Make Them Pay

by Allison Brennan

  She had to calm down. She didn’t know why seeing Lucy Kincaid made her all angry and bothered. She hadn’t seen her baby brother in years and it wasn’t Lucy’s fault. Not directly.

  “Focus, Eden,” she told herself. “You have a job to do. Do it.”

  Unfortunately, Sean’s fortress appeared impenetrable, even with inside access. She’d hoped to slip in, slip out, without Sean being the wiser—at least that was Plan A. Her brother Liam had other plans but deferred to her because her plan was smarter and safer for all of them.

  If she couldn’t do it her way, they’d have to do it his way. She worried about the fallout—but the job still had to be done. Even if Sean wasn’t privy to Kane’s deception, he’d put himself firmly in Kane’s camp. Even if he wasn’t entrenched, there was the not-so-little matter of his choosing a Kincaid as his best man. And he was marrying a Kincaid. What happened to family loyalty?

  There was no way she could search Sean’s house without him finding out. He had cameras everywhere except in the bedrooms, it appeared—and for all she knew, there were cameras she couldn’t see. Still, he would know after the fact, though she had never thought he wouldn’t eventually figure it out.

  Would Sean even keep the bonds here?

  Oh yes, he would. His house was Fort Knox Junior. He’d have a safe, in either his office or bedroom. It would be digital, with a fail-safe. Maybe with some sort of biometric scan. And if there were cameras in the halls, there would definitely be cameras in his office.

  Eden was good at breaking into systems—but nowhere near as good as Sean. Her talents were more on the manipulation end of the equation—convincing someone to give her access. Playing a part: a girlfriend, an employee, a patron. Even playing herself—a sister. Stealing a card key to give her access and returning it with her mark being completely unaware of her deception. Hacking into the security system and overriding a locked door was not exactly in her skill set. Simple systems? No problem. She could pick a lock faster than her twin and old-fashioned safes with a tumbler were her specialty. But the high-end computer security systems went beyond her abilities.

  Which was why, dammit, Sean should have been with her and Liam all these years.

  Sean wasn’t a soldier, he was an artist. He wouldn’t need all this security if he were part of her team. Was that what this was? Kane’s enemies were now hunting Sean? Or was this a Kincaid problem? Fifty-fifty. She damn well knew that Jack Kincaid had nearly as many enemies as Kane. And Sean was loyal, sometimes to a fault. If his girlfriend was in danger, he’d pull out all the stops.

  Lucy is not his girlfriend. She’s his fiancée.

  Why did that bug her? Because she didn’t know the girl? Or because she was a Kincaid?

  Both, she decided. Definitely both.

  “What have you been up to, little brother?” she muttered. “What mess has Kane created for you to clean up?”

  She opened her suitcase and considered unpacking but wasn’t positive that Sean wouldn’t kick her out as soon as he came home. So she took the shower she’d told Lucy she wanted—that wasn’t a lie—and considered her options. Ideally, she’d like to get Lucy to help her without Lucy knowing she was betraying Sean.

  By the time Eden got out of the shower, she had decided that researching Lucy Kincaid was the first step. She knew the basics, but she needed more information. Information was king in her business.

  Why had Sean picked Lucy’s brother Patrick to be his best man?

  Something else to look into. She didn’t know much about Patrick Kincaid, only that he, too, had joined Rogan-Caruso and had his name on the door. For a time, Patrick and Sean had been running RCK East in Washington, DC, until Sean moved to San Antonio with his girlfriend.

  Rogan-Caruso-Kincaid.

  How could she forget?

  Eden slipped on her robe and was reapplying her makeup when her phone rang.

  “Hello, dear brother.”

  “You didn’t check in. I was worried.”

  “I’m still assessing the situation.”

  “Did he kick you out?”

  “He’s not here.”

  “What happened?”

  “No need to panic, Liam,” she said. “His girlfriend let me in, invited me to stay. I took a shower and am in the process of assessing the security. Sean’s safe may be beyond my skills.”

