The Christmas Heist_A Stolen Hearts Novella

by Mallory Crowe

  Everything Toni was saying was right. The thing had to be done tonight or tomorrow night. She didn’t know anything about this Graves guy. She didn’t know who deserved what. But that wasn’t the real thing that was happening. The real reason Toni was so worried was because she knew Jennifer well enough to know this offer of a job was just what she was craving. As much of an adventure as Lucy was, it had been too long since she had an adrenaline rush. Too long since her heart had leapt in her chest, and too long since that fear for her life. The stability was exactly what she and Austin had agreed on. Was exactly what they knew a normal family required.

  What if this wasn’t who she was? What if she needed the rush? What if she needed the high? And most importantly, what exactly was Austin going to do with his newfound information?

  That was it. No matter what Toni said, or what her very valid arguments were, this entire thing was really up to Austin. Because if he thought he was going to leave tomorrow night and go off on some heist without her, he would find out exactly how wrong he was.

  “Promise me you’re not going to do anything stupid,” said Toni.

  “Of course,” said Jennifer. “I promise.”

  As she bounced her adorable, innocent baby girl, Jennifer wondered whether she’d go to hell for using that adorable, innocent child to hide the fingers she had crossed.

  Austin straightened his tie. Most guys he knew hated suits. They were always too tight if they fit well. A baggy suit just announced to the entire room that you had no idea what you were doing. That you didn’t actually care about your appearance and the suit was just a token. A well-fitted suit, however, communicated something entirely different. Communicated that you cared. That you wanted to look good. That comfort was less important than image, and that you would do whatever it took for people to take you seriously, the way you wanted. And damn if he didn’t like looking good. Even the constricting tie didn’t bother him. It kept him on his toes. A constant reminder of whatever character he was playing at that moment.

  The party hadn’t been hard to get into. This wasn’t really some shindig trying to collect money from the richest people in society. This was purely for show.

  Everything Graves said had checked out. The Reinhearts had sadly passed away, and this benefit was all for show, one big theatrical performance as the Ruby Cypher was donated to the Aldridge Home for Orphaned Children. Of course, all ticket proceeds would also go to the home for children, along with the proceeds from various other silent auctions and donation packages offered to suck up as much money as possible. But that wasn’t the point of the evening. Like Graves said, the entire point was to make a big show about the Ruby Cypher being donated. It was a big deal. The Cypher was valued at $10.1 million. That would be a hefty chunk of change if the orphanage was able to sell it, and he was sure that after tonight they would have multiple buyers. Austin also verified that the Aldridge Home for Orphaned Children was deeply connected to Garrett Century, the attorney in charge of the trust left by the Reinhearts.

  Lily Reinheart had been cut out of the will completely, and when she contested it, all of her arguments had been completely shut down. His sources hadn’t been able to get him the details of the court documents, but it wasn’t easy for a child to be completely cut out of the will. Either the parents had something strong against the child, or the lawyer had pulled some shady shit to get the Cypher into his own hands.

  The Aldridge Home for Orphaned Children was shady in its own right. It was tough to look that critically at a charity that was supposed make the lives of children better, but luckily Austin was a jaded bastard. He’d look deep under any organization, no matter how nice they sounded on the surface.

  He been able to find the 501(c)(3) form they’d had to file with the IRS to get them their tax-exempt status, but had been unable to find any actual children who’d come out of the home. Of course, the website had various heart-wrenching pictures and such, and there was even a YouTube channel with a few cute videos, but whenever he dug deeper, there was nothing there. It was looking more and more as though this was all just a scam set up by Garrett Century himself to get the Cypher into his own hands.

  But Austin knew he wasn’t here just because he wanted to help children. He was here because it sounded fun. He got to dress up, rub elbows with people who would never normally look him in the eye, and then he would be able to take whatever he wanted and no one would even know it was gone until it was too late.

  He smiled at the thought. This was it. This was the hunt, and he was the hunter. Everyone here could be prey. His for the taking. All he had to do was smile or wink or nod in a suggestive way, and he could have any one of these people eating out of the palm of his hand.

  The knowledge rushed through him as he sipped a glass of champagne and looked around the room. He didn’t have a complete plan yet, but he wasn’t worried. Coming up with the plan was half the fun. Thinking how he’d outsmart, outrun, and outwit everyone else here.... God, this is going to be fun.

  And just when he took one more sip of that champagne and savored the taste of the victory that would soon come, everything crashed down with the sight of one sexy leg. It wasn’t just the leg that was sexy. It was everything attached to it as well. The leg just happened to be highlighted.

  Jennifer sauntered across the room, wearing some black dress he’d never seen before. And he would have known if he’d seen it before. The thing was so damn sexy, his erection was instant and demanding. He adjusted his stance to hide the evidence of his arousal as he took in the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  He’d seen Jennifer in countless sexy outfits, and naked thousands of times, but she still managed to surprise him. Her dark hair was pulled back into a loose braid, with a few tendrils flitting about her face. Her hairstyle was less formal than almost everyone else in the room, but she still stood out. Her fair skin was bright against the black fabric, and something shimmered on her cheeks and made her look almost inhuman. That quality was only enhanced by the bright-red lips.

