The Cocky Thief (Stolen Hearts #1)(49)

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I think you’re using my sister’s kidnapping as an excuse to get revenge on the people who had your wife murdered.”

Scott leaned forward, setting one hand on the desk in front of Toni and one hand on the back of her chair. “I think you should leave my wife out of this.”

Toni didn’t even lean away from him as he invaded her personal space. “That’s impossible. This entire thing is all because of Catherine Hart. It’s naive of you to think otherwise.”

“Let’s get one thing straight, okay? You say her name one more time, I will throw you and your equipment out of this van and I’ll leave your sister to die. Got it?”

“I got it. And you’ve made it very clear that you’re completely over her death. I’m glad we can agree.”

Scott was half tempted to make good on his threats, but the ringing phone forced him to put his priorities in order. He just had to make it through this night and he would never have to deal with Toni Fucking Murray again.

He pushed away from the desk and snatched his phone out of his pocket while unmuting the comm with his free hand. “Are we doing this?”

“Who am I talking to?” asked the man on the other end. From the sound of it, it was Greg Stranger himself.

Scott signaled to Toni to start tracking the call. “I’m facilitating the exchange. Before we send you the necklace, we need proof of life. I want her to repeat a sentence back to me verbatim.”

“No. We’re going to do this—”

“No. The only thing you have that we want is Melody Murray. If we don’t have proof that she’s alive and in good enough health to speak, we’re not giving you any damn necklace. What’s it going to be?”

“Hold on,” said the man on the other end.

Scott looked over to Toni and she gave him a thumbs-up, signaling that the trace was working. From the time that he had to wait, Scott would guess that Stranger had to take the elevator to a different level.

“What do you want her to say?”

“I want to hear her say ‘Toni hates everything.’”

Toni gave him a questioning look and shrugged. It was something that was unique and would let her know that they had found her clue. Maybe it would offer her a little comfort.

“Shit,” said Stranger.

“Shit? What happened? Where is Melody?”

“The drop is being rescheduled.” He abruptly hung up.

Toni’s eyes were wide as she stared at Scott. “What the hell was that?”

“That was a variable. Melody wasn’t where he left her.”

“So where the hell is she?”

Scott knelt next to Toni and motioned for the screen. “Were you able to track the call?”

“Yes. Based off the distance from us and him, he was either on the second floor or in the sub-basement. Based off the interference I picked up on the call, I’m ninety percent sure it’s the sub-basement.”

“Okay. So our game plan is staying the same. Weston, move into the sub-basement and search out Melody. You’re not going to be alone, so keep your eyes and ears open. Isobel, where are you on the safe?”

There was silence over the other end. “Mom?” said Toni. “Where are you?”

“Isobel!”





Austin ran a hand up and down Jennifer’s back. “It’s going to be okay.” He had no idea whether that was true, but he wasn’t about to freak her out any more. They were still on the dance floor and he didn’t want to draw any extra attention to them.

“My mother and sister are now both missing. How is this going to be okay?”

Scott answered before Austin could. “Jennifer, Isobel is MIA. Can you make it upstairs to check what happened? Bring Austin with you.”

“The entire point of having us here was so we could be a distraction and be noticed and now you want us to run a job?” snapped Austin.

“Things change. Toni has the security feed up for all of the fifteenth floor and there’s no sign of Isobel.”

Jennifer’s heart leapt into her throat. “You don’t think—”

“I think that when she heard Melody wasn’t there, she turned off her comm and went looking for her. Remember when I said that rebellions like this are what get people killed? This is what I was trying to avoid. So now we have to adjust.”

Austin scanned the room but didn’t see any sign of Stranger. “We need to get a keycard that can get us into the stairwell then.”

“You get the keycard and I’ll distract.” Jennifer pulled away from Austin and walked away. It was strange to know just how stressed she was but from looking at her, she seemed utterly calm and collected. A true professional.

But if she was doing her job, he’d better do his. He spotted the nearest empty table and swiped one of the half-empty drinks that had been abandoned. He pretended to take a sip as he dipped two fingers into what smelled like whiskey. Then he dabbed the liquor on his neck and sides of his jacket.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Jennifer had nabbed a black shawl that made her bright-red dress a little less noticeable and was headed over to the exit in the northwest corner. He started in the same direction and added a little stumble to his walk. When he made it to the security guard, he gave his drunk stumble a little extra oomph and went careening right into the beefy six-foot-tall guard.