About thirty minutes later, I was outside again, walking quickly towards Kristian who waited against his Ute the same way Toby had the day before.
“Well?” he asked as I powered toward him and he opened the car door.
“Let’s go. It’s not gonna work,” I said quickly, jumping in my seat.
“Why? What happened?”
“I was wrong. They don’t work for Grey at all.”
“Bullshit,” he said, closing his eyes for a moment. I could tell he already knew the answer, but he asked the question anyway. “Who do they work for, doll?”
I bit my lip. “Conway. They work for Conway.”
Chapter Eighteen
Stand Here And Look Pretty
I have never seen a person move as fast as Kristian did when he ran back up the pathway and into Maree and Dazza’s house. He didn’t even knock. He just jump-kicked the door and flew right in.
“No,” I yelled, chasing him into the house.
I caught up just as he snatched a phone out of Dazza’s hand then punched him in the face. “Sit the fuck down,” he yelled.
“Oh shit,” I gasped, covering my face as blood poured out of Dazza’s nose and ran down his chin. This was not supposed to happen.
Maree started screaming, and I ran over to her and begged her to be quiet. When she wouldn’t, I clamped my hand over her mouth, holding her in a headlock so she couldn’t escape and scream again.
I was the worst kind of friend for this. And it was going to take way more than a case of beer to fix it. “Kristian, stop!” I yelled, still holding a struggling Maree. “Stop hitting him. You’ve got this all wrong.”
He froze, one hand holding the front of Dazza’s shirt, the other pulled back ready to punch. “What?”
“Whatever you’re thinking right now. It’s wrong,” I repeated, looking right into his eyes. “Please. Let him go and listen to me.”
With his eyes darting and his brow creasing, he released Dazza’s shirt then wiped the blood from his hand down the front of it. “Don’t fucking move,” he commanded as he looked to me and inclined his head to the side.
“Can I trust you not to scream?” I asked Maree, who nodded and relaxed in my arms. I released her to a grateful silence. “OK. It’s OK. Everyone is OK. This is just a big misunderstanding.”
I moved to the corner of the room where Kristian joined me, keeping his voice low as he said, “What the hell is going on?”
“I said it wouldn’t work, not run in here and beat them up,” I whispered harshly.
“They work for Conway. You said so yourself.”
“Yeah. And the moment I found that out, I backed out and told them some shit about hitting an evidence transport that I heard about in the news the other day. I didn’t even mention Grey.”
“You what?” He wiped a hand over his face as he registered what I was saying. “Fuck.”
I nodded my head. “Fuck.”
“What do you want me to do?”
I placed my hand on his chest and pressed against it. “Just stand here and look pretty. Please.”
With a clench of his jaw, he nodded then leaned against the wall.
“This wasn’t my intention, guys,“ I said as I walked to the sink and grabbed a clean cloth. “I just wanted to make things right between us, and I thought that if I brought you in on that job it could help all of us earn a little favour with Conway.” I ran the cloth under cold water then took it to Dazza and started cleaning him up. He looked at me with wary eyes. I’d never seen him afraid before. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a small kick out of it.
“I thought you were givin’ us the job,” Dazza grunted. “What do youse need Conway for?”
I glanced toward Kristian, who had his arms folded across his chest as he waited to see what I was going to pull out of my arse. This could go horribly wrong for me, but after the way Kristian burst in here... There needed to be some major damage control or else everything would get so much more fucked up.
“Well,” I started. “I probably shouldn’t have brought you in on that particular job. I made you think I was giving you the job, then Kristian thought you two were trying to cut his family out of something they’ve been working on.” There was a lot of nervous laughter and hand movements while I tried to unjumble the mess. “This is all crossed wires and miscommunication. And that’s on me. I’m just trying to think of a way we all benefit.”
“Go on,” Dazz said, taking the cloth from my hand and holding it to his nose. I didn’t know if he was acting interested because he was worried Kristian would break his face, or if he really wanted to hear this. Either way, I had a captive audience and needed to come up with something and fast.
Come on, brain.
“OK. So, we heard that Conway is looking for a way to re-establish his coke supply.”
Daz lifted his brow. “You didn’t hear that. You know because it’s his stupid brother who fucked supply up.”
Kristian growled and shifted forward like he was going to attack, so I quickly moved between them and held up my hand to stop Kristian while I continued talking. I felt like the red flag between the bull and the matador. “OK. So you know they’re on the hook. And we know you’re looking to improve your position. We can scratch each other’s backs by doing this job together. The Cartwrights are expert thieves, and this transport won’t be an easy mark. Inside it will be over a billion in coke. If we take this job to Conway together, maybe, just maybe, it’ll be enough that he’ll release the Cartwrights from their debt, and give you two enough of a cut that you’ll never have to work again. That could work, right?” I looked between Kristian and Dazza, who weren’t really giving anything away.
Maree looked from me to Kristian, her arms folded tight around her waist. “Your family is indebted to Conway?”
Kristian glared at me a moment then turned to Maree and nodded without elaborating further. He hates this idea! Ugh. I’m in the shit now. Bye-bye, engagement ring. Goodbye hopes for a family. Goodbye fairy-tale life. Fuck. I should have kept my mouth shut.
