The Beautiful Thief (Stolen Hearts #2)(4)

Hell, who was Melody to disagree with that argument? Even so, she doubted Marcus was working late, had a burner phone, and had all of a sudden taken up doing his own laundry because he was completely innocent.

Huntsville was a bit too big to be considered a small town. It was about forty minutes outside Gary, Indiana, so almost every big box store was only a short drive away. And yet because the town’s economy all revolved around a local steel galvanizing plant, it still had the sense of tight connection and relationships that went back generations.

It was the perfect place to escape her past. And she had made a life here. She made friends and connections that she thought would last a lifetime. Except when Ben announced that he was leaving her, everything had fallen apart. As people she thought were her friends suddenly chose sides, and as her savings dwindled, she’d come to realize that maybe Isobel’s thieving ways hadn’t been all that bad. At least she’d never wanted for the basic necessities.

The walk from Whitney’s to the coffee house wasn’t long. The late summer evening was still warm, but there were just enough clouds in the sky to keep the heat from getting out of hand. Even though she had a car, one of the few things she’d gotten in the divorce, she didn’t drive it. Toni would be proud of her for walking. Depressed people stayed inside and wallowed. Happy people got in touch with nature. Right?

Once she got to the coffee house, she was able to get her skim latté without waiting in line. The early evening crowd had taken up every table. Mostly teens, who crowded around laptops with friends and classmates. Melody was able to find herself a chair close enough to an outlet to plug her computer in. She didn’t have a job or any classes, so there wasn’t any need to be online. But she was fulfilling what she said: she was out and about and Toni would be proud.

Except once she opened her laptop, she drew a blank. The Internet offered her overwhelming amounts of information and ways to pass the time, but her fingers were frozen over the keys. What was she even doing here? She didn’t care about celebrity gossip. News would only serve to depress her even more. Considering what her family did for a living, she didn’t have much of a social media presence, one of the things Ben loved to bring up to remind her how anti-social she was.

So after a few minutes, she went to the search bar and typed in the only thing she really cared about: Jonathan Sterling. She didn’t know what she expected. It wasn’t as though he was going to have a public record of his exploits online. Definitely not anything she could access without Toni’s help.

But still she looked. She fell deeper down the rabbit hole as she clicked every single article until she was ten pages deep and multiple image searches in.

Through all the articles, there was one reoccurrence. A man he was continuously photographed with. Jadon Belli, COO of Cordon Enterprises, which was a subsidiary of, not so shockingly, Killion Group.

Melody changed her search to show the most recent articles for Jadon. According to an article at the Chicago Tribune, he was about to be honored at a dinner for his philanthropy. She snorted at the thought of anyone related to Sterling being honored for anything having to do with charity work.

But she could be wrong. Maybe this Belli guy was stand-up and she was too jaded. No. This guy was a slime ball and he was too busy fooling other people.

Melody drummed her fingers on the laptop as she finished reading the article. The celebration in Jadon Belli’s honor was being held at the Cordon Enterprises headquarters in Chicago in a week.

Toni hadn’t been able to figure out where Sterling was, but Melody was willing to bet dollars to donuts that Belli knew where Sterling was. Chicago was so close.... It was tempting to go there herself.

No, Toni would kill her. But Toni was out there looking for Sterling and she hadn’t pulled up a single thing yet. Melody could call Toni and share her suspicions with her sister, but what would happen then? Toni would tell her to stay in her small town while the professionals took care of it.

Melody shut the laptop, and for the first time since Isobel had died, she knew exactly what she was going to do.





Melody was one hundred percent certain about what she was going to do. For now. In another minute, she’d be second-guessing herself once more. That was how the past week had gone. One second she’d be chickening out and the next she was ready and raring to go.

But that hadn’t stopped her from booking a hotel in the very heart of downtown Chicago, arriving a day early, spending more on clothes and jewelry than she had in years, and putting on so much makeup that she didn’t look a thing like the good little wife she used to be.

For a few long moments, she stared in the mirror. This was... surreal. Her skin was naturally clear, but the matte foundation made the tone almost inhuman, the shimmery highlighter on the cheekbones only exaggerating the effect. Her brown eyes were outlined in black and faded out in a way that made the brown iris almost match the kohl eyeliner. She had bought some fake eyelashes but opted not to use them, instead going for multiple coats of mascara. If she did get into any trouble, she didn’t need any stray lashes falling in her face.

Then she topped off the look by filling in her brows, contouring her cheekbones, and opting for a nude lip. Really, the eyes did all the work. Her hair was down and in loose waves around her shoulders. She knew she looked better when her hair was back, but she also knew men didn’t care. Hair down was sexier nine times out of ten, and considering she was going to have to rely completely on her charm, what men wanted really mattered tonight.