The Cocky Thief (Stolen Hearts #1)(47)

“If you insult my tech one more time, I’m going to make that thing explode in your ear,” said Toni.

Jennifer smiled and shook her head. “She can’t actually do that,” she assured him.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing that,” said Weston’s gruff voice over the line.

“Oh, God, it’s all of them.”

“We’re all here now,” said Scott over the line. “Now it’s time to get to work. Have you set eyes on Stranger yet?”

Austin started to scan the room, so Jennifer moved in a little closer to him, as though they were in a soft embrace.

“I don’t see him,” said Austin. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not here.”

“I’m sure he’s around somewhere,” said Scott. “Isobel, what’s your status?”

“I’m in the stairwell now. I should be on the fifteenth floor soon and depending on the safe, we’ll have all of Gregory’s secrets soon.”

“Good. Stay on it. The drop is going to happen in ten minutes and when they call, we’ll get proof of life for Melody, and Weston will move in. Miles and Jennifer, you two need to be on Stranger’s radar before then. So get noticed.”

Austin looked down at her with a crooked grin. “I think we were just ordered to dance.” He held out a hand and she took it, only to hear a chorus of groans coming over the comm. “Bite me.” Austin led her onto the dance floor.

The song was slow; Austin held her close, with one hand holding hers and the other arm wrapped around her waist. It was strangely nice that the comms were in place. This way they didn’t have to talk or make anything awkward. They could just have this one calm moment before the storm started.

She knew Austin wanted her to give him something...some sign that she wasn’t going to disappear out of his life forever after this was over. And part of her, a big part, really wanted to give him a chance.

But, like she said, she’d never had a real relationship, one where she could really be herself. And things had been moving so fast. For sure, there was crazy chemistry between them. Maybe they could arrange a friends with benefits relationship?

No. She already knew what they had was more than that. But a few days just was too fast for her to give Austin what she thought he wanted to hear.

“I’m heading to the safe now,” said Isobel in her ear.

At the moment, life didn’t care whether she needed more time to sort out her feelings. The job was well underway and there was no time to stop now.





Something was happening. Melody could tell by the hushed voices of her two babysitters outside the door. She sat up, and her muscles immediately protested. Lying on the cold, hard floor for so long was going to require a week’s worth of massages to get all these knots out.

She shuffled closer to the door and put her ear up to it, but she couldn’t make out anything they were saying. She should’ve known better by now, but in the boredom of being cooped up, she kept on trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

If she really wanted to hear what they were saying, she’d need to get out of the room and she only knew one way to get out. Melody twisted around and knocked on the door with her feet. She could hear the men approaching but couldn’t move out of the way fast enough to avoid the door swinging inward and banging against her feet.

“What?” snapped Blondie.

Her heart raced and she really wished that after all this time the fear would’ve died down. But the truth was, it was so hard to determine how much time had passed down here. There were no windows and every time she drifted into unconsciousness, she had no idea she’d been out.

Even though all she’d done was sleep and fall deeper into her own self-pitying thoughts, she was still always exhausted. But she hadn’t lost sight of her goal. She still needed to get out and she needed to do it before the exchange went down.

Would Isobel give up the Dragon Heart necklace to get her back? Maybe. Melody didn’t doubt that Isobel loved Melody in her own way. But love or no love, it didn’t matter. Even if Isobel gave these guys the Dragon Heart, they were never going to let her get out of this alive. Which meant she needed to act soon. The guys had been taking turns watching her and now they were both there. That meant something.

It probably meant she should’ve made her escape attempt earlier, but considering her inability to move her arms or feet, any escape attempt was out of the question.

But she was getting desperate now and it was time to bring out all the tools in her toolbox. So even if she was dirty and exhausted and hadn’t looked into a mirror in days, it was time to turn on the charm and get shit done.

“I, um...” Her voice was dry after a day of not speaking. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

It was the one little freedom she got and she refused to be grateful about it. The only reason they would help her to the bathroom was so there would be less cleanup.

Ahh, the gross details of kidnapping no one liked to think about.

Except Blondie had never been the one to take her out. Only Baldie. Did that mean Blondie was the boss and he got to delegate out the tasks he didn’t want?

“Hold it,” snapped Blondie as he started to shut the door.

“I’ve been holding it!” she called with a raspy voice. “I wouldn’t ask you for anything if I didn’t have to,” she added begrudgingly.