“Why aren’t you just taking this to him yourself?” Dazza asked, his eyes bouncing back and forth. “Why do you need me?”
Fuck. That’s a really good question. And one I hadn’t thought of an answer to.
“Because we owe you too,” Kristian piped up, surprising me by joining in. “We went way overboard when we fucked up your business last year. This is our way of making things right.” OK. Maybe this was going to work after all. Thank you, baby Jesus!
“So I’m the one taking this to Conway?” Dazza asked, the cloth muffling his voice.
“I think we all should,” Kristian said, stepping forward.
Dazza nodded. “That would be better. I’ll set up the meet?”
“Not right away,” Kristian said. “We need to gather some more details first, make sure the job is viable before we present it to the big boss. It may be too risky. Even for us.”
Dazza nodded, understanding. Maree frowned. “Hang on,” she said. “This is less than what she offered us before. And why the fuck did you kick our door down and beat into Dazza?”
“I gave you a job to take to his boss, Maree,” I explained. “There was no guarantee you’d get anything from it. But this way, you will.”
“But the job needs to be planned to perfection,” Kristian added. “It needs to stay between us until we’re almost ready to go. We can’t risk anyone else swooping in to claim the score. No one wins if anyone talks too soon. Got it?”
Daz nodded, his greedy eyes twinkling. “Billions, hey?”
Kristian nodded. “We’ll give you the credit, and we’ll do the grunt work.”
Daz held out his hand. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
With a few more details hashed out and numbers exchanged, Kristian and I left with a resolution that didn’t involve spilling any more blood. If I hadn’t just thrown the family into a massive job that could see us all before a grand jury, I’d be feeling proud
of myself.
“What were you thinking?” Kristian asked after we drove away. My chest tightened as I prepared to be abused for making such a stupid call.
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Don’t apologise, doll. It was a good plan.”
“Oh.” I exhaled, relief flooding my system. “You’re not angry?”
“No. I just want to know where it came from. Is it real?”
“The transport? Yeah. I read about the seizure in the paper. It was getting smuggled into the country on a shipping container. Border Force and the AFP need to transport it to a secure location to be destroyed.”
“When?”
“I’m not sure. After the trial I guess.”
“That’s something we need to find out.”
“OK.”
He reached over and took a hold of my hand. “It’s a good plan. And if we can pull it off, it’s a great plan.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “Time to go get that ring, hey?”
A laugh burst from my chest, partly out of relief, partly out of surprise. I’d been so sure he was going to yell at me and tell me I couldn’t be in the family any more that I was stunned silent.
“You don’t want a ring?”
I gasped then nodded, still struggling to find my words.
Kristian laughed. “I’m gonna need some more information here, doll.”
Taking a deep breath, I forced my words out. “I stink like beer.”
“I love beer.”
“You have swollen knuckles and some blood spatter on your shirt.”
He glanced down. “So I do.”
“They’ll think we’re there to rob them and probably call the cops.”
“The irony.” He smiled my way. “The one time I plan to buy jewellery and I look like a hobo. Won’t they be surprised when I pull out the platinum Amex.”
“They’ll probably think you stole that too.”
“Then I’ll be gracious when they verify it and start apologising.”
“You don’t want to go back and tell Jasmine what just went down?”
“I promised to take my girl ring shopping. That’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”
His girl.
Holding a hand against my face, I smiled. “OK. Let’s go get a ring.”
Then I ran my fingers along the still damp edge of my shorts. If I’d thought yesterday was crazy, today was setting itself up to completely insane. I looked forward to what was going to happen tomorrow. How one man had brought so much purpose to my life was mind boggling.
How can he already mean so much to me?
Chapter Nineteen
All Hands On Deck
“That is stunning,” Alesha cooed as she inspected the diamond ring on my finger, cushion cut with a double halo of both pink and white diamonds. All up, the diamond weight was just under a carat. Kristian had pushed for the bigger centre diamond—I think he was really enjoying making the salesgirl freak out—but against the size of my hand, I felt this ring was perfect. I had barely been able to take my eyes off it the entire way home.
Home.
The thought entered my mind and surprised me.
“Wow. It really is beautiful,” Holland agreed. “I’m so happy you’ve decided to stay. We need to balance the ratio of boys to girls, you know.”
I met her eyes and smiled knowingly. We hadn’t been able to speak since my return, and I needed to express how grateful I was to her for helping me. I was in her debt—despite the fact they’d tracked me down and brought me back anyway. I also owed Abbot a big thank you, even if he was just trying to get rid of me.
With everyone gathered, Jasmine insisted on taking photos, making Kristian and me assume various poses until she felt she had the perfect series of shots.
“Those’ll go straight to the poolroom,” Nate said, and everybody laughed.
“Why is that so funny?” I asked Kristian in a whisper, not understanding why it was hilarious to put a picture on the wall of the room with the pool table in it. Although, I’d personally call it a rumpus or a games room instead of a poolroom.
