Blue Steal

by Marnie St Clair

  He stilled, became serious. ‘And if you did?’

  She shrugged. Simple decision for him, not so simple for Selina. There was no way she was going to inherit the family fortune now. Which meant, financially, she was back to square one.

  They looked at each other for a long moment, disappointment everywhere. If he thought all their problems would be over once they’d put Lewis away … Evidently not.

  Part of him wished he didn’t feel this way, but he couldn’t help it. He’d give her the money. However much she needed. No matter what happened between them, if she’d accept the money, he’d give it to her. There was no way he would leave Anna to suffer. But he didn’t want to offer before she’d had the chance to say on her own terms that she wasn’t looking anymore. Once he’d offered, her opportunity to prove to him that he could trust her was gone. He wanted—needed—to hear her say she understood what he’d been trying to tell her all this week. That she didn’t have to resort to anything underhand to make her way in this life. Sure, her circumstances were tough. But so was Selina. Tough enough and smart enough to triumph in any arena she chose, if only she would believe it. And if she didn’t … He couldn’t give his heart to someone he couldn’t trust. He’d done it once and it had almost killed him.

  He knew she had things she needed to hear him say too. He knew she was afraid of following her heart and ending up alone and destitute. It was why she’d convinced herself she needed a loveless marriage with a rich guy. He would commit to her in a heartbeat, if he felt he could trust her. He’d trust her if she trusted herself.

  They couldn’t solve this one tonight. ‘Let’s forget about the necklace. Pretend it never existed. Tonight is about us. We’ll keep it simple, have some fun.’ He pushed himself off the bed, shifted around the room a little, feeling every attempt at fancy footwork in his poor abused body.

  ‘Not bad,’ she said, watching him from the bed.

  He smiled. It’d been abysmal.

  She pushed herself up off the bed. Venus rising. ‘Okay. Deal. But I need a shower first. Want to join me?’

  Green-eyed temptress. ‘Bella, I get in that shower with you, we won’t be going anywhere.’ Ignoring the urge to move to her, he walked instead to the door. ‘I’m going home. I’m dappering myself up. I’m going to accessorise my black and blue as much as possible. And I’m meeting you in the lobby in an hour. Ready to dance the night away.’

  ***

  Selina hit the shower in a reasonable mood. What was not to be happy about? Lewis was out of the picture. Jack was a good guy and he was hers.

  So, they’d hit a snag when the subject of the necklace had come up. She knew he still had a few problems with the idea that she’d take it if she could, and she knew why. But she also knew he cared for her. They’d work through it, in time.

  She would have appreciated a declaration of endless love and devotion—what woman wouldn’t?—but that was an unrealistic expectation for this stage of their relationship. They were still so new as a couple. Jack was right; this was the time for them to have fun, go dancing, get to know each other in a more normal setting and see if the two of them as a couple really did have legs outside of the intensity of the past week.

  She knew they did.

  Her reasonable mood climbed to a fantastic mood. She knew it was mostly the reality of what she’d been through today hitting, but it felt like more.

  This wasn’t the end, it was the start. A brave new world. Love. And she was going to get to keep that beautiful, sexy, playful man for the rest of her life.

  Humming to herself, she squirted shampoo into her hand, foamed it up through her hair. Images drifted through her mind, before settling on Lewis and what he’d confessed that day. There was a lot to process.

  She stood under the heavy fall of water from the old-fashioned showerhead, let the flow wash the shampoo out while a dramatised re-enactment of events played out in her mind.

  A reverse re-enactment. Her brain had started from the confession and was working backwards. From those final moments when Lewis had shot Andrew. To when he’d clubbed Jo. To the argument they’d had. Andrew desperate to leave. Knowing Lewis was tracking his every move. Andrew, creeping out of their bedroom, bat in hand.

  Finger-combing through the creamy conditioner, she realised she was buzzing, high not just on adrenaline but on something else. An imminent break-through of some kind. She stood under the jet again, closed her eyes and let the water tumble over her.

