of her money.

Adam walked past the first few doors and stopped in front of one with a keypad on it. To her surprise, he entered in the code, allowing it to pop right open for them.

Adam took a quick glance up and down the hall to make sure they were alone before he took her hand and pulled her inside the small room.

Small room was an understatement. This was no more than a closet, maybe six feet deep and three feet wide. The only blessing was that it cut most of the pounding music out, so for the first time since she’d walked in, she could hear herself think. But before she could say anything, Adam held a finger over his mouth, signaling her to stay quiet. If he wanted her to stay quiet, that meant there was someone who could hear. The only light in the room was a dim bulb above them; Adam reached up and pulled a little string, which plunged them into darkness.

Okay.... She didn’t see any benefit to taking away all the light, but he’d warned her to stay quiet, so she kept her questions to herself. She could hear him moving around and then there was a shift in the air and the sound of something... rolling?

Soft light started to stream in and it finally hit her. Adam was rolling away a section of wall. This was a voyeur room. Lots of club owners would have spaces like this hidden around the club. There was so much bad business that went on in back rooms like this, if an entrepreneurial spirit wanted to get a leg up in the world, it helped to get some fly-on-the-wall access to these back rooms.

But they weren’t going to be using this space to eavesdrop. They were going to kill someone.

Once the wall was moved away, it was as if they were right there. The only thing separating their little closet from the club room next door was a thin dark material. Considering how dark it was in the closet, Melody knew that this wallpaper-like material probably looked opaque from the other side, but from where she stood, she could see almost everything happening next door.

“Oh my God,” she breathed. Sure enough, Baldie was right in front of her. Just a few feet away and sitting on a couch with a pretty young blonde, who looked barely out of high school, practically sitting on his lap and giggling loudly at a joke that couldn’t possibly be that funny.

And he was alone. This was exactly what she wanted. Adam had delivered her the man who killed her mother, and this flimsy barrier between the two rooms would do nothing to stop a bullet.

Adam came behind her and set his hands on her waist. But instead of the possessive, sensual touches he’d been giving her all night, this was more practical as he positioned her feet into a shooting stance.

Melody took a deep breath. This was it. He was setting up the shot. She allowed her body to move in the way he wanted, so one foot was slightly in front of the other, shoulder width apart. Then he was placing the warm metal of the gun in her hand. She’d expected it to be cold but then remembered that it had been pressed against his body all night.

Funny, of all the times she’d imagined getting her revenge, there were so many little details she hadn’t taken into account.

She’d fired a gun enough times that she knew how to hold it. She kept her thumb clear of the slide and used one hand to hold the butt and the other hand to brace her grip to keep it steady. But then Adam’s hands went around hers, working as another brace and, probably more importantly, an aim. She was a pretty good shot, but this wasn’t the kind of thing that allowed second chances. She had one shot to take Forbes down. He was a professional and could think faster on his feet than most.