The Christmas Heist_A Stolen Hearts Novella

by Mallory Crowe

  By Mallory Crowe

  Copyright

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Fonts used with permission from Microsoft.

  Copyright © 2017 by Mallory Crowe

  Mallory Crowe (2017-11-24). The Christmas Heist

  Cover Design by Cover Couture

  Photos (c) Depositphotos

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

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  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Epilogue

  The Cunning Thief

  Check out all of Mallory Crowe's Books!

  “Jen, will you marry me?”

  Jennifer bolted up in bed and stared at Austin in shock. “Marry you? Why on earth would I marry you?”

  Austin didn’t move from where he was lounging naked in bed. He just raised an eyebrow and smiled at her. “Well, I love you. And there’s the little fact that we happen to have a baby together.”

  Jennifer sighed in exasperation and put a hand on her forehead. “We’ve been over this. I’m not going to marry you just because we have a baby. She needs to know her parents love each other and that she’s not the reason we’re together.”

  He waved a hand, motioning to their bed that was now in ruins thanks to the few exhausting hours they’d just spent in it together. “Do you really think anyone will think we’re married just because we had a baby?”

  Jennifer stood and shook her head at the same time. “Things are fine as they are now.” She moved away from the bed and pulled the sheet with her to cover her backside as she crossed to the bathroom.

  “No no no no no.” She heard Austin padding after her as he continued, “You only cover yourself when you’re upset.”

  “I’m not mad at you,” she insisted. “I just don’t want to have this conversation right now. We were having a great night and then you had to go and ruin everything by having a stupid relationship talk. You’re the dude!”

  She didn’t know what to do with him. When they first met, they’d each been so free-spirited and wild. Okay, so they were still free-spirited and wild. But things seemed... different now. Of course, that was to be expected. Lucy had changed everything. Their beautiful little one-year-old daughter had been one of the best, if unexpected, things to ever happen to her. She should be happier than ever right now, but the idea of getting married? It all just seemed... wrong.

  Everything had happened so fast. From the moment she met Austin, she’d been head over heels in love. There had been no slow courtship or falling. It had been as though she’d run into a brick door of emotion. Ever since she met him, her entire life had been a whirlwind.

  The problem was that her life had been a whirlwind before. She was always looking for the next rush, the next thrill, the next thing, the next high-pressure job to drive her to the edge. And she missed that. Because like it or not, as a parent she couldn’t just be thinking about getting the next high. She had to put Lucy first. And, oddly enough, the fact that she had so much money now wasn’t helping. Well, it helped. It helped them afford this epic apartment in New York City and get Lucy onto the waiting list for some of the best schools in the area. But there was no longer that drive. That need to get the next job done. And as much as she liked the thrill of things, she wasn’t going to pull off some epic heist just for fun. That was never how she worked, and she never wanted it to be.

  She was both the happiest she’d ever been in her life and the most stuck. And getting married? That wasn’t the answer. She didn’t need some ceremony to affirm her love for Austin. She knew she was going to be with him for the rest of her life. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He was the one for her—he was always going to be the one for her. They didn’t need some signed piece of paper from the government to tell them they were meant to be together. It just seemed like one more thing to corral her into this little cage she found herself in. And now Austin was following her around the apartment, buck-ass naked and wanting to talk about her feelings. She loved the man, but sometimes his persistence could wear on her. Mainly because she was used to being the most persistent one in the room and he loved to give her a run for her money.

  “Can you please put some clothes on?” she asked.

  He let out a laugh. “You don’t want me to put clothes on.”

  “Well, if you want to talk, I can’t just be staring at your dingdong the whole time.”

  Just then, the doorbell rang. Jennifer and Austin both froze before they turned to look at the closed door.

  “So are you going to get that dingdong, or should I?” asked Austin.

  Jennifer rolled her eyes. She couldn’t handle him right now. She crossed the apartment and leaned forward to glance through the peephole. The hallway was empty. No sign of anyone there. “If this is some dingdong ditch, I swear...” she muttered under her breath.

  “This building is too expensive for dingdong ditch,” pointed out Austin.

  “If this building were so nice, they would be like any other apartment and not have a stupid doorbell.”

  Austin chuckled and she heard him come closer. “This is one of those home experience apartments. That’s what you liked about it, remember?”

  “Yeah, yeah...” she muttered. He was right. Once they found out they were going to have a child, she put every ounce of her effort into finding the perfect little home to nest and grow their family. After visiting a hundred different cities and thousands of different places in said cities, she had settled on this Upper East Side apartment—the perfect mix of security and experiences that she wanted her daughter to have. The layout of the apartment with the cozy living room, three bedrooms, upstairs and downstairs was just like a house, but the great city view of the high-rise gave it something special a house would never have. The doorbell, however, was not exactly what sold her on the place.

