The Cunning Thief (Stolen Hearts #6)(45)

“There’s no way in hell I’m taking you—” At that moment, a cell phone rang, and he immediately answered. “Yep?” She noticed he didn’t give his name. The bare minimal information, even on a burner phone. “Sounds good.” He hung up the phone and looked over at her. “You want to rob a bank tonight?”





Shae didn’t realize how scared she been for Tristan until she saw him hop out of that black van. She took back everything she’d ever thought about black vans. She immediately jumped out of Hunter’s car and ran straight into his arms. He let out a little huff of surprise and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. She enjoyed the comforting feel of being held in his arms and tried not to read too much into it. “Are you okay? What happened? Where’s my dad?”

“Umm.... Fine, shooting, he took off the second we were clear. I have a feeling he did not enjoy his time with me.”

“He’s safe?”

Tristan shrugged. “He didn’t have a mark on him when he left me, but that doesn’t mean Damask isn’t going to give him any trouble. I offered to let him stay with us, but he decided he could take care of himself.”

Shae had her doubts about that. Manuel had always been king of his world, but this wasn’t his world. He was ruthless and cutthroat, but this was over his head. However, she also knew he was a determined and prideful man. If he didn’t want to accept help, she couldn’t force him. She would just have to hope he’d be okay, and focus on the bigger issues. “Tristan, I think I understand now. I think I know what Damask is looking for at the house.”

Tristan opened his mouth to say something, but everyone else started to file out of the van. Toni rubbed her neck, as if she’d been sitting still for too long, and Shae didn’t miss the small drops of blood on Gage’s shirt. “Oh my gosh, are you—”

“It’s not mine,” he said quickly.

“Hunter said something about umm, you guys doing some, umm, banking tonight?” There was no one around, but Shae didn’t want to say anything stupid out loud.

They’d pulled into a rundown-looking motel. Shae also noticed that they’d all backed in. As though they were trying to keep their license plates hidden if someone did a casual drive-by.

Toni nodded. “That was the plan, but right now it’s too late, and I think we can all use a shower. We’ll regroup, wait for Melissa to catch up and head to the bank tomorrow.”

“They won’t think it’s weird if we rent out like six different rooms?”

Toni gave her a “aww, honey” look.

“We’re getting three rooms,” said Scott. “Toni and I, Hunter and Gage, and then you and Tristan.”

She thought it was odd that she was the pick for Tristan, but she supposed she’d already been sleeping in his room. And to be honest, she hadn’t complained about it all that much.

“I’m getting all the rooms and paying cash so they don’t ask too many questions. That way, the clerk will only see my face. I think we’re far enough away that no one will be looking too closely for us. We’ll head to the bank first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll plan on reaching St. Pete around ten, and that will be a slow part of the day for the bank. Does that sound good?”

Everyone nodded and hung back for a few minutes while Scott handled the rooms. Tristan gave her a rundown of what happened at the house. The entire thing sounded utterly terrifying. It was odd how he talked about it as a normal, everyday occurrence. When she considered how many men they were up against, and how unscathed everyone was, she was shocked and impressed. Gage looked as if he had a bruise forming on the side of his face, but no bullet holes, no broken bones, no hospital trips.... She always assumed they were good at what they did, but she didn’t really understand the full extent of it until now.



As soon as she and Tristan were in the motel room, he dropped all the bags on one of the double beds and turned to look at her. “All right. What do you think Damask is after?”

Shae took a deep breath and suddenly felt self-conscious. What if she was wrong? What if she made Tristan go back to the house for nothing? “I’m not sure. It’s really just a theory.”

“Okay, I like theories. Please share.”

“Well, he obviously wants something. The land isn’t valuable, so it has to be something, like, tangible, you know? If he really just wanted the property away from me, he would’ve burned it down, right? So he has to want something where he can’t burn the house down. So something inside that’s nonflammable.”

“Nonflammable?”

She rubbed her forehead in frustration. “You must think I’m crazy.”

“No, I don’t think you’re crazy. I’m just trying to think of what he could be hiding that would be so important to him. He’s been going hard.”

“I know! It has to be something inside the house, right? If it was just buried in the sand, he could send any of his goons when I’m not home. Which begs the same question. Why didn’t he send someone to get it from the house when I wasn’t home?”

“It has to be evidence.”

“What?”

“What else would drive a guy as wealthy and powerful as Damask to these lengths? If he were normal, I’d think it was something sentimental. But he’s not normal. Everything he does is for self-gain or self-preservation. He has enough money that I don’t think he’d be trying to rob you. It’s not like there’s a stash of hidden treasure there. The man has paid thousands of dollars for people to scare you and rob you. I bet you anything that if we get to it first, we can really fuck up his day.”