The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 3) Page 6

  He went through every room, one by one, but didn’t see her. Her clothes and bags were still in the room she’d been sleeping in, but there was no sign of her.

  When he heard the engine start up, a shot of anger hit him. “No,” he said out loud as he ran to the front door. The remnants of the flash bomb were scattered on the floor. He ran over them until he reached the porch just in time to see the trail of dust his truck left as it disappeared over the desert.

  “No,” he said again. His heart, which had barely calmed down, pounded away. She had left him. Son of a bitch. He didn’t know why he was taken by surprise. After what she’d seen him do, it only made sense that she’d run.

  But what didn’t make sense was his reaction. Because as he watched that truck disappear, he knew without a doubt that he was going to track her down.

  He was going to get Willa back, come hell or high water and no matter who he had to kill.

  The pounding music should feel like home to Willa, but all she could think about was how wrong this was. She wasn’t supposed to be doing this. She wasn’t supposed to be this person.

  Ignoring the lingering doubts, she slammed back her fifth shot of tequila and the bar patrons around her all let out shouts of joy at her feat. She screamed along with them as her head swam. The smile on her face was painful, but it was all part of the act. “Whooo!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, riling up the crowd even more. “I think everyone else here needs a drink!” And then the already riled-up group screamed once more as they started to argue over what the drink should be as the bartender gave her a subtle annoyed look. Just pour the drinks, buddy. You’ll thank me when you see your tip.

  She glanced around her and looked for the telltale sign that the jig was up. She had been spending her little heart out, waiting for her credit card to get flagged. She had her story ready to go and she was going to sort this out. All she needed was for her father to find her.

  It had been two days since she had left James. It killed her not to tell him, but she wasn’t naive enough to think that he would listen to her reasons. But she needed to do this. To face this head on.

  She wasn’t a runner anymore. She was a survivor. She had been stabbed, damn it. There was something to be said for that.

  Even though she had never spent all that much time in Vegas, thanks to her platinum American Express card, she had been getting the all-star treatment. It had taken her only an hour to find a doctor on the down low. She’d always known that the line between the rich and criminal world were blurred. There had always been easy access to drugs and the black market in her world. But now that she started to realize exactly how close her family was to that criminal world, it felt all the more strange as she got the pharmaceutical drugs handed to her in the middle of a five-star restaurant.

  As the music changed to a new popular song that pumped through the club, she bounced to the beat. Her side hurt with every bounce, keeping her sober and focused. That could be a good or bad thing. What she wouldn’t give to let it all go and just relax and forget all her problems. But that wasn’t who she was any longer. She was going to get this right. For once in her life, she was going to do something right.

  After three more dances and even more drinks, it finally happened. Three guys in suits pushed their way through the crowd toward her. Willa pretended she didn’t notice them and kept on dancing, but soon enough they were closing in. Even though the thoughts of her brush with death were fresh in her mind, she forced herself to play the annoyed party girl as they grabbed her arm.

  “Willa Belli?” asked Goon #1.

  She acted surprised and drunk—not too difficult considering her body was more tequila than blood currently. “I’m busy,” she said, making sure to slur her words.

  The guys all exchanged an annoyed glance, which was good. She was supposed to be annoying. “It’s time to get you home, Ms. Belli,” said Goon #2. Or maybe #1. They kind of blended together. But the important part was that they didn’t think she was a threat. And as she stumbled over her own feet—which was less of an act than she was proud of—she assumed she wasn’t appearing very threatening. Two guys took an arm, half grabbing and half leading her out of the club.

  Good. Everything was going as planned, and soon enough she’d be on a plane home and to face her father head on. She was just about to let her guard down when she saw him. James Weston was there. Staring at her. He stood in the shadows. No one else seemed aware of his presence, but he was all she could see. There were no goons; there was no tequila. No music, no dancers.

  He was expressionless, but she could feel the anger just radiating off him. He didn’t move, but his gaze followed her as she was led out of the building. She didn’t want to draw attention to him, but she couldn’t look away until the very last second when she was being taken out of the building. He could’ve stopped the guys taking her but he didn’t. Did he know what she was doing? Did he understand that she couldn’t stay?

  She had been half convinced that he wouldn’t care. She’d only been with him for a few days. He could’ve been happy when she ran. Good riddance to all the trouble she’d brought to his door.

  But now that she saw him, she realized how wrong she’d been. The rest of the walk felt as though it were in slow motion. She thought that this was the end of the James Weston chapter in her life, but she was wrong. This was only the beginning.

  Even though she was so high up there was almost no chance of making out any features of the people below, Willa still looked out the window and scanned the streets, looking for anyone that even remotely resembled James.

  She’d been back in Chicago for a week, and even though there’d been no sign at all of her former protector, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was there, about to pop out of the shadows and.... Well, she didn’t know what she expected him to do. Punish her for leaving. Drag her back out to the middle of the desert. Kiss her on the spot.

