Serena lowered her hands, and her face fell with them. Tears brimmed her lashes as she tucked the satchel into her pocket. She stretched her arms out to him like someone lost in a maze. He wanted to pull her to his chest, drop to his knees, promise he would move heaven and earth to get Dani back—and kill everyone who had stood in their way. He couldn’t do anything.
Footsteps came from the direction of the house.
“Go!” He jerked her in front of him, and she charged for the spot in the brush where he’d hidden the vehicle.
“You have the keys!” Brock yelled. He and Peyton caught up with them and gestured at Serena. She fumbled in her pocket, and the lights blasted as she unlocked the doors. Serena yanked the passenger door open.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Milo shoved her inside as the beasts tore down the path toward them, and she threw the door shut. Milo froze as he stared at their advancing sharp teeth.
“Get in!” Brock called from the driver’s seat. Milo opened the rear passenger door and got in next to Peyton. He shut the door as the animals collided into the metal, shaking the panel. Brock tore out of the brush, and the truck shook and bumped over the terrain. Milo caught the handle on the door and wrestled the seatbelt across his chest.
“Do you hear that?” Serena’s high-pitched voice squeaked against his eardrums. “Sirens,” she said on a breath. She swiveled in her seat, and the whites of her eyes glowed in the darkness. “Are you okay? Did you get bit?” Her gaze roamed the lower half of his body.
“No, I’m fine.” His arm still throbbed from where the first dog had bit him, but he didn’t take the time to check it out.
Her teeth formed a line across her bottom lip. Though she didn’t say it, she was still reeling from the implications of what the loss of the diamonds meant for Dani—fuck, so was he. He stretched as far as the seatbelt would allow and cupped her shoulder in his hand.
“This isn’t over.” The truck pitched as Brock went over a rut and came to a stop. “I promise.”
Her fingers ran over his knuckles before she turned around.
“We need to get out, but they could have every entrance to the subdivision blocked,” Brock said, bringing Milo’s attention back to their escape.
“If we don’t try, we’ll be caught for sure.”
Brock made an impatient sound. “No shit. If we’re seen leaving this area it will be a huge red flag.”
“Make a left,” Serena said.
Brock frowned. “A left? That will take us further into the subdivision.”
“I know, but there’s another way out, on the east side of the hill. It will send us on a detour, but they’ll seal the entrances on this side before those.”
“She’s right,” Milo said, not missing a beat. Brock nodded and turned left. The sirens grew louder, screeching through the night. Milo shifted in his seat as three cruisers sped into the subdivision toward Titus’s house. Thankfully the trail they idled on sat far enough from view of the main street. He swept his fingertips over his hairline, mopping up the sweat dotted there.
Any minute the call to meet Dani’s kidnappers would come in.
And they didn’t have the diamonds.
* * *
The constant whip of headlights and cars on the interstate made vomit creep up Serena’s esophagus. Too much. It was all too much. She closed her eyes and dragged a breath from the fresh air rattling through the cracked window next to her. The scent of trees and earth didn’t wash away the nausea.
“We killed someone,” she choked out. The scene on the balcony was branded into her brain. Silence met her words, but she felt everyone’s stares burning into her head.
Milo’s warm fingers landed on her neck, and he broke the silence. “He saw you, Serena. Even if we’d managed to escape, he would have given your identity to the police—and Titus.”
She tightened her arms around her belly, digging her elbows into her ribs. “I know that.”
“You saved my life, Peyton.” Milo swiveled to face her. “His gun was right at my side, and he would have pulled the trigger seconds after you did. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Peyton said. “I was worried he’d shoot you or Serena first. I didn’t want to kill anyone.”
The thread of remorse in Peyton’s words wound around her heart. Peyton wasn’t a murderer, and had she not come to their aid when she had, they never would have escaped.
“Thank you for stepping in. I just . . . I wish it had never come to that.” Serena swallowed.
Ring! Ring!
