Steal Me

by Lauren Layne

  “Do you think he’ll contact you?”

  “I have no idea,” she said. “Truly.”

  They looked disappointed but not surprised.

  Maggie really was telling them the truth. She had no idea what her ex-husband’s next move would be. None. What none of these people seemed to understand is that she didn’t know Eddie anymore.

  It had been two years since they’d been married, and a lot longer than that since she’d really understood him. If she ever had.

  This Eddie who was breaking into other people’s homes—she didn’t know this version. Not because he’d been particularly upstanding or law-abiding when they’d been together, but because he’d lacked any kind of drive. Even the criminal kind.

  She certainly hadn’t expected him to hire a kid to deliver a note, although that, at least, was in keeping with the Eddie she knew. Lazy and not particularly inventive.

  “Did the boy that delivered the note have any information?” Luc asked.

  Anthony’s boss shook his head. “No connection to Eddie that we can tell. Just a random kid skipping school because he forgot to study for his math test. Said a blond lady pointed out Maggie. Handed him a twenty-dollar bill and asked him to deliver the note.”

  “Did he say—”

  Mandela shook his head. “Nope. He’s twelve. Didn’t think to ask who the lady was, or what the note was, or where she’d gotten it. Didn’t care.”

  “So this whole thing was for nothing,” Maggie said.

  “Not entirely. We at least know that whomever you spoke to when you were trying to get ahold of Eddie is in contact with him.”

  “Which means that they lied when we questioned them about Eddie,” Mandela grumbled.

  Agent Garny looked unperturbed. “They usually do. People protect their own.”

  Maggie didn’t care about any of that. She’d reached out to old neighbors, old friends, Eddie’s sister…everyone she could think of. Only about half of them had bothered to get back to her, and the ones that had bothered had been oozing nosy curiosity.

  She hadn’t told them crap, not a single detail about her new life, but in the end it hadn’t mattered.

  Eddie still knew about her and Anthony.

  And she had no doubt that the he in Eddie’s creepy note was, in fact, the tall captain who was still standing with his back to her as though she didn’t exist.

  Agent Garny and Mandela moved away after thanking her for her help and reminding her to give them a call the second she thought of anything.

  Maggie let Jill lead her to a nearby bench, Luc and Vincent following so close behind them Maggie almost smiled at how quickly her life had gone from serving these people their omelets on Sunday mornings to being one of them.

  Almost.

  Almost one of them.

  The back of her neck tingled then, and her eyes immediately sought out Anth, only to see his head turn away before their eyes could meet.

  “What’s his deal?” Jill muttered to Luc and Vincent.

  The two brothers remained silent, loyal to their brother, but Jill’s allegiance apparently lay with Maggie because she grabbed her hand and squeezed. “He looks at you every time he thinks you’re not paying attention.”

  “Well, gosh, that’s practically better than flowers,” Maggie said irritably.

  Jill laughed. “I love when you get cranky. For the longest time I thought you were just this sugar puff who never had a cross thought.”

  Maggie snorted. “Trust me. My thoughts can get very cross.”

  Luc sat down on the other side of her. “Don’t ruin the dream. I picture you as the type that wakes up before the sun, all smiley and full of song as small woodland creatures flock to you.”

  “Not so much,” Maggie said with a wry smile. “I do seem to attract much less delightful creatures, though.”

  “Ah, of course. Like Smiley?” Luc asked.

  “No, more like—” Maggie broke off when she saw Luc had been teasing her.

  Maggie blew out a breath. “I guess I should get to work.”

  “I thought you took the day off?” Vincent asked. “The department was supposed to speak to your boss. Explain the situation.”

  “They did. I don’t have to go in. But I might as well. It’s not like I’m of any use here.”

  As she said the words, Maggie sat up very straight, realization clicking into place in the worst possible way.

  “I’m not of any use here,” she said again.

