The Beautiful Thief (Stolen Hearts #2)(31)

“Not here. The hotel. Toni will be on her way. Flights from California to here aren’t that long. She knows all my aliases, but if we find a place that can take cash, that will slow her down.”

Adam didn’t like to think about the quality of places that took cash. That would be a problem for another time. “So what’s going to happen when your sister finds me? Is she as revengey as you?”

Melody shrugged. “I don’t know. Toni is.... I haven’t talked to her much in the past few years.”

“I thought you liked her.”

“I do. But she was part of my old life. The life I was trying to cut out.”

“Because you were trying to be normal.”

“Isobel could’ve gotten that doorman to spill his guts over the phone. She would’ve been proud of you.”

Considering his role in her death, Adam didn’t know how to feel about that. Flattered? It seemed like Melody had a high opinion of her mother considering that she’d run from her for so long. “I’m sure she taught you all her tricks.”

Melody snorted. “Oh, she tried. I was never a model student.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“I would watch Toni use her magic fingers to crack any system she wanted before she was even out of high school, and Jen was the older sister who had guys drooling all over her. I was always two steps behind.”

Adam looked her over and tried to reconcile her words with what he was seeing. “I find that even harder to believe.”

“Why? The first time you met me, you kidnapped me in seconds. Hardly badass thief material.”

Adam tried to think of a way to word what he was thinking without sounding like a creep. But when he came up blank, he decided to just spit it out. “You’re.... You’re gorgeous. If you wanted, you could probably walk into the Museum of Natural History and ask for the Hope Diamond and whatever poor schmuck was on guard duty would just hand it over. I’ve seen your sisters. They’re both pretty, but they don’t have anything on you.”

Melody looked as though she were about to say something, but then she looked down and fiddled with her chopsticks. “Jen, Toni, and even Isobel all had one big advantage on me.”

“What’s that?”

“They wanted to be criminals.”





Melody didn’t really know what to say to Adam. She had tried so hard to not go spilling all the personal details about her relationship with her family, but here she was telling him all the secrets she’d kept so close.

Maybe it was because she wasn’t capable of keeping her mouth shut. Or maybe the opposite. No one, not even Ben or Whitney, had known the truth about her past. Now that she was with someone she wasn’t related to and didn’t have to lie to, these little secrets just seemed to tumble out.

Hell, even Isobel needed to spill her secrets to someone, thought Melody. Though probably not one of the guys who helped to kill her....

“So what are you going to do after this?” asked Adam.

“After dinner?”

“After we kill Forbes.”

She glanced around, but there was no one within earshot. Adam must’ve known. Guys like him knew where every exit, weapon, and possible assailant was at any given time. “I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Do you think you can kill a man and suddenly go back to being normal? Or are you going to take up the family business?”

“I said I don’t know, Adam. Drop it.”

At that moment, the waiter showed up with the food. All of the rolls were on one communal dish and each of them had a smaller plate and a bowl for soy sauce. Adam took his chopsticks and pointed to the rolls. “These are shrimp and crab, all cooked. These are some vegetable rolls, so those are safe too. Here are salmon and tuna, both raw. Eat at your own risk.” Then he pointed to the biggest one. “This is a house special. Honestly, I can’t remember what’s in it, but it’s probably good.”

Melody couldn’t help the smile that formed before she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to be smiling. Once she was back to being stone-faced, she started with some of the vegetable pieces and the crab ones. They ate mostly in silence as Melody slowly got used to the new tastes and textures. With the way everyone had been raving about sushi the past few years, she’d expected something... better. But she wasn’t disappointed. Everything tasted good in its own way, and whatever sauce that was drenching the house roll Adam had ordered was mouthwatering.

Would Huntsville ever get that sushi place? Of course, it wouldn’t matter if she never went back. It had been weeks since Isobel had died, and Melody hadn’t given any real thoughts to whether she was going back to stay. What was wrong with her? She’d had tunnel vision on getting revenge, and she’d never stopped to think that her entire life was just up in the air.

Did she want to use her newfound wealth to buy one of the many foreclosures in the area and start over? It was strange to think that with the funds in her bank account, the entire world was open to her, but she still felt like there were no options. Maybe that was why the revenge seemed so important. Because she had no idea what to do if she wasn’t trying to honor Isobel.

When the waiter cleared the table and left the bill, she took it and set down enough twenties to cover it and a tip.