The Cunning Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 5)

by Mallory Crowe

  But it was also a disadvantage. If you worked in a team, you didn’t want your team members to die. Pesky little side effect of having emotions. He’d use that against them. The guy at the door punched through a pane of glass as if it were made of sugar.

  Tristan could feel Manuel tense behind him, and he leaned forward. “This should be a good time to start shooting.”

  “I got this,” whispered Tristan.

  “But—”

  Tristan shoved his elbow back, hitting Manuel squarely in the gut. The man grunted and finally shut up. The first assailant reached through the broken pane of glass and turned the lock, which allowed him to open the door. Two of his guys followed him in; there were now three inside that Tristan could see.

  Tristan backed a little farther into the hallway so he wouldn’t be seen. Of course, this meant he couldn’t see the guys anymore, but he could hear their footsteps clearly. Tristan took a few deep breaths, but wasn’t afraid. The situation wasn’t ideal, but he’d faced worse odds. All he had to do was wait for two. More. Seconds....

  The first guy walked by the hallway, and Tristan bolted into action. He stepped out and slammed his fist to the first guy’s face while at the same time wrapping his gun arm around the man, using him as a human shield as he turned to face his comrades. They hesitated to shoot through their friend, and that was all Tristan needed as he opened fire. He only had a limited number of bullets, so he made them count. Normally he’d aim for center mass, but because they were wearing bulletproof gear, he aimed for the shoulders instead.

  The two men immediately went down, and Tristan smiled. Suddenly the odds were looking much more in his favor.

  Shae’s head fell back against the seat. “Do you think they’re okay?” When Toni told her that Damask’s men were close and ordered Hunter to take her away, she hadn’t put up much of a fight. She wasn’t looking forward to being in another shootout. However, on the way out, they were passed by two windowless black vans. Nothing good ever happened in a windowless van.

  “I’m sure they’re fine,” said Hunter. She glanced over at him. They’d been in the car for about fifteen minutes, and she swore that was the most he’d said to her in that time. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You know, that’s usually what I say when I’m not fine.”

  “Well then, I guess that makes you a liar, doesn’t it?” She immediately felt bad for snapping at him. “I’m sorry you got stuck on babysitting duty.”

  “No, it was a good choice. Hart knows that the team is capable of handling a lot, and your safety is a priority right now.”

  “My safety is a priority? I thought your number-one priority was clients.”

  “I think you can consider yourself one of our clients now. We’re all invested in keeping you safe.”

  She shook her head. “We still don’t know why Damask is trying to kill me. This whole thing makes no sense.”

  “A lot of times murder doesn’t.”

  “No. I’ve seen a lot of crime shows. The murder usually makes sense. There is a motive—there’s a reason. Like, there is such a thing as random joy killings. Maybe teenagers who get bored and decided to see what it feels like. But they don’t hire a bunch of guys to do their dirty work. I’ve never met Damask before a few months ago, and all of a sudden I’m right in the middle of all this shit.”

  “What changed a few months ago?”

  “I guess he got in business with my dad at some point, but it’s looking like he did that to get to me.”

  “Well, if you’re right, and I think you are, there is a reason. Once again, what changed? Did you piss someone off? Did you have any shady business dealings?”

  Shae rubbed her forehead. Hunter really didn’t know her if he thought she was getting involved with shady business dealings. Hell, she even drove the speed limit when she wasn’t frantically trying to get away from a shootout. Before she met Tristan, she pretty much never did anything illegal. The product of being the daughter of a man who took a few too many liberties with the law. “The only business dealing I’ve have had lately is buying Seaside Escape.”

  “He wants the property then.”

  Well, duh. “I know, I know. I just can’t figure out why. I mean, it’s a nice house, but the land is small. You don’t usually get a lot of land with beachfront property, you know? It’s not like he can redevelop it into anything. And I’m not like all the people he steamrolled out of their houses. I’m not even close to going to foreclosure.”

  “Maybe you’re thinking about it wrong. You see him as wanting your house for business. Maybe this is personal. Considering how little the property is worth relative to how much most of his properties are worth, it’s not about money.”

  “If he wants me to leave so badly, why doesn’t he just burn it down? I don’t have enough in savings to rebuild the entire house from scratch.”

  “Do you think he hasn’t thought of that yet?”

  “No, it has to be something else.... If he didn’t burn down the house, that means....” Shae’s eyes widened. She didn’t know why she hadn’t seen it before. If he didn’t burn down the house, that meant there was something inside that he wanted. “Oh my God. I have to go back.”

  “There’s no way in hell I’m taking you—” At that moment, a cell phone rang, and he immediately answered. “Yep?” She noticed he didn’t give his name. The bare minimal information, even on a burner phone. “Sounds good.” He hung up the phone and looked over at her. “You want to rob a bank tonight?”

  Shae didn’t realize how scared she been for Tristan until she saw him hop out of that black van. She took back everything she’d ever thought about black vans. She immediately jumped out of Hunter’s car and ran straight into his arms. He let out a little huff of surprise and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. She enjoyed the comforting feel of being held in his arms and tried not to read too much into it. “Are you okay? What happened? Where’s my dad?”