  “Shit!”

  “Language, darling brother.”

  “We need those bonds. My source says Jack Kincaid is going to collect them after the wedding. If they go back into the RCK safe, we’ll never get them. It’s now or never, and never isn’t an option.”

  He didn’t have to explain the stakes or his reasons for this quest to her. “I’ll send you a picture of the safe and you can bring in the right person.”

  “It’s Sean’s security we’re talking about.”

  “Do you have another idea?”

  He was silent. “You know what to do.”

  “Threats aren’t going to work. We need to finesse this.”

  “Send me the photo, let me think. I’m still a few hours away.”

  Eden had flown commercial—on a fake passport—but Liam had a stop to make in Guadalajara first.

  “I need you here, Liam.”

  “I’m on my way—I’m not going to let you face Sean alone.”

  “If we have to face him. Maybe I can convince Lucy to cooperate.”

  “You can’t trust a Kincaid—not after Kane kicked us out and brought them into the business.”

  “I’m good at getting people to help me and they are never the wiser.”

  “That you are, Sis. Be careful.”

  “You too.” She hung up. Liam was more than her twin brother, he was her best friend. He had her back. But when it came to Kane, Liam could be blind in his anger. Kane had hurt Liam every way except physically, and getting these bonds was only one small victory.

  Eden hated that her family had been torn apart, but she didn’t see any way to put it back together. The Rogans had never been close. Their parents had jet-setted all over the world working on this or that invention. There was no doubt they loved each other, but their kids were almost an afterthought. Molly had been in charge from a young age … was that why she turned to drugs? To cope with parents who were fun and interesting when they were there but worked all the time? After Molly’s overdose, their parents had crashed and burned—they were stunned. Blind, perhaps, because they hadn’t seen how far down the rabbit hole Molly had gone.

  They came home. Started a new business, and, ironically, things got better. They were present. Engaged, for a while. Except then Kane went off to the Marines and shortly after Duke went to the Army and their parents took little Sean the genius everywhere with them … leaving teenagers Liam and Eden to take care of themselves, for the most part.

  It wasn’t all bad. It was more like they didn’t have parents, but a much older brother and sister who fed them and clothed them and gave them a roof and came by more often than not.

  So what happened? When her parents were killed and Sean nearly died with them, what had happened that the family further divided? The deaths of Paul and Sheila Rogan should have united the five remaining Rogan kids but didn’t. They continued on in much the same way. If they could have truly joined together in everything, six years ago would never have happened. Kane would never have banished them, cutting them out of their heritage.

  Eden pushed all thoughts of her past aside. The past had to stay buried. She walked down the hall to Sean’s office and quickly found the safe behind a beach painting. Hardly hidden from prying eyes. Immediately she knew hacking it was well beyond her skill set, so she took several photos and sent them to Liam.

  Everything was dependent on the bonds being in Sean’s safe. Would he really keep all that money here? She leaned to yes. Their source said Sean had the bonds. Therefore, they were here, in the safe. No way would he leave $6 million in bearer bonds sitting around on the coffee table or stuffed in his mattress.r />
  What if he had given them to the FBI?

  No—that certainly would never happen. Too many questions, and RCK didn’t want those kinds of questions. For all their noble intentions and all their claimed legitimacy, they were the same organization they’d been before they kicked her and Liam out.

  And neither she nor Liam had ever killed anyone. Unlike other Rogans.

  The hypocrisy of her brothers made her ill. She could do this because they were the traitors. They had betrayed Rogan-Caruso long before the damn K had been added to their name.

  Eden took out her laptop and sat at Sean’s desk. She wasn’t even going to try to break into his computer yet … that would come, but she’d wait for Liam. She ran a search on Lucy Kincaid to see what she could learn that would help her figure out what to do. Liam’s plan was the last option … she truly didn’t know how Sean would react, and Eden prided herself on her ability to decipher human behavior.