  Jill gave her a puzzled look. “Well, not right this second, no, but—”

  Maggie wasn’t listening to whatever Jill said next, because she knew. Knew that was exactly why Anthony Moretti had turned his back on her.

  You little fool.

  She should have known better. Should have seen immediately what was going on.

  Anthony no longer needed her.

  And people only ever wanted her around so long as they needed something from her.

  With her mom, it was to have a cute mini-me. When Maggie was little and cute, her mom had taken her everywhere, basking in the compliments over Maggie’s darling clothes, adoring the way people occasionally asked if they were sisters.

  And when Maggie had grown into awkward pre-teen years and stopped being declared darling, her mother had grown bored with the mom role. Maggie had been discarded.

  With her dad, the need was money. Always money. And lots of it.

  Cory was subtler than her dad; his requests came under the guise of “investments” or “a little help” or “calling in favors.”

  Even Gabby, as good a friend as she’d been over the years, had pulled back on their friendship once she’d started her family and no longer needed a wing woman to go out on the town at night, or someone to analyze her latest boyfriend’s text messages.

  And Eddie…

  Eddie had been the worst. Eddie had always needed something. Dinner. His laundry folded. Money for a lottery ticket. Her to fetch him his beers. Her to find the remote. Her to get his sister a birthday present, and call his mom on Mother’s Day, and make nachos when his friends came over for the game.

  And when she’d finally stood up for herself—told him she wanted to feel wanted, not needed, he’d gotten nasty.

  But Anthony…He was supposed to be different. She was supposed to be something more than a tool for him to use to get his way.

  She’d known that he’d wanted her assistance on the Eddie case of course, but he’d been oh-so-convincing in his reluctance to involve her, and she’d fallen for it, all but leaping at the chance to help him out.

  But his plan had been flawed; it had backfired. In his efforts to lure Maggie into luring Eddie, he’d in fact scared Eddie away.

  He’d taken a gamble and it hadn’t paid off. She hadn’t paid off.

  And now he was done with her.

  “I’m such an idiot,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Hey,” Vincent said sternly, kicking the tip of her toe softly with his shoe. “None of that.”

  “No, I am,” she said, standing up. “I’m an idiot.”

  “You’re leaving?” Jill asked.

  “Yep. I can’t think of anything else you guys need from me, can you?”

  “Hey!” Jill said, looking stung. “That is not why we’re here. You’re our friend.”

  Maggie was instantly contrite. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…I really don’t know what else I can do to help. Eddie’s not going to come to me as long as the cops are lurking around me, and the cops aren’t going to bother lurking around me if Eddie won’t come to me, so…”

  “We’ll figure out a way to get the guy without you,” Luc said softly. “You’ve done enough.”

  “Apparently,” she said with one last glance at Anthony, only to realize that he’d disappeared. Without a good-bye, much less a thank-you.

  She gave Jill a hug and kissed Vincent’s and Luc’s cheeks, ignoring everyone’s worried expression.

  “You’ll be in touch, rig
ht, hun?” Jill said.

  “Sure,” she said brightly.

  Just so long as Captain Moretti keeps his distance.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Have you called her yet?”

  Anthony glared across the dimly lit bar to where his brothers sat across the table. “You mean since you asked me five seconds ago? No.”

  Luc frowned, and Vin took over. “It’s been over a week since Smiley dropped that note off in the park. You haven’t talked to her once?”

  He slammed his beer down with more force than necessary. “What the hell would I talk to her about?”

  Vincent’s face flashed with anger. “Dude, I get the asshole vibe. I’ve got some of that going on myself. But you don’t sleep with a woman, ask her to do you a rather major professional favor, and then not call her.”

  Anthony scowled right back at his brother. “You’re telling me you call every woman you sleep with?”

  “No. But I don’t sleep with women like Maggie. I sleep with women who know the score and are in it for the same thing I’m in it for.”

  Anth’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know I slept with her?”