  “Umm.... Fine, shooting, he took off the second we were clear. I have a feeling he did not enjoy his time with me.”

  “He’s safe?”

  Tristan shrugged. “He didn’t have a mark on him when he left me, but that doesn’t mean Damask isn’t going to give him any trouble. I offered to let him stay with us, but he decided he could take care of himself.”

  Shae had her doubts about that. Manuel had always been king of his world, but this wasn’t his world. He was ruthless and cutthroat, but this was over his head. However, she also knew he was a determined and prideful man. If he didn’t want to accept help, she couldn’t force him. She would just have to hope he’d be okay, and focus on the bigger issues. “Tristan, I think I understand now. I think I know what Damask is looking for at the house.”

  Tristan opened his mouth to say something, but everyone else started to file out of the van. Toni rubbed her neck, as if she’d been sitting still for too long, and Shae didn’t miss the small drops of blood on Gage’s shirt. “Oh my gosh, are you—”

  “It’s not mine,” he said quickly.

  “Hunter said something about umm, you guys doing some, umm, banking tonight?” There was no one around, but Shae didn’t want to say anything stupid out loud.

  They’d pulled into a rundown-looking motel. Shae also noticed that they’d all backed in. As though they were trying to keep their license plates hidden if someone did a casual drive-by.

  Toni nodded. “That was the plan, but right now it’s too late, and I think we can all use a shower. We’ll regroup, wait for Melissa to catch up and head to the bank tomorrow.”

  “They won’t think it’s weird if we rent out like six different rooms?”

  Toni gave her a “aww, honey” look.

  “We’re getting three rooms,” said Scott. “Toni and I, Hunter and Gage, and then you and Tristan.”

  She thought it was odd that she was the pick for Tristan, but she supposed she’d already been sleeping in his room. And to be ho
nest, she hadn’t complained about it all that much.

  “I’m getting all the rooms and paying cash so they don’t ask too many questions. That way, the clerk will only see my face. I think we’re far enough away that no one will be looking too closely for us. We’ll head to the bank first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll plan on reaching St. Pete around ten, and that will be a slow part of the day for the bank. Does that sound good?”

  Everyone nodded and hung back for a few minutes while Scott handled the rooms. Tristan gave her a rundown of what happened at the house. The entire thing sounded utterly terrifying. It was odd how he talked about it as a normal, everyday occurrence. When she considered how many men they were up against, and how unscathed everyone was, she was shocked and impressed. Gage looked as if he had a bruise forming on the side of his face, but no bullet holes, no broken bones, no hospital trips.... She always assumed they were good at what they did, but she didn’t really understand the full extent of it until now.

  As soon as she and Tristan were in the motel room, he dropped all the bags on one of the double beds and turned to look at her. “All right. What do you think Damask is after?”

  Shae took a deep breath and suddenly felt self-conscious. What if she was wrong? What if she made Tristan go back to the house for nothing? “I’m not sure. It’s really just a theory.”

  “Okay, I like theories. Please share.”

  “Well, he obviously wants something. The land isn’t valuable, so it has to be something, like, tangible, you know? If he really just wanted the property away from me, he would’ve burned it down, right? So he has to want something where he can’t burn the house down. So something inside that’s nonflammable.”

  “Nonflammable?”

  She rubbed her forehead in frustration. “You must think I’m crazy.”

  “No, I don’t think you’re crazy. I’m just trying to think of what he could be hiding that would be so important to him. He’s been going hard.”

  “I know! It has to be something inside the house, right? If it was just buried in the sand, he could send any of his goons when I’m not home. Which begs the same question. Why didn’t he send someone to get it from the house when I wasn’t home?”

  “It has to be evidence.”

  “What?”

  “What else would drive a guy as wealthy and powerful as Damask to these lengths? If he were normal, I’d think it was something sentimental. But he’s not normal. Everything he does is for self-gain or self-preservation. He has enough money that I don’t think he’d be trying to rob you. It’s not like there’s a stash of hidden treasure there. The man has paid thousands of dollars for people to scare you and rob you. I bet you anything that if we get to it first, we can really fuck up his day.”

  She was so elated that he not only believed her, but was totally running with her theory. “So we can go?”

  “Of course not. First, he already tried to kill you in that house. Second, he’s probably scouring the state looking for you. You need to lay low. I can go. We’ll be in St. Pete tomorrow anyway.”

  “It’s my house,” she pointed out. “If anyone is going to find something hidden there, it’s me.”

  “So think. Have you seen anything out of place or questionable?”

  “I don’t know. Nothing that I’ve looked at and thought ‘Oh, yeah. This is definitely why Damask is so interested in me.’ But if you let me go, I’ll help.”

  Tristan shook his head. “I’m not comfortable with this.”

  “I don’t need your permission to go to my own house,” she bit out.

  “Maybe, but you do need a car. And, considering what happened the last time you were there, you know you shouldn’t go alone. Don’t be too stupid to live.”

  Shae’s hands suddenly hurt, and she looked down to see that she’d balled them into fists. “I admit that it’s not the safest place to be, but I’m not going to be scared away from even going to the property. I might as well just hand it over if that’s the case.”