  There wasn’t much about Lucy Kincaid on the public record, and Eden couldn’t access FBI files. She had a friend who might be able to help … but Eden had to tread very carefully there. If Sean was really in love, he wouldn’t be happy if Eden ran a deep background check on his girlfriend.

  A few things popped out, however … Lucy had been kidnapped when she was eighteen. There weren’t many public details about that event, but now Eden began to wonder if Rogan-Caruso had been involved in her rescue. No … Eden would have known, that was eight years ago, before Eden and Liam were cut out of the business.

  She knew almost everything about Jack Kincaid, and Lucy was the youngest in the family, born two years before their father had settled in San Diego with a permanent post at the Army base there. Eden knew the Kincaids were a large family. She wrote out the who, what, and where of all the other siblings. Patrick was particularly interesting. Coma for two years? Sean’s best man? What was his story? That might be an angle Eden could work.

  But the big problem was that Lucy came from a long line of law-and-order types. Lucy herself had a degree in criminal justice and a masters in criminal psychology. She’d know a con when she saw one, wouldn’t she? Yet, she’d let Eden stay here.

  A beep chimed through the house. Eden quickly shut down her computer, her heart racing. Maybe Sean wasn’t out of town. Maybe Lucy had called him and he had come back immediately. That would change everything. Or maybe it was the alarm system and Eden had a rival for the bonds.

  But no one else knew why the bonds were important. No one knew why Liam and Eden had to retrieve them.

  She ran down the hall to the security panel and pressed the VIEW button. A whole series of controls popped up, including a small camera showing the exterior of the house. A man was walking up the front stoop. How did she zoom in? She couldn’t see anything at this angle. Dammit, Sean, why are you so paranoid?

  Calm down.

  She remembered exactly what Lucy had told her about the security—she just needed to focus. Hit the CAMERA button, then select the angle.

  Front door.

  As soon as the image came into view, the bell rang.

  No. No fucking way.

  Her mouth went dry as she stared at Noah Armstrong. He had changed—for the better. He’d always been handsome, the classic good-looking Greek god with the perfect hair and lightly chiseled features and strong jaw, all in a package of self-confidence and control that Eden had loved to make him lose. He was everything she shouldn’t want—he’d been the most loyal damn soldier in the US Air Force. Duty. Truth, justice, American way–type nobility.

  But now … there was something else. A maturity that had only been hinted at way back then. Had it really been six years? Six years, four months …

  Why was he here? That didn’t make sense. How did he know Sean?

  Not Sean … Lucy. Noah had left the Air Force and joined the FBI. Lucy was in the FBI. What were the chances that they worked together? Eden thought he worked out of the DC office. What had changed? Because here he was, on Sean’s doorstep, and he knew she was here, and Lucy was the only one who could have told him.

  Noah pounded on the door. Faintly she heard, “I know you’re here, Eden. Open the door.”

  She pressed the INTERCOM button. “Go away.”

  He turned to the camera. His face wasn’t distorted like it would have been in most security systems—her heart skipped a beat. She didn’t think she was breathing.

  Grow up, Eden! You’re not a lovestruck teenager.

  “Open the door, Eden.”

  Damn. Damn, damn, dammit!

  She disengaged the alarm and opened the door, all the while trying to figure out how to get rid of Noah before all hell broke loose.

  Before Liam showed up.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Noah Armstrong didn’t know what he’d do if Eden didn’t open the door, but he wasn’t going to walk away. During the drive here, he’d convinced himself that he didn’t care, that he had no desire for her, that all he wanted was to find out what the conniving bitch was up to and if it would hurt Lucy.

  Nothing Eden Rogan did could be good. Why now? Less than two weeks before Sean and Lucy’s wedding? There was no love lost between Noah and Sean, but Sean made Lucy happy and that was the most important thing to Noah. And, he grudgingly admitted, for all Sean’s faults, he was honorable. He had a strong moral center that Noah admired. Sean’s center might be a bit over the line that Noah was comfortable with, but when he did the wrong thing … which was more often than Noah liked … it was always for the right reasons.

