The Cocky Thief (Stolen Hearts #1)(24)

Mel came out of the bathroom and ran a hand through her hair. The tenth time she’d done it since they got to the motel room a few minutes ago. “Why did we stop?” she asked. “We’re way too close to the vineyard. We need to be putting as much distance between us and them as possible.”

Isobel sighed. “Ye of little faith.” She crossed over to the worn-looking armchair in the corner of the room and gave a good shove to the top corner until the chair fell over. Mel and Jennifer exchanged a look, but neither asked. Isobel did have a flair for the dramatic.

“Right where he said it would be.” Isobel detached a large manila envelope that had been duct taped to the bottom of the chair. She ran her finger along the top and then spilled the contents onto the one and only bed in the dingy room.

Jennifer stepped forward and spread out everything. “Passports, IDs, credit cards... This must’ve cost a fortune.” The wad of hundreds that spilled out was hopefully real.

“Like I said, I wouldn’t plan a job this big and not have an escape route in place. Ajax does the best fakes on the West Coast. These are the best money can buy, and it will be taken out of your considerable share of the profits.” She opened the passports and handed them out accordingly. “We’re going to split up. Three women are easier to spot than lone travelers. And in three days, we’ll meet in Amsterdam.” She looked up with a victorious smile in place. “Easy.”

Mel picked out her documents and studied some paperwork. “I’m getting a rental car? You really don’t have faith in me anymore, do you?”

Jennifer playfully punched her in the shoulder. “Price of being the youngest, Mel. You get stuck with all the overprotectiveness.” Truth was that Mel had been out of the game for six years. Car was the slowest and most annoying way to travel, but there were less cameras and security measures involved. The California airports would probably be crawling with guys on Stranger’s or Sterling’s payroll.

Jennifer looked over her documents. She was the one booked on the flight. Made sense considering the security guys at the house were only around her for two nights. They’d seen Isobel a lot longer.

“Why leave in the morning?” asked Jennifer. “If we leave now, we can put more distance between us faster.”

“It’s one in the morning. Everywhere will be so deserted that we’ll stand out like sore thumbs. If we wait until the morning rush, we shouldn’t have a problem. I don’t want them to find out where we’re going based off of security footage.”

Jennifer knew Isobel was right, but the one bed in the room didn’t look big enough to share and she didn’t want to think about the bugs that might be on the floor.

“Armchair it is,” she said with a sigh as she fell into the stiff upholstery and took off her shoes.

Melody sat on the bed and the worry was plastered all over her face. “Everything okay over there?” asked Jennifer.

Mel seemed to snap out of it. “Yeah. I was just thinking about that guy, Austin Raye.”

“That’s probably not his name,” said Jennifer, probably a little too quickly, but she couldn’t tell if Mel caught on.

“Well, whatever his name was, do you think he got out?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she snapped. “He was there for exactly the same reason we were and if our places were switched, he would’ve done the same thing to me, okay?”

Mel held up her hands. “Fine. Sorry I asked.” She backed up onto the bed and reached for the remote to turn on the television.

As she flipped through channels, Jennifer let her head fall back onto the top of the armchair. Austin would’ve left her. Like the old saying went, there was no honor among thieves, no matter what kind of connection they might’ve had. But he had run with her. He hadn’t abandoned her and even though she wasn’t wearing the highest heels, he must’ve been slowed down.

No. No matter what happened to Austin from here on out, he was out of her life for good.





“I need to find Jennifer Murray now,” demanded Austin as he paced back and forth in the small hotel room Hart had booked.

Hart unzipped his jacket and folded it before he set it onto the desk chair. Austin was too distracted to be fully annoyed that the guy folded his jacket, but made a mental note to make fun of Hart about it later.

“They’re probably halfway to Japan right now,” said Hart nonchalantly as he crossed his arms over his chest and faced Austin. “We’ll worry about it tomorrow.”

Austin stopped in his tracks and stared at Hart. “Worry about it tomorrow? What the hell is wrong with you? You drag me out here, blackmail me, make me risk my life to get this damn necklace and now that it could be going off the grid for decades, you’re just fine and fucking dandy?”

Instead of answering, Hart reached into his bag and pulled something small and rectangular out before he tossed it over to Austin. “Here you go. Payment for services rendered. Now go back to your room and let me sleep.”

Austin stared at the USB drive in his hand. The one that had almost gotten him killed by Hart. And now he was just handing it over. “You never wanted the necklace,” he said as it clicked.

“It’s not really my style,” he deadpanned.

“This was about Sterling the whole time. You didn’t want it; you just want to make sure Sterling doesn’t get it.”