The Cocky Thief (Stolen Hearts #1)(21)

The tape held the glass together and after a few hits in the right places, the glass all fell out in one piece. Austin set the glass down before he pulled himself into the room. No guards checking in yet, so that was a good sign.

He looked through the darkness of the room, guessing where the necklace would be, but it wasn’t a hard guess. There was an armoire in a room that was obviously not a bedroom. He pulled open a cabinet door and there the safe was, just waiting for him.

But before he could even get a crack at it, he noticed something off. He cocked his head as he reached for the door, which was already open. He pulled at the heavy steel and the door just swung open.

Before he could question it, he reached inside for the black velvet box and, after flipping it open, confirmed the necklace was in fact there. The necklace was called the Dragon Heart because of its fiery red color. The impressive four hundred and seven carat diamond was cut in an oval shape and even in the dim light seemed to shine in the box. The chain was adorned with hundreds of smaller diamonds, but none of them had anything on the massive pendant. He held it up to the light streaming in from the window. It looked real enough to him.

He pulled it from the box, gently slipped it into a velvet bag and then into his pocket. The safe had a few straps of cash and some other items. He was just taking whatever he could fit in his pockets when the door creaked open. Austin jumped up and reached for the gun tucked in his waistband, one of the toys he’d borrowed from the guards, as he turned around. To his surprise, Jennifer stood in the open doorway, looking at him disapprovingly.

“Not cool, Lawyer,” she said in a cool voice as she walked inside the room and kicked the door shut. “My mother goes through all the trouble of opening that door and you think you can take what we’ve been setting up?”

Austin looked around the room but there was nothing there to help him make sense of what he was hearing. “You set this up?”

“Yes. In ten seconds, those guards are going to be back and I’d better have that necklace by then.” Austin narrowed his eyes as he started to replay all of his interactions with Jennifer and her family through his mind, but she didn’t give him a chance. “Please.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ve been lying to me since the second we met, so please don’t get all righteous with me. Now hand over the necklace.”

Austin held up the gun. “I think you’re forgetting which of us is armed.”

“In order to be afraid of that, I’d have to actually believe you’d shoot me. Now are you really that cold-hearted?”

The door opened and Austin swung the gun around to see Melody there. “You two are seriously still here? They’re coming back right now.” Without waiting, Melody opened her mouth and let out a scream that would’ve woken the dead.

Austin fell back. “You guys are crazy.” He turned and jumped out the window.

“Hey!” called Jennifer.

He turned to see her also crawling out the window.

“Are you going to help me or not?” she asked right as she pushed herself out. On reflex, Austin reached out for her and caught her as she came down. “I think it’s time to run.”

He took her hand in his and they ran for the darkness of the vineyard as he heard the guards come into the room. He didn’t hear anyone chasing after them, so he figured they got out before anyone noticed which direction they went.

“This way.” Jennifer led the way through the vines, leading him farther and farther from the house. He’d wanted to pick off a car on his way out, but it looked as if that plan was shit now.

He stopped and faced down Jennifer. “What the hell was that?” he demanded.

He could just make out her questioning brow in the moonlight. “That was you committing armed robbery.”

“You knew. You planned this whole thing.”

“We arranged for the necklace to be here, we unlocked the safe and all we needed to do was pick up the package when you came in and profited off all of our hard work after seducing a vulnerable woman.”

“Vulnerable? I don’t remember you protesting.”

“Right. And you really followed me last night because you were that overcome by passion. You used me, Austin, or whatever the hell your name is. You lied to me and I don’t forgive easily.”

“We weren’t exactly a couple,” he pointed out.

“But that didn’t stop me from trusting you.”

Logically, he knew it was her own fault for getting too close to fast, but he couldn’t help the shame that hit him. No. She’d been lying to him too. “Don’t play the innocent act with me. Acting like you’re just here for your mom’s wedding and introducing your innocent sister. Let me guess, she’s telling everyone right now that it was me who stole that necklace?”

“Technically, you did.”

“You set me up.”

She scoffed. “You set yourself up. I was just there for the ride.”

“Why are you?”

“Excuse me?”

He stared her down. “You’re here right now bickering with me when you should be putting on the waterworks back with your sister. Why?”

She straightened. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“No. It’s very much not obvious.”

“I’m here because I want to know how much of it was a lie. Every word?” She took a step closer. “Every kiss?” Closer. “Every touch? Exactly how badly were you playing me?”