  Her eyes flew open and she hunched over as the force of the realisation struck her. She knew where the necklace was. A moment later, she collapsed against the shower cubicle wall and slid to the floor, drawing in deep, jerky breaths.

  She wished she could un-know the revelation, un-see it, but she couldn’t. It was too late. She knew and she had to decide what to do with it.

  There was no decision. There never had been.

  Water from above mingled with tears. She knew what she had to do and she knew what it was going to cost her. Jack.

  So what? What was she thinking, starting to believe in happy ever afters?

  One week. That’s what they’d had. A week where a hell of a lot had happened, and they’d been through it together. They’d brought down a murderer—she defied anyone not to feel some kind of connection after that. Especially when Jack had the flirtiest eyes on the planet.

  None of that meant it was going to last in the real world. She’d asked Jack what came next and he’d had nothing for her. She wasn’t expecting a proposal, but if he couldn’t commit to anything beyond tonight … She needed more than that.

  She couldn’t give up her sister’s future in any circumstances, but much less for a man who wouldn’t make her any promises. She knew it, but she still wanted him so much, it was breaking her. How would she survive without him now?

  Same way she always had.

  She’d take care of what was hers. She’d take care of Anna.

  She’d started to feel like she wasn’t alone anymore, but that was dangerous. The second she started thinking she could rely on someone else to carry the load was when she had to give it up. She couldn’t need anyone like that.

  She knew where the necklace was and she knew what she had to do. End of story.

  Selina turned off the taps, got herself dressed, and went to claim what she’d come for.

  ***

  Jack sat on a stool by the bar, and observed the party scene playing out around him like it was a movie projected on a screen. A room full of strangers—dressed up, sipping champagne. Dancing. Laughing.

  She wasn’t coming.

  He’d tried her phone—straight to message bank. Five times in a row. And there was no way she was still in the shower after he’d gone home, changed and come back.

  How long had she known where it was? How long had she planned on taking it? Exactly how long had she been fucking lying to him?

  Except she hadn’t lied. She’d only done what she’d warned she’d do all along.

  Stupid. He’d been stupid in love. Despite the circumstances, despite everything he knew about her, he’d allowed himself to believe what they’d shared was more than it was. A stolen moment in a surreal week. He’d given her his heart, and she’d thrown it to the ground and stomped all over it.

  He was so frustrated with her; if she were in front of him right now, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself taking her shoulders and physically shaking her. Why couldn’t she see that what she was doing was wrong? Why couldn’t she see she didn’t have to do it? How could the finest person he’d ever met be such a disappointment?

  He knew he’d asked for a lot. Was it unfair, what he’d expected from her? That she believe him when he said she could do anything? That she’d back herself, believe that she could find another way to fund her sister’s operation?

  Maybe he’d asked for too much. But people were the choices they made, and Selina had made hers.

  He stood, more than ready to pick the pieces of his heart up off
the floor and retreat to lick his wounds. He loved how smart she was, but right now, he wished she wasn’t so damn clever. He wished she hadn’t figured out where the necklace was—he still hadn’t—because then they wouldn’t be in this position. He’d lost the case and he’d lost the girl.

  Chapter 17

  ‘Why do you keep saying no?’

  Because you keep asking the same question. Over and over and over again.

  Selina bit her tongue to keep the words in. She might love her sister more than anything in the world, but it didn’t mean that she couldn’t be a pain in the arse when the mood struck. ‘There is no way this is happening, Anna. Accept it and move on.’

  ‘You’re being so unfair! Every single other girl in my patrol is going.’

  Well, every other girl in her patrol didn’t have dystonia.

  Teenagers required the patience of a saint. ‘Can we just get in the car and leave for school please? We’re going to be late.’ A clumsy attempt to change the subject and divert the direction of the conversation, but she just didn’t have subtlety in her at the moment.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re just saying no. Can’t you at least consider it?’

