Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(35)

“It isn’t people she’s worried about, dearie.” Neil walked in, inhaling deeply through his nose. For someone like Neil, scent was a multilayered object and needed to be analyzed. “There’s no brimstone. I smell vampire, witch, your dear self, that delicious faery of yours and…hmm…Irish whiskey.”

“Dad was here.” My dad really liked his whiskey.

“That explains it then,” Neil said, seemingly satisfied with his analysis. “No one else.”

I let my shoulders sag in relief. My whole plan depended on being able to return the money to Lucas Halfer. I still wasn’t sure it would even work, but I needed that money to be able to hope there was a way out. Without it, the job became difficult. There was still equipment to buy and people to bribe. Thievery, when done properly, was not cheap.

“Good, then we can relax.” Sarah flopped down on the sofa. “We should probably get started on the prelims for the job. I have an in at the hotel. Bruce, that guy I dated about six months ago, is one of the assistant managers. I gave him this great sob story about a loan shark and getting tossed out of my apartment, so he’s giving me and my roommate some cleaning shifts starting this week. Hope you look good in gray, Zoey.”

“We’re not doing the job,” I said sharply. Something still felt off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something wrong.

Sarah looked at me like I’d gone insane. “We can’t back out. That’s tantamount to breaking the contract.”

“I haven’t signed the contract, not really.” I absently looked around, trying to figure out what was wrong. “The way I look at it, until I actually spend the money, I should be able to return it all. There’s been no real exchange if I give every cent of the money back.”

She twirled a piece of pink hair, winding it around her finger. “I don’t know if that will work.”

“Don’t even try,” Neil advised her with a sigh. “I spent most of last night trying to convince her, and she isn’t listening. Something about our immortal souls or something. Immortal souls won’t buy baby wolf a new car.”

I took Neil by the arm and started to pull him into the bedroom. I wouldn’t be satisfied until I saw it was there with my own eyes.

“Move that bed for me.” I could do it myself, but why bother when Neil wouldn’t even break a sweat?

“I can make a bed move, honey. I can make the earth move when I put my mind to it, but you’re just not my type,” Neil said with a snap of his fingers.

“Now.” I growled, not interested in wasting time with Neil’s humor.

“Yes, ma’am.” He effortlessly shoved the heavy bed halfway across the room. Before I could bark out my next order, he rolled the rug up. “See, Zoey, everything is fine.”

I knelt down and pushed at the floor. The hidden door popped up, and there was my lovely safe. It was secure. And yet I still found my fingers spinning the wheel.

“Is everything all right?” Sarah asked from the door.

“It’s fine,” Neil replied as I heard the final notch click into place. “Zoey is just being careful.”

But Zoey hadn’t been careful. No, Zoey had been the opposite of careful I discovered as I pulled the door open and looked into my lovely safe. At least the bastard, whoever it was, had left my guns. They were gleaming in the dim light like a lonely beacon.

“Shit.” Neil looked down into the safe that no longer contained any money in it.

I could feel myself start to shake and then the tears started. I hated the way I always cried when I got really angry, but there was nothing I could do about it. Everything I’d worked for was gone. My soul was in question. I really could spend the rest of eternity on the Hell plane with my father saying, “I told you so.”

“Zoey,” Neil pulled me out of my nightmare momentarily. He was breathing in deeply, looking for a scent. He shook his head in confusion. “Was your father in here last night?”

“No, I don’t think he’s been in my bedroom in months.” My father rarely came to my place. The night before had been one of three times he’d ever been in my apartment. I usually went to his house.

Sarah shook her head. “He left with me, and neither one of us went into her room. After you left with the hot faery, we were here for maybe ten minutes.”

Neil frowned. “If your father wasn’t here, then why does the whole room smell like whiskey?”

I let the door slam with a satisfying thud, but not until I pulled out my faithful Ruger. I made sure to grab an extra clip. I needed to be ready, after all.

I had a date with dear old Dad.





Chapter Ten





Compared to most of the places we lived while I was growing up, the house my dad owned was a mansion. I drove through the manicured lawns of North Dallas, anger rising steadily with every mile. Driving up Mockingbird Lane, the traffic was always rough, even in the middle of the day, but it bothered me more than usual. I took a hard left the first chance I got and sped through the expensive neighborhood my father had called home for the last thirteen years.

Sometime around the time Daniel’s father died, my own father decided to get serious about putting down roots. In our world, that meant being a big enough predator that you didn’t need to be on the run. When the rest of the world feared your talents enough, they tended to leave you alone. My father carefully cultivated his reputation. Some of it was true, and a whole lot of it was the product of his devious, inventive mind, but the important thing was the world’s perception of Harry Wharton. He was a bastard with a cold heart who got the job done and got rid of anyone who was in the way. Those beneath him on the food chain feared him and those above him respected him enough to leave him alone. There were some powerful people out there who owed Harry Wharton, and to Dad’s credit, he knew how to hold those vouchers to his best advantage. To the supernatural underworld, Harry Wharton was a powerful man.