The Cunning Thief (Stolen Hearts #6)(44)

But it was also a disadvantage. If you worked in a team, you didn’t want your team members to die. Pesky little side effect of having emotions. He’d use that against them. The guy at the door punched through a pane of glass as if it were made of sugar.

Tristan could feel Manuel tense behind him, and he leaned forward. “This should be a good time to start shooting.”

“I got this,” whispered Tristan.

“But—”

Tristan shoved his elbow back, hitting Manuel squarely in the gut. The man grunted and finally shut up. The first assailant reached through the broken pane of glass and turned the lock, which allowed him to open the door. Two of his guys followed him in; there were now three inside that Tristan could see.

Tristan backed a little farther into the hallway so he wouldn’t be seen. Of course, this meant he couldn’t see the guys anymore, but he could hear their footsteps clearly. Tristan took a few deep breaths, but wasn’t afraid. The situation wasn’t ideal, but he’d faced worse odds. All he had to do was wait for two. More. Seconds....

The first guy walked by the hallway, and Tristan bolted into action. He stepped out and slammed his fist to the first guy’s face while at the same time wrapping his gun arm around the man, using him as a human shield as he turned to face his comrades. They hesitated to shoot through their friend, and that was all Tristan needed as he opened fire. He only had a limited number of bullets, so he made them count. Normally he’d aim for center mass, but because they were wearing bulletproof gear, he aimed for the shoulders instead.

The two men immediately went down, and Tristan smiled. Suddenly the odds were looking much more in his favor.



Shae’s head fell back against the seat. “Do you think they’re okay?” When Toni told her that Damask’s men were close and ordered Hunter to take her away, she hadn’t put up much of a fight. She wasn’t looking forward to being in another shootout. However, on the way out, they were passed by two windowless black vans. Nothing good ever happened in a windowless van.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” said Hunter. She glanced over at him. They’d been in the car for about fifteen minutes, and she swore that was the most he’d said to her in that time. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You know, that’s usually what I say when I’m not fine.”

“Well then, I guess that makes you a liar, doesn’t it?” She immediately felt bad for snapping at him. “I’m sorry you got stuck on babysitting duty.”

“No, it was a good choice. Hart knows that the team is capable of handling a lot, and your safety is a priority right now.”

“My safety is a priority? I thought your number-one priority was clients.”

“I think you can consider yourself one of our clients now. We’re all invested in keeping you safe.”

She shook her head. “We still don’t know why Damask is trying to kill me. This whole thing makes no sense.”

“A lot of times murder doesn’t.”

“No. I’ve seen a lot of crime shows. The murder usually makes sense. There is a motive—there’s a reason. Like, there is such a thing as random joy killings. Maybe teenagers who get bored and decided to see what it feels like. But they don’t hire a bunch of guys to do their dirty work. I’ve never met Damask before a few months ago, and all of a sudden I’m right in the middle of all this shit.”

“What changed a few months ago?”

“I guess he got in business with my dad at some point, but it’s looking like he did that to get to me.”

“Well, if you’re right, and I think you are, there is a reason. Once again, what changed? Did you piss someone off? Did you have any shady business dealings?”

Shae rubbed her forehead. Hunter really didn’t know her if he thought she was getting involved with shady business dealings. Hell, she even drove the speed limit when she wasn’t frantically trying to get away from a shootout. Before she met Tristan, she pretty much never did anything illegal. The product of being the daughter of a man who took a few too many liberties with the law. “The only business dealing I’ve have had lately is buying Seaside Escape.”

“He wants the property then.”

Well, duh. “I know, I know. I just can’t figure out why. I mean, it’s a nice house, but the land is small. You don’t usually get a lot of land with beachfront property, you know? It’s not like he can redevelop it into anything. And I’m not like all the people he steamrolled out of their houses. I’m not even close to going to foreclosure.”

“Maybe you’re thinking about it wrong. You see him as wanting your house for business. Maybe this is personal. Considering how little the property is worth relative to how much most of his properties are worth, it’s not about money.”

“If he wants me to leave so badly, why doesn’t he just burn it down? I don’t have enough in savings to rebuild the entire house from scratch.”

“Do you think he hasn’t thought of that yet?”

“No, it has to be something else.... If he didn’t burn down the house, that means....” Shae’s eyes widened. She didn’t know why she hadn’t seen it before. If he didn’t burn down the house, that meant there was something inside that he wanted. “Oh my God. I have to go back.”