  She was tired, and she was totally over this argument. Anna was a good kid, usually accepted whatever Selina said without much fuss, but with this one she was acting like a dog with a bone. Every day, every hour it felt like, she’d have another go, relaunch her attack, and it was wearing thin. ‘Anna, I have considered it, and I’m still saying no.’

  ‘That’s so unfair!’

  Life’s unfair, kid. Get used to it.

  She sighed. Maybe she was taking the wrong tack. Instead of saying no outright, she could offer a substitute. Pink was touring at the moment and Anna was a big fan. She had to say no to camping in the wilderness, it was far too dangerous, but they could go see Pink together. That was a fair trade, right?

  ‘Look, Anna …’

  Anna interpreted her softer tone as a shift toward relenting. And seeing a potential breach in the defensive line, like any good teenager, she pushed. ‘You’re the one that tells me I shouldn’t let my dystonia get in the way of what I want to do, but then you won’t even let me go camping.’

  ‘The answer is no, Anna!’

  ‘You’re such a hypocrite! You could find a way if you really wanted to!’

  Selina started, and a flush rose up her neck and spread across her cheeks. ‘What did you just say to me?’ Find a way? Where had she heard that before? She was sick to death of ‘find a way’. ‘One more word out of your mouth about camping in Tasmania, and I’m going to have to think about applying some consequences. Like no going to the movies with Kate on Friday night.’

  Anna’s outraged gasp hit her ears with physical force. ‘Why are you being so mean?’ she cried. ‘Sometimes I really hate you, Selina!’

  And she stormed as well as she could from the room, sobbing, hunched into a ball of enraged hard-done-byness.

  Teenagers!

  Selina stalked off to her bedroom. She jammed her earring in too hard and it hurt, but it didn’t make her go any more gently with the second one.

  ‘Find a way’ was nice in theory, but sometimes it just wasn’t possible. Anna had to accept the reality of her life. Some things can’t be changed, sometimes there is no ‘other way’.

  Suck it up, kid, and play the cards you’re dealt.

  As if she didn’t have enough to deal with. Stolen jewellery to hawk, a needy, cranky boss to pacify, and the love of her life to get over …

  She forced her bangles over her wrist, and forced Jack out of her mind.

  She hadn’t lost her job—that was one bright spot. Mark had been so glad to see her back he’d practically wept. She’d been working close to fourteen-hour days ever since, trying to catch up on everything that had gone wrong in her absence. Which didn’t leave her much time to think about what to do with the necklace. She had a plan, a number to call—the friend of a friend of a former boyfriend—but somehow she couldn’t seem to make herself dial it.

  And to top it off, her sister had discovered a mutinous streak.

  The camp wasn’t a good idea. In fact, it was a terrible idea. Couldn’t Anna see how risky it was? What if she had an attack when they were in the middle of nowhere? A bad one, one that required hospitalisation? What then?

  If you really wanted to, you’d find a way.

  No mystery as to why Selina had lost her temper. Anna wasn’t the first person to fling those words at her. In fact, the whole conversation felt eerily similar to the one she’d had with Jack a fortnight ago.

  Love of life, forget, remember?

  She sank to the bed, snuck a hand under her pillow and retrieved the necklace.

  Logically, she knew the quicker she converted it to cold hard cash, the better, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to act. For a day or two, she’d toyed with the idea of approaching the Petrovskys herself. Lewis had been willing to pay her for the necklace, and the Petrovskys had been willing to pay Jack to find it, so didn’t it follow that they’d recompense Selina for it? At least that way, it’d be back where it belonged. But there were no guarantees that they’d offer anything in return, and if they did give her a reward, it probably wouldn’t be as much as she could get selling it. Judging it too risky, she’d reluctantly discarded the idea.

  But she still hadn’t made any moves to sell it herself. Once it was gone, her decision was irrevocable. Once it was gone, she’d lost all ties to Jack.

  So she’d slept with it under her pillow every night since she’d returned home. Taken it with her everywhere she went during the day. Like she was daring someone to come get it, and since only one person knew she had it, it was a very specific dare.

