The Cocky Thief (Stolen Hearts #1)(27)

She looked back out the window, but this time a different face looked back at her through the reflection in the glass. A familiar, pissed-off face. She turned around, half expecting her hallucination to disintegrate like smoke in front of her, but no. The lawyer really was right there. “Oh no,” she breathed. “You can’t be here.”

He raised a brow and one corner of his mouth hooked up. “That’s where you’re wrong, honey. You’re the one who’s not supposed to be here.” He grabbed her arm and turned her in the opposite direction of the gate.

“What the hell are you doing?” she whispered as she tried to pull herself free. But his grip was like steel on her and, even though he was walking as though nothing was wrong, she knew he would never let her go.

“We never got to finish our talk last night. What do you think about a coffee date?”

“I think I have a plane to catch.” She once again tugged at her arm.

Austin abruptly stopped and twisted her around. “See those three guys over there?” He pointed to the gate across from them and sure enough, there were three men in black suits who looked sorely out of place. How had she missed them? Had they just arrived? Without thinking, she took a step back and Austin leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Your choice, sweetheart. Want to have that date or feel like taking your chances with those three?”

“They might not be here for me.” Even she wasn’t convinced by the weak words.

“Our good friend Ajax had an unfriendly visit this morning. Sterling knows everything. If you want to survive this, it’s time to change plans.”

Jennifer twisted around to look at Austin. “If he knows everything, then what about my mom? Melody?”

“Come with me and we can find out. You can’t do anything here and since Stranger probably isn’t too happy with me at the moment, I’d like to get the hell out of Dodge.”

Jennifer scoffed. “I want to get out of here too, but I’m not going anywhere with you. You probably want to kill me just as much as they do.”

“Yeah, but at least with me your death will be faster. Let’s go.”

Jennifer gave one last look at the guys waiting for her and decided she’d rather take her chances with Austin. Wait... “What’s your name?” she asked.

“Do we have to do this now?”

“I’m not going anywhere until I know who you really are.”

“Says the jewel thief,” he pointed out.

“The jewel thief named Jennifer,” she bit back. “Now tell me your name.”

“Austin. I didn’t lie to you about that. Austin Miles.”

Jennifer let out a sigh and she started back toward the baggage claim.

Austin stayed close. “Are you surprised I’m not dead?”

She thought back to the countless times last night she’d wondered that. “No,” she finally answered honestly. “You strike me as a survivor.” One of the things she’d liked about him. Every single time she’d thought about all the horrors he’d endure if he’d been captured, some part of her had known that he would’ve gotten out of it somehow.

“So that’s why you decided to abandon me in the middle of a field with no necklace?”

“You had a gun,” she pointed out.

“And you had my necklace.”

She stopped again and looked up at him. “No. We did all the work. Do you know how hard that would be to steal if it was still in Sterling’s possession? A heat, weight, and moisture monitored vault on one of his most heavily guarded properties. It would be impossible to get in. Isobel got that necklace where we could touch it and now you want to swoop in and walk off with it and have the nerve to claim I took your score?”

He set a hand at the small of her back and kept on leading her out. “Since we’re being honest with each other, I have to admit something. I don’t give a damn about the necklace.”

Jennifer almost stumbled at the admission. “If you don’t care about the Dragon Heart, why are you here?”

“I’m here because I was hired to get the necklace by a crazy ex-cop and we’re invested in making sure Sterling and Stranger don’t get it back. Which, in this case, means they don’t get you, assuming you’re the one who has the Dragon Heart. What are the chances you’re going to tell me which one of you actually has it? I don’t feel like playing the shell game with the Murray family.”

“If you get me to my mom and sister, I’ll tell you everything you want to know about the necklace. Do you have anyone going to get them or are you working alone?”

“I sent the crazy ex-cop to the train station to pick up Isobel.”

“No one for Melody?”

“There’s only two of us. I had to choose the most likely target for Stranger and I have a feeling he’s not too happy with his fiancée at the moment. And I had a personal interest in you...”

She stiffened and tried not to think exactly what he meant by that. This whole day had gotten so fucked. “What did Ajax tell you?”

“The man just lost a finger. He told us everything.”

“A little torture doesn’t mean he needed to yammer on about our details. I thought discretion was included in the price.”

“Don’t be pissed at him. He was doing you a favor. After his personal loss, he figured anyone finding you girls before those guys would be a good thing.”