Page 2 of Pick Yourself Up (Heroes to the Core #3)

A group of three men strode into the lobby from the street door. They weren’t expecting more guests, but maybe they were part of the Wells party who had been out scouting the neighborhood.

The men wore dark suits, stretched to the limits with bulging muscles and matching grim expressions.

A shiver of apprehension skittered down her spine, and she was glad she’d sent Shirika to the break room.

Amber straightened and pasted on her best inn-keeper’s smile.

“Welcome to The Sidderlight. How may I help you?”

One man looked at her, while the other two took in every detail of the lobby, focusing on the exits and the elevator.

Part of The Sidderlight policy was a commitment to privacy.

The elevators wouldn’t open without an activated key card.

The same applied to the stairwell doors.

From the other floors, those were unlocked so people could leave freely, but it wasn’t easy to get to the hotel proper from the lobby.

No strangers could wander the hallways or use the elevators.

Nerves had her fingers moving instinctively on the keyboard.

As another nod to privacy, they’d installed a new security system in their computers.

Part of that was an emergency code that would shut off the computers and lock them down.

They would only be reactivated with a code from two high-level employees.

Shutting it down would mean calling Mr. Sidderlight to reactivate it along with her.

She typed in the first part of the code, but didn’t press Enter yet. Not until she was sure.

The man leaned closer. “I’m with Brandon Wells. Which room?”

Amber wished she’d been in the lobby earlier. Maybe this was a legitimate request. But Shirika said the entire party had arrived and gone upstairs. “Could I see some identification, please?”

The man’s eyes darkened, and he growled. “Which room?”

Not good. Not good. She kept her gaze steady on his. “I’m sorry, it’s company policy. I need to see some identification.”

The other two men moved to the sides of the desk, and Amber’s fingers trembled. She kept her eyes on the man in front of her and her fingers on the keyboard.

The man opened his jacket and put his hand on the gun holstered at his side. “Which room?”

Fear shuddered through Amber, but she pressed Enter and the computer shut down.

G ray Santoro didn’t love his job. Some days, he downright hated it and today was one of those days.

Like much of his time in the army, bodyguarding alternated between long periods of boredom and intense action no one wanted.

It might be time for another career change.

What would his mamma think? As a single mom, Rosina Santoro had been a typical Italian mamma. Fabulous cook, steely determination, family first attitude, and a splash of fiery temper aimed at anyone who threatened her own. Although sometimes that temper had been aimed at her own, too.

He missed her so damn much. His sister too.

He missed their essential goodness, the qualities that had made them remarkable people who loved with their whole hearts.

Maybe it was time to find a job that gave him more time to be around decent people. Sometimes the guarding business was all about protecting entitled assholes who’d pissed off other entitled assholes.

He knew the company he worked for would never take on clients who were criminals, but sometimes it still felt like protecting the wrong side.

His current client, Brandon Wells, was an investor from Los Angeles who had come to Chicago to talk to wealthy people about how to invest their money to make even more for themselves.

In the hours since Wells had arrived, Gray hadn’t heard anything criminal, but he hadn’t heard anything to lead him to believe this was a man who would be investing any of his new profits into companies aiming to make the world a better place or putting food in the mouths of the hungry.

It was all about using mind-boggling amounts of money to generate more profits. Not a word about what those profits would be used for.

Not that any of that was Gray’s business. His job was to guard the client, not to judge them. But he’d judge them privately, anyway.

Wells had hired two bodyguards from Gray’s company, along with two more from a separate company. The man wasn’t taking chances and had money to throw around. Bodyguard services weren’t cheap.

Wells had two assistants with him, but his orders were very clear.

Gray and his buddy Al Dolan, along with the other two guards, had been hired to protect Brandon Wells.

The other two were to fend for themselves.

Which was a crock of shit and another reason for Gray to judge Wells.

Who the hell didn’t worry about the safety of his employees?

Rich, entitled asshole for sure.

Time to look into that career change.

Gray stood near the suite’s door leading to the hallway. If anyone tried to enter, they’d have to go through Gray.

Not that entering would be easy. Gray had never been in The Sidderlight before, but the hotel impressed him. Solid security, classy feel to the place. The suite’s door had a deadbolt and a bolt across the door. Same with all the rooms in the suite. Getting to Wells would be a hell of a challenge.

Gray would be sure to recommend the hotel to his boss. Along with tendering his resignation?

Gray wasn’t the type to quit a job without another one lined up. Even though she was no longer alive, his mamma would figure out a way to slap him upside the head if he didn’t have a job. So, what did he want to do next?

He figured he’d have a few hours to think about it. It wasn’t like Wells wanted to chat, and that meant none of them were chatting while Wells worked on his laptop at the desk.