  She narrowed her eyes and craned her neck to get a better view out the peephole, but there was just empty hallway.

  Sighing in resignation, she pulled the door open and put her head out. Still nothing. She and Austin had both heard the bell. It wasn’t as if she were going crazy. Then she looked down and saw it. The simple white envelope on the floor next to the door.

  “Well, that’s new.” She bent down to pick up the envelope and turned around to look at Austin, raising a brow questioningly.

  He shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I have no idea what that is.”

  “This had better not be some strange marriage proposal.” Jennifer started to open the envelope.

  “Okay, I get it,” he said. “You don’t want to marry me.”

  She winced at the slight tinge of pain in his voice. She didn’t want to cause Austin pain. She never wanted to cause him pain. If anything, she only wanted to make him happy. But this was serious to her. Everything about the relationship had just gone so fast. She didn’t want to rush into making any hasty decisions about their future. It seemed every other decision for the future had been out of her hands. She sure as hell hadn’t chosen to fall in love with him, even though she didn’t have any complaints abo
ut it. And even Lucy, who she loved dearly, wasn’t exactly part of the plan. She was the delightful result of one overzealous lovemaking night and forgetful minds.

  So marriage would be different. Marriage would be calculated and planned and because she knew it was the right time, in the right moment. But how would she ever know when the right moment was?

  She finished opening the envelope and pulled out one small piece of notebook paper. It wasn’t hard to read. There was only one small line of scribbled text: Meet me at 10 PM. Room 1010.

  “Well, that’s not very likely,” she muttered as she handed the envelope and paper over to Austin.

  She observed his eyes as he scanned the document, and he looked just as confused as she felt. “What the fuck?”

  “Not exactly a lot of information to go off of.” She folded her arms in front of her chest.

  “I’m guessing this is the where.” He handed the paper back to her and she saw that the top of the paper the person had used said the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

  “It’s a big hotel.”

  “We don’t need that much to go on.” They’d worked with less than that before.

  But the most disturbing thing about the paper in her hand wasn’t the contents. It was the fact that it existed in the first place. “Whoever this is knows who we are.”

  Austin narrowed his eyes, and Jennifer could tell he was trying to decide how worried they should be. “Our identities aren’t exactly secret.”

  She gave him an are you kidding look. “What are you talking about?”

  “I mean, I know we want to fit in with our neighbors and some of the fanciest schools in the world and pretend that we’re nothing but respectable. But we made a living off our identities before. Our reputations were the most important thing to us. I don’t think we should be all that surprised people remember. I’m contacted for jobs all the time. I know you are too.”

  “Yes, but I ignore those jobs,” she pointed out. “So do you. That was the agreement. While Lucy is this young, we’re going to work at making sure she doesn’t end up as fucked up as a daughter to criminals could end up being.”

  “Hey, you know I agree with that,” he said. “It’s not like I’m the one who dropped off this letter. I’m just telling you how someone might’ve found us.”

  She knew he was right. She also knew why she was in such a bad mood. Considering how many orgasms he’d given her just minutes before, she should be relaxed and sleeping in an elated heap on the bed. Not trying to pick a fight with the love of her life. She crumpled the note in her hand. “This doesn’t matter. We agreed we’re not doing any jobs.” She looked questioningly at him. “You’re okay with that, aren’t you?”

  Austin held up his hands in surrender. “We agreed on this together.”

  “Oh, I know that. But this isn’t just some random person asking for a job. This is a mystery. I know you like mysteries. I don’t want you going to this hotel just to figure out who’s asking for help.”

  “Don’t you trust me?”

  Jennifer narrowed her eyes and tried to think of the best way to answer that without insulting him. “I trust you, but I also know you. And that’s the scary part.”

  He gave her a comforting smile as he padded closer to her. He set his hands on her shoulders. “Honey, we’re in this together and I promise, above anything, to protect our family.”

  She smiled. It was exactly what she wanted to hear. But that’s what also scared her. Because Austin always knew what she wanted to hear. She knew exactly how his mind worked because hers worked the same way. But at the moment, she couldn’t accuse him of something he hadn’t done yet. Instead, she leaned into him and set her head on his shoulder. She was going to forget about the wedding proposal, and forget about the crazy note. They had about an hour before Toni brought Lucy back, and she was not about to let this strange episode ruin their night together.

  All right, so Austin had lied. The fact in itself wasn’t all that uncommon, but the fact that he’d lied to Jennifer was the odd part.

  She was wrong, though. This wasn’t just a mystery to him. This was a threat. Someone had tracked him down to his private residence and let him know they were on to him. Whoever this guy was, he’d come right up to the door. Passing security and everyone else to get just inches to where his safe space was. Where his daughter normally was.

  Whoever this was, he was a threat. And Austin was going to deal with the threat, even if he had to lie to Jennifer to do it.