  “Luc told me.”

  Anth’s gaze shifted to his other brother. “How do you know I slept with her?”

  “Dude, I live with you. I know your ‘just got laid’ vibe, and you were practically radiating it after that night when Maggie came over.”

  Fuck.

  This is exactly why he’d never intended to get involved with her. Now the whole damn family was in on it, and they knew how to complicate everything, and this situation didn’t need any complicating.

  It was fucked up enough on its own.

  Two days after the failed sting operation, there’d been three break-ins in a row. All Upper West Side.

  All with mocking thank-you cards, sealed with a fucking smiley-face sticker.

  The only good news in the entire thing was that Anthony had been proven right on the Connecticut case being a copycat. Turned out the kid living next door to the victims hadn’t appreciated their habit of calling the cops when he played his music too loud.

  And the kid, being spoiled, entitled, and too smart for his own good, had launched a rather elaborate revenge plan, complete with a scapegoat in the form of Smiley.

  Only the fool kid wasn’t that smart. He’d forgotten the public nature of social media and had bragged not so subtly about his stunt on Twitter.

  A full confession followed, which Anth couldn’t have cared less about except that it meant the FBI had backed off.

  They’d claimed it was because the Smiley case was back to being a local one, but Anthony was reasonably sure that a bit of pride was involved. Their sting operation had sucked balls, and nobody had any other ideas.

  Anth had tripled the patrol of the Upper West Side in recent days, but Manhattan was a busy town. There was always someone on the streets. Trying to keep an eye out for one man was a needle in a haystack.

  Making matters worse, there’d been a reference to Smiley on a national late-night talk show. A small, passing reference, but still…Smiley’s notoriety was rising, and with it, Anthony’s prestige was slipping.

  Hence, he’d agreed to drinks with his brothers, thinking it would be a stress reliever.

  It was proving the opposite.

  The three of them—four, when Marc was around—had always had one another’s backs when it came to women. Respected one another’s boundaries, understood one another’s limitations.

  At least he’d thought his brothers understood where he was coming from.

  But apparently they had different standards when it came to Maggie. Higher standards.

  “Ava thinks you’ve discarded Maggie now that Smiley’s avoiding her. Said you dropped Mags like a hot potato when she quit helping you with the case.”

  Anthony’s beer turned sour in his mouth. “That’s bullshit. Where’d she get that idea?”

  “Maggie told her. She came over for dinner last night. I stuck around for a while, then cleared out so they could have girl talk.”

  “That was the girl talk? That I’m not calling her because I don’t need her anymore?”

  Christ.

  Vin shrugged. “Well it’s either that or you don’t want her anymore.”

  “I fucking want—you know what, can we not talk about this?”

  “Sure,” Luca said easily. Then he turned to Vincent. “Hey, Vin, now that Maggie’s available, have you thought about asking her out—”

  “Oh, come off it,” Anth grumbled. “The family’s already tried the ‘make Anthony jealous by setting her up with Vincent’ routine.”

  “Yeah, and it worked,” Luc said.

  “I love how that’s the only possible reason anyone would set Maggie up with me,” Vin grumbled. “As part of a ploy.”

  Anthony and Luc both ignored him.

  “How is she?” Anthony heard himself ask Luc.

  It wasn’t what he’d meant to say. He’d meant to not care. To let her go for her own good. Because if he let her get even more tangled up in his career than she already was, it would hurt all the more when she realized that the job would always come first.

  “She’s fine,” Luc said.

  Anthony nodded, telling himself he was relieved that she was unscathed. Happy that she wasn’t missing him.

  “On the outside,” Luc continued. “But she’s different. Sadder.”

  Shit. Shit.

  “What the hell happened, bro?” Luc asked.

  Even Vincent looked interested. And worried. And when Vin looked worried, things were bad.