  He wasn’t coming for it. He wouldn’t. She ached to see him again, but the feeling obviously wasn’t mutual. Jack wouldn’t want anything to do with her ever again.

  The blue jewels glittered in greeting. It was beautiful to handle, the feel and weight of it a sensual pleasure. She passed it over and between her hands, and in her still-dark room, it looked like a waterfall in the moonlight. She stopped, gripping it hard. She hated it, wanted to throw it across the room. She loved it, wanted to cradle it close.

  It had brought her the man she loved, then driven him away.

  It had promised her the world, then ripped that magic carpet from beneath her feet.

  This time two weeks ago, she’d been standing on Keith Turnbull’s balcony, looking at schoolgirl rowers on the sparkling Yarra River, and contemplating her new life as a Holloway. Now she was hunched over her single bed, in her tiny bedroom, with flaking paint and a long crack which become more pronounced with each passing month. The stark contrast between her faded, drab surroundings and the sparkling blue sapphires was like the contrast between her real life and the illusion she’d had standing on that balcony.

  That life wasn’t for her. Never had been, never would be. This was her life, and she’d better get used to it again. Right here, in her hands, she had enough to make a difference for her sister.

  She tossed the necklace onto the bed beside her. They were going to be late for school anyway, so why bother putting off the inevitable? She hunted through her handbag for a little white bit of paper with a number written on it. Her call went straight through. The conversation was brief, frighteningly cryptic and totally clear. Somehow they organised an afternoon meeting in a public place to take things to the next level.

  She was ready. She wanted it over and done with, wanted some relief from these constant second thoughts.

  Find another way.

  Yeah, like it was that easy.

  Find another way.

  Like he knew how bad it was. He might think he knew, because he’d visited her home once, but it wasn’t his sister who was suffering.

  Find another way.

  Shut up! There is no other way.

  There’s nothing you couldn’t do. Nothing.

  Really? Let’s just
see about that. She pulled her purse from her bag, and dug out a business card. Looked at it carefully, then tapped it against her hand, thinking.

  It was worth a shot.

  She dialled the number, heart in her throat, but when the man at the other end answered, her voice sounded cool and confident. ‘Keith, this is Selina Migliore. We met when I was with Jack Tierney.’

  Keith was an arsehole, but there were rich arseholes everywhere, and she’d been handling them since she was sixteen. If she did what Jack suggested, and started her own firm, she’d be dealing with a lot more of them.

  ‘Selina. Hello. I’m glad you called.’ He sounded pleased to hear from her. ‘I’ve been thinking about you. You made me seventy-six thousand dollars last night.’

  She smiled. That was some handy timing. ‘So you asked me to let you know where I was heading next. I’m setting up my own boutique business. Are you interested? I can’t promise those kinds of returns every week of course,’ she paused as Keith laughed obligingly, ‘but I’m confident I can out-earn your current managers.’

  ‘If you have more ideas like the ones you gave me at my place, I’m listening.’

  She did have more ideas. She had lots of them. ‘I warn you, I’m not cheap.’ She forced herself to name the exorbitant figure in her head, refused to let herself flinch. It was on the high side, but no higher than what her boss charged. And unlike her incompetent boss, she was going to work her arse off to justify that fee.

  ‘Tell you what. I’ll give you a couple of mill’ to play with. Deliver, and you’ll be in line for more.’

  She restrained the urge to yell ‘yes’ and pump a fist in the air. ‘I’ll be in contact.’

  Migliore Investment.

  Migliore Asset Management.

  If she could retain and increase business from Keith Turnbull, if he spread the word and she picked up a couple of extra clients, commissions would pay for Anna’s operation in no time.

  Was she really doing this? The girl who still hadn’t completed high school, the girl who worked as an EA?

  Damn straight. She had over a decade of experience in the industry, and Keith Turnbull and his ilk weren’t going to care about a lack of formal qualifications so long as she showed them the money.