Kristian grinned. “You’ve never seen The Castle?”
I shook my head. “Is it on TV or Netflix? I don’t get to the movies much.”
Holland laughed. “It came out in like, 1997. You would have been six or seven at the time. It was raved about as a quintessential Australian film.”
“I didn’t get to the movies much then either. I watched TV. Otherwise, I was too busy fucking up my life.”
Both Holland and Alesha exchanged glances and frowned. “Have you at least seen Pretty Woman?” Holland asked.
I shook my head then she clutched her hand to her chest. “Clueless?”
“I’ve seen Mean Girls.”
She gasped. “We need to fix this, and fast. If she hasn’t seen all the movies, how is she going to understand all my pop culture references?”
Kristian laughed and slung his arm around my shoulder, drawing me in close. “Tell you what, next time we get a break between jobs, you and me are having a pop culture marathon.” Then he leaned closer and spoke into my ear. “You can eat popcorn while I eat you.” I squirmed at that very appealing idea.
“Oh my God. That would be so awesome. I can’t wait,” Holland squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing on her toes.
Nate slipped his arm around his wife’s neck and pulled her against him. “I think they want to have the marathon a little…privately?”
Her face fell. “What? Nooo, don’t take this away from me. Leesh, back me up.”
“Maybe we can show her a few of the girly movies and Kristian can focus on whatever floats his boat?” Alesha suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” I said with a smile. Alesha and I had barely exchanged more than a few words and this was a step in the right direction. Toby had made it clear that everyone needed to get along, so I wanted to live by that notion too. Plus, people were actually jonesing to spend time with me. That had never happened before and was kind of cool.
“OK,” Jasmine called over the commotion. “I need your daily reports before dinner. Alesha and Holland, if you can show Veronica where everything is, she can help out too. Nate and Sam, you’re manning the barbecue, Abbot and Kristian on table and drinks. Toby, I need you in the office first.”
“Actually, Jazz. I really need to talk to you first,” Kristian said, giving me a reassuring squeeze as a silent exchange occurred between mother and son.
Jasmine pursed her lips and nodded. “Toby, if you’ll trade with Kristian?”
Toby nodded then everyone dispersed like the dutiful soldiers they were.
“We’re prep and salads?” I asked once we got to the kitchen and Alesha started pulling food from the fridge.
She nodded. “Sort of. The guys do the meat, but we make everything that goes with it.”
“OK. Where do you want me?”
“You can start washing the salad ingredients,” she said.
“The strainer is in that bottom drawer,” Holland pointed out helpfully.
Moving to do as I was told, I got myself set up before Alesha spoke again.
“Do you know what’s going on with Kris?” she asked, glancing at me for the barest of moments.
I tore the core out of a lettuce and started breaking up the leaves before responding. “I, um, depending on how you look at it, I might have messed up.”
“Messed up how?” Holland asked.
Am I allowed to tell them before Jasmine does? I wasn’t sure of the protocol for information sharing within the family.
“It’s probably best if you all find out at once,” I said. “It will involve everyone.”
“Does this have anything to do with the rumour?” Alesha asked, obviously not willing to wait.
“We couldn’t get that going. But we did come up with another solution.”
“Is it dangerous?” Holland asked. No one was doing anything. We were all just standing at three points in the kitchen wit
h our backs against the benches, facing each other.
I nodded slowly, pulling at my lip with my teeth. “Very.”
A long night stretched ahead of us. Us being the three partners—Holland, Alesha, and me. Dinner didn’t end up happening. Jasmine called all of her sons into the office and instructed us to order Chinese. They needed to work.
“Why aren’t we included in this?” I asked, holding a cushion against my chest as I watched the credits roll on the second movie of the night. I’d just sat through Holland’s all-time favourite, Pretty Woman, followed by The Princess Bride. I think I would have enjoyed both if I wasn’t freaking out over what was going on inside the office. I didn’t understand why, when this job was both my fault and my idea, that I wasn’t allowed to sit in. Seemed my inclusion within the family business would only go so far. “This is some sexist bullshit.”
“They’ve been working as a unit since forever,” Alesha reminded me. “This is what they do. How they brainstorm and whatnot. Once they have a solution, they’ll come out and tell us. Don’t worry about.”
I’d since caved and told Holland and Alesha all about the visit to Maree and Dazza while we ate dinner. Now they knew as much as I knew.
“What if they all hate me for putting them in this situation?” I asked, biting the inside of my cheek.
“If they don’t hate me over poppygate,” Holland started, “they won’t hate you coming up with a risky plan to fix it. Plus, if Kris hadn’t run in there half-cocked, you wouldn’t have needed to go into damage control.” Well, that’s true.
“Jasmine will nix the plan if they can’t pull it off,” Alesha added, looking at her nails.
“Then what happens to Maree and Dazza? Jasmine said family only. One day and I’ve got someone else involved with our business…”
“Family has access to the kind of information that could take down the entire operation. There are stacks of people—contacts and inside men—who do specific tasks when needed. What happens will depend on whether Maree and Dazza are the sort of people the Cartwrights can work with,” Alesha explained.
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