Chapter 26 Shep
SHEP
THE CROWD ROARED as the Swansea City team scored their first goal of the night, the majority of those packed into the stadium pulling for the home team.
Theo shook his head where he stood in the executive box with the team owners from both sides, but he really couldn’t be too disappointed, considering AS Monaco had taken the lead early on and never relinquished it.
There wasn’t much time left on the clock, and from the little I knew about football—or soccer, as we called it in the States—it seemed impossible for the home team to score enough goals to come through victorious.
Not that I’d been watching much of the game.
Theo had my full attention, and after the messages he’d received on the plane, I wasn’t taking any chances.
He, on the other hand, only took chances, because if it were up to me, we wouldn’t even be here.
There were too many people, too many ways someone could get to him before I could, and that had me so tense I could’ve cracked steel in my fist.
Who the fuck had the audacity to think they could threaten him and get away with it?
I was in those photos too, yet whoever this was hadn’t reached out to me directly.
The fact that King hadn’t brought it up meant he hadn’t been sent those pictures—yet—but I wasn’t stupid.
The threat hung over our heads, which meant Theo and I were on borrowed time, unless we could catch the motherfucker.
A sudden move out of the corner of my eye had me jerking in that direction, but it was only someone in the crowd jumping up after a kid spilled an entire drink in their lap. I turned my attention back to Theo, who was laughing and nodding as the man on his left pointed out something on the field.
God, how much longer did we have to be here?
It felt like there was a ticking time bomb, and I was ready to get us both somewhere safe, somewhere we were not surrounded by tens of thousands of people.
Theo had done his duty, supported his country’s team and made an appearance, so did he really have to stay for the whole game?
A collective groan reverberated throughout the stadium as a Swansea player missed the goal, and with the time running out, many around me were starting to pack up and leave, not wanting to see their team get annihilated.
That was good enough for me, and I quickly got to my feet. Theo saw me stand, our eyes locking across the distance between us, and he must’ve seen how on edge I was, because he nodded and began to say his goodbyes to the men beside him.
No one bothered looking my way as I passed, and that had a lot to do with the way I’d temporarily darkened my facial hair and kept things casual in a ball cap and Swansea City jersey.
Theo had practically rioted when I put it on, but I’d managed to convince him that I’d stand out more wearing the guest team’s jersey, and that was the last thing we needed.
He’d backed down, but only after I promised him he could take it off later.
A wall of security walked him through the building, so I stuck to the back of the pack, and as we reached the exit, a sea of cars greeted us.
The valet team were in a frenzy of activity that seemed disorganized at best. Several of the security team headed off in different directions to find out what was going on, but I wasn’t going to let Theo stand here like a sitting duck while they figured it the fuck out.
I glanced at the tracker I’d put on the private car that had brought us to the stadium, and it was somehow still stuck on the far side of the lot.
Shit, it would take longer for it to get to us than it would for us to walk to it.
Fuck it.
I moved in beside Theo and flashed the tracker’s position at him. He rolled his eyes.
“It’d be quicker to hike there,” he said.
“My thoughts exactly.”
He looked at me, but I continued to stay vigilant, scanning everyone around us as if they were a direct threat.
“Come on, then,” he said, knocking my shoulder with his and then turning around to dismiss the rest of the security team. “My bodyguard will take it from here. Thank you for your help today, gentlemen.”
I didn’t waste time leading him out of there, done with dealing with people for the day.
I wasn’t used to having to be in bodyguard mode all the time, even though I always stayed aware of my surroundings when I was public facing, but this shit was exhausting.
I wasn’t going anywhere else tonight except for our suite, and Theo was just gonna have to suck it up and enjoy room service.
“Oh, we’re running now, are we?” he said, keeping pace beside me.
“I’m not running.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” He pulled at his tie, loosening it. “Jesus, slow down. No one’s chasing us.”
“I’m just ready to get out of here, that’s all.”
“For someone who’s known for being in the public eye, you sure as fuck don’t like it all that much.”
“Excuse me if I don’t find watching out for your friendly stalker my idea of a good time.”
We rounded the corner, and when his car finally came into view, I nearly cheered. Freedom was a mere block away.
“I mean, can you blame them?” Theo continued. “I am pretty interesting. Good looking, too.”
I glanced over to see his smug smile, and shook my head. “Not to mention stubborn, arrogant, and self-involved.”
“That’s not true. Take now, for instance.” He moved in close enough that our arms brushed. “I’m not thinking about myself at all, rather, how quickly I can get you back to the hotel and out of that horrible jersey.”
“Which, in turn, will benefit you.”
“Well, don’t you think highly of your—”
BOOM!
An explosion strong enough that it threw the two of us back several feet detonated up ahead, where Theo’s car had been idling. The force shook the entire block and blew out the windows of buildings close by.
Screaming bystanders ran in any and all directions as flames licked up into the clear blue sky, and I immediately turned to where Theo had been standing beside me, seeing him laid out flat on the sidewalk.
I reached out to grab his arm, then rolled to my side to check he was okay, that he was alive. The second I made contact, I heard a low groan, and he shifted to sit up, a cut on his forehead dripping blood down his temple.
“What the fuck was that?” he said, blinking through the swirls of dust and debris, trying to gather his bearings.
