“Marco Romano, holy shit, how the hell are you?” Leo stood and embraced the other man.
Marco. Luca Russo’s cousin. The last time Shannon had seen him had been in the Detroit Metro Airport when she helped Nina Sarvilli escape a fate worse than death. Of course, Marco wouldn’t know that part, unless Nina told him.
What Marco would know was that prior to that moment, Shannon had worked at Luca’s strip club, had been his most trusted employee, until she’d double-crossed him and helped kidnap his girlfriend.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Hey, Marco, I’d like you to meet Shannon. Shannon, this is my buddy Marco. We were best friends in high school. And then he went off and joined the navy, and we lost touch. I can’t believe we’re running into each other here, of all places.” Leo was so happy, smiling, thrilled to introduce her to one of his friends.
Shannon met Marco’s gaze while she forced the edges of her lips to turn north. His eyes widened as recognition dawned. “Uhhh…”
“Nice to meet you,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t blow her cover. Because even though she hadn’t worked out exactly what she was going to tell Leo, it certainly wasn’t that she’d aided in kidnapping someone. To be honest, she didn’t think she’d get through the rest of it before he ran the other way anyway.
“Shannon?” he asked, staring at her.
She swallowed thickly and nodded.
“I like that better than Serendipity, I suppose.”
She grimaced. So he wasn’t going to keep quiet. Fantastic. Her perfect little illusion of happiness was about to implode. She’d thought she had time. Only one more day, but still. She’d wanted that time.
Needed it.
“I don’t like Serendipity either,” she said, hoping…hell, she wasn’t sure what she was hoping for. That he’d realize she really wasn’t the bad guy she’d been a year ago?
Marco stared hard for another few moments, and then shifted his focus to Leo. “So what the hell have you been up to? And how do you and Shannon know each other?”
“We actually just met a few days ago. Up the road, at a B&B. And what I’ve been up to requires time and a few drinks. Are you living here now?”
Marco shook his head. “My cousin has a place up here. We took a few days off and got the hell away from the city. I’ve been home for a couple years, and sometimes I wish I could go back to the war zones, after how fucked up life can get around here. Well, at home.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Leo said, while Shannon winced again. She knew damn well Marco was referring to what went down a year ago. But at least he wasn’t outing her to Leo. No idea why he was choosing to keep her secret, but if she could do it without giving herself away, she’d thank him.
“Are you here alone?” Leo asked.
Marco shook his head and pointed at the dining area to his left. “Here with my cousin. We’ve been fishing, mostly, for like three days. Finally decided to remind ourselves what civilization was like and came out to dinner. I still can’t believe I ran into you here. That’s crazy.”
Leo pulled out his phone. “Do you still have the same number? Let’s get together. Shannon’s actually going home tomorrow, but I’m here for the rest of the week.”
“You’re leaving tomorrow, huh? Where you going?”
“Home.”
“Where’s home?”
What was this, an interrogation? “Um, Chicago.”
“Huh.” He studied her for another second and then said to Leo, “Are you into fishing? You can join us if you want. Afterward we sit around the campfire and drink beer and exaggerate how big our catches were.”
“That sounds awesome,” Leo said with a laugh. He handed his phone to Marco, who confirmed his number.
“Call me when your date leaves. Shannon.” He nodded at her, gave Leo another bro hug, and sauntered away.
Shannon released a long breath and kept her hands folded on her lap so Leo would not see them shaking.
“So how do you two know each other?”
Her gaze flew to Leo’s face. He didn’t look upset, just patiently waiting for her to answer.
“Um, what makes you think we know each other?”
“You’re kidding, right? It was obvious. Wait, he’s not the guy, is he? The one who caused you to run away from your life?”
He was up, off his barstool, like he was about to rush to Marco and attack him.
Shannon grabbed his arm and pressed him back into his seat. “No, he’s definitely not the guy. I actually don’t know Marco well. We have mutual friends in common.” Well, she wouldn’t exactly call them friends.
“So why did you try to pretend like you didn’t know each other?”
She toyed with the straw in her drink, stirring it ’round and ’round. “Because I hoped he wouldn’t out me. I don’t know why he went along with it, to be honest. The last time we saw each other was a year ago, when I was trying to sneak away. The circumstances…well, let’s just say they didn’t put me in a very good light.”
That was an understatement.
The hostess called Leo’s name and ushered them to their table. Luckily, they were seated on the opposite side of the restaurant from Marco. Shannon wasn’t sure she’d be able to stomach her dinner if he was so close she could feel his gaze on her. As it was, she played with more food than she ingested.
They left the restaurant, and Leo held open the door of the vehicle so she could slide into the passenger seat. He grasped the top edge and leaned forward. “What can I do to help you relax?” he asked quietly.
Tears welled in her eyes, and she