  Okay, maybe the last one was more of her little fantasy. She’d assumed that her fascination with the man would fade with distance, but if anything, it had just gotten stronger over the past week. Maybe that was why she kept on expecting him to pop out at any given moment.

  The door to the conference room opened. Willa jerked around as though she’d been caught snooping. But she knew for certain this paranoia was justified, because the person walking into the room had been the one person she’d hoped to never see again. Her father.

  Jadon Belli was an imposing figure. His hair had gone prematurely gray years ago and now was a dignified white in his mid-fifties. He wasn’t a fan of the gym, but he tended to get hyper focused on his work, so it was common for him to forget to eat and that kept his figure slim enough to still look good in suits.

  His intimidation factor didn’t come from size or pure menace, like James. It came from the fact that he was oozing money and wasn’t afraid to use the power that riches brought him. Something she’d inherited from him.

  However, ever since she’d seen him murder Jules right in front of her, he’d become imposing in a completely different way.

  He unbuttoned his gray suit jacket in a quick, practiced movement. Something he often did around her because they had an informal father-daughter relationship. At least they used to.

  She remained standing as Jadon excused the entourage that would normally follow him around. A lot of the faces revolved, but Willa caught a glimpse of his assistant and a beefy guy in a suit. Willa immediately thought of James. Was Jadon traveling with protection? How many of these guys had she seen in the past and assumed it was just a security guy?

  What if it was some shady associate of her father’s? A partner in whatever crime they were involved in? Well, it was about time she found out the truth about her father.

  Jadon pulled out a chair at the eight-person conference table and took a seat. She followed suit. She had dressed for the occasion in a knee-length gray pencil skirt and a loose black sleeveless silk blouse. Because she knew more than most that i
f you wanted people to take you seriously, including family, you needed to dress seriously.

  “Willa,” said Jadon simply.

  “Hi, Daddy.” The familiar term of endearment felt like poison on her tongue, but she wasn’t just here as a daughter. She was here to get to the bottom of this, and to do that, he’d need to think that she wasn’t absolutely terrified of him.

  Jadon looked across the table at her and she knew he was trying to get a read on her mood. She wanted him to think that she was the same girl he knew from two weeks ago, so she played up guilt for running off. But Willa also knew that the old her didn’t do guilt. She did anger, manipulation, and utter indifference.

  So Willa drummed her fingers on the table and played up the annoyance. “I haven’t been able to leave my place for the past week.” She added an edge of anger to her tone. It wasn’t all that hard to do. It wasn’t as if she had a super open relationship with her father before.

  “I was worried about you,” he said.

  “Worried about me or worried about who I was talking to?” There it was. She was going to throw the elephant in the room, right out in the open. No use pretending it didn’t happen.

  He narrowed his eyes and she knew he was still looking for any sign of betrayal from her. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I know you and Agent Charleston were close.”

  Agent Charleston. He’d chosen his words carefully. Openly acknowledging what had happened while reinforcing why he thought he was justified. Willa steeled her nerves before she continued. “If Agent Charleston was truly a friend, she wouldn’t have lied about who she was.”

  The barest hint of a smile touched his eyes and she knew she’d played him just right. But she wasn’t out of the woods yet. “I was worried when you took off.”

  This would be the tricky part. Because before she left, she hadn’t been as calm and collected about the whole murder thing. She had even come to his office to confront him and demand explanations about why he was being investigated by the feds in the first place. An argument that led to her throwing a coffee mug at his face in the middle of his office. Maybe not her proudest moment, but she’d panicked.

  “I was....” She winced. She’d practiced this story in her head so many times. She needed to get the facts right and she needed to do it perfectly the first time. “Daddy, I was scared.” She rubbed at the corner of her eyes as though tears were welling up. “I’d never seen you like that before and I really believed Jules, er, Agent Charleston and I were friends. I needed to go. I needed clarity.”

  “And who did you talk to when you left?”

  She gasped in mock shock as she looked him right in the eye. “What kind of question is that, Daddy? Why would I talk to anyone? We’re family. I just wanted to leave. So I hopped in Ashley’s car and we went right to Vegas.”

  “Ashley?”

  Willa waved a dismissive hand. “Her family is in real estate or oil or something. I don’t know her that well. I just wanted to get out and I knew that if I used my cards or anything, you were going to find me and I needed time alone.”

  “But you did use your cards.”

  “Yeah. After Ashley hopped on a private jet with some whale she met at the casino and abandoned me. Serves me right for traveling with someone I barely know. But it’s okay now. I’m ready to come back home.”

  “Really?”

  Willa fiddled with her nails in desperate need of a manicure. “Daddy, you scared me. But I think I understand it. We’re family. You were protecting me in a way that only someone who truly loved me could.” He was staring intently at her still so she made sure the next words really had impact. “Daddy, I need you to know that I have your back too.”

  He nodded and leaned back in his chair. She knew it would take more than a pretty speech and made-up story that was nearly impossible to fact check, but it was a start. “Well, I’m happy to have you here, sweetie.”

  “I’m glad to be back.”

  “And we can go back to how things were... before?”

