Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3)(43)

“You are a smart girl, Katarina. But young. I think this time you are not thinking with your head,” Eddie told her. “Someday you will know that the heart is not always as wise as it is strong.”

“Uncle Eddie…” Kat’s voice broke. She was too busy thinking about the files in Garrett’s office, wondering just how many secrets had once lain inside the one labeled Scooter, and her hands began to tremble, knowing she’d just stolen Hale back. She didn’t want to lose him again.

“Uncle Eddie,” Hale said from the door.

The old man shifted his gaze to the boy, looked at him like he was an outsider, a stranger. A threat. Kat wondered how her life would have turned out if she’d left that fateful night two years before with a painting and not a boy.

“You still owe me for my window.”

“Ten percent,” Hale told him flatly. “I will give you ten percent of Hale Industries if you do this.”

“Hale…” Kat said, dumbfounded.

“Okay,” Hale countered before Eddie had even said a word. “Fifteen.”

“You think I don’t want to do this because there’s nothing in it for me?”

“I think you’re the greatest thief in the world. And without you—in a month—Hale Industries will be half as valuable as it is today, so that’s why I’m willing to give you twenty percent of a billion-dollar corporation for a week’s worth of work.”

Kat stood quietly, honestly not sure what would happen next. Hale sounded like himself. He looked perfectly normal. But there was something there, a raw, aching thread, and Kat knew that if she pulled it, his whole world might unravel.

“Please, Uncle Eddie.” She pleaded with the only man who could fix it all, watched him sink carefully into a chair. He moved like every bone in his body was threatening to break, and Kat half expected to hear a creak as he placed his elbows on the table.

“Your mother brought a strange man to this house once, Katarina. I had hoped it might be a few more years before history repeated itself.”

Kat rolled her eyes at the mention of her father. “Uncle Eddie, I brought Hale home ages ago,” she reminded him; but her uncle just shook his head.

“I’ve known my great-niece’s friend. A boyfriend, on the other hand…that is a most different matter.”

“Yes, sir,” Hale said. He stood up a little straighter, spoke a little louder.

“You have a powerful family, boy.”

“Yes, sir,” Hale said. “Please don’t hold them against me.”

Then Eddie gave a wry smile. “Who says I was talking about them?”





The abandoned lab they rented was somewhere in New Jersey. Gabrielle drove while Kat’s mind drifted, nothing but a massive list of all the things she had to do. So when they finally walked through the main doors, her first thought was that they must have been in the wrong place.

The only light came through grit-covered windows. A thick layer of dust covered everything: crates and shelves and long rows of tarp-covered equipment.

But then there were the voices. Kat followed them through a maze of crates bearing the Hale Industries logo until she could see Marcus in the center of a wide empty room, pacing. He had a ruler in his hand, and when he stopped, he looked at Eddie, who sat in the center of the space on an old office chair.

“The Hale men have all graduated from which academy?” Marcus asked.

“Colgan.” Eddie glared at Hale. “And I believe that is all Hale men but one.”

“Correct,” Marcus said, and kept on pacing. “As a child, Reginald had three nannies, all named…”

“Beatrice,” Eddie said.

“But he called them…”

“Bunny,” Eddie replied with a cringe.

“Correct. In an interview with Esquire magazine, Reginald listed his interests as…”

“Polo and sailing,” Eddie said.

“But his actual pastimes were…”

“Drinking and womanizing,” Eddie replied.

“Correct.” Marcus gave a nod and studied his pupil, while Kat skirted the edge of the room and took a seat next to Hale.

“How’s it going?” she whispered.

“Okay. I think. To be honest, I’m not really sure. Marcus is acting…scary.”

“Posture!” Marcus snapped. “Hale men do not slouch.”

“Yeah,” Kat said. “He is.”

Then it was Marianne’s turn to look Eddie up and down. She spoke to her brother. “Marcus, if I’m to be honest, I’m more concerned about his overall presence. Edward can memorize all the facts we give him, I’m certain. But Reginald had such vigor—such spirit. His manner was very distinctive.”

“True,” Marcus said.

“Let me see you walk,” Marianne told Eddie, who stood and took a few steps across the floor.

Marcus eyed Eddie from a new perspective. “The shoulders are off.”

“His hands are wrong,” Marianne said as if Eddie wasn’t even there.

“Don’t forget the limp,” Marcus told Eddie.

Kat looked at Hale. “I’ve never heard Marcus talk this much.”

“Yeah,” Hale whispered. “I’m trying to decide if I like it.”