The Beautiful Thief (Stolen Hearts #2)(53)

“What do you think you’re going to do?” asked Ben, his panic starting to take over. “The police are going to see where you go.”

“We’re going inside,” said Adam. Then he lined the truck up with a loading bay and slammed on the accelerator. Subconsciously, Melody reached over Ben and set her hand on Adam’s tense arm. If they were going to die, she didn’t want to die next to her ex-husband. She wanted to go with Adam.

The door crumpled like paper under the intense blow of the truck, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like paper. Her entire body felt as though it had been slammed into a hard metal wall. For a second after the crash, she was still. Maybe unconscious. At the moment, it was hard to tell.

Then someone was touching her. And she heard a click. She forced her eyes open as Adam picked her up out of her seat and carried her out. She finally seemed to come back to her body as her feet hit the ground. “Your arm.” She pulled back from him.

“Arm is still there. We need to get gone and lay low until our backup arrives.” As he spoke, he took her hand and pulled her into the deep shadows.

Wickory Farms used to make high-end furniture, but after the economy took a hit, they ended up closing doors. The factory had sat unoccupied ever since. The only reason Melody knew about it was because the rumor mill was buzzing one day after the star quarterback and his girlfriend had been caught smoking pot in the abandoned place one time. There had been calls to demolish it, but the city was desperate for money and had hoped they could get another buyer for the property.

Adam pulled her farther from the truck and Melody tried to stop him. “Wait....”

“Don’t worry, I got to the laptop.”

The laptop? The laptop. She wasn’t really good at this whole car crash thing. They reached the wall of the loading area and Adam dragged her to the nearest door. “Adam—”

He suddenly stopped and Melody ran right into him. He wrapped a hand around her and held her close to him, holding a hand over her mouth.

Then she heard it. Footsteps. Her heartbeat was almost deafening in her ears, but there was definitely someone approaching. No, scratch that. Multiple someones.

“Smith!”

The familiarity of the voice cut through her. Adam must’ve felt it because his arms tightened around her. Maybe to give her comfort. Maybe to hold her back.

It was dark, but she could make out three silhouettes walking in.

“Come on, Smith. Let’s get this over with before the cops come in.”

Why weren’t the cops coming in now? What had Forbes done to convince them to hold off? Hell, she knew half of the Huntsville force. They dealt with meth addicts and domestic disturbances. They didn’t walk into dark, abandoned factories and hunt down killers who used to be their neighbors. It probably hadn’t been too hard for Forbes to talk his way in here. Considering the crimes she was accused of, he’d already wormed his way well into the justice system.

“There’s only three,” said Adam into her ear.

“Still more than us.”

“I can take Forbes.” He still didn’t address the whole three of them thing.

“Let’s keep going. We can hide—”

“You go. Get as far away from here and find somewhere to hunker down. I’ll be right behind you.”

God, she was so stupid. He wasn’t suggesting they fight them together. He was going to give her time to get away no matter what happened to him. No. Hell no. “No. You don’t get to do this for me.”

He cupped her face in his hands and those eyes that were so empty when she’d first met him were filled with emotion. “No. This is my choice. My choice will always be you.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “We said we were going to do this together, remember?”

“And we will. I’ll meet up with you as soon as I finish here.”

“Adam—” He cut her off with a kiss, but she couldn’t bring herself to kiss him back. There wasn’t time for arguing. Forbes and his men were getting closer and soon their whispers would be heard. And she knew there was no way for her to convince him to stay if he thought that him staying could get her hurt. Stupid, brave son of a—

Adam broke off the kiss and then he was gone. It was suddenly cold without his body heat and the laptop bag in her arms. Melody inched toward the door. Adam moved completely silently until he wanted to be heard. Long enough to draw eyes away from where Melody was hiding. He wanted her to get to that door. He was willing to die for her to get to that door.

And then the shooting started.





Melody jumped at the shot and then realized it was Adam doing the shooting. There were hardly any bullets left in that gun, so he was purely bluffing and making the three guys separate. Maybe he could handle this. Maybe his experience was enough to let him take on three guys at once.

But Melody wasn’t going to take that chance. While Forbes and his guys were looking to Adam, that gave her an opportunity. She stuck to the border as she made her way back to Ben’s truck. After the first gunshot, it had died down. From where she was, the truck blocked her view, which was a good thing because she didn’t want anyone to see her.

She swallowed back her fear and made a run for the truck.

“Forbes!” she heard Adam call. “You and me. Let’s do this.”