  He didn’t know whether she looked more like some kind of fae sent to bring him to paradise or a vampire sent to drain him of his blood, but wherever she was leading, he was going to willingly follow. The dress itself was nothing fantastic. It was her who made everything amazing. The neckline was high and tight around the neck. The sleeveless style showed off her collarbones and shoulders. The floor-length dress seemed as if it would be modest, but the slit that went all the way up to the top of her thigh was anything but. God, he would give anything to wrap that leg around him right now. He was so fucking horny, he bet he could slide into her no problem.

  But then when she met his eyes, he had a feeling she wasn’t exactly in the same mood.

  Austin quickly downed the rest of his champagne. He didn’t like to drink on the job, but he knew this meeting wasn’t going to go well and a little bit of liquid courage wouldn’t hurt. Jail didn’t scare him. Police didn’t scare him. Getting caught red-handed didn’t scare him. But Jennifer finding out that he was here after they’d agreed not to come scared the hell out of him.

  As he approached, a waiter walked out with more drinks. He quickly grabbed two glasses, and after considering just drinking them both, he approached Jennifer and handed her one. “Nice to see you here.” He smiled, as though nothing was wrong.

  Jennifer tilted her head and looked up at him under her thick lashes. “Funny. I knew this is exactly where you’d be.”

  Austin quickly ran through all the ways he could’ve given himself up. He had a great excuse to leave the house tonight. He hadn’t even taken his own suit, but had gotten a new one on the way. He made sure his tool bag didn’t look as if it had been disturbed at all when he’d loaded up for tonight. He’d even turned off the GPS on his phone so she wouldn’t be able to track him.

  There was only one thing that could have happened that would allow her to not only know where he was going, but know enough about it so she could have time to get as dressed up as she
was right now. “Toni bugged me, didn’t she?”

  “Family never tells.” Jennifer winked.

  “You know there’s such a thing as an invasion of privacy, right?”

  “You know there’s such a thing as lying to your wife, right?”

  Austin swallowed but didn’t have anything good to come back with. So he chose to ignore this budding fight and get back into work mode. “So you know about the job, right?” He spoke in a low enough voice so that people around them shouldn’t be able to hear, even though he knew there were prying ears and eyes everywhere. It didn’t help that he was talking to the most beautiful woman in the room. Not usually an asset when it came to being a thief, but she seemed to use her beauty and wiles expertly.

  “I know the Cypher is being kept on the second floor inside the locked room behind two guards and then in a safe. What exactly do you know?”

  “I know those guards include a smoker, so who knows how long it will be until he sneaks off to take a break. And I also know the other guard happened to accidentally ingest a laxative when he decided to drink on the job about twenty minutes ago.”

  Jennifer scrunched her face. “A laxative? You’re such a guy.”

  “So sorry for using basic human urges against him. Please tell me your sophisticated, feminine method of dealing with guards.”

  She shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong. Laxatives are good when they’re good. But they’re not necessarily my go-to. I mean, you could’ve gone with the calling from the hospital to say a family member was in trouble. You could’ve gone with an angry boss demanding he be guarding a different room instead. You could’ve said the Cypher was stolen already and have him start looking for it.... There are literally thousands of things you could go to before the laxative option.”

  “Yeah, but you got to admit that the laxative one makes for a better story.”

  “Can we please stop talking about laxatives?”

  Austin frowned. “Seeing as how it’s an integral part of my plan, I’m gonna say no on that one.”

  “Then can you answer me why you decided to come all the way here without telling me anything about it?”

  He clenched his teeth. That was the question he didn’t want her to ask. “I wasn’t coming here behind your back. I just didn’t want to tell you because....”

  “Oh, take your time. I’m really looking forward to you telling me about how this is for my protection.”

  He could see the anger in her eyes, but worse than that, he could see the hurt. “I just... I don’t know a lot about this job, I wasn’t sure if you’d take it, and, to be honest, it doesn’t seem like it’s a two-person thing. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you needed to be told. There wasn’t a higher motivation than that. I promise.”

  “I know you’re a better liar than that, Austin. Next time try harder.” She rolled her shoulders, and he could tell she was trying to get in character. And whoever the character was that she was playing at this moment wasn’t angry at her lover. She was calm, confident, and collected. The Jennifer he knew and loved. The Jennifer he would never want to hurt.

  “Now stop lying to me,” she said. “Let’s go steal the Cypher.”

  Jennifer looked around the room. There wasn’t all that much to look at. A lot of unsuspecting guests and almost laughable security. She wanted to be excited about this job, and she was, but some part of her almost wished it was harder. This almost seemed like taking candy from a baby.

  But underestimating a job was one of the most dangerous things someone could do in her line of work. “I’m assuming you did a little bit of research before you came here?” she asked.

  “Enough to get my curiosity piqued. How about you?”

  “I checked out what the guy, Graves, said. I looked into the girl he was talking about. Lily Reinheart. His story seems to check out.”