Serena bolted forward. The seatbelt snapped her back into place. She read the number on her phone and adrenaline fired through her veins. “It’s him,” she whispered.
Milo leaned close and grabbed her hand that held the phone, probably so she wouldn’t shake and drop it.
“Answer it,” Milo said. “Tell them we have the diamonds.” He’d sandwiched himself between the driver’s and passenger’s seats. She sucked in a deep breath, inhaling his scent. It gave her strength.
She cleared her throat and hit Talk. “Hello?”
“Do you have the diamonds?” The gruff voice lashed out the words.
Serena looked at Milo. His head hovered near the phone at her ear. He gave a sharp nod. Panic prickled her skin like static electricity. She cleared her throat and tightened her hold on the device. “Yes. Everything went as planned. We’re out.”
“Good. I knew you could do it.” He rattled off the meeting point, which she recognized as one of the lookouts outside San Diego. “You have forty-five minutes.”
“Wait—” she said, twisting in her seat.
“Don’t worry, your sister will be with us. We can’t wait to be rid of her. She’s a pain in the ass.” The line went dead.
“Serena.” Milo shook her shoulder, snapping her gaze away from the footwell.
A warm tear slid out of the corner of her eye, and she dashed it away before returning her phone to her bag.
“Everything will be okay, I promise.” He dragged a piece of her hair behind her ear, and she lowered her gaze from that intense stare that both made her heart race and cloaked her in comfort.
“That’s an impossible promise given the circumstances, but thanks for saying it.” She shrugged as if he were offering her a piece of pizza and not speaking about the life of her sister—which would surely come to an end any minute.
“Nothing is impossible. We’re not dealing with rocket scientists here. These are dumb, greedy bastards who fucked with the wrong people.”
She snapped her teeth together and turned in her seat. “What’s your plan?”
He smirked. “Easy. We hand over the diamonds.”
She wrinkled her forehead. “I think they might put two and two together when we don’t produce them.”
His thumb inched across her face and flicked her bottom lip. His gaze stayed trained on her mouth. Heat flared in her cheeks, sending a lick of desire through her core. She pulled her head back, breaking their contact. Now wasn’t the time. His eyes finally met hers, and all the want that had blazed there vanished.
“Trust me.”
Trust him. Well, she didn’t have much choice.
CHAPTER 16
“I don’t like this.” Serena splayed her hands across the back of her neck and stretched the muscles that were turning as stiff as the stone wall she’d climbed an hour ago. She needed out of the vehicle to move her legs, but stopping would only make her more anxious. She stared at her phone on her lap. They’d lied and said they had the diamonds. Now they had to deceive the kidnapper long enough to keep Dani alive.
“I don’t like it either,” Peyton said. “But if we’d told them we didn’t have the diamonds, they would have killed her.” The words of reason didn’t help diminish the ball of anxiety winding in Serena’s chest.
“Milo and I paid them all the cash we have on hand, and yours is locked in the bank until tomorrow morning—we wouldn’t have been able to buy more time even if they’d agreed,” Brock rem
inded her.
“I know, I know,” she moaned. She moved her tongue around the dry cavern of her mouth. How long had it been since she had a drink of water? If her mouth was any indication, several hours. “Milo, I’d really like to hear your plan.”
His thumb rubbed her elbow in a circular motion. “You, Brock, and Peyton will get out before we reach the meeting place and stake out a good vantage point, where you guys can shoot. Once they reveal Dani to me, I’ll give them the bag of rocks, aka fake diamonds. Then we ambush them.”
The hair on Serena’s arms sprang to attention, and she closed her eyes on a swallow. Milo’s gruff cough snapped her eyes open. The air in the tight space became too thick to breathe. She looked at the others in the vehicle.
Brock’s forehead was set in determination. Peyton wrung her hands together at her abdomen, and worry pierced her brows together. Dark circles hung under Milo’s eyes, and the hair on his jaw tangled around his face in the longest mess she’d ever seen on him.