I, on the other hand, was busy getting to my feet now that I knew he was safe, more than aware of what the fuck that had been. Someone had planted a bomb in Theo’s car. Some motherfucker had just made an attempt on his life.
“Did they just blow up my car?” Theo asked as he got to his feet. When he took several steps forward to get a better look, I grabbed hold of his arm, halting him.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m trying to see who the fuck just tried to kill me.” Theo yanked his arm free and turned back to the fireball in front of us. A couple of unlucky people lay moaning in the street, but everyone else had scattered, which was exactly what I wanted the fuck to do.
But Theo seemed to have other ideas.
“Theo,” I growled as he continued toward what was left of the car.
I could hear sirens in the distance, already coming for the casualties, and the last thing I needed was his being whisked off to some local hospital when someone was out here trying to off him.
I needed to get him out of here and back to the hotel, where I could check him out and make sure he didn’t have any other injuries.
Though, judging by his determination to get closer to what was almost his—and my—very own cremation, I was starting to think he had sustained more damage to his head than he was letting on.
A flash of movement caught my attention just beyond the flames at the same time it did Theo’s, someone running from the scene. Before I could tell Theo we needed to get the fuck out of there, he took after the person, leaving me cursing up a storm behind him.
What the fuck?
It was obvious whoever had just bolted wasn’t injured in any way. But they also weren’t leaving the scene like some traumatized victim, either. Was this the person sending the emails? The texts? The videos? Was this them making good on their threat to kill Theo?
They were hightailing it out of there like they were. Like someone might find them. Find them and make them pay.
Unfortunately for them, they were right.
Theo was on their ass, the impact of the explosion clearly not having had any adverse affect on his motor skills. It was moments like this that I was reminded of just how deceptive the Prince of Monaco could be.
In public, as the face of the Monaco royal family, he was all polite, suave sophistication. But when he was presented with a challenge, when he was hunting down a potential threat—that fucker was a merciless hunter with rockets in his goddamn feet.
He’d taken off at a pace I couldn’t keep up with, he was just that fast. Where I was more conscious of our surroundings, Theo zeroed in on his target like the predator I knew he could turn into on a dime.
Fuck, this was the last thing we needed, Theo’s going rogue and chasing down this wannabe assassin. If anything, I wanted to catch the asshole and bring him to King. After I punched the fuckwad in the face a few times, of course, and found out what his deal with Theo was.
But the truth of the matter was, if Theo got to him first…
I rounded the side alley I’d just seen Theo bolt down and spotted him just before he launched himself at the fleeing man.
He crash-tackled the guy from behind, plowing him into the side of the brick building with the strength of a man twice his size.
But that’s what was so surprising about Theo: he was muscle on muscle, and so quick you rarely saw him coming.
It seemed this guy was ready for the fight, though. He’d brought his knife—but that was his third mistake of the night. His first had been letting Theo live. His second had been letting Theo see him.
“You really don’t want to do that,” Theo warned as the dumbass lunged forward, swiping the knife through the air.
I didn’t recognize the man’s face at all, his features nondescript and able to blend in with a crowd easily.
Something about him didn’t seem like a criminal mastermind, more like a gun for hire.
I moved in from the other side, caging him in so his back was against the wall.
“Who do you work for?” I said, my gun trained on his chest.
He spat in my direction and tried to use that as a distraction to throw his knife at me. My reflexes were sharp, and I moved fast enough that the blade only grazed the sleeve of my jacket instead of nailing me in the arm.
That fucker. He’d just made mistake number four.
As I started toward him, keeping my aim steady, Theo exploded with rage, tackling his ass to the ground.
His fists connected with the guy’s face with blow after blow, and he was only seconds away from knocking the man unconscious or worse if I didn’t stop him.
“Theo, stop,” I said, and when he didn’t let up, I crouched down to meet him at eye level. “Ask him who he works for.”
Theo drew his fist back. “Who the fuck do you work for?”
The man only smiled, blood coating his teeth and dripping down the sides of his mouth. “Someone smarter than you.”
Theo snorted and grabbed hold of the guy’s shirt, lifting him up off the ground.
“If that were true, I’d be the one getting beat to shit, wouldn’t I?
So why don’t you continue being a pathetic fuck and tell me why you were trying to kill me, and I’ll think about letting you go with your head still attached. ”
The man opened his mouth, like maybe, just maybe, he’d give up the goods, but when he spat in Theo’s face instead, my stomach dropped.
I knew what was coming next, and as quick as I was, I wouldn’t be able to stop Theo in time.
He grabbed hold of the man’s head and, before I could tell him not to, snapped his neck. The assassin went limp instantly, dropping to the ground with a thud.
“Fuck.” I lowered the gun and groaned as Theo wiped his bloody knuckles off on the man’s shirt. At least most of it wasn’t his.
“Smarter than me,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Doesn’t look like it, does it, motherfucker?”
“You really couldn’t wait to get some answers? Seriously, Theo. Not to mention we’re in the middle of a fucking alley with a dead body.”
He rose to his feet, the blood from the cut on his forehead smeared down his face and the rage in his eyes only somewhat dimmed by the justice he’d just served. “Well,” he said, and kicked at the corpse, “guess we’d better fucking move it, then.”