  Sean would also do anything for his family, which included Eden. If Eden was here, there was nothing legal about it. If she dragged Sean into one of her schemes, it could damage Lucy’s career. Noah couldn’t let that happen. No one, not even Sean, knew Eden Rogan like he did.

  The door opened. And there she was, as if the last six years had disappeared. Just as beautiful. Just as alluring. Just as manipulative. She hadn’t changed.

  “Noah.”

  Her voice was a whisper, as if she couldn’t catch her breath. How much of her reaction was a lie?

  He slammed the door shut behind him and she took a step back.

  He’d had six years to forget her, and he never had. He’d also had six years to remember how she had betrayed him. He’d loved her once, and getting over her had been so hard, even with everything she’d done. Yet right here, right now, all those old feelings he thought were gone forever rushed back and he felt that jolt in his gut that told him he still had unresolved issues with this siren.

  She stood in front of him in a silky ivory robe, her long dark-blond hair darker, still damp from a shower. She had applied her makeup with a light hand; he’d always found her the sexiest when she wasn’t all dolled up. Eden was almost exposed.

  Almost.

  She had never been truly honest with anyone in her life.

  “Why are you here?” he said through clenched teeth.

  She found her sea legs and smiled. “Me? In my brother’s house before his wedding?” She laughed lightly, that fake little laugh that Noah knew signaled she was thinking up lies faster than a speeding bullet. “You’re the last person I expected to see, Noah. Here. In San Antonio. Of all the cities in all the—”

  “Don’t.” He stepped forward and was pleased that she stepped backward. She should be scared. He had half a mind to arrest her on general principles. “Tell me the truth. Now, Eden.”

  “How did you know I was here?” She snapped her fingers. “You’re an FBI agent. Sean’s girlfriend is an FBI agent. Wow. Small world, isn’t it?”

  “You destroy everything you touch. If you’re here to interfere with the wedding—”

  “You and Sean are friends? Really. Now that surprises me from Mr. Law and Order. I know Sean. He’ll never walk the straight and narrow. Makes you wonder if his little girlfriend is squeaky clean.”

  Eden walked down the hall and into the kitchen as if she owned the place. He followed. He wasn’t letting her change the subject.
She started going through the cabinets.

  “What are you and your brother up to?”

  “Liam isn’t here. As I’m sure you know, since you’re so close to Sean and Lucy, he isn’t welcome. Though we both received a wedding invitation.” She pulled out a coffee mug and poured coffee. The light was off. If Lucy had made it when she got up this morning, it would be very cold by now.

  Eden was nervous.

  “Perhaps Sean is extending the olive branch. Perhaps we could do the same thing.” She poured cream and sugar into her mug and sipped. Grimaced. “Who likes this foul drink?”

  “I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence that you’re here while Sean is out of town.”

  “Unlucky, I guess.” She poured the coffee down the drain and sighed dramatically. “No tea. Really, my brother needs to go to the store. He doesn’t even like coffee.” It was an act. It was always an act.

  “Stop changing the subject, Eden.”

  “What do you want, Noah? Why are you here?”

  What did he say to that? He didn’t know why he’d come. When Lucy had commented that Eden was here, all he could think about was her. Why she was in San Antonio. What she looked like now. How she smelled. How she felt beneath him.

  How she’d said I love you, then twenty-four hours later lied to him and made a very bad decision. Had Noah been as honorable as he’d believed, he would have hunted her down and arrested her.

  But he hadn’t. He didn’t have proof of her crimes—not tangible evidence. And he’d been unknowingly complicit in her theft. It made him feel dirty and criminal and he hated that feeling. So he resigned his commission in the Air Force and joined the FBI, where he would never have to investigate international crime and possibly—likely—find himself face-to-face with Eden Rogan again.