“How do we know they’re not going to have men staked out in the same spot?”
Brock shrugged. “If anyone is there, we’ll take them out.”
Serena exhaled, and her gaze slid to the clock on the dash. She rocked her knee from side to side, turning over the thousands of possible scenarios in her mind, most of them ending with a bullet in Dani’s head—or all of theirs.
“All right, I guess we don’t have many options.” She looked at Milo over her shoulder. “I’m coming with you to meet them.” It wasn’t a question, or even a condition. Milo must have picked up on the challenge in her voice. His jaw moved, as if fighting to hold back his refusal.
“Fine.”
* * *
Milo sorted through his bag. Between Brock and him, they had enough guns and ammo for all of them. Each bend and twist in the road led them closer and closer to their fate.
He wouldn’t let Serena die. Taking her to meet the kidnapper would put her life at risk. But keeping her away would be tougher and more dangerous. She wouldn’t stay back, he knew that without a doubt. If he didn’t allow her to accompany him, she’d crash the party anyway. Better to have some kind of control over the situation.
Not that he could control her. He’d always tried to protect her, tried to keep her out of the dangerous side of their heists, but she wanted the thrill, the action. Which is one of the reasons he’d kept his distance over the years. Maybe if he’d been able to talk some sense into her and get her to understand that their career had no longevity, she would have listened. But he’d been young, cocky—and Sebastian landing his useless, asshole father in prison had been the final straw.
Milo checked the safety on the Beretta. Man, life was funny. If someone had told him a week ago that he’d be back in the thick of this shit—with Serena no less, ready to kill everyone who dared to get near her or in the way of saving her sister—he would have laughed his ass off.
He looked up and watched as bursts of light from the streetlamps illuminated Serena’s profile. The slight upturn of her nose accentuated the graceful line of her cheekbone, which led his gaze down to her delicate, but always defiant, jaw. Her small earlobes had once held a pair of diamond earrings he’d lifted for her. She’d probably sold them after he left.
Still so fucking pretty she drove him wild. She turned and fixed her ice-blue stare on him. “Ready? We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
She was challenging him. Seeing if he’d speak up and say she couldn’t join him at the meeting.
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Are you comfortable with the gun I gave you earlier? There’s this one too.” He turned the butt of the gun to face her and she accepted it. She turned the weapon over and examined it. “I think I’ll keep the one you gave me. This one’s a bit too heavy.” She passed it back to him, and he secured it in a holster at his ankle.
“I’ll take a knife if you have one,” she said.
He smiled, fished in his bag, and pulled out a dagger. “It’s not a switchblade, so you’ll have to be careful. You can clip the holster to your pants, though, and cover it with your shirt.”
She took the set from his hand and did as he instructed. Brock slowed and turned down a gravel road.
“I’ve hiked here before. We’ll have to trek uphill a bit, but we should be able to get a clear shot from behind them.” Brock shifted into Park and got out. Milo and Peyton followed.
“Be careful,” Serena said, as she rounded the vehicle to pull Peyton into a hug.
“You too. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.” Peyton winked.
Milo grimaced and clapped Brock on the shoulder. “Let me know when you guys are in place. We’ll leave to get in position in about five minutes.” There was no chance he’d risk meeting the kidnapper without backup. He also needed to make sure Brock and Peyton didn’t run into any problems while setting up. Brock and Peyton made their way up the path toward the forest.
Serena took out the black velvet satchel and bent to scoop up a handful of rocks.
“Try not to get any crusher dust.”
She nodded and shook her hand to get rid of the crushed pieces of stones.
Milo watched Brock and Peyton disappear into the trees. When Serena finished, he climbed into the driver’s seat and she hopped into the passenger’s. He hit the Lock button, and the click of the doors went off like a gunshot. Serena jumped and Milo winced.
“Sorry. We’re going to be sitting here a few minutes and I don’t want to leave us vulnerable.”