  She had to hide her surprise. How could he possibly expect her to pretend nothing had happened? To act as if he was her doting father and she was the spoiled child and she hadn’t seen the blood stains on that overpriced Persian carpet? “I can’t accept that.” She could see her father stiffen, so she continued before he freaked out. “I mean, you’ve been keeping things from me, Daddy. I know that Jules was lying to me, but you were too. It might take time, but I want you to be able to open up to me. I’m going to love you no matter what, but I want to be a part of your life. Your real life.” She hadn’t planned to tell him this so quick. She had planned to be slow and steady to get to his criminal secrets. But her mouth once again moved faster than her mind.

  Because she couldn’t just disappear for days and then come back and ask him to tell her all the crimes he’d committed. She might as well have a neon sign above her head screaming I’m going to report you to the cops. She needed to get this back on track. “I just keep thinking about what happened with Mom, you know?”

  “Honey, you know I would never do that to you.”

  Whew. The Mom card seemed to have worked. She didn’t play it often, partly because the woman who gave birth to her wasn’t her favorite subject in the world. But luckily Jadon seemed to hate any mention of Susan as much as Willa did. And if there was anything that bonded two people, it was the mutual hatred of a third. “I know. I do. I just.... All these thoughts go through my head and sometimes it’s hard to sort through what’s a gut reaction and logical.”

  “Get back to your normal routine. Hang out with your friends. I’ll see what I can do about giving you a... behind-the-scenes look at the company.”

  Willa gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Thank you, Daddy. I appreciate it. Does this mean your guard dogs will back off now?” In truth, the men sitting outside her apartment building for the past week while her father had been doing business overseas hadn’t been much of a bother. It allowed her to stay inside and mope instead of pretending to be happy and carefree like she had in Vegas. But old Willa would hate being confined to her apartment and being deprived of freedom and privacy for so long.

  Jadon’s jaw tightened and she knew he was about to give her bad news. If he wanted to spy on her, let him. Once she gained his confidence again, she’d be able to get all the dirt she needed to bring him down. He’d never see her betrayal coming.

  “Honey, I want you to know that I trust you. I do.” She didn’t believe him for a second, but she let him continue. “But things have changed. The feds aren’t the only people involved. There’s this band of vagrants who have started a vendetta against us. I want to make sure you are protected.”

  “I’ve had a security detail before,” she pointed out.

  “Good. Just think of it like that. A bit of extra security. You won’t even know he’s there. And he’s got some of the best references in the business and will be a complete professional.”

  She couldn’t wait to see the slice of beef with as much personality as a slice of cardboard. She projected wearing out the security detail within a week. “Whatever you think is best, Daddy.”

  “Good.” He leaned over the table and hit the intercom button. “Can you send in the new point man?”

  Willa once again fiddled with her nails as she looked at the door. The person who walked through the door was officially going to be her first job. If she made one wrong move, they were going to report it right back to her father. But if she could fool Jadon, she was sure whatever patsy walked through that door would be easy enough.

  So when James Weston walked inside the conference room and stood next to her father, the shock was enough to have Willa jumping right out of her chair and falling on her ass.

  Looking back, Willa knew exactly what had gone wrong. She’d jumped out of pure shock of seeing James Weston there, but then she’d forgotten that her legs had been crossed under the table and they’d gotten tangled thanks to the tight skirt that di
dn’t allow a lot of movement. From there, the only place to go was the floor, which was exactly where she stayed as James made his way around the table and held a hand out to her.

  “Allow me, Ms. Belli,” he said in a perfectly polite voice.

  She had a good three seconds to get her shock, awe, fear, and annoyance under control before she stood. She didn’t have to fake the embarrassment that flushed her neck and cheek. “I’m sorry about that.” She smoothed her skirt, pointedly ignoring the outstretched hand. “I guess I’m not totally recovered from last night,” she said offhandedly. Because the only possible explanation for her strange reaction to James had to be that she was on something, right?

  Jadon also stood as he looked at her as if she was the consummate disappointment she probably was to him. As long as he didn’t know the real reason she was so freaked out, let him think whatever he wanted. “I have a full day scheduled. We can do a late dinner,” he offered.

  She nodded. “That would be great. Have a nice day, Daddy.” As she said the term of endearment right next to James, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She wanted to stay cool and collected, but she had to glance over to James to see whether he was judging her. But he was just as stoic and cardboard as every other disposable security detail she’d ever had. Which was somehow more scary. It made her feel as if it was just a matter of time before whatever storm was brewing came to the surface.

  Jadon held the door open for them and motioned for Willa to leave. She gave him one more polite good-bye and made her way to the elevator, all too aware of James’s presence behind her. She thought it was bad while they stood there under the watchful eye of her father, but that was nothing compared to the elevator ride down.

  Fifty floors of being alone in the enclosed space with James. She knew there were cameras in the elevators, so she couldn’t ask him any of the burning questions that were tossing around her mind. All she could do was stand there and try to remind herself to breathe. All of her questions would be answered soon enough. She just needed to get out—