"How do you get food poisoning three times a month ?" The man on the other side sounded exasperated.
"I happen to have a pretty delicate stomach ", Shayna smiled.
Food poisoning was Shayna's most successful excuse when she wanted to take a day off from work. The labor laws in Scotland were quite strict and didn't give employees much leverage in these situations.
Honestly though, nobody wanted to hear the details of a food poisoning incident.
She had spent the last hour describing her "supposed" disaster with excruciating detail - how she had eaten a Subway sandwich last night and had spent almost the entire night with her ass on the toilet, liquid shit exploding out of her asshole. At the same time, she threw up the entire week's worth of food all over her walls.
Not to mention the vivid shades of all the secretions at different points in time.
She chuckled evilly.
I'd so be going to hell if I believed in one.
Her smile faded as the last day's events played back in her mind.
Lucas was being crazier than ever after the whole situation, going off at any mention of Dmitri. It did not help that Russians had chosen that day to capture a huge shipment of ours, resulting in a lot of mess.
Not that it was unexpected. The Russians were a fucking pain in the ass.
Then some idiot had spread rumours about the Russians have moles in the 'organization' making everybody panic for no reason.
Rebel, as a result, got into a whole lot of shit regarding Mairi's protection and couldn't come back with her.
And even besides all that, she had a lot of stuff on her plate too. Damian Fraser, Lucas's uncle and Mairi's father, was weighing down on her, pinning her up as unreliable and traitorous.
Which I am, but ouch.
And since he held a high position there, she realised that it would be better to just stay low for a while.
Those comments, she had heard about the man after her, were just the final icing on the cake.
In all honesty, no part of Shayna wanted to go after the man.
But neither did any part of her want to end up decapitated in a landfill with no knowledge of her culprit.
The doorbell rang. Shayna shot up and opened the door, letting the beautiful woman come in.
"Bitch, you got a real nice apartment ", Munay smiled, giving Lucy a bouquet of candy "Lucas ?"
Shayna made a salty face.
"I would throw myself off a cliff before taking a dime from that fucker. "
"Yet you don't dare to stand up to him."
Shayna lowered her head. Mairi had grown up with even worse conditions than her. A decade older, she had seen a lot more shit than Shayna.
Hence, she had always taught her to stand up for herself.
Which is good advice in general.
But standing up for myself is what got me into this shit in the first place.
"Would you stand up to him ?"
"If it was me, that cunthead would be buried in a ditch somewhere. "
She paused.
"With a Nissan on top of him."
Shayna smiled. As much as she feared Lucas, she knew Munay was more than capable of doing what she said.
That bitch was a menace.
"Well, you're welcome anytime. Both to live here and put him in a ditch."
Munay settled comfortably amongst the pillows.
"So? What am I here for except for the house tour ?"
Shayna grumbled. She knew that Rebel must have already told her everything.
"I've run into a bit of a problem ", Shayna replied," I was a little confused as to whether to call you....
"Don't start with the formalities ", Munay said," It's my job to help the newer ones out. To make sure that they didn't get the same shit I did. "
Shayna nodded gratefully, her eyes lingering on Munay's hands. Marks and scars from decades and decades of abuse and torture...the ones she never spoke about.
"Don't worry about that ", Munay marked, reading her expressions, " I'm who I am because of the past. "
Aren't we all?
"Rebel already told me everything ", she assured, sitting on the bed," But is there someone you doubt? "
Shayna smirked, despite herself.
"There are too many, aren't there ? ", Munay smiled back.
Shayna's phone lit up with a notification. She looked at it, smiling more grimly.
"Well, we can put Damian Fraser as the first one ".
"No, but could he be seriously after you ?" Munay muttered, seriously.
"Well, he does hate me ", Shayna agreed," And he has plenty of reasons too. But he has had plenty of opportunities to murder me in the past, but he's never actually done it."
"Plus it's not like he's got a money problem ."
"No, but they have an ego problem ", Munay said, seriously, " And that's way worse."
"But you're right, it's pretty unlikely that he went after you. "
Shayna sighed, feeling slightly humiliated but relieved.
"Whoever he is has to be rich, though. There was quite a lot of money in there."
Munay looked over at Shayna incredulously
"Do you know Perry by any chance ?" She questioned suddenly.
"Course I do ", Shayna nodded," He's the enforcer, isn't he? But what would he have to do with anything?"
"From what I heard, he and Campbell moved in similar circles. Apparently, they were very close too."
"I don't know," Shayna shook her head. Campbell just did not feel like the man who would have told anyone.
"Also, he's fucking loaded ", Munay explained, "I worked as an escort at some point, and I made more money in a day for him than I do in a month now."
"You miss that job ?!"
"Fuck no ", Munay raised her eyebrows, "That was the worst time of my life. Every day I imagined sedating that asshole, chopping off his dick, and strangling him with it."
"That would have restored my faith in humanity for sure. "
"Well, humanity's fucked ", Munay laughed before becoming serious, " What about Larson?"
"Who's Larson ?"
"Well, it's a bit complicated", García explained, "But he's Gary's son. So he must be pretty rich."
"Oh, I remember him ", Shayna yelled enthusiastically," Didn't he sleep with the entire Romano family ?"
And when I say entire family, I mean three of the main family members. Including Enzo, his mother Dianne and his sister Maisie.
The poor dad.
"Yeah, he did. He's somewhere between a casino owner and a gigolo. And I don't know which side he's leaning towards more. "
"Is he dangerous? "
"Last I heard, he went to Russia and got Volkov's credit card on a dare. "
Bahaaaaaaaha...
"And brought a ton of lingerie with it ", Munsy chuckled too," That was a fun weekend."
"Yeah, I don't think it was him", Shayna laughed.
"Could it be Chen? "
"Joshua ?" Munay asked, "Why ?"
"He and I are pretty competitive, and all ", Shayna said thoughtfully, " But he wouldn't go far enough to murder me. Not without a kill order at least ."
"So, there are a lot of people, huh ?" Munay said, holding her head down, ell, the best thing right now would be to make sure of people in our surroundings and look out for trackers."
"Don't worry about trackers", Shayna smiled. "There are anti-tracker devices all on me." She paused for a second. "I need to find that man for the life of me. Or it'll gnaw out my mind."
"You know someone who could really help you ", Munay got up, thoughtfully.
Shayna turned to her, expectantly.
"Lynx ", Munay replied, "He's damn near perfect at his job."
"But I don't know him personally", Shayna argued.
"So, you don't have to date him. You just need his services ?"
Shayna shrugged, not finding much of an argument.
"He would be pretty expensive though."
"So are you", Munay reminded her "But you get what you pay for ."
That's true.
"Besides, if you don't have any money, you can just invite him to live with you in this big ass house. "
She walked up to the door.
"Or send him the cash wired on the way here ."