Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(61)

He laughed, a nasty, bitter sound. “It changes everything, Zoey. I love you and only you. My whole life it’s only been you. I’ve never even slept with anyone else. Even while you f*cked him mindless, I was faithful because I knew you would come back to me. No, there weren’t any hookers, baby. I spent that money protecting the new vamps. I spent it building something to protect you. I was willing to wait for you because he might have your body, but I had your heart. Now you tell me you love him? Maybe your love isn’t worth what I thought it was.”

It no longer mattered that there were other people watching because I couldn’t stop the tears. All I could see was years of my life, years of my love, being tossed away. “Guess that whole ‘I’ll fight for you’ thing didn’t last very long, did it? After everything you did, Danny, all the lies, all the times you pushed me away and told me to move on because you didn’t love me anymore, and you want to end it this way? By telling me I wasn’t worth it? Fine. That’s what you want, fine.” I took a second to breathe through the pain, but there was something else I needed him to understand. “I wouldn’t take back a minute of it, Daniel. Not a minute. Not even this one. Now we do this one last job and then we can be done. I’ll even leave the city after we get Sarah back. I wouldn’t want to contaminate your power base.”

Daniel was finally calming down. His claws retracted, his shoulders slumped, and he sighed as he looked at me. “Zoey, I’m not doing this job with you. I’m sorry for what I said before. You took me by surprise, but I shouldn’t have said what I did. That being said, I won’t take you with me to Vegas. If I learned anything tonight it’s that you’re not up to this. You can’t be unemotional or professional. You’re going to get yourself killed, and I won’t be a part of that.”

“You owe me this,” I stammered, shocked that he would threaten to torpedo my operation. He knew how important this was to me.

“No,” he said implacably. “I need to keep you alive. That’s what I owe you.”

“I’ll find another way, then.” I felt like he’d punched me in the gut. How could he take away my best option to save Sarah? It didn’t matter what she’d done. She was a part of our crew. We didn’t leave our crew behind.

He shook his head, his jaw a stubborn line. “You need an invitation to that ball, Zoey. I assure you, you won’t find another vampire willing to escort you.”

A dumbass, stupid, likely to get me killed plan went through my head. “Who said I was going to ask a vampire, Danny? I believe the demons will be looking for dates, too.”

Daniel stopped cold. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“If you can say that and mean it, then you don’t know me at all.” I stared at my husband, my first love, and let him feel my will. I’d never let him tell me what I could or couldn’t do. I hadn’t done it when we were together, and I would be damned if I let him do it after we broke up.

Daniel’s blue eyes widened. “Who the hell was that in the field, Zoey? What did you do? What did you promise that demon in order to save Dev?”

Because I was no longer interested in answering his questions, I turned away and started to go back to the van. I was already thinking of all the things I would need to do when I got back to the city. I was going to have to call Stewart to me in order to arrange an invitation to the ball. It would be hard because my witch was in Hell, but Christine would help me. The good news was with Danny out of the picture, I could leave my lover out of it as well. I could protect Dev by running the job alone. He wouldn’t like it, but he wouldn’t have a choice. I had the Revelation. I could get Sarah out myself.

Daniel pulled me around. He wasn’t taking the silent treatment well. “Tell me, Zoey.”

“It was Stewart,” I told him because he would probably find out anyway.

“Shit.” Daniel slapped at the van, his hand denting the metal.

I pushed at his chest because he was crowding me, but it didn’t do any good. Until Danny wanted to move, I was trapped. The only weapons I had were words. “I would think you would be thrilled. According to Stewart, the demons are all rooting for you. You have a real cheerleader in our old friend. He wants to get in your good graces, Your Highness. Would you like to know how he thought he could really please you?”

Daniel’s eyes strayed to Dev’s sleeping form. “I have never…”

I hit his chest because I could see in his eyes that he had thought it. He’d thought about someone doing that job for him so he could get the benefit and not pay for the crime. He would never say the words out loud, but it had clearly crossed his mind. “How long, Danny? How long until one of your minions decides to move up the ladder by killing Dev?”

I could see Daniel was upset by the thought. He shook me lightly by my shoulders. “I have done everything I can to protect your lover. I could have killed him many times over, but I allowed myself to look like a pathetic chump while you worked out your angst. Don’t you blame me for this. You’re the one who brought him in. And don’t you dare blame me for wanting him out of the picture. You know how I feel about you. Do you think it’s been easy watching you with him? I want to rip his heart out every time he touches you. You’re mine, Zoey. You’ve always been mine.”

“Then you should have taken me with you to Paris.”