  Except that was easier said than done. She already knew the time and location, so sneaking out wasn’t really an option. If he was going to get to the bottom of this, he had to make Jennifer think it was her idea to leave him alone.

  Austin knew Jennifer well enough to understand this wasn’t going to be an easy task. In fact, the only way he was going to be able to do it was if he had an accomplice.

  At that very moment, Toni came into the living room while bouncing Lucy up and down on her hip. This was going to have to be delicate because Toni was obviously on Jennifer’s side. Toni seemed to like him well enough, but the sisterly bond beat out anything he’d ever have with Toni.

  So he just had to make Toni think this was for Jennifer’s own good. As Toni came closer with Lucy, Austin gave her one of his suave smiles that had gotten numerous women over the years to give him whatever key or access code he needed. Toni, however, wasn’t any woman.

  She immediately narrowed her eyes at him and glared. “What do you want?”

  Austin sighed. It wasn’t as if he expected this to be easy. “I don’t want anything. At least not much. I’ve just been having a hell of a time picking out a good Christmas present for your sister.”

  Toni raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “You’re her boyfriend. If anyone should know what she wants, it’s you.”

  “Oh no, I know exactly what she wants. The problem is getting it. I can’t exactly sneak out of the house without her noticing. Jennifer’s senses are crazy acute. If I didn’t know her better, I’d think she was a vampire.”

  Toni chuckled. “It’s not the first time one of us has been accused of being a bloodsucker. What were you thinking about getting her?”

  He inched closer, as though to make sure no one was listening. “Well, as you might know, your sister has everything she wants. If she can’t buy it, she just takes it. I’m trying to get her something different. An experience. I want to go out and book a cruise for us. Not just any cruise. A captain-suites, VIP-everything cruise.”

  “So? Book it online. She’ll never know.”

  “I know I could book it online, but your sister has access to the computers. I need to keep the evidence from her.”

  Toni’s suspicious glance changed from comical to genuine. “You guys look at each other’s computer history? That doesn’t seem like a sign of a healthy relationship.”

  Austin knew he had to tread delicately here. “Your sister and I are thieves,” he pointed out. “It’s not like we come from the most trustworthy backgrounds.”

  “Scott never checks my computer history,” said Toni. “And it’s not like we come from the most trustworthy backgrounds.”

  “Scott barely lets you out of his sight,” he said. “He has no need to check your computer history. He already knows every move you make.”

  Toni narrowed her eyes. “You know that’s not true.”

  “And you know it is.”

  She was silent for a few long seconds as she considered his point. He knew she was torn between helping her sister out and helping him. He just had to hope she believed that the two were the same thing.

  “Okay,” she said hesitantly. “Because I like you, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t do anything to hurt Jennifer, I’m choosing to believe you. But I’ll have you know that every single one of my Spidey senses is telling me that you’re full of shit.”

  “Your Spidey sense has always told you that about me.”

  She shrugged. “This time it’s a tad stronger. What exa
ctly do you want me to do?”

  “Ask Jennifer out to dinner. Take her and Lucy somewhere nice. Keep them from the apartment for at least two hours.”

  “You mean take the baby to a nice restaurant?”

  “I can make it worth your while.”

  Toni snorted. “Honey, I have more money than everyone in this family combined. I’d like to know what exactly you think you’re offering me.”

  “Fine. I’ll owe you a favor. I know you and Scott are starting up that security company, and you’re going to need all the help you can get. So whenever you need me, you can call me to help out.”

  She smiled victoriously, and he had a feeling he’d just played into her hands. “Okay, sounds good. Let me go ask my lovely sister out to dinner and I’m sure we can work something out.” Toni started to walk to the door and then stopped and turned back to him. “You know, a nice dinner is going to be a least a hundred bucks a person.”

  Austin rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought you just said you had more money than the entire family combined.”

  “Just because I do doesn’t mean I need to spend it.”

  He knew it was a losing battle. He reached into his wallet and pulled out two hundred dollars’ worth of twenties and handed them over.

  Toni looked at the cash, unimpressed. “You know, Lucy counts as a person too.”

  “The baby isn’t going to eat a hundred dollars’ worth of food.”

  “All right. I guess I better go ask Jennifer what she thinks about your little plan of getting her out of the house then.”

  Austin sighed and fished another hundred dollars out of the wallet. “You know you’re going to hell, right?”

  Toni smiled, not seeming worried about the moral consequences of her blackmail. “Yeah, well, I’ll save you a nice warm seat next to me.”

  Austin looked up at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. He’d never been inside it before, but that didn’t mean much. He’d been in and out of so many hotels in his life, he could practically predict the security measures. This was a classy place, which meant there would be classy security, and classy didn’t always mean good. There would be a doorman up front, but at a hotel it was impossible to actually know who the guests were. So all he would have to do was look as if he fit in.