  “That note that Eddie left,” Anthony said, taking a sip of beer. “He mentioned me. I mean he didn’t name me, but I know—”

  “Yeah, we figured that was a reference to you,” Luc said. “Dude’s pretty familiar with Upper West, and the note happened just days after Maggie came by our place. On the Upper West Side.”

  “The fucker was watching you. Watching her,” Vincent said, looking pissed.

  “Do the bosses know?” Luc asked. “That you’re the guy in question?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’d tell them if it would help with the case, but as it is, it’ll only serve to get me yanked from the case.”

  “Would that be a bad thing?” Vincent asked.

  Anth felt white-hot rage flow to his knuckles. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Vin held up his hands. “Hear me out. This case has been dragging on forever. And while nobody can blame you for getting pulled in by Maggie’s appeal, you can’t deny you have been dragged in. Your perspective might not be what it usually is.”

  He hated his brother for saying it, but hated the truth of the statement even more.

  “So what, I give up the case?” he asked.

  “It might be best,” Luc said. “Or at least step down. Let someone else lead it.”

  Great. Now both brothers were siding against him.

  “If my first case on record is a fail, I’m going to have a hell of a time moving up,” he said.

  Luc met him steadily. “Are you sure that’s what matters?”

  “Of course I’m sure. It’s all that matters.”

  His brother’s eyes flickered in disappointment, and Luc looked away. Even Vincent seemed troubled.

  “Oh, come on,” Anth said a little desperately. “If anyone should have my back…if anyone should get it, it should be you two.”

  “What exactly is it that we’re supposed to get?” Vincent asked skeptically. “And are we going to need more beers for this?”

  “Look, let’s just be straight about this,” Anth said, ignoring Vin. “Cops don’t make good boyfriends.”

  Luc opened his mouth, but Anthony cut him off by holding up a finger. “Yeah, yeah, you and Ava are solid, but it took you months to get there.”

  His brother closed his mouth.

  “Didn’t it?” Anth persisted. “Did you or did you not have serious doubts about whether it made sense to g
et into a relationship with her? After what you saw go down with Mike. After you saw Mike’s widow…”

  Luc slapped his palm on the table. Not hard, but from someone as generally easygoing as Luca, it was enough to take Anthony aback. His brother’s eyes were angry as they bored into him.

  “After I saw Mike’s widow,” he said, picking up where Anth left off, “I realized what an idiot I’d been.”

  Anthony frowned.

  “Yeah. That’s right. I was a moron. I thought I was being noble by pushing Ava away. Protecting her. But really I was protecting myself. I was a selfish ass.”

  And from the look on his younger brother’s face, Luc clearly thought Anthony was being an ass as well.

  “But—”

  “What the fuck are you scared of, man?” Vincent asked, already looking bored with the heart-to-heart.

  “I’m not scared.” The words were automatic.

  “Well, obviously you are if you can’t even so much as look at the woman.”

  “I don’t want her to get the wrong idea.” He took a sip of his beer but it was warm, and he made a face.

  “What idea is that?” Luca asked.

  “That I can be a boyfriend. That I want to be a boyfriend.”

  “Huh. And that’s what Maggie wants? A boyfriend?” Luc asked.

  Anthony opened his mouth to say yes, of course, only to shut it just as quickly.

  His brother gave him a smug, knowing look. “You’ve never asked her, have you?”

  Anthony slumped back in his chair, feeling foolish. And also feeling like a bit of an ass.

  He’d just been assuming, because Maggie was as nice and wholesome and good as they came, that she was only interested in a relationship with staying power.

  But that wasn’t fair to her. He was shying away from demands that she’d never placed on him. Hadn’t even had the courtesy to have an adult conversation with her; he’d done a hell of a lot of rambling about his own limitations, but never once had he bothered to ask about her expectations.

  “Luc’s point is excellent,” Vincent said, with a fist bump to his youngest brother. “I mean, here you are assuming that she wants to be a groupie of an irritable, egotistical captain, when really—”