  “I couldn’t find anything super useful about the charity. It’s almost like they don’t exist.”

  Jennifer nodded. “So it looks like Graves is telling us the truth.”

  “I still don’t know how he got our address.”

  “In this day and age, there are no secrets. We just have to remember that at any given time someone could find us. For better or worse.”

  “I know that. I knew that. But I’m not okay with it anymore. Not with Lucy. We need to protect—”

  “We are protecting her,” she insisted. “You and I have always had her best interest at heart. That has never even been in question. And if anyone is capable of protecting a child, it’s the two of us. Lucy is one of the safest kids on the planet. Not to mention that I have an army of family members who are just as invested in her well-being.”

  “I’m assuming one of these family members is watching her now?”

  “Toni is. I convinced her that since she’s leaving town tomorrow, she should get in a few more hours of niece and aunt bonding time. It was damned hard to convince her that I wasn’t coming here.”

  Austin frowned. “What do you mean you had to convince her? Doesn’t she know you’re here?”

  A wave of guilt washed over Jennifer. She wasn’t used to lying to Toni. They’d been distant in the past, but ever since their mother died, they’d bonded in a way they never had before. And Toni had been there for her so often during the pregnancy and after Lucy was born. They were closer than ever, but here she was disregarding Toni’s main request about this whole operation. “You and I both know this is small potatoes. Toni wanted me to wait until we had more information, but you know how paranoid she can be. Either one of us alone could handle this. Together.... We got this in the bag.”

  The corner of Austin’s mouth tipped up and he grinned at her. “Don’t get too cocky,” he said. “We’ve barely started.”

  “That sounds like your fault, doesn’t it? I’ve been ready to go for hours.”

  He let out a little laugh and set his arm at the curve of her waist, leading her toward the dance floor. “Okay, tiger, why don’t we get started?”

  The next thing she knew, Austin had her in his arms and was twirling her around the dance floor. No matter how many times she danced with him, touched him, or even breathed in his personal space, she never got used to that little rush. The warmth that would spread through her, starting with the tips of her fingers and toes and then curling inward until deep in her belly, the heat would grow stronger. Out of instinct, she pressed her hips closer to his as they moved, knowing they were a tad too inappropriately close, but not caring either.

  “Is something bothering you?” Austin gave her a knowing look.

  Jennifer felt heat run up her cheeks and reminded herself to keep her cool. “Just taking in the room,” she said coolly. Austin pulled her a little bit closer, and she felt the noticeable bulge pressing against her. Well, at least she wasn’t the only one affected. “What’s the plan, Stan?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

  “We need to get upstairs so we can keep an eye on the guards and figure out the best time to get in.”

  Jennifer glanced around the room. The historical home that the fundraiser was being thrown in was three levels tall. The second level would be the safest place for anything of value, considering it would be the hardest to get to if you were coming from the floor level or from the roof. The hardwood floor and the white columns that gave the historical house all of its charming character were covered with a whole assortment of Christmas decorations. There was garland wrapped around the columns, and she counted at least four different Christmas trees, each decorated with a different theme.

  It put their little Christmas tree they set up for Lucy to shame. But at least her Christmas tree had character. The trees here looked like some servant had decorated all of them without a care for the love that Christmas deserved. But as much as she wanted to judge the characterless Christmas decorations, she didn’t mind them too much. Because these decorations of yuletide joy happened to give her fantastic cover for sneaking around if she needed to. But the real har
d part wasn’t getting upstairs. It was finding a place to be upstairs where they wouldn’t be noticed and they could observe the guards outside of the room with the Cypher.

  It would be easier to think of a good vantage point to hide out if she had seen blueprints ahead of time, but thanks to her and Austin both rushing into this job, they would have to go in blind. “How do you want to play this?” she asked.

  Austin took advantage of the upswell in music to twist her around, and then pulled her back into his arms. “Well, I suppose we should do it like we’ve been doing the rest of this job. Let’s wing it.” He winked.

  She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips. There was something magical about being here with him. She didn’t know whether it was just him, or the fact that it was a heist, or that it was the first heist since having Lucy, or whether it was the magic of Christmas around them, but she couldn’t stop the feeling of joy at the moment. She wasn’t mad at him right now, and for an odd moment, she wasn’t missing her daughter like crazy. She was just happy to be here with him. Doing this together. “All right then. I say we wing it.”

  Without saying anything, Austin and Jennifer both broke into the oldest con known to man: pretending to be drunk. He took her weight as they stumbled across the dance floor and made their way to the stairs. As they hit the banister, she pretended to trip, and her entire weight pushed into him. He caught her waist and for a moment forgot what they were doing as he looked down into her gray eyes.

  She was apparently more professional than him, because she started up the stairs and pulled him with her. He dutifully followed, letting everyone downstairs think they were running off to sober up, find some more drinks, or find some dark corner to play in. He personally wouldn’t mind abandoning this whole thing to find some dark corner, but he had a feeling Jennifer’s work ethic was stronger than his.