She nodded, but some of the color had left her skin. She puffed out her cheeks and rubbed her fingers over her sternum. “I’ve never been this nervous before . . . for anything. Even the Alban heist.”
Milo settled his fingers on the bottom of the steering wheel and shrugged. “This isn’t a heist.”
“It is. We’re lying and handing off rocks in the place of diamonds for god’s sake.” She shook the bag for emphasis and Milo chuckled.
“Yeah, I guess that makes this pretty fucking dangerous. All the more reason you should be on the hill and not confronting these bastards.”
She dropped her head back against the headrest. “I wondered when you were going to say something. Milo, I have to do this.” Her voice dropped low, pleading—not for permission but understanding. “It will help Dani to see me there.”
“They’ll try to shoot you.”
She shrugged and lowered her chin. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
He chortled and gently squeezed his eyes together with his thumb and index finger. “I never thought I’d be doing this again, you know.” With his eyes shut he couldn’t gauge her reaction, but tension crackled through the air.
“With me?” Her tone held a hint of a smile, but her question spoke volumes. He dropped his hand from his face and curled his fingers over the smooth material on her supple thigh.
He met her gaze and watched as color tinted her cheeks again. She dragged her teeth along her bottom lip and nodded toward her knee.
“I was referring to this,” he said, waving his hand in front of him. “Breaking into houses, stealing shit, running from guards and dogs.” He couldn’t deny that the rush had come flooding back. The sweet flavor of adrenaline tempted him to crawl back underground. He shook his head at the thought. He’d come too damn far.
“Sorry.” She turned toward the passenger window. He cupped her cheek and brought her face back to his.
“Don’t be. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” Heat rushed from his belly to scorch his neck, and with the heat came the stark realization that it was true. “If I die tonight, I’ll go to heaven with the peace of knowing that I righted the wrong I did to you.”
She leaned forward, her lips hovering inches from his. “Thank you for everything you’ve done. I won’t let you die, I promise.” Her lips hiked up in a grin. “Besides, I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t think you’re getting into heaven.”
He tipped his head back and roared. Damn, she still made him laugh. And sh
e could still insult the shit out of him.
But she doesn’t forgive me . . .
“Hey bro, we’re in place.” Brock’s voice crackled over the earbud and he pulled away. His senses kicked into overdrive, and he scanned the trees and gravel around them.
“Any problems?”
“No. It’s quiet on the hillside. I saw an SUV pull up, circle the area, and then park on the south side of the lookout.”
Serena’s hand caught his wrist. He watched her throat move on a swallow. He moved his hand over hers and squeezed it.
It was go time.
* * *
Serena clicked her seatbelt in place and closed her eyes, trying to slow her drumming pulse. The vehicle pitched as Milo drove over the gravel and pulled back onto the road. He hadn’t said a word since ending his call with Brock, but he still held her fingers in his. Their previous discussion had vanished from her mind. There was no way in hell she could think more about what he’d said—not until all this was over.
She cracked open her eyelids and nausea sloshed in her stomach. Milo squeezed her fingers.
“Remember, I need you to stay back. Don’t do anything rash. They might try to do something to get a rise out of you. Hold it together and know that Brock and Peyton have our backs—and Dani’s.”
Her free hand moved to the knife at her hip. “I know.” The road twisted upward, and her stomach coiled with it. At the top of the hill, Milo turned onto a gravel road with a sign pointing toward the lookout. Her gaze immediately sought the opposite side, scanning the dark shadows for any sign of Brock and Peyton.
Nothing.
Not being able to see them, it was hard to feel reassured that they were there.
“There they are.” Milo nodded at the waiting SUV. His hand fell from hers, and he pulled to a stop twenty feet away from the hood of the criminals’ vehicle. Their headlights stretched out to each other like long, angry arms. “Remember. They get nothing until we have Dani.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the door handle.
“Serena.” His tone was pained. She turned to face him but leaned forward, ready to bolt when he gave the signal. “Will you please wait here?”
The Last Heist (Pretty Thieves Book 1) Page 19