Thinking of his mamma had Gray thinking of his sister. Angelina Santoro had been a bright light. She’d been born with cerebral palsy and had died at seventeen. Her lungs had simply stopped working one night, and she’d died in her sleep. Peacefully.

Angelina had been a girl who loved her peace. Gray had spent hours with her in the garden. Angel’s limbs hadn’t worked well, but she’d loved gardening and plants, anyway.

The three of them had spent hours in the garden at the back of the house. Gray and Rosina talked about every plant and set them in Angel’s lap while she sat in her wheelchair. She’d explored the textures and scents before Gray or Rosina set them in the ground.

When she’d scented basil, her face had lit up and she’d squealed with delight. She’d loved all the spices, with mint being another favorite.

Angel loved the textures of the purple hyacinths and the soft fuzzy angel’s hair artemisia. He’d earned lots of happy squeals when he told her she’d been named for the soft pink flowers.

Gray blinked back the misty memories. He was on the job. Memories of Angelina could be overpowering and pull his focus. She’d been the best of them, and the world was dimmer without her.

Angel might never have formed words, but she’d understood everything they’d said. And she’d had no difficulty making her opinions known. What would she want him to do next?

The answer was instantaneous. Whatever made him happy. Whatever made him smile.

Which was definitely not bodyguarding.

Time for something new.

Something with people who made him smile. With a job that didn’t suck his soul dry. And not a single entitled asshole in sight.

What could that be?

A click sounded in his earpiece, and thoughts of other jobs vanished.

The click meant something had changed. He extended his senses to the room around him.

No change. Wells continued to work, indicating the Wi-Fi continued to work, unless the man wasn’t online.

Gray looked at his buddy Al, who frowned back at him. He’d heard the click, too. Something had happened with the tech in the building. But what?

He glanced at the other two guards, but they didn’t look as if they’d noticed. Maybe their earpieces weren’t as sensitive as the ones his company used.

Knowing Gray wouldn’t leave the door Al approached him and murmured. “Any idea?”

Gray shook his head and pulled out his phone. “Wi-Fi is still intact. No interruptions in service. I’m linking into the security cam system in the lobby.”

Only a few of the high-end hotels he’d worked in had the option of doing that. It was a good perk when you worked in security—another plus for The Sidderlight and future business.

It took only seconds to pull up the feed. What he saw froze his blood.

Three thugs, dressed in top-quality suits, surrounded the employee at the reception desk. This wasn’t the pregnant woman who’d given them the code, but another woman.

There wasn’t a good angle to see the face of the man leaning over the desk, but he held open the left side of his suit jacket. Probably showing the woman his gun. Damn it. Not wasting time, he called out. “Lock down.”

Brandon Wells flinched, and he frowned at Gray. But Al and the other two guards were already moving.

Gray spared Wells a glance. “Armed men in the lobby. Lock down.”

He turned his attention back to his phone and called his boss.

“Armed men in the lobby at The Sidderlight. Client proceeding to lock down area.” Which would be the bedroom of the suite.

If someone breached the suite’s door, they would move him to the bathroom, which meant another secured door between Wells and the threat.

He didn’t know if the armed men were connected to Wells, but he couldn’t take the chance.

He heard Norm’s fingers flying over the keyboard as he looped himself into the hotel security system with the code Gray sent.

“Any luck getting their faces?” From his angle, Gray doubted it. The men kept their heads tilted down, aware of the cameras in the room.

His feed didn’t have audio, but he didn’t need it to know the men were thoroughly pissed at the woman who stood at the desk—a gorgeous woman who looked vaguely familiar.

Her spine was ramrod straight, and her face was utterly blank. The camera wasn’t close enough to tell, but he’d bet the fear only showed in her eyes.

The man facing her reached across the desk and backhanded her with enough force to send her tumbling to the floor.

Thug Two let her fall, then hauled her up with one hand and pulled his weapon into view with the other.

The woman shook her head.

Thug Two used his weapon as a club and backhanded her with it. Her body went limp, and Gray couldn’t contain the growl.

Three armed men against an unarmed woman half their size made them cowards, as well as thugs.

Al returned to his side. “Client secured in bedroom with the other two. His Highness orders you to secure the lobby while I take over the door.”

At any other time, Gray might have smirked at the His Highness comment. Instead, he had Al link into the security cams as well.

Job or no job, he wasn’t leaving that woman on her own to deal with three armed thugs. Having his client’s blessing meant he could shove the guilt out of his head.

He didn’t bother reminding Al to lock up behind him or to take extra precautions. His buddy was well-trained and knew exactly what to do.

Gray slipped out the door and was almost at the stairwell when he heard the quiet snick of the lock behind him.

Time to haul ass down to the lobby.