Shame on Me

She raises her glass and her three friends copy her, all of them taking a sip of their drinks. I notice two bottles of Dos Lunas Grand Reserve tequila sitting on the table in front of them and even I’m shocked by the indulgence I see right now. Just one of those bottles is easily twenty-two hundred dollars. Whoever booked this room isn’t playing around.

Time to get to the bottom of things.

“I hope you don’t mind me hiding out in here for a minute. The guy who invited me to his lounge is a total creeper,” I complain with a roll of my eyes.

“We don’t mind at all!” the brunette next to Melanie speaks up. “There are a lot of creeps here tonight. Thank God we’re in here and not out there.”

She points out to the dance floor and the rest of the girls nod in agreement.

“Are you guys hiding out too? Wait, did you guys pay for this room yourself? You must be, like, totally rich or something,” I say with wide, innocent eyes.

“Oh, hell no! We could never afford something like this. Melanie has a rich boyfriend!” the brunette says with a laugh.

Melanie shushes her and the other friend smacks the brunette in the arm. All three of them look over at me nervously.

“Sorry, it’s just . . . I’m not really supposed to talk about him,” Melanie tells me.

What the hell?

“Is he a spy or something?” I ask with a laugh.

“No. He’s, um . . . a businessman. He’s just very private.”

Right. My ass he’s just a businessman.

No one says anything for a few seconds and then the brunette finally rolls her eyes and laughs. “Oh, what the hell, Melanie. What’s the point of dating him if you can’t brag about it?”

Melanie sighs and then looks around. When she’s satisfied that no one is walking by the room, possibly listening in, she shrugs and nods to her friend.

“She’s totally dating someone in the Mob!” the brunette gushes. “Like in The Godfather, but cooler!”

Oh, no. This is not good. Maybe they only THINK he’s in the Mob. They don’t seem very bright. Maybe they misunderstood.

“He’s got more money than God, I swear,” the one with the black hair finally adds.

Melanie is still keeping quiet about the boyfriend. I need to turn up the drunk-moron routine if I want her to tell me what I need to know. I can’t really go back to the office and Google “members of the Mob.”

“Wow, that must be so awesome. My ex was a total loser. He had a bunch of money, but never spent any of it on me,” I complain.

That’s all it takes. Melanie’s eyes light up and she looks at me like we’re long-lost sisters.

“Oh, my gosh, me too! My ex practically owned his own company and he wouldn’t even consider buying a summer home in the Hamptons when I asked him,” Melanie whines. “Vinnie buys me stuff every day and takes me to all the best restaurants. He’s a total keeper. But just in case, I’m still going to take my ex for all he has.”

All three of the girls laugh and clink their glasses together.

I want to punch this bitch right in her selfish little face.

“So, this guy is really in the Mob? Like, the real Mob?” I ask.

“He totally is! He’s like the boss or something. But you can’t tell anyone I told you this, okay?” she begs.

Yeah. Right. Your secret is safe with me.

I sit with the girls for a few more minutes as they all go on and on about how amazing this Vinnie person is because he isn’t afraid to shell out thousands of dollars a day on Melanie, and how Matt isn’t going to know what hit him when she takes control of the company.

It’s sad and pathetic and makes me even more determined to do whatever I can to help Matt. I also make a mental note to never send any future children I might have to the school system these idiots work for.

Unfortunately, none of them are forthcoming with Vinnie’s last name and I find out that he’s not joining them tonight because he had some business to take care of. If he really is with the Mob, I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume this “business” probably has something to do with offing someone. I might make a few stupid choices here and there, but even I know that trying to hunt down someone who works for the Mob just to get a few pictures of him with Melanie is a bad idea. I’m going to have to come up with another plan for making sure Melanie keeps her greedy paws off of Matt’s company.





CHAPTER 8




No. Absolutely not. There is no way you are going to dig deeper into this guy’s background. That just has bad news written all over it,” I tell Matt.

After we left the club, we decided to stop at a twenty-four-hour diner on the way home. Since we drove separately to the club, Matt followed me in his car.

“What else am I supposed to do? You said it yourself: She is determined to fuck me over. I can’t let that happen¸ Paige.”

Reaching across the table, I rest my hands on top of his. “I know. We’ll think of something else. I have a few contacts in law enforcement. Let me have them do some checking first and find out what we’re dealing with.”