The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts #3)(18)

Good. Everything was going as planned, and soon enough she’d be on a plane home and to face her father head on. She was just about to let her guard down when she saw him. James Weston was there. Staring at her. He stood in the shadows. No one else seemed aware of his presence, but he was all she could see. There were no goons; there was no tequila. No music, no dancers.

He was expressionless, but she could feel the anger just radiating off him. He didn’t move, but his gaze followed her as she was led out of the building. She didn’t want to draw attention to him, but she couldn’t look away until the very last second when she was being taken out of the building. He could’ve stopped the guys taking her but he didn’t. Did he know what she was doing? Did he understand that she couldn’t stay?

She had been half convinced that he wouldn’t care. She’d only been with him for a few days. He could’ve been happy when she ran. Good riddance to all the trouble she’d brought to his door.

But now that she saw him, she realized how wrong she’d been. The rest of the walk felt as though it were in slow motion. She thought that this was the end of the James Weston chapter in her life, but she was wrong. This was only the beginning.





Even though she was so high up there was almost no chance of making out any features of the people below, Willa still looked out the window and scanned the streets, looking for anyone that even remotely resembled James.

She’d been back in Chicago for a week, and even though there’d been no sign at all of her former protector, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was there, about to pop out of the shadows and.... Well, she didn’t know what she expected him to do. Punish her for leaving. Drag her back out to the middle of the desert. Kiss her on the spot.

Okay, maybe the last one was more of her little fantasy. She’d assumed that her fascination with the man would fade with distance, but if anything, it had just gotten stronger over the past week. Maybe that was why she kept on expecting him to pop out at any given moment.

The door to the conference room opened. Willa jerked around as though she’d been caught snooping. But she knew for certain this paranoia was justified, because the person walking into the room had been the one person she’d hoped to never see again. Her father.

Jadon Belli was an imposing figure. His hair had gone prematurely gray years ago and now was a dignified white in his mid-fifties. He wasn’t a fan of the gym, but he tended to get hyper focused on his work, so it was common for him to forget to eat and that kept his figure slim enough to still look good in suits.

His intimidation factor didn’t come from size or pure menace, like James. It came from the fact that he was oozing money and wasn’t afraid to use the power that riches brought him. Something she’d inherited from him.

However, ever since she’d seen him murder Jules right in front of her, he’d become imposing in a completely different way.

He unbuttoned his gray suit jacket in a quick, practiced movement. Something he often did around her because they had an informal father-daughter relationship. At least they used to.

She remained standing as Jadon excused the entourage that would normally follow him around. A lot of the faces revolved, but Willa caught a glimpse of his assistant and a beefy guy in a suit. Willa immediately thought of James. Was Jadon traveling with protection? How many of these guys had she seen in the past and assumed it was just a security guy?

What if it was some shady associate of her father’s? A partner in whatever crime they were involved in? Well, it was about time she found out the truth about her father.

Jadon pulled out a chair at the eight-person conference table and took a seat. She followed suit. She had dressed for the occasion in a knee-length gray pencil skirt and a loose black sleeveless silk blouse. Because she knew more than most that if you wanted people to take you seriously, including family, you needed to dress seriously.

“Willa,” said Jadon simply.

“Hi, Daddy.” The familiar term of endearment felt like poison on her tongue, but she wasn’t just here as a daughter. She was here to get to the bottom of this, and to do that, he’d need to think that she wasn’t absolutely terrified of him.

Jadon looked across the table at her and she knew he was trying to get a read on her mood. She wanted him to think that she was the same girl he knew from two weeks ago, so she played up guilt for running off. But Willa also knew that the old her didn’t do guilt. She did anger, manipulation, and utter indifference.

So Willa drummed her fingers on the table and played up the annoyance. “I haven’t been able to leave my place for the past week.” She added an edge of anger to her tone. It wasn’t all that hard to do. It wasn’t as if she had a super open relationship with her father before.

“I was worried about you,” he said.

“Worried about me or worried about who I was talking to?” There it was. She was going to throw the elephant in the room, right out in the open. No use pretending it didn’t happen.

He narrowed his eyes and she knew he was still looking for any sign of betrayal from her. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I know you and Agent Charleston were close.”

Agent Charleston. He’d chosen his words carefully. Openly acknowledging what had happened while reinforcing why he thought he was justified. Willa steeled her nerves before she continued. “If Agent Charleston was truly a friend, she wouldn’t have lied about who she was.”