  “We’re not handing anything over.”

  “But he’s winning! He’s getting everything he wants. How long until he realizes I’m too scared to go back, then goes in and takes what he wants?”

  “At least then you’ll be safe.”

  “And then he’s going to win! I won’t do it. I’m not giving that son of a bitch anything he wants.”

  “For the love of God, Shae. Can you please, just this once, be a coward for me? I love that you’re brave, I love how strong you are, but you’re gonna give me a heart attack.”

  “Oh come on. What does it matter anyway? You’ll be done with this job in a week or so and will be gone. I’ll have to live with what I do or choose not to do for the rest of my life.”

  “Don’t.”

  “What? Say the truth?”

  “Maybe I don’t want to think about you leaving. I want to bring down Damask with everything in me, but the second I do, you’re leaving.”

  She scoffed. “I’m not leaving! I’m going to be here in the same house you found me in. You’re the one who’s going to be heading off with your merry band of criminals. We both knew this wasn’t serious.” The words sounded ridiculous as she said them. They both knew it wasn’t supposed to be serious. But this sure as hell didn’t feel casual.

  “You’re right,” said Tristan unexpectedly. “This is just a fling.” He said the words simply, as if he were trying to convince himself. “One and done,” he added.

  “One and done,” she agreed.

  And then he was walking for the door and she found herself almost speechless. “Wait! Where are you going?”

  “I think it’s best if I don’t sleep here. I don’t trust myself.”

  Didn’t trust himself? What the hell did that mean? He didn’t trust himself to not fight with her? Or didn’t trust himself to not touch her?

  But then he was gone and it was too late for her to ask.

  She sat on the bed with the luggage on it and waited. He had to be coming back. He wouldn’t leave her here alone. Not with everything going on.

  She had just lost her patience when there was a knock on the door. Shae leapt up and ran to answer it, only realizing at the last minute that people wanted her dead. She looked through the peephole and her heart fell when she saw Hunter outside.

  Jerking the door open, she glared at Hunter.

  “Whoa,” he said, obviously picking up on the hostility. “Just remember that if you hit me, Tristan won’t feel it.”

  She didn’t laugh at the stupid joke. “Where is he?”

  “Your boyfriend? He went out. He asked me to stay with you for a bit.”

  “Went out? He can’t go out. We’re in crisis mode.”

  “He apparently disagrees.”

  She wanted to shake him until he understood. But she tried to find the words instead. “He isn’t just going out,” she said carefully. “He’s going to the house. We need to find him.”

  “All right,” said Hunter. “I’m not going to say no. Let’s go talk to Hart and he can say no.”

  After they woke everyone up, it only took Toni a few minutes to use Tristan’s current burner phone to track him. The phone he was notably not answering. “You’re right,” she said. “He’s heading to Seaside Escape.”

  “To Seaside Escape?”

  “What the hell is Seaside Escape?” asked Hunter.

  “It’s my place.”

  “You named your place?”

  Shae shook her head. “It’s a beach thing. And it doesn’t even matter. I’m going back there and I’m going to kill him.”

  “You can’t go,” pointed out Scott. “Tristan wouldn’t want you to go alone.”

  Her eye roll could barely be contained. “He left me alone!”

  “I agree,” said Gage. “It’s too dangerous for you to go.”

  “But it’s not too dangerous for Tristan?”

  “He’s a professional,” said Toni.

  “He’s a professional who’s about t
o track sandy footprints all over my business! Fuck this. I’m not wasting time debating with you people. You promised me I’m not a prisoner, so either you take me to Seaside Escape or I’ll walk out this door and find a way there.”

  There was a tense silence, and right before Shae had been about to walk right the hell out of there, Toni ordered Hunter to go with her and said they’d be soon behind once they arranged a few last-minute items.

  Which led to her cursing Tristan’s very existence while Hunter had to listen in annoyance. “Son of a bitch,” said Shae for the hundredth time. “Son of a—”

  “Please stop,” blurted Hunter as he made another reckless lane change.

  “I’ll stop when the murderous rage goes away,” she muttered.

  Hunter tightened his grip on the wheel. “We’re almost there.”

  Maybe she should shut up for a bit. She had a feeling Hunter was as pissed off as she was. She couldn’t believe Tristan had left. He knew how important this was to her. How important Seaside Escape was. She thought back to what it felt like to run into his arms when she realized he’d survived the shootout at the mansion. That joy. Had that meant anything to him?

  “I can’t believe he would do this to me. I can’t believe he would leave me. Fuck, Hunter, he said he loved me. How could he do this?”

  Hunter looked over at her questioningly. “Tristan said that?”

  “Well, no. He said he loved how brave I was. That I was a fighter or some shit.”

  “That’s a little different than saying the big three.”

  “I....” She couldn’t fight that logic. It was very different. But damn it, she loved him. She didn’t even know whether she’d realized it until he’d walked out. But somehow that undeniable connection between them had turned into so much more.

  “Hey,” said Hunter in a comforting tone. “He didn’t leave you leave you. He’s trying to take care of you.”